Pure Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Wedding
Dale McGarrigle
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Well, that's about as appropriate a resolution as one could expect for a season that seemed to be going completely down the rabbit hole.
No one essential to the series was killed on Pure Season 2 Episode 6.
The only casualty was Estrada, gunned down by Isaak, the "son" he tried so hard to adopt. That appears to be a pattern on Pure: the boss man being killed by a Mennonite he underestimated.
Estrada was dead regardless. If Isaak hadn't have shot him, Orff would have for the cartel, since Estrada was skimming off the top.
Estrada was a more interesting character than Eli Voss on Pure Season 1.
Voss understandably turned evil after an Auslander vehicle slammed into his family's buggy and killed all but him. That was enough to push anybody to the dark side.
Estrada, on the other hand, was adopted into the cartel. He grew up within it, learning its ways and rose in it as a result. His only mistake was thinking he could steal from the cartel and get away with it.
His plan was to make Isaak into his lieutenant, faithful to him instead of the cartel. Since Isaak remained faithful to his own family, despite their tough choices, he ended up making the only decision that he could.
Just like Noah at the end of Pure Season 1, Isaak left, with Orff, in order to keep his family safe.
Just like in Mexico itself, sadly, another generation is pulled into the family business. First Noah and Anna and now Isaak.
So it's likely the thrust of Pure Season 3, should it happen, will be how Noah and Anna free Isaak from the cartel's grip.
Related: Pure Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Penance
Over its two seasons, Pure has proven a difficult watch, especially for those who expect an upbeat resolution.
The only sure happy occurrence in the finale was the wedding of Tina and Johan, and even that included accidental self-immolation to mar the memory of it.
All I say can is thank God for the comic relief of Esther and Abel, who cracked this case for the police.
It's great that Abel's being murdered in the desert last season didn't take.
He's been a real ray of sunshine this season. He's had a real devil-may-care attitude since coming back from the dead.
An example this episode was when he explained that he had learned about "Smurfs," who launder drug money by buying cash cards, from "the Google."
Abel has also gotten a lot brighter since he got clean. He finally determined why Julius had made a point of mentioning his hymnbook: it was a secret ledger of cartel transactions.
This ledger in turn led to this season's fun new addition, Esther.
It was refreshing when it was announced that a TV veteran such as Alyson Hannigan would appear on Pure.
She didn't appear until Pure Season 2 Episode 5, but she made the most of her recurring role as Esther, the lapsed Mennonite.
Soon after her pathetic attempt to escape Val, Esther, after enjoying a little wine, handed over all the files she was supposed to be leaving for Estrada, exposing the businesses he and McKay had bought with stolen cartel funds.
It was a hoot to listen to her address Noah and Abel as "knobs" in Edenthaler.
Here's hoping they find a way to keep her should Season 3 happen.
Underutilized in the first season, Isaak became the key figure in the second season.
During Pure Season 1, Tina was the one out in the Auslander world because of her relationship with Ben.
But during Pure Season 2, Tina was drawn back to the colony through Johan, while Isaak was thrust into the outside world and found he liked it.
Isaak started as a pawn for Estrada to guarantee Anna's cooperation. But Estrada related to him somehow, probably because he lost his parents early in life, and chose to manipulate Isaak instead into becoming one of his soldiers.
Working for Estrada gave Isaak an outlet for the anger that had been building within him because of the treatment of his family by the colony that excommunicated them, as an example to others who had been working for the cartel.
At the same time, he was learning what Estrada was up to.
Related: Pure's Alex Paxton-Beesley Q & A
Also, he was secretly doing what he could to help his family, whether that was lying for Noah, leaving a note for him, or making a drive-by at Anna's house. Even before his departure, he was protecting Noah.
Isaak was working on his end game, leading to the only choice he could make.
Now the big question is whether gangster Isaak could ever get deprogrammed, for lack of a better term.
Noah and Anna had to work together, to get Tina back to the safety of the colony and to rescue Isaak. One out of two ain't bad.
It was obvious Anna blames Noah for her current situation, which was partly right. If he had stuck around, maybe they could have come up with a better solution to the family's financial woes after being excommunicated.
Then again, Estrada would likely have come after Anna even if Noah had been around since she had done such a good job running the local drug distribution previously.
In any event, Noah failed in his mission to bail out Anna since he ran into Tina. It was a charming reunion. Then he explained that Anna was in jail because the mean local police were forcing him to work for them.
Tina used to be able to see through her parents' bullshit. Then again, she was in shock from seeing Noah again, and she's in love and it was her wedding day, so she gets a pass.
Noah instead headed off in search of Noah, and Augustus ended up bailing out Anna. I figure they were over after her ride to the wedding (he didn't stay), but who can say for sure?
Anna was chilling when she threatened Justina, telling her the truth about her husband's death.
That pushed Justina over the edge, making her determined to incriminate Anna in front of the colony. But lighting herself of fire gave weight to Anna's "crazy" assessment.
Anna may be broke again, but her secrets remain hidden, for now.
Meanwhile, Noah had a surprise meeting with Joey Epps, whose father was being held by Estrada to make Joey work for him.
That huge guy was in charge of the "Smurfs." Heh, heh.
Noah attempted to ride to Isaak's rescue with a horse and buggy but didn't get the result he wanted, as Isaak made the same choice he had a year earlier.
Things were looking up for Val, however. She had a career-making bust with Estrada's corpse and all the data Orff had supplier her on that flash drive.
There are still plenty of questions to answer should a third season happen.
Beyond rescuing Isaak, there's the state of Noah and Anna's relationship.
Also, the cartel remains alive, even if Estrada isn't, and isn't likely to give up on what's been working.
To review this season, watch Pure online.
Did Isaak make the right choice?
Is Tina indeed safe now?
Can Noah and Anna put their lives back together?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.
