Perpetual Grace, LTD: Orphan Comb Death Fight

June 18, 2019 5:06 PM - Season 1, Episode 2

James/Fake Paul meets Walker, Texas Ranger. New Leaf's backstory: a passive-aggressive stop sign holder and eyewear entrepreneur. "Pa" hatches a plan with a beer can. Ankle bracelets (two types), rattlesnakes, Mexican spaceflight achievement.

Title card GIF (imgur)

A recap/review at Tell-Tale TV.

2-minute excerpts: "Pa" and the sheriff -/~\- James/"Paul" and "Pawn Shop Glenn" (2x old.reddit threads)

posted by sylvanshine (2 comments total)

I'll just say that between Patriot and PGLTD, I sense that Conrad is saying something about men. (These are man-heavy shows.) I'm not sure what, though.

Both series have a similar-looking, quirky but rather non-emotive white guy with a sense of exhaustion about him. Both men submit themselves to actual pain, sometimes even seemingly unnecessarily pain, to accomplish goals. James wants to get the ankle bracelet off; does he actually need to get bit by a rattlesnake to get a hospital to remove it? Could he fake it? The pawnshop incident is mostly about pain; James' hesitance to create it in another person (a bang on the head), and the exaggerated result of a mild head-bop is not just unconsciousness, but later the extreme sensory over-responsiveness of Glenn. He, still a kid, is not numb and exhausted yet, but he is now so sensitive that he numbs himself with earmuffs and eye protection. Meanwhile, someone in episode 1 and/or 2 is numbing themselves by walking around in a spacesuit. I read this scene as symbolic/imaginary the first time, but I think we have reason to believe it's real? (James' actual dad, actually receiving his call?)
/for now
posted by sylvanshine at 6:56 PM on June 18, 2019

I really like this show, and not just because the landscape is so comfortable, so familiar.

It's by turns stark, absurd and surreal, which all spark for me. It's more subtle than the manic chaos of Happy!, or even like everything Wes Anderson does.

And it's kind of sweet. James talking to Glenn, becoming friends because neither of them have any connection to others, but also because James (lightly?) attacked Glenn.

Thanks for your write-up and thoughts. I hadn't thought about the sensory (deprecation) aspect of this. The next episode focuses on this, too, in really interesting ways (which actually feel a bit more Andersonian, maybe).

But the few women of note in this show bothers me, but not enough to stop watching. I'm also watching NOS4A2, where there are more central female characters, who are also strong, and complicated. But again, the next episode has more promise. But I'll stop talking about what comes next.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:47 AM on June 19, 2019