One thing I loved about Wake Up Dead Man is that when Jud says to Cy “your real inheritance is in Christ”, he was being Literal.
The jewel was inside Jesus’s bosom, in the crucifix that Jud made after Cy left. It will be there if Cy ever chooses to change his ways and come back to the Church - the real Church.
It’s hope of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Cy probably will never change, but his Inheritance is still waiting for him. Just like Jesus Christ waits for the penitent to seek out his forgiveness and his grace - that’s humanity’s inheritance that they will earn through him.
My only gripe about wake up dead man is how little presence are the supporting cast
I feel like Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, etc. are even more under-used for their characters
Mila Kunis' Chief Geraldine could've been anyone, and I guess it feels like she's the straight laced police like Lakeith Stanfield's Lieutenant Elliot was in Knives Out..
But Lieutenant Elliot slightly feels more involved because he is serving his straight laced traits and very grounded rational perspective against Trooper Wagner and Benoit Blanc..
The few times Officer Geraldine was the straight laced "see? Blanc, this is evidence!" I feel like she should've been given more lines to explain what the consequences would be if Jud is kept from being arrested. Or what happened when Geraldine has to defend Jud after hearing Martha's suicide confession..
Also Vera Draven by Washington looks like she has so much to say and drop lore, especially on Cy and other dirt on the town, and on Wicks..
The most under-used to me was Caelie Spaeny's character.. she is very much so financially, medically and spiritually robbed. Her character is so interesting and so darkly familiar. I know so many of us may live or know people who have to rely on devotion to faith thinking they'll be healed miraculously, scammed by a legitimate (?) body of church or a cult and exploited on as an example for a true believer.. I'm glad she gave up on that church but there's a hint of regret for even being seduced to the idea something will change for her and she wasted all that time and money..
Anyway yeah the cast is so good but not quite utilized
Cy secretly sets up a couple of cameras in the church and rectory in hopes of figuring out where Jud has hidden the diamond but all he finds out is that Jud and Benoit are fucking on every surface of that place
Cy's constant recording of everything is very relevant in how it denies privacy to Jud and any of the flock. Jud can't have an embarrassing failed prayer meeting without Cy posting it online for thousands of people to see. He can't have a moment to himself to process or cry after Wicks attacks him because Cy is there recording him. Cy even misses filming the murder of Wicks because he turned the camera to film Martha crying.
Cy's behavior is another limb of the systematic pressures keeping Jud silent about the sexual harassment, and keeping the flock loyal. Surveillance. Shame. The threat of vicious harassment if you are deemed Evil. And it's the same pressure that kept Grace tethered to her awful father. The same pressure that killed her when she realized her one escape was gone.
It's an example of what shockingly few people seem to understand: constant surveillance is violence.
Some people have juxtaposed Grace with Martha, Vera, and Simone. But I'd like to compare Grace and Jefferson.
Spoilers below the cut for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Grace Wicks gif from @bumblingeditor
Grace: has a child out of wedlock and surrenders the raising of her son to her father, washing her hands off of that responsibility.
Jeff: has a child out of wedlock and surrenders the raising of his son to his devoted friend and sheep who immediately passes on the responsibility to Vera.
Grace: is trapped by the temptation her father has offered--stay in Chimney Rock and inherit the fortune after he passes.
Jeff: is trapped by hatred and his grandfather's fire-and-brimstone sermons--can only dream of escaping Chimney Rock once he finds out about the diamond.
Grace: stays in Chimney Rock but doesn't connect with her kid; just like Prentice doesn't connect with her. He's written her off after she had a child.
Jeff: stays in Chimney Rock while his biological son Cy is in the same place for 20 years. He doesn't connect with Cy (until Vera outs him); just like Grace never reached out to Jeff.
Grace: driven to extreme lengths of greed and frustration in search for the diamond, ends up assaulting a child (who taunts her), and then dies due to alleged brain aneurysm (struck down by god's mercy as Martha says)
Jeff: driven to extreme lengths of his own deep-rooted hatred and bigotry, grows greedy, ends up burning bridges with his flock, airs out their confessions… and then is killed after indulging in the drink (struck down by satan as Martha says)
Jefferson has done many of the things Grace has done and then some. It's sheer irony that he calls her a harlot whore, and calls Cy's mother "loose" when by his own definition of those terms, Wicks is ALSO a harlot whore and loose!
I like the consistency of Prentice, Grace, and Jefferson all dying due to their greed, hate, and pain. In one of the last scenes, Cy's lawyer calls him Mr. Wicks. Cy changed his name from Draven to Wicks to have a greater legal hold on the diamond. Pretty sure Cy will go the same way as his father, grandmother, and great-grandfather, (not to mention Martha, Samson, and Dr. Nat) if he never lets up the devious search for the diamond. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all ;)
And notice how only one of the four Wicks' is demonized as being of bad character when all of them have a whole range of faults. it's the misogyny
