The Big Picture

A decent car chase at the start is the peak action sequence of
Parish
.

Parish
lacks depth in exploring its various themes.
Giancarlo Esposito’s performance disappoints, leading to a forgettable and generic show.

If you watched the first episode of Parish and then skipped to the last one, you’d think that you’ve tuned into two different series. For a lot of shows, this could be a good thing, but in the case of AMC’s new series, it just serves to illustrate how the thriller story lacks focus. You’d also think that having Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) in the lead would make the experience less excruciating — but that’s not the case here, either.

Parish Follows a taxi driver whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to pick up a Zimbabwean gangster mostly known for exploiting undocumented immigrants at the U.S. southern ports.Release Date March 31, 2024 Cast Giancarlo Esposit , Zackary Momoh , Arica Himmel , Ivan Mbakop , Dax Rey Main Genre Drama Seasons 1 Creator(s) Sunu Gonera Streaming Service(s) AMC+

What Is ‘Parish’ About?
The crime drama series centers around Gracián “Gray” Parish (Esposito), an extremely skilled getaway driver trying to steer clear of trouble. Part of the reason is that he’s had close calls and is dealing with a relatively recent trauma that still corrodes him. However, he is forced to consider getting back into the action once he starts having difficulty making ends meet and is visited by an old friend fresh out of prison.

Right as Parish begins, the series gives you the impression that its title character is a mix of the titular character (Ansel Elgort) from Baby Driver and John Wick (Keanu Reeves). Even the sequence that introduces Gracián is a pretty good one that offers a decent number of thrills. The problem is, you’re left with the impression that Parish’s driving skills are mostly dependent on luck to work — not that this doesn’t happen in other titles, but once the series settles into introducing the character as “the driver,” you’d expect to see some next-level maneuvers and wit similar to what’s been portrayed in movies like Drive. To make matters worse, Parish’s driving skills hardly remain at the center of the narrative as they do at the beginning of the series. Once the show strays away from that, you can’t help but wonder what this story will even be about. Regret? Atonement? Reconciliation? It’s all of those and also none of them at the same time.

The good thing about TV shows is that there is plenty of time to develop themes for several characters, but it’s also more frustrating when a series fails to do that. Parish knows that it wants Gracián’s loss to be a defining element in his journey, but most of the episodes are not really committed to showing that. How does Gray’s trauma shape him? How does it move (or paralyze) him? We don’t know. Most of the time, all we get are flashbacks that reveal the obvious: He misses his kid and regrets being violent with the boy.

‘Parish’ Doesn’t Seem to Want to Let Us Inside Its Characters’ Heads

Parish’s frequent flashbacks also showcase another problem: It relies too heavily on exposition to let you know what’s going on both in the story and inside the characters’ minds — which leads to the series’ biggest frustration. We’ve all seen what Esposito is capable of acting-wise. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t consider him one of the greatest actors of our generation. However, in this particular title, it just seems like he’s going through the motions.

For a lot of scenes, Esposito’s face is void of expression — the moments when Gracián is driving alone are some of the worst — and that could even be by design if the series did the work to showcase him as a person going through depression, but all that’s delivered are surface-level emotions. Esposito also delivers some lines with more volume purely because certain scenes are supposed to be dramatic, but that mostly serves as an indication of how Parish isn’t committed to bringing viewers inside its characters’ heads for a deeper look at their emotions.

Gray isn’t the only one that gets affected by this lack of depth. His wife Rose (Paula Malcomson) has virtually no storylines of her own, and her role in the entire series is to basically exist. But Gray’s daughter Makayla (Arica Himmel) has it worse. After Parish introduces her conflict — she feels neglected by her father — the show doesn’t invite us in to find out more about Makayla and live her experiences. Instead, we’re offered some father-daughter bonding moments that are lackluster at best.

Parish also makes the very questionable decision to address a sensitive issue that evolves into becoming one of the series’ main topics. It would be a spoiler to reveal, but you’ll know it when you see it: It involves a group of people with a very specific mission. A section of said group is formed by some villains who are introduced as mustache-twirling evil. Then, the show tries to bring to light what they’re trying to accomplish without delving into the complexities of the crime they’re committing and what it means for the victims. Once again, everything is done at a surface level.

There’s Ultimately No Point to ‘Parish’

Then there’s the fact that the villains’ storyline hardly impacts the title character for most of the season, which leads to the aforementioned feeling of watching two different shows that are barely connected. Parish is hired by the villains for a job. What does he see? What does he learn? How does it transform him? We barely witness any of that. What we are privy to is the story suddenly turning into a revenge flick — and not a very good one, at that.

Parish is a show that could have been a mindless, action-packed story. It could have been an investigative thriller about the death of a Black boy. It could have been an exposé about real-world issues involving race and taking advantage of people in vulnerable situations. It could have even been about a father reconnecting with his daughter and family after deeply regretting his past attitudes. Instead, Parish fumbles all its themes, barely scratching the surface of them, and delivers a show that feels generic, soulless, and ultimately forgettable.

Parish Parish centers around a skilled driver who is hired for a life-changing job.ProsParish offers a decent car chase scene at the very beginning. ConsThe series’ themes are only handled at surface level.The show lacks focus and its storylines aren’t thoroughly connected.Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t deliver the great performance we’re used to seeing from him.

Parish premieres on AMC and AMC+ on March 31.

Watch on AMC+