Episode 8 of Gracepoint aired in the USA, Canada and Australia last night. Read our review of all the action here - be aware that the article contains spoilers.
Episode 7 of Gracepoint
ended on a thrilling cliffhanger and a hint that the plot of the FOX TV
drama was now taking a dramatic detour from the original series Broadchurch. Would Tom Miller be found
alive? Were the people of Gracepoint facing a serial killer? And would we delve
deeper into the background of troubled detective Emmett Carver?
However, for reasons best known to themselves, Fox chose to
reveal via promo photos and clips that Tom Miller (Jack Irvine) was safe and
well before the episode had even aired, thus making his discovery in the dark
woods by Reverend Paul Coates (Kevin Rankin) something of an anticlimax. And
with mysterious backpacker Lars Pierson (Brendan Fletcher) still denying any
connection to Tom at all, it fell to Tom himself to explain his actions to his
distraught parents Ellie and Joe (Anna Gunn and Josh Hamilton). It turns out
that the much vaunted detour into new territory seems to be merely a device for
Tom to show that he is missing Ellie. He wanted to track down Lars himself, he
said, he wanted to help solve the murder for Danny’s sake, and he wanted his
mom back. Whether anything more is made of the incident will have to wait for
now as episode 8, disappointingly, shifts straight back into Broadchurch territory.
After aspects of his parenting abilities were laid bare by
the contrivance of his daughter’s appearance in town last week Emmett Carver
(David Tennant) is back to his usual crotchety self. Very briefly he shows
concern for his colleague Miller during her hour of need. He even deigns to
call her Ellie. But he quickly backtracks on his inappropriate over-familiarity
and has her back in work the moment Tom is safely home behind closed doors. It
is with huge reluctance and concern that Carver and Miller have to see Pierson
released from custody; however they have nothing to hold him on and he was
apparently at a campsite 50 miles away on the night of the murder. There is
still a deep sense of unease at seeing this very troubled man being driven away
in a squad car when other children are potentially at risk.
Carver, though, is setting his sights on a new target.
Still smarting from Paul Coates’ very public rebuke at Jack Reinhold’s funeral,
he leaps with gusto on Mark Solano’s (Michael Peña) sly allegations that Paul
may be up to something. Paul is jealous of
the Solano family, says Mark, also that he too conveniently found the bike and
then Tom, and, most damning of all, that he secretly attends Narcotics
Anonymous meetings. A little digging and Carver has enough dirt to go and
question Paul again: in his past there is a bar fight and a period in rehab
before the transfer back to Gracepoint. For his part Paul doesn’t deny his offence
or his previous addiction to painkillers, nor does he deny his past affection
for Beth. In a fraught head-to-head at the police station it becomes clear that
these are two men that want to do the right thing for their community. It’s
just that one is motivated by suspicion and the other by faith.
Meanwhile an unwelcome face is back in town: Renee Clemons
(Jessica Lucas) is tempted back by the news of Tom’s disappearance. The town
isn’t ready to forgive and she is cold shouldered by journalists Kathy Eaton
(Alisen Down) and Owen Burke (Kevin Zegers) as well as Gemma Fisher (Sarah-Jane
Potts) who refuses her a room at the inn. However, what Renee does do is put
Beth Solano (Virginia Kull) in touch with one of the Rosemont parents. Beth is
still adrift, and while Mark and Chloe (Madalyn Horcher) attempt to return to
their normal routines, she still feels that she needs some sort of guidance on
what she should do next. The encounter answers none of her questions and the
prospect of being that woman who lies in bed and drinks and cries and pops
pills leaves her in utter despair.
In truth the other two Solanos aren’t faring much better.
Chloe returns to school and becomes immediately conscious that she is ‘The
Murdered Boy’s Sister’. Mark spots a newspaper featuring Danny crumpled up in a
customer’s fire basket and realises that they are yesterday’s news. It is only
when Mark spots Chloe skipping school in the company of Dean and he and Beth
track her down to his uncle’s restaurant that they all realise that they are
still living as three strangers under one roof and that Dean is doing a better
job of caring for Chloe and recognising her grief than either of her parents.
It takes some family time to make them start to feel like a family again and to
break some of the unconscious taboos that they have imposed upon themselves
surrounding Danny’s death. More significantly, it marks the first time that
Beth has acknowledged the new baby that she is carrying and gives hope that the
family can rebuild.
Kathy and Owen actually have other reasons for shutting
Renee out – it turns out they are doing some digging of their own. Far from
being cowed by the vile threat made to her by Susan Wright (Jacki Weaver),
Kathy decides to find out more about ‘Ruth Erlich’, and what she uncovers is of
great interest to the police. However, Susan also manages to draw attention to
herself in a far more dramatic fashion when she returns Danny’s missing
skateboard to Tom, a move that she must have known would bring the investigative
spotlight swinging in her direction. She’s brought in for questioning, but on discovering
that her beloved dog Archie has got missing, swiped by a vengeful Vince (Stephen
Louis Grush), she clams up. Whatever secrets Susan may be holding will have to
remain undiscovered for now.
Just as the viewer is lulled into believing that Tom Miller’s
actions are motivated by a childish desire to put things back the way they
were, the shifty-eyed boy seems up to no good again. Remember that wiped hard drive?
Something has brought it to Tom’s mind again, and he quizzes Owen on whether
the information is really gone. When he doesn’t get the answer he wants he
takes the opportunity to sneak out of the house and smash up his laptop.
However, he’s spotted by a suspiciously loitering Paul. For all of Tom’s public
loyalty to Danny, he still has something big to hide.
The episode ends on another huge cliffhanger. Whatever plans
Detectives Carver and Miller had in store for further investigations into Susan
are scuppered when a torchlight is spotted in the sealed-off hut where Danny
was killed. Whoever the intruder is, they are fit and strong enough to knock
Ellie to the ground before sprinting away. However, their escape is
overshadowed by Carver’s most dramatic collapse yet, one from which even the
breathlessly gasping detective himself doubts he will survive...
Due to Thanksgiving in the USA, there will be two weeks to
wait to see what happens to Carver, and what turns up next in the hunt for the
killer of Danny Solano.
Watch Episode 9 of Gracepoint at 9pm ET on Thursday 4th
December on FOX in the USA and on Global in Canada and at 8.30pm on Friday 5th
December on the Universal Channel in Australia.
Comments
Post a Comment