By LillyKat
PTR Staff Writer
So, Holly Hunter was right: you don’t often open a television series whereby the first scene has the lead female police detective in bed with her married partner, having more-than-an-intense interlude, only to have him decide he “can’t do this anymore” right before she could … well, finish?
Welcome to Saving Grace.
After much hullabaloo (and what seemed like an every-other-commercial promotional campaign by TNT for the past four months), Saving Grace, starring Academy Award® winner Holly Hunter, premiered last night.
And, I confess I am still not sure what I think about it.
I say this as someone who was really keen on this series when I first heard about it. I thought, “Holly Hunter, female cop show, on TNT (home to The Closer and, of course, re-runs of Cold Case), it should be good.”
It is arguably the edgiest and most racy piece of original series television programming TNT has done (it’s earned a TVMA rating, and thus, gets the whole “may not be not appropriate for some viewers” warning not to mention the 10 p.m. time slot on Mondays).
As billed by TNT, the show itself revolves around Grace Hanadarko, “a tormented, fast-living Oklahoma City police detective who, despite being at the top of her field, takes self-destruction to new heights in need of turning her life around.”
Read: she makes Lilly Rush look like she’s got her stuff together.
Read: she makes Brenda Leigh Johnson look like Secretary of State.
Except, I left last night’s episode thinking, “And …?”
Like something was missing.
Like a reason to really care about Grace’s struggle, seeing as what was mostly on display was Grace drinking, smoking, being insubordinate, banging her partner all the while not quite believing that Last Chance Angel Earl (played by Leon Rippy) had been sent down from the Heavens to give her – you guessed it – one last chance to get her life on the right track (apparently, that is Angel Earl’s specialty, along with chewing tobacco), and to truly test her faith (which, of course, she does not have).
I found myself caring more about her partner, Ham Dewey (played by Kenneth Johnson, who Cold Case viewers will remember as Joseph, and The Shield viewers will remember as Lem), than Grace, especially given his wife was not shy about beating him up and throwing him out for having the affair with Grace (an interesting twist on the wife being the abuser). I was even more interested in Laura San Giacomo’s small but entertaining scenes as Grace’s good friend and medical examiner, Rhetta, who Grace confides in to try and determine if God staged a drunk driving accident to a) get her attention, and b) then sent Angel Earl down to whisk her off to the Grand Canyon to prove the point.
Clay dust in the boots not withstanding.
I almost forgot this is a cop show, and as such, there was an actual case to be solved: a missing 10-year-old girl.
Now, I get that pilot episodes are suppose to establish the premise of a show.
And this is about Grace.
Hunter has said it numerous times herself in all of the promotional interviews (the show is “totally dangerous,” it’s not like anything on television, “it’s her life,” etc., etc.)
Sure, okay.
But, her life doesn’t seem all that interesting right now.
Just out of control – which isn’t necessarily all that compelling of a reason to care about her.
Lilly is all about the victims not being forgotten. Honorable.
Brenda is all about solving the murder and getting justice. Commendable.
Grace is … drunk all the time and too hot to handle?
“So, I'm supposed to do what? Change my life? Go to church? Be nice to people?”
Yup.
Pretty much.
New episodes air Monday’s at 10 p.m. on TNT.
PTR Staff Writer
So, Holly Hunter was right: you don’t often open a television series whereby the first scene has the lead female police detective in bed with her married partner, having more-than-an-intense interlude, only to have him decide he “can’t do this anymore” right before she could … well, finish?
Welcome to Saving Grace.
After much hullabaloo (and what seemed like an every-other-commercial promotional campaign by TNT for the past four months), Saving Grace, starring Academy Award® winner Holly Hunter, premiered last night.
And, I confess I am still not sure what I think about it.
I say this as someone who was really keen on this series when I first heard about it. I thought, “Holly Hunter, female cop show, on TNT (home to The Closer and, of course, re-runs of Cold Case), it should be good.”
It is arguably the edgiest and most racy piece of original series television programming TNT has done (it’s earned a TVMA rating, and thus, gets the whole “may not be not appropriate for some viewers” warning not to mention the 10 p.m. time slot on Mondays).
As billed by TNT, the show itself revolves around Grace Hanadarko, “a tormented, fast-living Oklahoma City police detective who, despite being at the top of her field, takes self-destruction to new heights in need of turning her life around.”
Read: she makes Lilly Rush look like she’s got her stuff together.
Read: she makes Brenda Leigh Johnson look like Secretary of State.
Except, I left last night’s episode thinking, “And …?”
Like something was missing.
Like a reason to really care about Grace’s struggle, seeing as what was mostly on display was Grace drinking, smoking, being insubordinate, banging her partner all the while not quite believing that Last Chance Angel Earl (played by Leon Rippy) had been sent down from the Heavens to give her – you guessed it – one last chance to get her life on the right track (apparently, that is Angel Earl’s specialty, along with chewing tobacco), and to truly test her faith (which, of course, she does not have).
I found myself caring more about her partner, Ham Dewey (played by Kenneth Johnson, who Cold Case viewers will remember as Joseph, and The Shield viewers will remember as Lem), than Grace, especially given his wife was not shy about beating him up and throwing him out for having the affair with Grace (an interesting twist on the wife being the abuser). I was even more interested in Laura San Giacomo’s small but entertaining scenes as Grace’s good friend and medical examiner, Rhetta, who Grace confides in to try and determine if God staged a drunk driving accident to a) get her attention, and b) then sent Angel Earl down to whisk her off to the Grand Canyon to prove the point.
Clay dust in the boots not withstanding.
I almost forgot this is a cop show, and as such, there was an actual case to be solved: a missing 10-year-old girl.
Now, I get that pilot episodes are suppose to establish the premise of a show.
And this is about Grace.
Hunter has said it numerous times herself in all of the promotional interviews (the show is “totally dangerous,” it’s not like anything on television, “it’s her life,” etc., etc.)
Sure, okay.
But, her life doesn’t seem all that interesting right now.
Just out of control – which isn’t necessarily all that compelling of a reason to care about her.
Lilly is all about the victims not being forgotten. Honorable.
Brenda is all about solving the murder and getting justice. Commendable.
Grace is … drunk all the time and too hot to handle?
“So, I'm supposed to do what? Change my life? Go to church? Be nice to people?”
Yup.
Pretty much.
New episodes air Monday’s at 10 p.m. on TNT.
3 comments:
I had no intentions of watching this show, but I was watching The Closer and thought, "Why not." I was expecting something that wasn't my style at all, but I found it to be pretty good. Grace is a difficult character to root for, but somehow, Hunter makes her likable despite all of her destructive flaws. Pilots are tough, so I'm thinking that the show will grow tremendously in the coming weeks.
The ending scene at the Oklahoma City Memorial was very moving and sorta lent a little sympathy Grace's way.
I think time will definitely tell on this one, tvfan. And I agree pilots are tough because you really don't have anything to go on other than that one ep. But I just remember immediately liking shows like Cold Case and The Closer, so it feels strange to only be lukewarm about this one seeing as I thought I'd really be into it.
I've been trying to read a bit today on what people thought. Seems there is a division of sorts - they either really liked it, or they were completely put off by it's graphic nature (both sexual and language).
We shall see. :)
I had no idea that Ham is Joseph from CC. That was a bit of a shock for me! Thanks for that little tidbit of info. As for the show, I think it has real potential. Grace seems like the type of character that can grow on you.
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