Perpetual Grace, LTD season 1, episode 8 recap: Fiveever
By Luke Lucas
What happened to Theresa Williams? What was Paul Allen’s role? Why is Walker, Texas Ranger seeing red? Perpetual Grace, LTD got real. We’ve got the recap!
I don’t know if I’ve really driven home how stunning Perpetual Grace, LTD looks. Jim Whitaker (Patriot) directed “Fiveever.” Nicole Hirsch Whitaker (Patriot) was the cinematographer. She shot eight of the ten episodes. There are enough tinted wide shots of beautiful terrain to categorize the show as a full-on Western. The wide shots are often saved for one or two-person scenes. It brings into focus their loneliness. The tighter shots are generally saved for scenes where characters are trying to leverage other characters. It all works to heighten the feel of the show. And that makes what happens in this episode even sadder and harder to watch.
The Magic Man
While Paul Allen Brown (Damon Herriman) and James (Jimmi Simpson) are talking, James asks Paul how he disappears and reappears. Paul Allen says it’s a big deal to betray magician secrets. James reminds Paul Allen that being investigated for the death of a twelve-year-old is also a big deal. So, Paul Allen explains that you have to get real low to the ground and scurry. Scurrying is the key. Paul Allen is the greatest scurrier of all time. Also, this means that you never really disappear and can hear everything in earshot. Because you’re only scurrying.
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Six years ago, Paul Allen and Valerie Spoonts (Dana DeLorenzo) were plotting to steal money from another church. Paul Allen seems to have gained extensive knowledge of the church’s financial dealings from one of the Deacon’s daughters, little Theresa Williams (Camryn Jones). Theresa took a liking to Paul. He was teaching her magic. Specifically, he was teaching her how to scurry. Unfortunately for Theresa, she had the scurrying gift.
Theresa disappears and reappears next to Paul Allen and Valerie while they are going over the final plans for the theft of the church’s money. The look on Paul Allen’s face was a grim realization. Paul decides to take Theresa to the regional tryouts for Star Search. When they got to the second leg of their bus trip, there was a layover. Paul Allen took Theresa sightseeing. My heart had already been sinking, but when this happened I knew how her fate had been sealed.
Perpetual Grace, LTD–Credit: Epix
Paul handcuffs Theresa in a shack. He has meals prepared, magic tricks to work out, and sour patch kids in jars just waiting to be eaten. It’s a wonderland set up by a troubled man. He kids Theresa that the handcuffs are Houdini cuffs. She wants to try to get out of them in the water because that’s cooler. Paul leaves her in the shack, which is near a small stream.
Why? Because Theresa tells Paul that she has to tell her dad about his plan to steal church money. It wouldn’t be right to keep that secret or to let Paul Allen do wrong. Camryn Jones is heartbreaking in this role. She’s adorable. Her smile lights up the black and white of the flashback. But she’s also in total control of her emotions. That allows her to be so smart and yet so naive. She’s just a kid. You can’t tell a 36-year-old man who fashions himself after Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter to not commit the crime they befriended you, a twelve-year-old, to do.
Paul Allen doesn’t want to hurt Theresa. He wants to keep her captive for three days while he carries out the caper on her dad’s church. Paul Allen even mails a postcard with Theresa’s exact location to her dad. But, Theresa is a scurrier. She scurries out of the chimney of the shack with an eye on that stream. We know the rest of the story. The closing credits are a silent shot of her body at the edge of the stream. The water still moves, but she doesn’t. Paul Allen says he’ll have to remember it fiveever. That’s longer than forever. And honestly, I hope it tortures him every day.
A Little Bit Chuck Norris
Wesley Walker, Texas Ranger (Terry O’Quinn) interviews Glenn (Dash Williams) in the barbershop. Glenn needs a lot of the words that Wesley uses explained to him. Walker, Texas Ranger is his usual patient self until Glenn denies knowing Paul Allen Brown and claims he went to Mexico just to buy a sombrero. When Walker, Texas Ranger explains that there are sombreros readily available for purchase in New Acre, Glenn looks crestfallen. Based on the interview, Walker, Texas Ranger can’t help but believe his naive nature.
Perpetual Grace, LTD–Credit: Epix
But this interview comes on the heels of New Leaf’s (Chris Conrad) interview in “Bull Face” where Walker, Texas Ranger was verbally manhandled. James continually dodges him. And, the only real working witness he has is Uncle Dave (Kurtwood Smith), the pedophile. Walker, Texas Ranger had to shake the man’s hand to gain his trust. No, sir. Enough was enough.
Walker, Texas Ranger shows up at the Brown’s. He approaches James, who emerges from a picturesque barn. Walker, Texas Ranger wants to know who else is in that barn. He tells James that if he doesn’t allow him to check the barn, he’ll take offense. His language is rather powerful. It’s kind of startling coming from this man that New Leaf explained as being beautiful like “He had been carved from the waves of time.” When no one else is in the barn, Walker, Texas Ranger takes James to the barbershop. He refastens the ankle monitor and demands answers to questions about his Mexico trip. Uh oh.
What a Pretty Barn
At the end of “Bull Face,” New Leaf was marching to kill James after the Chili’s pager let him know that his parents had died. After initially scurrying away, Paul Allen appears and saves James. New Leaf fires several shots at Paul Allen, but he’s too far away. The three sit and have a lovely conversation about forgiveness, family, and life. Then, as a shock to your system, James asks New Leaf if they can defile the bodies of his dead parents so that they’re unrecognizable. There needs to be a funeral for Ma (Jackie Weaver) and Pa (Sir Ben Kingsley) even if they are alive and captives of the Cartel. Only on Perpetual Grace, LTD.
There was a meeting going on in that barn when Walker, Texas Ranger arrived. All of the special Boys were there, including Valerie and Scotty (Hana Mae Lee). Scotty doesn’t say a word, but appears to be a little shell shocked at the minds involved in this caper. Hector (Luis Guzman) calls in because this is just like a corporate conference call. He regretfully informs the group that he cannot continue with the caper because of the bond he formed with Pa while saving Ma in “When Doves Cry.” He also has some flattering farewell words for Valerie, who sheepishly smiles. Did she catch feelings for Hector? Or, was she just proud of the feelings she made him catch so easily? Valerie’s theme song should be “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish.
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Everyone scurries away when Walker, Texas Ranger shows up. The stage is now set for the final two episodes of the season. How will James get out of the barbershop? Will Paul Allen pay for his crimes? what the hell is happening with Ma and Pa and the Cartel?
Did you enjoy “Fiveever?” Do you think it wad the most emotional episode of Perpetual Grace, LTD? Let’s discuss in the comments!