Not Much Truth to ‘Grace’

By LillyKat
PTR Staff Writer

So, what’s it going to take for Grace?

Does stabbing her best friend in the back qualify?

Someone other than Angel Earl held the ever self-absorbed and shameless Grace accountable this week.

Best friend Rhetta.

If only for one episode, though.

For me, one of the saving graces of Saving Grace has been Laura San Giacomo’s portrayal of Grace’s best friend (and medical examiner), Rhetta. From Day 1, she’s been a believer, a moral compass, a guide, cute in her interest about the scientific details of Angel Earl’s existence, and never wavering on letting Grace off the hook about what is really transpiring.

The whole Divine Intervention thing.

Not to mention she’s the owner of Holy Cow – the cow that Grace stole (or was that “freed”?) from Cattle Rancher of the Galaxy Alvin Green and of which just happens to have Jesus appear on the side of its black and white hide.

Yes, Rhetta has been one of the only reasons to continue watching this show.

So the fact that this week’s episode focused a bit on her was welcome relief (seeing as the ep opened yet again with Grace banging some stray trucker that comes around every two months or so … I guess partner Ham was busy being afraid of birds or checking his watch to pray at noon or some such thing).

Anyways, Angel Earl’s Truth-or-Dare dare to Grace to stop lying this week ends up in a lie being revealed to faithful and loyal friend Rhetta.

Which got us back to ironies.

And got Grace told off by her own buddy. (Go, Rhetta!)

I personally think Rhetta should’ve b*itchslapped Grace around a bit, but alas, that wouldn’t be Rhetta. But seeing as Grace screws Rhetta out of being flown to Los Angeles as a key witness on a serial rapist case (and getting $2000, too – helpful, seeing as Rhetta’s family is a bit strapped for cash at the moment) because Grace tampered with the evidence on which Rhetta was supposed to testify (and lied to Rhetta about said tampering) surely had me wishing Rhetta had driven Grace off the same cliff that this week’s The Closer’s victim found herself at the bottom of.

Honestly, is this woman every going to stop? Do we even care anymore? Can we really believe that after six episodes of Angel Earl proving his existence 18 billion times over that Grace isn’t getting the picture?

Own up. Deal. Or just plain drive yourself into a telephone pole and do the world a favor. It’s beyond tiresome and boring to continue to have this in-your-face-I’m-so-outta-control-watch-me-laugh-at-the-world mentality. It’s not even believable to me anymore that someone who almost killed a man, has been in two places at once, has wrestled an Angel at The Coliseum in Greece, gets beamed over the Grand Canyon at will and sends an Angel to Morocco for spices in less than the blink of an eye has not changed whatsoever since the Pilot episode.

There was a case this week (as there usually is, but always seems to take a back seat to the sex, drugs and rock and roll). Something about a hard core investigative journalist who gets herself personally involved in her stories (e.g., becomes a prostitute to write about some seedy underhanded father-son pimps running shady underhanded casinos and re-writing the book on incest). What she discovered and wrote up for her article gets her killed, and it all does eventually tie back to the Deliverance-esque father and son, where the father thinks nothing of feeling up all the little girls in their family and murdering two of them if they protest.

Creepy. Yuck. Gross.

Would’ve loved to have seen Brenda Leigh Johnson or Lilly Rush go after these two pieces of work.

But with Grace … eh, I just don’t care.

In the end, she and Rhetta do make up (seeing as Grace did mope around after knowing she royally messed up Rhetta’s world), and Rhetta does have the power to forgive.

But does Grace stop lying?

Darlene (Ham's wife): “Are you sleeping with my husband?”
Grace: “No.”

Typical.

New episodes air Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT.