Quick Hit: Gracepoint

Halfway through the FOX crime drama Gracepoint, one thing is abundantly clear: the stretch marks are starting to show. Even without the knowledge that the original UK series, Broadchurch, was a leaner 8-episode run, the meandering pace of the American version wears thin.

Intricately detailing the investigation of a murdered boy in the small titular coastal village, the show spent a great deal of time wallowing in the grief and sorrow of the family. I have never seen the original series, but I would welcome the alternate perspective: is this touchy-feely approach an American slant on the story? I’m trying to remain clear of any Broadchurch spoilers as both series reportedly adhere to the same central plot, but I suspect the typically austere British worldview has been watered down for American audiences.

That said, things really started to pick up in tonight’s fifth episode.

Suspects identified in the original pilot have started to take focus. All eyes are on Nick Nolte as Jack Reinhold, the fisherman with an unexpected criminal pass who suddenly shows up with the dead boy’s missing cell phone. The local priest, Paul Coates (Kevin Rankin), has also emerged as an intensely creepy figure, lurking at all hours of the night and, most likely, lusting for the victim’s mother (the excellent Virginia Kull). Threatened, a reclusive woman (Jacki Weaver, appropriately disheveled) confronts the editor of the Gracepoint Journal with the time-honored classic “I know guys who will rape you.”

There’s also the mysterious phone repairman who may / may not be psychically communicating with the dead child.

It’s nearly impossible at this stage to accurately point a finger at the true criminal. The way these things run, it’s usually the one you least suspect. I have my suspicions, and I predict that most of the colorful supporting cast mentioned above are just window dressing.

What I have greatly admired through the entire series is the strength of Anna Gunn’s fantastic performance as Detective Ellie Miller. The evolving relationship between her sensitive, trusting character and the hardened cynic Detective Emmett Carver (David Tennant) provides compelling character development. As the investigation proceeds, Gunn interior is starting to slowly harden as she absorbs more from the more experienced Carver. It doesn’t help that those Gracepoint citizens she once trusted start to disappoint and shock her more and more.

The core struggle of the series appears to revolve around the tug of war over the cold intellect versus warm emotion, the man versus the woman. Granted, we won’t know what prevails until the end of the show, but, given the immense emotional depth of the initial episodes and the trajectory of the Ellie character, I have my suspicions where it’s going.

As the show gradually, very gradually, becomes darker and more cynical, ripping at the imagery of this idyllic seaside town, I am starting to suspect the murderer lives very close to the family. If not in the house, then practically next door…

Thus far, the series has been an average at best. There are bright spots here and there, but I (and I suspect many viewers) can only take in so much local flavor before plot advancement becomes a necessity. We seem to be taken a step in the right direction, finally, but the decision to expand the series into 10 episodes seems to have been a bone-headed move.

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