Everything about Pure, eh?

Pure: Creator Michael Amo on the return of Season 2 and a favourite character

Spoiler alert: Do not continue reading unless you have watched the first episode of Pure, Season 2.

Pure‘s second season premiere was notable for a few reasons. It introduced Hector Estrada (Victor Gomez), the drug dealer who demanded Anna Funk re-start the Mennonite cocaine pipeline. And, just to give her the little push Anna needed to do that, took Isaak (Dylan Everett) as collateral. When we last saw Isaak, he was naked, caged and (rightfully) screaming for his mother. Last Tuesday’s return also brought a favourite character back from the grave. It turns out Noah’s (Ryan Robbins) brother, Abel (Gord Rand), suffered merely a flesh wound when Eli Voss shot him; the siblings shared an emotional reunion.

With so much going on not just with the characters but the show itself, we got Michael Amo on the phone to discuss it.

What were your thoughts when you were told by CBC that the second season of Pure wasn’t going to be happening with them?
Michael Amo: [Laughs.] I remember being surprised because I think we averaged over 700,000 viewers per episode which, for a freshman drama on CBC, is pretty good. But, I guess it wasn’t on brand for them. I did move on to other things and developed some other shows. It was really Cineflix. It was Brett Burlock and Peter Emerson, who are our Ontario production partners, were the ones who said, ‘You know what? It’s not going to die so easily.’ They’re the ones who engineered the deal between WGN America and Super Channel and put their own kind of equity into it as well.

Three people, dressed in black, stand next to each other.Was there a phone call to you to say it had been greenlit?
MA: For me, it was me talking to Brett about some things I was working on and him saying, ‘Not so fast, Pure isn’t dead yet.’ But I’ve got a family to feed and said, ‘I welcome the opportunity to do more of Pure.’ I hung up the phone and went about my business. Months went by and, behind the scenes, Brett and Peter were working feverishly to make it happen. So, when you get the call and are told your baby has been brought back to life, it’s a happy day indeed.

You’ve spent at least one full episode keeping Noah away from his family. What was the thinking behind that?
MA: Actually, we keep Noah away from Anna until Episode 3 because I don’t want to make it easy. [Laughs.] The audience should be rooting for this family to get back together and they can’t do that if they’re together from the get-go. It was challenging to keep them apart for so long, but I did put them on a collision course to tie in with the law enforcement angle of the show. It was a challenge to do that. Season 1 was all about their fall from grace and expulsion from paradise and Season 2 is about them, all in their own way, trying to get back to paradise and the innocence they lose along the way.

How has being on Super Channel Fuse changed the tone of the show? What have you been able to do that you couldn’t on CBC?
MA: There were fans of the show, to begin with, so when they took it on, they said, ‘We’re a premium cable network, so feel free to play in that space.’ I didn’t go too crazy because I, personally, am not a huge fan of vulgarity and the show really never had the creative bandwidth for sex. But we could push the elements that were already in the show a little harder.

Hector Estrada is, literally, taking no prisoners. What’s it been like to create this guy?
MA: In Season 1 we had Eli Voss, who had very specific spiritual views that were in opposition to Noah’s. In Season 2, I really wanted to do something different, from a character point of view for the villain, so Hector is all about the here and now. He does not believe in an afterlife, he does not believe there are any consequences for his actions in this world whatsoever. He is all about the material pleasures, but he’s sort of lonely too. So, he bonds with Isaak and that’s his Achilles heel in a way. [Actor] Victor Gomez is both extremely charming and when he wants to be, ice cold.

I was surprised to see Gord Rand returned to Pure. In Season 1, Abel was shot by Eli and left for dead. Were you always intending to bring the character of Abel back?
MA: [Laughs.] I’m going to be honest and say perhaps not. What happens is, you fall in love with these characters, and the actors who play them, and you say, ‘Oh my goodness, I have to find a way to keep Gord in the picture.’ I’m glad I did.

Pure airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse.

Images courtesy of Super Channel.

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Links: Pure, Season 2

From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:

Link: Pure: A grim, good cerebral drama we don’t see often in Canada
Pure is a dense drama, grimly beautiful, and it threads a fine line between cops-and-criminal storyline and an examination of stifled religious moralism. (The first season is available on Super Channel for a good binge-watch.) The manner of its melodrama isn’t an easy sell. But it’s fiercely good, a rare Canadian TV foray into new territory. Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Pure’s Alex Paxton-Beesley on Anna’s isolation in Season 2
“My character was so isolated, but it was also so strange to be without Ryan, my partner in the show. It was especially hard preparing for all the Low German that I had to speak for this season. Laura Kohoot, our advisor on the show, is just the most invaluable member on our team and we spent a lot of time together working on that.” Continue reading. 

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Alex Paxton-Beesley goes Medieval on your hynie in S2 of Pure
“She is so different this season and she’s going to places I wasn’t sure of. Then again, all these things are happening to her for the first time, too, so as much as it was unknown to me, it was absolutely unknown to her.” Continue reading.

From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

Link: Drugs, desperation and Mennonites all back on TV’s Pure
It’s not usually a good thing when an actor cancels an interview, but when Ryan Robbins had to bail on a chat with the Star, leaving Alex Paxton-Beesley on her own, it seemed a bit like life imitating art. Continue reading.

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Preview: Pure deals a second season on Super Channel Fuse

When we last left Pure, its characters—and the show itself—were in disarray.

Eli Voss, the Season 1 villain who had forced Noah Funk (Ryan Robbins) and his wife, Anna (Alex Paxton-Beesley) into ferrying cocaine through Mexico into the United States, was killed by Noah. But the Funk’s actions led to them being excommunicated from their Ontario Mennonite community. Noah, despondent and feeling like he had failed his family—and gotten his brother, Abel (Gord Rand), killed—left the community altogether.

As for the show, CBC opted not to renew Michael Amo’s creation for a second season. Thankfully, Super Channel stepped in and ordered six more episodes. In the U.S., Season 1 was broadcast on Hulu and then picked up by WGN America; the American superstation will also broadcast Pure day and date with its Canadian counterpart.

A woman stands, facing two men who are walking towards her.When we catch up with the Funk family on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse, Noah is nowhere to be found. It’s a year since the events of the Season 1 finale, and Anna and her children Tina (Jessica Clement) and Isaak (Dylan Everett) are still on the outs with their community. In danger of losing her home, Anna pleads to the elders for help. Of course, the colony knew what Voss was doing at the time but still blame the Funks for the sins brought among them. Anna was forced to pick up the pieces after her husband left and has shown great strength in doing that. She’s very different from the woman we first met in Season 1.

Meanwhile, Det. Gates (Cory Bowles) has been searching for Noah at Anna’s request. And it’s while he’s doing it that Gates stumbles upon a crime scene introducing viewers to Hector Estrada (Victor Gomez) and his hitman Orff (Conrad Pla), two dudes that are just as evil as Voss and intent on getting the cocaine pipeline going again. We’re also introduced to Det. Valerie Krochak (Zoie Palmer), a former hockey player turned forensic accountant who becomes embroiled in the case.

After over a year since Super Channel announced a sophomore season, it’s good to jump back into Amo’s world. For such dark subject matter, Pure is rife with humour and heart. The scenery is stunning (Nova Scotia stands in for Ontario) and while much of the dialogue amongst the Mennonite characters are spare, a lack of words is made up in facial expression, body language and eye movement. And, when they do speak, it’s to say something truly important, heartfelt and with conviction.

Pure airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse.

Images courtesy of Super Channel.

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Super Channel announces premiere date for Season 2 of Pure

From a media release:

Super Channel is pleased to announce that it has set a premiere date for the highly anticipated second season of the critically acclaimed Canadian Mennonite drug drama, Pure. The dramatic saga of Noah Funk’s double life will return on Tuesday, May 28 at 10 p.m. ET exclusively in Canada on Super Channel Fuse. Each episode will also be available on Super Channel On Demand, the day following its linear broadcast premiere. Subscribers can also catch up on all the drama of season one of Pure, available now on Super Channel on Demand.

The six-episode sophomore season of the Super Channel original production, which was shot on location in Nova Scotia, stars Canadians Ryan Robbins (Arrow, The Killing) and Alex Paxton-Beesley (The Strain, Murdoch Mysteries), with Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) joining the cast as a recurring guest star.

Season two picks up with Anna Funk (Paxton-Beesley) going it alone after Noah (Robbins) disappeared for a year. In an attempt to shield her children from the family’s involvement with the drug cartel, Anna finds herself in the very center of the drug ring she and Noah attempted to take down.

The series takes us deep inside a closed, secretive subculture through the eyes of a conflicted, good-hearted man trying to protect his family and preserve his faith.  Inspired by true events, Pure is the journey of Noah Funk, a newly elected Mennonite pastor, who is determined to rid his community of the scourge of drugs and its nefarious ties to a trans-border smuggling alliance with ruthless Mexican cocaine cartels.  Just when he thinks he’s won, Noah and his wife Anna are thrust headlong into a desperate world of violence, greed, and betrayal.

Pure is produced by Two East Productions and Cineflix in association with Super Channel, WGN America, Hulu and the CBC.  The series is created by Michael Amo (The Listener) with Amo and director Ken Girotti (Orphan Black, Vikings) serving as executive producers for the second season, along with Brett Burlock, Peter Emerson and David MacLeod (Call Me Fitz, Haven). Cineflix Rights has the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to Pure.

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Links: Pure, Season 1

From Lauren Sarner of the New York Post:

Link: Drug-dealing Mennonites take center stage in ‘Pure’
Grizzled men trafficking drugs is hardly a new TV trope — think “Breaking Bad” or “Narcos.” But the twist for “Pure” is a doozy: drug-trafficking Mennonites.

The new WGN America series follows a drug ring in the unlikely setting of a community of Canadian Mennonites, a strict religious sect with a low-tech lifestyle similar to the Amish. Continue reading.

From George Dickie Gracenote of the Daily Herald:

Link: Mennonites get pulled into drug smuggling in WGN America drama ‘Pure’
We often think of Mennonites as devoutly religious people who live simple lives free from the less-desirable aspects of modern existence. But a series premiering on WGN America shows that they, too, are not immune to the horrors of the 21st century. Continue reading.

From Meaghan Darwish of TV Insider:

Link: WGN America’s ‘Pure’ is inspired by the real-life Mennonite Mob
Looking for your next drug-centric binge? Want a show that’s a mix between AMC’s Breaking Bad and Cinemax’s Banshee? WGN America’s PURE may just be the fix you’re looking for. Continue reading.

From Dale McGarrigle of TV Fanatic:

Link: Pure’s Ryan Robbins Q & A: His Crusading Pastor, a Menacing Mob and his Spunky Little Drama
“I became really fascinated by the whole Anabaptist movement, and the lifestyle, that very simple off-grid lifestyle that many Mennonite communities practice.” Continue reading. 

From Dale McGarrigle of TV Fanatic:

Link: Pure’s A.J. Buckley Q & A: His Broken-Down Cop, Infiltrating the Mob, and His Entrancing Imported Drama
“I hadn’t really played a character like this before, so I called my agent back and let him know I was interested. Then I had a call with the director and the showrunner and that was kind of it. Bronco was born.” Continue reading. 

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