While Gracepoint hasn’t packed the same emotional wallop of Broadchurch, its source material, it has maintained a consistent level of intrigue, melancholy, and family drama, all aided by strong performances from a number of its central actors. For the majority of its ten episode run, the show has been exciting but it has struggled towards the end of the season.
While the jumping off point for Gracepoint has been the central mystery of who killed Danny Solano, much like its British predecessor Broadchurch has developed into a compelling, devastating look at the effects of loss on a family and an entire town. While most viewers would argue that Broadchurch did it better, the sharp plot turn in “Episode Seven” highlighted the fact that Gracepoint has developed a great mystery and compelling characters on its own.
The episode begins with the townspeople and police quietly reassessing their hasty judgment of Jack but terrifyingly a good number of the townspeople don’t seem to upset Jack is dead. Rather than looking at themselves, Paul (Kevin Rankin) and the rest of the town turn their attention to Carver. With a newspaper headline proclaiming he is the worst cop in California it is easier for them to blame Carver for Jack’s death than themselves.
While the central mystery of Gracepoint remains who killed Danny Solano, the show has evolved into much more. The town that looked perfect is full of countless devastating secrets and its characters are increasingly, deeply complex. Who Detective Carver (David Tennant) is and why he behaves the way he does has become just as fascinating as the search for Danny’s killer, and how the writers have woven these together has become the most exciting aspect of the show.
In just two episodes, Gracepoint has managed to introduce a show that is both a compelling character drama and a fascinating murder mystery. Leads David Tennant and Anna Gunn have slipped easily into their parts and Tennant in particular has been a standout.
“Episode Two” delves deeper into the emotional pain and uncertainty plaguing Gracepoint in the aftermath of Danny’s murder. It also raises interesting questions about a good number of the characters.
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 16: “Felina” Written by Vince Gilligan Directed by Vince Gilligan Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC – “I did it for me.” – After Walter White utters these words, the rest of “Felina,” the final episode of Breaking Bad, almost doesn’t matter. It’s a definitive punctuation mark, the ultimate …
Breaking Bad is not a series generally noted for its lightness of tone, but Vince Gilligan and his collaborators have always managed to wring humor and quirk out of what would seem to be a hopelessly grim set of story beats. That’s what makes “Granite State,” the series’ super-sized penultimate episode, so hard to watch. Save for a few passing moments of sewer-downhill-from-the-gallows “humour,” “Granite State” is a relentlessly bleak hour of TV, wherein even the glimpses of “hope” are really just (in all likelihood) presaging more carnage.
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 14: “Ozymandias” Written by Moira Walley-Beckett Directed by Rian Johnson Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC – Holy bloody damned hell. – First, some (mild) vindication. I mentioned last week that there was absolutely no way this week’s outing would open with Hank dead, just like that. True enough, once …
Some series offer neat, tidy payoffs week-to-week, making sure to leave viewers satisfied while leaving them with enough plot and/or character movement to satisfy while leaving them eager for the next piece of the bigger picture. Not so with Breaking Bad; it’s impossible to imagine anyone getting to the final moments of “Confessions” and not cursing the television gods for not granting them immediate access to next week’s “Rabid Dog.” This right here is some next-level viewer-directed cruelty of the most effective sort.
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Since the very beginning of Breaking Bad, these actresses have been tasked with the most thankless roles on one of the most celebrated dramas in TV history. In the case of Gunn, it’s a repeat performance in a sense: she had a similarly unglamorous gig as Sheriff Bullock’s beleagured-but-upstanding wife Martha. TV historians and prognosticators will be quick to extol the virtues of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, along with Dean Norris and Bob Odenkirk (and rightfully so) but in a very real sense, Brandt and Gunn have long provided Breaking Bad with a moral dimension that would otherwise be absent.
Little Red Wagon Directed by David Anspaugh Written by Patrick Sheane Duncan USA, 2012 In many ways, the true story of Zach Bonner, the protagonist of the new family drama Little Red Wagon, is a crying shame. No doubt, his determination to help out as many homeless families in Florida as possible is admirable and …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 4: “Fifty-One” Written by Sam Catlin Directed by Rian Johnson Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC How criminal is it that Anna Gunn has largely been left out of the accolades Breaking Bad has received over the years, only earning her first Emmy nod this year? Skyler White has …
Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 1: “Live Free or Die” Written by Vince Gilligan Directed by Michael Slovis Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC And so the end begins. The most acclaimed drama around kicks off its last, bipartite season with…a scene in a Denny’s. More specifically, a flashforward, one which sees our esteemed …
Breaking Bad Season 4, Episode 3: ‘Open House’ Written by Sam Catlin Directed by David Slade Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on AMC Is Breaking Bad‘s fourth season a transitional one? Over the last couple of weeks, Vince Gilligan has all but confirmed that Season 5 will be the show’s last, making this one the …