‘Grace’ Reminds Us Not to Forget

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Time out.

Flag on the play.

Just when I thought Saving Grace was over their rollicking sex romp opening sequences … surprise! As we know, that angle of the show does not really appeal to this viewer. Yet, it wasn’t as bothersome for me last night as it might have been last season.

Why?

Aside from the fact it was Kenny Johnson on display (as opposed to the usual MO of Holly Hunter and/or the female lead having to undress whilst the men sit around and do nothing), the rest of the episode had a rather ominous but homage-like tone to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.

And that made it pretty interesting.

The case was kind of a missing persons/whodunnit, with the son of a bombing victim turning back to his cocaine habit whilst his star athlete girlfriend tried to stop him. Grace had a connection to the son’s family – she found the father in the Murrow building two days after the bombing. As a result, she maintained a close relationship with the son and mother over the past 13 years.

But more than the case, this ep had the two elements I enjoyed the most last season: 1) Grace/Rhetta dynamic; 2) Grace/nephew Clay dynamic.

There was a nice confrontation between Rhetta and Clay as Clay calls Grace onto the carpet for a) lying about her adulterous relationship with Ham; b) lying about why she couldn’t baby sit him the day before the bombing (hung over), which then required her sister to go the next day – the day of the bombing – to get Clay a social security card.

Clay, like Rhetta, is one of the few who can hold Grace accountable for her actions. She can’t write him off, ditch him, ignore him, be a beyotch. She can’t escape the innocence with which he asks her the simplest questions, and that in turn forces her to look at herself as she truly is – perhaps even more so than with Angel Earl. Clay is almost like her conscience, and the guilt she feels as it pertains to the loss of his mother – her sister – is overwhelming.

As such, the Oklahoma City bombing aftermath hung heavily over this episode. Whether it was the squad asking each other how many friends they lost in the tragedy, or Grace’s connection to the case, or Rhetta explaining that she was eight months pregnant and on bed rest at the time it happened, which prevented her from being able to volunteer to help, it was hard not to feel as if the OK City folks sometimes get forgotten in the post-9/11 era.

But we cannot forget.

Their tragedy was just as much of a tragedy.

And it is episodes like this where the show’s setting in Oklahoma City serves us all a sobering reminder of how deep scars run ... something Grace knows a thing or two about.

New episodes air Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT. You can watch full episodes of the show anytime over on the show’s official Web site. You can also visit EmbraceYourGrace.com to share your stories of how you embrace your inner-Grace.