It's always that last job where things tend to go wrong.
In the premiere of AMC's new crime drama diocese, Giancarlo Esposito He stars as Gracián “Gray” Parish, a family man who suffers bad luck after his son Maddox is murdered. He is also a driver with a suspicious criminal past, and his family, his wife Ross and his daughter Michaela, know nothing about him. Despite major financial problems and a faltering business that could lead to them losing their New Orleans home, it only takes minutes to realize that the Gray's struggle is much more than just financial hardship.
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“Gray is an 'everyman' struggling to deal with the loss of his son and solve his son's murder,” Esposito told TVLine. “He is separated from his family for many reasons because he is under so much stress and is unable to verbally express the kind of pain he feels inside. He is an 'everyman' striving to become an extraordinary man. He does not know that this is what he must do to get out of the situation he is in.” “He is in it.”
While trying to figure out his next move, an old friend from his past comes and makes him an offer that Barış tries to refuse. Colin (played by Skeet Ulrich) served 17 years in the tournament, partly because he refused to bully Parrish after his previous job went awry. So things get complicated when Colin says he needs help picking up a package for his boss. Simple elevator. inside and outside. If Parrish agrees to drive.
The boss is a man named Shepherd Tongai (Zachary Momo), but everyone calls him “Horse.” Parrish sees the whole ordeal: Colin is indebted to an international gangster and wants no part of it. But after some careful thought about what he's lost and what he still has to lose, our titular (antagonist?) hero has a change of heart, something he'll eventually regret.
“It's an opening to the world that hides him, his previous incarnation as a getaway driver and perhaps more than that: a man of ideas, a man of theft, a man who can think of a plan and execute it,” Esposito explains. “So when Colin invites him, it's an opportunity to get out of debt, save his business, and get his pride, his self-worth, his self-esteem, his self-worth back and get it back. This could be a way for him to earn his family's respect again. He can't figure out how to get out of his depression. He can't provide for him.” His family, what is the benefit to him?
“So, as we start to uncover his past, we realize that maybe he's not a good man. We want him to be in control of his integrity and morals, but he's a man who should say, 'I'm tired of being a passenger in my own life.' I'm tired of letting the world push me and tell me what to do.” .I'm tired of not being there and not being able to provide.And so he takes [the job] Because he feels this is the way out.”
Meanwhile, Barış still suffers silently over his son's death, but at the same time neglects to acknowledge his family's needs. During a dinner to celebrate Maddox's first birthday since his death, Parrish got into an argument with his daughter, who was upset that her father had placed a picture of her brother on the dinner table. “It still feels like it just happened,” he tells the little girl, who is surprised that he “showed up this time.”
“We all grieve differently, and some of us want to forget because we can't get it back,” Esposito says. “But what if you don't know what happened? And that's the main topic of our article. How much should we know about what happened when you can't recover a missing person?”
Although we viewers are not (yet) privy to all the details surrounding Maddox's murder, there are a lot of aspects about the event that remain a mystery even to the family. All of this adds to the heaviness of their home lives and grieving processes, making moving on more difficult.
“The story is very much about family, and yes, they deal with loss very differently,” he adds. “But that's the nature of trauma. We stay and live in that trauma and it's hard to let go of it until we do the work of getting rid of it. Barış also has a secret inside her, not just the trauma of losing his son. He has trauma from a previous existence that he didn't share with his family. “I have an idea that he's the ghost. He's a ghost to himself.”
“This is an 'everyman' who suffers, but lives life in his suffering,” says the actor. “To put this into a story that's exciting and not preachy, you want to go on the journey because you want him not to suffer too. You hope so.” You It could be out for you suffering. 'How did he do it?' This is how we teach each other, inspire each other, and be role models for each other. This has become something I love because not only is it an exciting story, but it shows how we interact as a family and deal with pain, happiness, sadness, and depression, how we talk to each other, how we help each other, how we refuse to listen and want to do it our way, and how sometimes we have to be silent to… Be prepared to hear it.
Esposito has reached back to his troubled past to inform his performance. His parents were divorced. His mother raised and cared for him even though she was “involved in her own world.” His father never contacted him. When he became a father of four children, he was no stranger to his financial burdens. He went bankrupt twice and lost two homes, as well as several antique cars and motorcycles. These real-life conflicts helped him add authenticity to his character's story.
“I gave up everything so my family could survive,” he says. “This is the part of the story that really touched me because it's about sacrifice. 'What do I have to sacrifice in order for my family to survive?' And when I was sitting in Connecticut trying to figure out how to get a job and make ends meet and I realized I had a big insurance policy on me, I thought the way to do this was to let my life go. I sacrificed my life so my kids could go to college, so they could have a life. That's a terrible thing to think about. How terrible it would have been if I had continued down that path. A lot of Parrish's behavior came out of My life and I needed to tell the story to exercise that demon, to let go of the depth of that trauma, of that absolutely terrible thinking, and to regain my self-respect to know that I was good enough to make it happen because I had talent.
Barış's life becomes more complicated once Colin's offer is officially accepted. Parrish picks up a man and brings him to an office building, where he and Colleen recover a mysterious briefcase from a case. But when the man messes up the access code, sirens start wailing and the police start swarming. Barış thinks on his feet. He makes a distraction, switches vehicles, ditches his cell phone, and picks up his buddies (bag in hand) around the corner.
But the horse isn't happy with all this police activity. In the tense final moments of the episode, the horse's brother, Zenzo, brutally murders the man with a sword. Parrish tries to refuse to pay for the job, but when that is not an option, he accepts and tells The Horse that he will clean up the whole mess. Unfortunately for Parrish, that wouldn't be the last he'd see of the Tongay brothers.
Thinking about the series and the upcoming five sequels (the season finale is set for May 4), Esposito says he advises the writers and acting students he teaches to always insert themselves into their work.
“As much as you think no one wants to hear my story, we actually do it because your story might impact me in a way that gives me some hope,” he says. “What you put in is what you get out, and I put my heart and soul into this and used a lot of what my story allowed diocese To sing.”
What were you thinking? diocese'Chapter one? Rate the premiere below, then let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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