PILOT REVIEW: Gracepoint

GRACEPOINT

Starring: Anna Gunn, David Tennant, Virginia Kull, Kevin Rankin, Josh Hamilton, Kevin Zegers, Jessica Lucas, Madalyn Horcher, Sarah-Jane Potts, Stephen Louis Grush, Kendrick Sampson, Jack Irvine, with Nick Nolte, with Michael Pena, and Jacki Weaver

Based on the original series "Broadchurch"
Created by Chris Chibnall
Written by Chris Chibnall, Directed by James Strong

THE PREMISE: Gracepoint is a dreary new 10-episode event series based on the UK series Broadchurch. Set in the small town of Gracepoint in the Pacific Northwest. 12 year old boy Danny Solano is killed and Detectives Emmett Carver (David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) are on the case while dealing with grieving parents Mark and Beth (Michael Pena and Virginia Kull). The pilot sets things up to make nearly everyone in a large ensemble a suspect. Among some early key players are Ellie's nephew and local reporter Owen (Kevin Zegers), Ellie's son, Tom, who's hiding a secret (Jack Irvine), and reporter from San Francisco, Renee Clemons (Jessica Lucas).

THE GOOD: I understand this is a near-carbon copy of Broadchurch, except not as good. However, I have never seen Broadchurch so this was all new for me and I enjoyed it for the most part. The show does a great job of painting the picture of an eerie situation. It seems to be trying to evoke the Twin Peaks feel and does a good job doing so, While I didn't love every aspect, it did leave me as a show like this should: wanting to know who did it. As long as I can stay interested in that, it's doing its job. I like the fact that this is a 10 episode series and it better have a clear, resolved ending or else I'm going to be upset I wasted my time.

THE BAD: I liked the mystery of it and I'm curious to know who did it, but it's just so darn depressing and dreary. I know that's the vibe it's going for but this is almost a little too serious for me. The other problem here is that the performances don't stand out and they threw so much at us, I don't really know which characters to pay attention to. Aside from a serious interest in what's going on with Ellie's son, I just didn't get connected to the characters enough to start forming opinions. I'm not sure if this is part of the original Broadchurch, but I didn't care for the melodramatic slow-motion movements.

BOTTOM LINE: If this show stays a 10 episode event series as advertised, I'll probably stick with it to see who did it. Given the ratings, I think it's likely it'll just be the 10 episodes, but I'm always skeptical after other shows like The Killing and Under the Dome have burned their fans. I'm in, but I'll need to watch a comedy after each episode, I think.