WGN’s Newest Drama Pure Is A Captivating Look At A Mennonite Drug Cartel That Needs To Be Seen To Be Belived

And you thought Mennonites​ were boring.

Image courtesy of Deadline

Inspired by real events, Pure is the story of a Mennonite homestead thrown into turmoil when a former member of the flock turns their farming community into a drug trafficking ring. Just when all seems lost, hope rings through when a new pastor by the name of Noah Funk (played by Ryan Robbins) takes it on himself to rid the community of their cocaine problem by giving up the local ring leader Gerry Epp (Patrick Garrow) to the police. Gerry, however, has a boss by the name of “Uncle” Eli Voss (Peter Outerbridge) who decides that while Gerry is rotting in jail, kind, sweet, docile Noah Funk will take Gerry’s place. No one tells Uncle No and lives.

Uncle asked nicely. Image courtesy of Hulu’s Pure site

With a new charge in hand, Noah decides it’s God’s will that he learns as much as he can about the drug business, who all is involved, and about Eli Voss himself in an attempt to turn everything he learns and takes notes of over to the police, and finally rid the town of the drugs once and for all.

While being a Pastor, a father, and a devoted husband. That’s multitasking.

Throughout the season, Noah finds help in some very strange places, such as an ego driven alcoholic ex cop by the name of Bronco Novak, who in high school used to date Noah’s wife, Anna Funk (Alex Paxton-Beesley) who also becomes the backbone of the new family business by taking up the duties of accounting, inventory, and intervening in situations her husband is too naive to handle, like hiding bodies properly, that burning clothes soaked with blood is easier than washing them (who knew?) and who to shake down when a deal goes south. A street wise Mennonite wife is a force to be reckoned with.

The salvation they’ve all been looking for comes when the DEA is finally able to break Eli’s supply chain in Canada, which means Eli needs another means of transporting his product or lose the whole operation. When a new method is discovered by Bronco and perfected by a local drug addicted dentist (that’s actually more common than you think) Eli demands to see the process in person and also demands Noah come to Mexico and show it to him. No spoilers but the finale is heartbreaking and yet shows how good things really can come from great tragedies but in a non warm and fuzzy way. Perfect ending.

Pure is a fantastic series that is well written and well shot with a great flow. The cast is fantastic with great character interactions, solid dialogue, and tangible emotional moments The music score was a bit hit or miss throughout the series but that’s​ pretty marginal when compared to the whole picture it’s helping to create.

I highly recommend Pure to anyone who loves their crime dramas real and outside the norm. Should we one day have ratings, this would definitely be an 8 out of 10.

Image courtesy of Retro Kimmer’s Blog

Official trailer can be seen here

For more information check out WGN’s website

Series airs Wednesday January 23rd