FOX’s newest crime drama brings emotion and humanity to the television murder mystery genre in its premiere episode. Gracepoint debuts tonight at 9 p.m., but The News-Letter received an advanced copy of the show’s first seven episodes to get an exclusive look at how FOX’s “mystery event series” will continue to progress.
Adapted from the British series Broadchurch, the Americanized version takes place in a Northern California coastal town that nurtures a close-knit community. When twelve-year-old local boy Danny Solano’s murder disrupts the town’s easygoing atmosphere, the ensuing homicide investigation disintegrates residents’ long-standing relationships.
Serving as FOX’s answer to HBO’s True Detective, Gracepoint follows only a single murder investigation for its entire series. As a result, the show distances itself from high-paced crime shows like CSI. Interviews, leads, forensics and evidence are not neatly packaged into a single episode to uncover the killer.
Besides this return to realistically paced investigations, the show’s greatest strength is its lengthy list of characters; from mysterious townspeople and meddling journalists to a suspicious mentalist and a shadowy hiker, everyone in Gracepoint becomes a suspect.
British actor David Tennant, known for his role in Doctor Who, plays grouchy and scowling Detective Emmett Carver, who comes to Gracepoint to escape his own troubled past. Carver leads the investigation alongside Detective Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn).
Ellie and Carver’s relationship may be the most interesting and tension-building one featured on the show. The two find themselves at odds immediately, and the very first episode features Carver’s unexpected arrival, which ruins Ellie’s anticipated promotion.
Growing up in Gracepoint, Ellie knows everyone tied to the case and sometimes seems too nurturing and biased. On the other hand, Carver can come across as too unfeeling and cold. The two maintain an edgy relationship until they finally stop battling in the fifth and sixth episodes.
The premiere episode of Gracepoint does a commendable job fleshing out and realistically portraying the grief associated with a young boy’s death. Beth Solano (Virginia Kull), the boy’s mother, does not realize Danny is even missing until she discovers his body on the beach.
Her hysterical reaction is strong for a television performance. Kull also skillfully maintains this grief-stricken attitude throughout the series.
Realistic family grieving aside, very little plot development occurs in this premiere episode. Viewers have little evidence, and only short character interactions are presented to them. It is therefore not possible for them to start making assumptions of any potential killers.
In addition, the only time in which the audience receives any insight into the town’s normal atmosphere is when Danny’s father and Gracepoint’s plumber Mark Solano (Michael Pena) walks down the street. His conversations are not notable, but this shows the town’s closeness. They briefly converse with every character who will eventually be explored in greater depth as the plot thickens and suspects are ruled out.
The first episode also introduces the complication of the media interference with the Solano case as Owen Burke (Kevin Zegers), who is also Ellie’s nephew, leaks sensitive information.
While the show’s first episode is full of emotion, allowing it to set the stage of a real family and a town mourning a loss, the second episode dishes out plot lines in an explosion of information. Viewers are bombarded with evidence and shown new relationships in an overwhelming fashion.
For example, viewers start to learn more about relationships like that of the town’s soft spoken priest Paul Coates (Kevin Rankin) with Beth Solano and the drama with daughter Chole Salano (Madalyn Horcher). These changes, however, are abrupt and hard to keep straight.
If viewers can maintain interest, Academy Award-nominated actor Nick Nolte, who plays secretive dock master Jack Reinhold, has a moving performance. Reinhold gradually finds profound depth as his character comes under scrutiny. This drama comes much later in the series, but is not to be missed.
The fifth and sixth episodes of the series contain the most action and shocking twists by far. In these episodes, the investigation drags on, but the killer — or killers — start to resurface with new acts of publicity. Thus, the show starts to feel more active and is no longer simply re-hashing Danny’s murder.
Despite the humanity created by the different characters’ traits, Gracepoint does have emotional flaws. It’s difficult to sympathize and engage in the investigation at certain points when, even as the show enters its fourth and fifth episodes, the audience does not have a full picture of the town’s inner workings or Danny himself before the investigation.
The cinematography of Gracepoint is another aspect of the show that should not be overlooked. The scenes are separated by awe-inspiring shots of the northern California coastline.
As a whole, Gracepoint does a decent job bringing realism back to television murder mysteries while still maintaining shocking drama. It is interesting to watch because the show explores such superficial relationships and deepens characters. More importantly, these relationships disintegrate as Danny’s murder dredges up the lies and secrets of a seemingly peaceful town.
Besides its Emmy Award-winning comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, FOX can proudly add another successful cop show to its prime time line-up.
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