Gracepoint is the American remake of British crime drama Broadchurch, which ended its first and so far only season back in the early days of television: April 2013. But here Gracepoint is, with the same showrunner (Chris Chibnall), same star (One time Doctor, David Tennant) and presumably the same plotline as its British cousin. I say “presumably” same plotline as I’ve made the decision to not watch or otherwise learn anything about the original Broadchurch. I find the concept of remaking a year old show already in English for an American audience so hateful that it’s only fair to Gracepoint to not constantly compare it to Broadchurch and to try to appreciate it on its own merit. Even with that ground rule in place, however, there’s not much to appreciate in Gracepoint. Then a young Danny Solano ominously approaches the edge of a large cliff and we cut to the following morning. Danny is presumably dead and we have the increasingly common joy on television of waiting for his family to find out. Yes, Gracepoint is another murder show because The Killing got four seasons and the world is crazy. Most, if not all, viewers have a rough understanding of how a close-knit community in 2014 operates. And they know it’s not the Mayberry-by-way-of-Goodfellas tracking shot of Danny’s father, Mark (Michael Peña), sauntering through the center of town, talking to seemingly every citizen. Danny’s mom, Beth, is literally a soccer mom, as though the only thing British creator Chris Chibnal ever heard about America was the 1996 Presidential election. Do mothers take their kids to soccer practice in 2014 America? Of course they do. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lazy heuristic for character building. And while our familiarity with day-to-day small town life quickly reveals the lazy world-building in Gracepoint, our unfamiliarty with police work and murder investigations is equally harmful. Thankfully, very few people know the emotions and sensations accompanying a murder investigation. Gracepoint doesn’t have the commanding directorial presence to assure people that what they’re seeing resonates emotionally. Would Detective Ellie Miller (Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn) respond so emotionally to a murder scene if she knows the victim? Would Detective Emmett Carver (Tennant) react so coldly just because he’s from out of town and clearly a type-A hardass? The show doesn’t convince us that they would, so we can only assume they’re relying on tried and true detective show clichés, which they probably are. Still, when the family drama and police investigation intersect, it does lead to the best moment of the episode and the most promising indicator for Gracepoint’s future. Beth has not heard from Danny all day and begins to suspect the worst. Her suspicions are all but confirmed when she hears about a dead body being discovered at the beach and races past the police caution tape to see a small frame under a body bag wearing Danny’s shoes. That intersection of small town optimistic disbelief in the face of something truly terrible is the one time Gracepoint comes closest in its first episode to achieving the difficult tone its striving for. But even then, there’s a mystery at hand and who knows what the subtext is. Maybe Beth killed her son; maybe Mark did, or Ellie, or Emmet, or Miss Scarlet did in the ballroom with a dagger. Traditionally in the battle for intrigue and substance, intrigue wins. And the affecting scene from the premiere could feel downright silly nine weeks from now. Exhibit A is Ellie’s son mysteriously deleting all his texts from Danny. Though even I must admit that was…um, intriguing. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
