Giancarlo Esposito, who will probably forever remain best known for his chilling portrayal of drug kingpin Gustavo Fring in the “Breaking Bad” universe, is one of those actors whose name alone is reason enough for many people to check out anything new he does. He brings his own unique mix of precision, authority, and often a kind of quiet menace to every role he plays. Which is not to say, however, that his career doesn’t include a few asterisks, shall we say. One of them, the New Orleans-set crime drama “Parish,” has just arrived on Netflix after an aborted run on AMC. And when I say aborted — to be more specific, it got a six-episode first season and then a relatively quick cancellation just a few months later.
As crime dramas go, “Parish” is … well, it’s fine. Depending on who you ask, however, it can also be regarded as forgettable or even as a complete misfire. And when I say depending on who you ask, I mean critics versus viewers; the show actually has a pretty wide spread on Rotten Tomatoes between the critics’ and audience scores (33% to 77%, respectively). That’s tantamount to the two groups basically coming away from “Parish” feeling like they watched two completely different shows.
Parish: A New Orleans crime drama that split critics and viewers
In “Parish,” Esposito plays Gracian “Gray” Parish, a family man in the Big Easy who owns a luxury car service. When his son gets killed — in addition to the loss of his business — Parish finds his way back to his criminal past. Specifically, back to his old days as a wheelman, with the resulting turn of events putting him on a collision course with a crime syndicate. The cast here also includes “The West Wing’s” Bradley Whitford, who plays a Louisiana business bigshot named Anton. He has a secret criminal life on the side, and his dispute with a human trafficking ring led by a Zimbabwean gangster known as The Horse eventually puts him at cross purposes with Parish.
Based on the hit UK TV show “The Driver,” “Parish” was shot on location in the Crescent City, which at least aesthetically added a swampy, Southern Noir vibe to the whole thing. So, what went wrong?
You can judge for yourself, now that “Parish” is on Netflix, but for a sort of aggregation of critics’ assessments, the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus summary reads as follows: “Giancarlo Esposito is magnetic as ever in an overdue leading role, but without him ‘Parish’s’ watchability would perish altogether.” To each his own, as they say.
