Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/FOX
The first ten minutes of this mini-series are brutal. Heart wrenching. It captures the moments before a young boy, Danny Solano is murdered in a small Northern California town and the story really takes off as it is revealed to the police department, his family, and the town after Emmett Carver (David Tennant) and Detective Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) have to deliver the news to the Solano family after Danny’s mom guessed it so. My heart. The tears just flowed in that telling scene. Wow.
On top of that, Ellie and Carver have their issues, seeing as how Carver took Ellie’s promotion. And that makes for so much tension at a time where it’s definitely not an added bonus. Carver is new to town and does his job well by keeping his walls up. Ellie might have been able to say the same thing but her best friend’s son just died so this isn’t just like any other case. It’s personal and it seems it’s Ellie’s first murder case. Everybody has a lot on their plate and it is portrayed flawlessly. I feel for each and every one of these characters.
Even Ellie’s nephew, Owen (Kevin Zegers) who is one of the small town’s journalists. He’s young and hungry and not too bright as far as murder cases go and helping the police out by not delivering names to the public. I wonder how much more trouble Owen will bring to this case. I sure hope not a lot.
In regards to David Tennant. No, his American accent isn’t perfect. Yes, aside from that, he has done a wonderful job with this character. It’s hard not to like Tennant but here with this character, Carter… not so. I love that Tennant is so versatile and I love that this entire cast is bringing their best as well, even though I also think that Michael Peña tried a little too hard therefore missing the mark a few times as Danny’s father.
Cast aside, the characters are introduced well and well developed for what I’m sure will be expanded upon in this mystery over the next nine episodes. I must say though that I didn’t buy that this was in Northern California. I don’t know why but it just didn’t feel authentic enough. Perhaps the tone of the show, which I love by the way, overshadows the familiarities of the setting. As far as the story goes, the pacing and revelations are an A in my book. Not only that but the emotions this episode evokes takes this mystery to the right place. Story resonance is there. This story will stick with you, haunt you, and have you keep coming back each week to see how this all resolves. Especially as emotions among the characters begin to unravel and flare out all over the place. Guilt. Blame. Everything in between. The emotions are raw so be prepared.
Now I haven’t seen the original series which this mini-series is based on, Broadchurch, but part of me wants to wait until this version is over before watching and comparing that way. Usually, the original of most pieces of work are better so I know what I’m watching here may not stand a chance against the original. But that’s part of the reason why I’m going to wait. To watch what’s good and then elevate to great with Broadchurch. Good idea, yeah? So overall, Gracepoint is a win for me. I’m going to watch. It’s only ten episodes, why not? Then… Broadchurch!
Watch the mini-series premiere of Gracepoint TONIGHT at 9/8c on Fox.