Giancarlo Esposito has been a working actor since 1979, but it wasn’t until he played drug kingpin Gus Fring on Breaking Bad in 2009 that his career hit a new level.
AMC brought Esposito back for the Breaking Bad prequel series, Better Call Saul. But it wasn’t until 2024 that AMC gave Esposito his own crime drama, Parish.
Unfortunately, Parish didn’t get a long run on that network. But now that the series has moved to Netflix, it has a much wider reach.
That’s why Watch With Us is sharing the reasons why you should watch Parish on Netflix.
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It’s an Excellent Showcase of an Underrated Actor
Parish as a whole did not get good reviews from the critics, and the show only had a 33 percent rank on Rotten Tomatoes. But do you know what even the negative critical reviews agreed about? Giancarlo Esposito’s performance as Gracián “Gray” Parish. Esposito is what’s known as an “actor’s actor.” He breathes so much life and emotion into his characters that he’s mesmerizing.
One of the most impressive aspects of Esposito’s work in this series is the way he conveys Gray’s emotions even as the character attempts to hide them or bottle them up. It’s a masterclass of subtlety, and Esposito is very convincing as a former criminal with getaway driver skills. Parish may not be able to match Breaking Bad in terms of quality, but Esposito is top-notch in it.
The Action and Driving Sequences Are Excellent
Another aspect of the show that united critics was its approach to action. At 67, Esposito is a little old for traditional action. But putting him behind the wheel of a car is the great equalizer. Gray is renowned in the criminal underworld for his impeccable driving skills, and he has to put those to the test multiple times in the series.
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The opening minutes of Parish feature a flash-forward sequence of Gray evading the police out of necessity. He’s so good at what he does that a local crime boss, Shepherd Tonghai aka The Horse (Zackary Momoh), wants to keep him on retainer at all times. That’s not what Gray wants, and he may have to take matters into his own hands to break free from his life of crime.
‘Parish’ Is a Self-Contained Story
Because AMC canceled Parish after a single season, there are only six episodes to enjoy. The upside of that short-sighted decision is that Parish is a largely self-contained story that concludes with only minimal loose ends. It’s the kind of binge-watch you may even be able to pull off in a single night or two.
When the show begins, Gray is mourning the death of his son, and he’s emotionally estranged from his wife, Rose Parish (Paula Malcomson). It’s hard not to see some shades of Unforgiven as one of Gray’s former associates, Colin Broussard (Skeet Ulrich), uses his financial desperation to get him back into the criminal underworld. This inadvertently gives Gray a chance to dive deeper into who killed his son, and that story pays off in the final episode. Will Gray get his revenge and reclaim his life? You’ll just have to watch Parish to find out.
Parish is streaming on Netflix.
