Pure

Noah Funk (Ryan Robbins) plays a life changing game similar to a game you may have seen in which a card shark tries to deceive his paying audience with his sleight of hand by switching around three overturned cards and the mark has to find the right overturned card. In this case four Mennonites are asked to participate in a game in which four identical bibles are quickly mixed around on a table in front of the churches entire congregation, and the four Mennonites at the front of the church are requested to step up one by one, and select one of the four mixed up bibles. Noah Funk gets to pick his bible as the third of the four participants and lo and behold he happens to pick the only bible with the invitation to become the churches new pastor.

In Noah's role as their new pastor he is responsible for his congregations spiritual and physical well being. Evil does lurk in this little southern Ontario (Canada) town of Antioch, population 9,500. One of Noah's old schoolmates Bronco Novak (A. J. Buckley) the football jock who is now a police detective with the Antioch detachment approaches the new pastor Noah looking for assistance in the recent disappearance of a family of four Mennonites from another community after discovering their torched vehicle's registration number originated in Mexico. After contacting the U.S. drug enforcement agency, and talking to detective Phoebe O'Reilly (Rosie Perez) about the burned out car with a Mexican V.I.N. number, Bronco Novak takes a second closer look at the burnt out vehicle and he finds a kilo of pure heroin hidden in the cars under carriage.

Eli Voss (Peter Outerbridge) who is a drug mule and dealer in pure heroin disguises himself as a Mennonite, but his community fears him and what he would do to them if they went to the police authorities. In the opening scene we witness that Eli Voss is responsible for the murder of three of the four Mennonites who have their vehicle run off of the road then torched after Voss recovers his heroin from the cars under carriage. A young boy named Ezekiel Janzen (Felix Bieger) is able to escape from the wrecked car before Eli Voss can murder him along with his father and siblings, but poor Ezekiel is burdened with witnessing his father and brothers murders.

This is a drama series about hard working Mennonite families like the new pastor Noah Funk, his wife and two teenage high school aged children, trying to live their isolated lives but within a melting pot of drugs, prostitution and police corruption, and 21st century liberal attitudes. Noah Funk is accepting of his new role as his congregations new pastor, but as he tries to maneuver his way around the Mennonite criminal element, his little white lies like trying to pass orphaned Ezekiel Janzen off as his nephew, and planting drugs in the homes of the drug pushers, the drug lord Eli Voss gives Noah an ultimatum, work within the drug trade or his family will become Eli Voss's next target.

I found this series got of to a rip roaring good start and I am looking forward to how the young new pastor and his family will cope with going against the crime lord Eli Voss, and unwillingly have to rely on outsiders for support like his old high school nemesis detective Bronco Novak.

Eeny meeny miny moe, I wonder if Noah wished he had picked another bible instead of the congregations new pastors bible?

Supporting cast just horrible... every law enforcement actor just terrible... including Rosie Perez...

Watched the first season and found it an interesting premise and when they had made the claim it was based on a true story decided to research it.

Sort of wish I had not. The truth behind the story starts in the 1990s and there have been stories, encounters, arrests, and even a play based on it along the way. The incredible part is that original Mennonite kingpin died in 1994 and his reign was taken over by a family member. Needless to say their operations did and are currently running. I won't say who since this show is starting a second season.

The show has made some changes to the history of what happened of course but the main points are being followed from what I can see. I can't speak to what motivated them into going into crime though.

The second season is taking it up some notches already from what I can see. The acting was already decent to good but with Zoie Palmer and Christopher Heyerdahl being added I am very much excited to see where it goes.

The cinemaphotography is top-notch and the music good. If you want to have an idea where the season is headed lookup Abraham Harms on cbc.ca/news/canada

A good show. Maybe it can become a VERY good show. Great concept, the struggle to resist widespread evil, or maybe even at times the desire to embrace the banality of life, with fine characters, and a good cast. I found it subdued, yet powerful, and am looking forward to the next season. It will be interesting to see how much the characters can rationalize their actions, without losing their core beliefs. And finding out what their core beliefs REALLY are. Nicely done.

I didn't realize or forgot that the Mennonite Mob was a real thing, starting back in the 90s, under El Chapo. The Canadian/Mexican connection is that the original Canadian colony (or colonies) split off to create the Mexican colony, thus ongoing family connections between the two. At one time, they were moving thousands of tons of weed and coke in the US and Canada. Plus some murder, extortion, etc. The things human beings become involved with, regardless of religion or creed. Note that there are many kinds of Mennonites (Anabaptists), from the most conservative Amish to very progressive Mennonites who don't live in colonies, use technology and dress modern. This series certainly covers all of the spectrum, but may jumble several groups into one, although I read that even within sects, there can be major differences. So there's not ONE Mennonite stereotype, of course.

Season 1 isn't a Canadian version (CBC production) of the quality of Breaking Bad, but it 's good enough to binge and sustain my interest, although predictable and cliched. Noah is acted and written as an intriguing character and even Bronco, the cop, adds a good counterpoint to the Mennonite "blandness", even if he is a cliche. Rose Perez is a bit of a disappointment because someone thought it would be a good idea to have her speak with a heavy (and bad) Southern US accent. Her real accent is what makes her compelling and adds to her whole package, so why a cop, based in El Paso, would be from the Southern US (Texas is NOT the traditional "South", esp not far West Texas) and be more interesting or realistic than a Latina cop, who knows. Doubt that subtlety carries over into Canada. I just hope that such errors also don't encompass the Mennonite portrayals and dress.

But the 2nd season season is almost unwatchable. It's the same basic plot, without a couple of the more interesting characters. Noah's wonderfully expressive face has been covered with a huge beard, so he's effectively been neutralized and he's not the main character anymore and his replacements can't carry the show. I'm on episode 3 and Rosie Perez has yet to make an appearance (we are presented with a lot of cop changes). The plot jumps are astounding, with no reason for them given or even implied. There's a serious lack of realism at every turn. And WHY was Noah and his family excommunicated for what they did in the 1st season? Makes NO sense. That's not a spoiler, as it's in the S2e1 description. The acting is sub-par and having an Irish/German accent can't cover up bad acting/direction. I'm about to give up on this one. It's so implausible that I even re-watched the first 2, 2nd season episodes to make sure I hadn't missed a ton of backstory, but alas, I hadn't. Season 2 is one of the worst seasons of any series I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot. Like a class of kindergartners wrote it. Enjoy the first season and move on.