TV Review: Gracepoint (1×03) – “Episode Three”

I cannot express just how ridiculous I find the whole medium plotline. It annoys me to a point that I don’t even want to write about it out of frustration, because the show really should have cut it; it was one of the few blights on Broadchurch and the show should have rectified its mistake.

If it was solely used as a tool to express Beth’s grief and how she feels the need to hold onto any glimmer of a connection to Danny, it would work. Or it would at least work a little bit. Instead, we’re forced to endure the medium being presented in a fully reasonable manner on a show that’s about being logical, and removed from people to gather the facts, it just reads as hokey, and I can’t stand it. And I can’t stand Virginia Kull being wasted through this storyline, either.

Otherwise, this episode isn’t all that bad, maybe even an improvement on the last, although by the episode’s end I still find myself feeling an overwhelming sense of “meh.” It was okay. Nothing great, nothing disastrous, just something middling.

Mark is facing the ramifications of his lies and has been put under arrest after refusing to cooperate. His alibis fall through and there’s blood found on his boat, which Ellie and Carver believe was used to dump Danny’s body in the ocean to eliminate any tracks or marks. He tells Ellie and Carver that the blood is Danny’s, but was from a cut he got on a fishing trip. However, the lies still land him under arrest until he tells the truth, which comes in the form of someone else.

He hid his location because he’d been off having sex with another woman, cheating on Beth. He was afraid to tell the truth because he didn’t want to hurt his family and the amount of guilt he carries because of it. He says it was a one time thing, but it just so happened to coincide with the night of Danny’s murder.

He’s allowed to go, but this doesn’t mean all is well, particularly with him and Beth, who are feeling tension in their marriage. Mark believes that he’s held Beth back and Beth can’t help but hold suspicion for her husband. Beth is also having to deal with the odd affection from Reverend Paul Coates, and the show is really hitting us over the head with the fact that there may have been something between them in the past, however we don’t know what that is quite yet.

The journalists get a bit of time this week, although it’s all about journalistic integrity and if it’s okay to want to get ahead, which is a little one-note. Renee (Jessica Lucas) wants Owen (Kevin Zegers) to use his connections in town to get more inside scoops, but he doesn’t want to sink to that level because it’s his home and his community. Renee bombards Carver and tells him it’s his fault that another little girl’s murder went unsolved, and it’s clear the two have a tumultuous relationship.

We get to learn a little bit more about Carver this week when he meets up with his Doctor and friend and learns that he could be dealing with an illness that could kill him. He’s told to relax and change everything about his lifestyle to keep him healthy, but Carver refuses; he hates the town, its people and everything about it, but he’s going to stay and stay on the case as some form of self-inflicted penance. It should be making him more interesting, but I can’t help but feel that something is off with this version of Carver.

The same could be said for Ellie, and it’s never more apparent than when she and Carver are sharing a scene. They’re both asked to go to the extremes of both characters. Ellie is naïve to a fault, and Carver, similarly, is too severe, too aggressive and cold. David Tennant typically has an abundance of charisma and screen presence, but it’s lacking with Carver and I can’t tell why.

The episode ends with more people at odds than ever. Beth wants to know if Mark killed Danny, and he’s appalled. Ellie and Carver continue to argue and the two part ways. Everyone is a suspect, everyone could have murdered Danny, and no one is safe from scrutiny – even characters’ loved ones. Mark acts on his affair in a moment of weakness and Beth catches them.

But the real kicker is when a new piece of evidence is brought to Carver, taken from Danny’s clothing: a number written on a piece of paper. The episode ends with Carver looking up the number, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out who it belongs to.

So, what are our thoughts? Any better? Is anyone else as annoyed by the medium plot as I am?

7/10