Sunday, September 23, 2007

'Grace' Out with a Bang ... Not.



By LillyKat
PTR Staff Writer


What the heck was that?

Honestly.

That was a season finale?

Talk about over promised and under delivered.

The wrap up of the first season of Saving Grace was beyond dull and lackluster, and I am not even sure I have words to describe its over-hyped-ness.

We at PTR seriously frown upon deceptive promos of any kind – no matter what show, no matter what network, no matter if it is for a regular episode or a season finale.

Apparently, TNT missed that memo.

All this build up to ''Grace’s biggest secret is revealed" / "It all comes down to this" / "Journey to redemption" is eminent … yeah, sure … if you call Grace simply fessing up to the ultimate night-gone-wrong from 11 years ago.

One problem (and one that kinda seems like a big consistency issue): if it went so wrong, if we are so scarred by the experience, if we are so freaked out and so disturbed that we check for this guy’s whereabouts on a weekly basis … why are we exactly the same 11 years later? As in, no change in behavior that got us into the predicament in the first place? Case in point: boinking some dude that we met at the grocery store at the beginning of this episode.

Oh, right … we had a total blackout.

Give me a break.

How on earth do you expect me to buy the fact that Grace is suddenly tripped out by the fact that she was picked up in a bar by the same dude who ends up being the murder suspect of this week’s case – a guy who thinks women, basically, are whores and should be sliced and diced at will?

Yeah, so she barfs up a lung when she figures out it is the same guy. And she barfs up another lung when she gets out the beer bottle left in her bedroom 11 years ago that she kept (read: stole) as evidence hoping to one day nail the guy. Yeah, so that scar on her shoulder (and we know we’ve seen plenty of it) is from his knife – the whole “where it all began” thing.

And yet we’re still boinking grocery store clerks, right? And truckers … and other guys from bars … and both our partners … and our medical examiner … and, and, and …

Have the writers completely forgotten the mess they have created in Grace Hanadarko, or are we just supposed to pretend this entire first season doesn’t exist? Seriously, how do we know she didn’t dare psycho boy to do some sort of S & M ritual in the first place – have we not been watching her more-than-aggressive and completely self-absorbed behavior this entire first season?

This whole episode played like some desperate attempt to wrap up the season, with Grace scoring some “I’m really changing” points (to which Earl gives her) because she fessed up to her night gone bad.

Whoop-dee-do.

I’m sorry, but if you want me to be shocked and feel like I should care that Grace has to face down psycho boy, then maybe we should’ve started several episodes back, with some sort of change of behavior (her tough love act with her nephew not withstanding – which was the only highlight of this episode, and by my count, the only real interesting aspect of her character growth for this entire first season).

I can’t even stand Kenneth Johnson anymore (and I loved this guy on Cold Case. Literally. I was prepared to have Lil’ live happily ever after with his Joseph). As such, I was actually looking forward to his role on this show, but he annoys me so badly with his surfer-dude cop routine who just wants to boink Grace hourly … well, in the words of Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest): “Enough!”

Talk about no character development from Pilot to Finale. Perhaps beat only by Grace herself.

I still loved Rhetta, who honorably tries to piece together all of the “things” Earl has brought back for Grace on his various trips around the globe (and galaxy), suggesting Grace is deliberately blocking out her memory so as to prevent her from moving forward (as symbolized by the trinkets).

‘kay.

Then why was she hunting psycho boy on a weekly basis if she could not – and did not want to – remember?

It just doesn’t make sense.

To put a different spin on a line from The Closer’s third season finale: the Kennedy assassination had less holes in it than this storyline.

The only thing that got me through this finale were the multiple airings of the Cold Case mini-marathon promos (set to begin this Tuesday, September 25th).

Good luck to those of you going on to watch Season 2. The PTR file on Saving Grace is officially closed.

We won’t be reopening the case.

3 comments:

TVFan said...

Welcome back! I didn't understand why the night in question didn't change her either. I guess she just buries herself in hooking up with random guys the way Lilly buries herself in her work when things go wrong. Obviously, neither is healthy, but Grace's method is sooooo much worse (not to mention riskier).

Glad this season is over.

Anonymous said...

I like the show more than you do, but I agree with your cooments on this episode.

Earl acts like she really changed (or started to change) and there was none of that on screeen.

Why would she still pick up strangers and let them handcuff her?

And none of this explains her hostility to her family and her lack of real feelings for her partners (banging them doesn't count).

Anonymous said...

Good parallels, tvfan, about how Lilly buries herself in work and Grace buries herself in ... well, sex, drugs and rock n' roll. LOL! It just always felt they never really got past that premise, though. So weird.

I hope you'll enjoy Season 2, john. I really had hoped I'd like this show much more than I did ... I think I actually surprised myself in how much I didn't. LOL!