What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail (Season Finale)

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 10 “End of the Trail” (B+)

Watching a season finale without knowing whether a show will be returning for another iteration is always a bit anxiety-producing, though in the case of this series, these characters are definitely going away, even if the actors might return for another season or two. It’s good to know that two of the show’s stars, Geraldine Viswanathan and Karan Soni, acted together in the film “7 Days,” indicating that further collaborations even outside this series might be possible. This was a pretty solid finale, one that tied up all the plotlines while still keeping the intrigue up until the end regarding whether it was all going to turn out okay or not. Todd treating all of the sex he was watching people have in front of him like a Netflix menu was an entertaining idea, and Ezekiel nearly managed to extract Prudence without him noticing, but naturally that plan didn’t pan out so perfectly. Prudence exacting a very particular form of revenge at the end was extremely fitting. Trig wanting to be bad just for the hell of it was a notion that was quelled by her father finally telling her that he loved her, something that she had always wanted to hear. Ezekiel’s bride first wishing that he would go to the good part of hell and then inviting him and Prudence along was a sign of how endearing his intentions are, and I greatly enjoyed getting to watch Ezekiel and Prudence on their extremely rocky road towards a happy relationship. I think I liked this season as much as I liked season one, and I’m definitely on board for a season four and beyond.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 9 “Stranded” (B+)

For as much as she would hate to admit it, Trig actually has much more in common with her father than she knows. The boredom he and the Gunslinger felt when they went to the saloon that had been reformed and now trafficked in politeness was similar to how Trig couldn’t stand robbing people who were so willing to give up their wallets because they were weighing down their pockets anyway. We didn’t see much of the governor, played by Bobby Moynihan from “Mr. Mayor,” but he was also ousted rather rapidly by an opportunistic and very intelligent Trig, who propped Todd up as a candidate that was obviously meant to be a stand-in for Trump. Prudence’s efforts to appeal to the townspeople first for her rescue and then not to vote for her captor and tormentor were entirely ineffective, and that last moment with the town in ruins was awfully bleak. Things weren’t much better for the crew that didn’t manage to make it to Oregon before winter and who were arguing over which one of them they should eat to ensure the survival of the rest. Ezekiel’s attitude was grim, and the sight of him munching on a foot and then everyone devouring the bloody bones of their dead caravan member was surprisingly gruesome. I like that Benny was the one who tried to rally them not to give up hope, pretending to be God in what I can only imagine was meant to be a nod to season one where that was the role Steve Buscemi played.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 8 “Over the Mountain” (B+)

Gullibility is a big part of how this season has functioned, but that’s also because there exist many situations in real life where people don’t ask questions if the answers seem convenient enough. Ezekiel and Prudence spending hours doing bible study together was the perfect cover, and I love that, even after their affair was exposed, Todd couldn’t understand how they had time to have sex with all the bible studying that they were doing. Ezekiel believing that his straying from God was what had caused the misfortunes of the group, like the possessed boy and a single lightning strike killing their lead ox, didn’t lead to good things, like his horrible torture device that would take all pleasure out of being with Prudence and his spontaneous prayer that got overheard by everyone around him. As Benny put on an enlightened act and pretended to have been reformed, Trig knew that couldn’t be the case, and she was smart to prey on the most susceptible member of the party, Todd, who sent their wagon straight off a cliff while he rode off with the band of criminals and a captive Prudence. Even though Benny is with them, the Gunslinger seems to have chosen his side, and so presumably we’ll spend the final two episodes of this season chasing after Trig and trying to rescue Prudence, which should be able to put Ezekiel back in everyone’s good graces and allow them some sort of happily ever after, if this show is feeling sappy.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 7 “White Savior” (B)

This episode really devoted its focus to Benny and the concept of the white savior, something he took as a positive thing rather than for the negative trope it’s always been, especially in media. His cluelessness is a big part of this show, and that’s why it worked well for him to march in and try to achieve things that the tribe wasn’t necessarily interested in and ultimately make it worse by failing to do so. Sheila might have had more fun with him if she didn’t find him so completely and intolerably irritating, and she nearly got him to simply walk away and not turn back, something that astounded the chief. Sheila’s admission of an enjoyment of scalping people made things a bit less serious, but I suppose I’ve never accused this show of being serious when it often devolves to immature humor in its mockery of how society functions and explains away its prejudices as just part of the way things are. While Benny wasn’t missed back at the camp, I did miss on a focus on the new hot couple who are eager to spend plenty of time together even though the circumstances of their close-quartered travel don’t quite allow for it. With just three episodes left in this particular anthology, I want to see what happens with Ezekiel and Prudence since I’m sure that both Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan will go on to have great roles in the future, potentially even on this show, but I really like these two characters and would love to see them get whatever counts for a happy ending in this show’s universe.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 6 “Independence Rock” (B+)

I’m sure it was present in the first two seasons also, but I feel like I’m noticing a lot more allegory in the plotlines’ pointed relevance to modern times and issues. I enjoyed the fact that it was a love for July 4th and America in general that came between Ezekiel and his new bride, who were already having problems because he’s not quite as into praying as she is, a thought that wouldn’t have previously been conceivable for him. Just as Prudence pushed him first not to marry her and then convinced him to go through with it, she was there again trying to show him that he had to be himself, which he did, patriotic float and all. I didn’t expect that he and Prudence were going to actually realize and act on their feelings while his new marriage was still imploding, but I’m very happy to see it, since true romance isn’t something that typically happens on a mockery-centric show like this. Benny trying to compete with Trig to show everyone what a real outlaw was like didn’t go too well for him when he was about to blow up Uncle Sam, much to everyone’s horror, and I do enjoy the dynamic that this father and daughter have. The Gunslinger showing up to give Benny a hug rather than try to shoot or capture him because he doesn’t work on federal holidays was an entertaining moment, and I find their relationship very endearing too, made even better by the past parts the two actors have played on this show.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 5 “Meet the Noonans” (B+)

I enjoy the way that this show folds concepts into its episodes that make the world seem impossibly small and impossibly large at the same time, namely that Benny’s own daughter could rob them and that a giant religious convoy could show up from out of nowhere. I’m a big fan of Tim Meadows, who previously appeared in a season one episode of this show in a different role, and I had to go and watch his famous Chili’s meeting clip from “The Office” before I could write this review. I loved his reaction to the horrifying revelation from Prudence that Ezekiel often stayed up until nine thirty and his emphasis on the three feet and three inches of space to be left for God. The bachelor party with a “dresser” putting on more clothes was absolutely absurd but pretty funny too. It was good that Prudence spoke up to make sure that Ezekiel wasn’t forever trapped in a boring marriage, but then she had to go ahead and undo it all to get the wedding to happen in the end. That’s certainly not the end of the romance, and she’s going to regret that decision for a while. I was happy to see Quinta Brunson back as Benny’s very frustrated daughter Trig, who would probably get along well with Prudence given that she’s much more about organization and planning than her haphazard father. I liked the Gunslinger’s attempt to save himself by suggesting letting the captive go and then wondering aloud who said it.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 4 “What Happens in Branchwater” (B+)

Going off the trail to make a stop in a town that’s pretty much the era’s equivalent of modern-day Las Vegas hardly seemed like a good idea, but the big surprise in store was that it’s a much more PG-friendly, polite operation that no one looking for a bit of adventure wanted to distract themselves from the monotony of the journey. It was a fun chance, most of all, for Benny and the Gunslinger to bond over a yearning for the good old days where they could get a steak and keep their guns while in the saloon. This did remind me of a recent “Legends of Tomorrow” episode where there was a place like this which turned out to be controlled by an alien, but that obviously wasn’t the case here, just a man who allowed maturity and family to point him in a much better direction. The yearning they both felt for the game they used to play was entertaining, and I’m glad that, after the Gunslinger finished his count, they’re back to the hunt. Todd did a terrible job of gambling, which wasn’t surprising, while Prudence moved on to her next career aspiration by dressing up as a prostitute. The snake oil that wasn’t snake oil that Ezekiel drank gave him some courage he could very much use, but unfortunately it motivated him to make the wrong move on Prudence that is likely to quash any future hope of the two of them having a romance. Daniel Radcliffe surely had fun making this episode.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 3 “Hunting Party” (B+)

I’m loving the wealth of opportunities for different characters to interact with one another in this season, and this episode offered plenty of that. It’s unfortunate that Ezekiel took what Prudence said about him the way that Benny interpreted it rather than as the compliment she meant it as, and as a result he felt the need to prove his manliness by going along with them. Just as Prudence is the voice of reason, so too is Ezekiel, who pointed out that the buffalo were large, slow-moving targets that didn’t require much in the way of skill to accurately shoot. Bears, on the other hand, are a bit more menacing, and as painstakingly recounted in the episode-ending funeral, not everyone made it back alive. Prudence asking Benny to train her to be a bandit was an entertaining exercise, one that involved surprisingly few conclusions, namely that it’s a good idea to just start shooting, not that Benny was prepared to do that when he just suggested that they die when they were under siege. Prudence’s eagerness to redo her entrance and show just how much of a natural she was proved entertaining. I was also excited to see the Gunslinger again, whose joke about also being a bounty hunter went over poorly but who was very well-armed under that fur coat of his that he decided to still buy after Benny and Prudence got away. I expect we’ll see plenty of him again, though he’ll always be a step behind the somehow still-alive Benny.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 2 “Fording the River” (B+)

I do appreciate that, three years in, this show is still finding new ways to send up both history and modernity and keeping it relatively fresh. Todd deciding to take the nearby ferry so that he wouldn’t get wet and not even considering the fact that he might be able to take something heavy along with him so that the rest of the group didn’t have to literally leave someone behind to die was just the beginning of the absurdity, and I enjoyed that they met a couple of hipster tourists there who were all about taking pictures without actually doing any of the activities portrayed in them. Leave it to Prudence to notice that the woman kept saying “hashtag” and other modern expressions, something explained by her husband as insanity as a result of being kicked in the head by a horse (or was it a horseshoe?). I also liked that Prudence’s departure meant that they no longer wanted to swing, and that Todd was informed that he would have been watching at best had she stayed. Prudence pushing him into the water after she saved Ezekiel from drowning was a great moment, and everyone being surprised by how strong she was underlines the demeaning misconceptions about female ability in the era (and now). Benny trying to figure out what game Ezekiel was running as he was drowning was entertaining, as was his eagerness to show Ezekiel that he didn’t have any good nature in him, like saving someone from a fire just to then rob and shoot him. But they are starting to get along, and that’s fun to see.

What I’m Watching: Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail (Season Premiere)

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: Season 3, Episode 1 “Hittin’ the Trail” (B+)

I’ve missed this show, and I honestly had no idea it was coming back for a third season until I see a billboard for it while driving around LA. I like that, once again, there’s a potential romance in store for Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan’s characters, though the stakes are different in that he’s an old-fashioned reverend and she’s a typically ahead-of-her-time woman surrounded by unbelievably dumb men, including a husband played by Jon Bass, who in season two portrayed her brother. I’m also so happy to see Karan Soni as the bounty hunter who was easily tricked into having his photo taken so that they could free Benny the Teen, especially since he and Viswanathan anchored a wonderful comedy that played at Tribeca called “7 Days” that I would highly recommend. As usual, Buscemi is perfectly cast, and I like that he’s back to the more prominent kind of role that he had in season one, and that it comes with attitude and personality, plus no remorse for having killed many men, women, and children, most of whom didn’t deserve to die, much to Ezekiel’s chagrin. I enjoyed the minimal parody of the current pandemic with Ezekiel’s acknowledgment that no one was actually staying six feet apart even with cholera rampant and his unfortunate use of the phrase “Put your hands up where the sun don’t shine.” I like that this season will be on the move and that they can constantly encounter new places and scenarios, and I’m excited to see what humor lies ahead.