Academy Award winner Holly Hunter makes the jump to the small screen in this brazen yet mercurial drama series on TNT. From its inception, it is clear that Saving Grace aims high. But it's not until several episodes into its bumpy first season that its achievements match its ambitions. The series revolves around Grace Hanadarko (Hunter) - a tough as nails Oklahoma City police detective with explosive tendencies, a dark past involving both the Oklahoma City bombing and molestation by a Catholic priest, and a relatively universal reputation for walking on the wild side. At first Grace, a forceful personality with girlish carelessness and freewheeling sexuality, feels sandwiched into the series for the purposes of being edgy. She drinks hard, wakes up groggy, shamelessly flashes the old man next door on her way to the shower, and then reports for one of the world's toughest jobs half in the bag and without a care in the world. Yet she's a sharp detective and fearless protector. Every bit of her wrecklessness wreaks of open emotional wounds. For every foolish impulse there is a dormant darkness waiting to be uncovered. All the conflict and confusion boiling beneath her surface throws itself at you in heaps and mounds at first, only to be settled and soothed as the series progresses by writer Nancy Miller's wisening with each weekly episode and Hunter's growingly rich performance. By season's end, in the gripping finale "Taco, Tulips, Duck, and Spices," the show has boiled itself down to some of the rawest drama ever to be broadcast on American television. The journey is well worth the dalliances with melodrama and frivolity, many of which stem from its surreal premise: Grace's wicked ways have earned her a "last chance angel" named Earl (Leon Rippy), a chain-smoking beer-bellied son of a gun. At times their unconventional, undefinable relationship makes for rollicking tension but often it's the smaller moments of quiet drama such as meaninful conversations with best friend Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo) that really do the trick. In spite of any and all shortcomings, Saving Grace is an artistic bullseye that keeps you riveted as you fall madly in love with every one of its disgruntled, imperfect characters.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
DVD of the Week: Saving Grace - Season One
Academy Award winner Holly Hunter makes the jump to the small screen in this brazen yet mercurial drama series on TNT. From its inception, it is clear that Saving Grace aims high. But it's not until several episodes into its bumpy first season that its achievements match its ambitions. The series revolves around Grace Hanadarko (Hunter) - a tough as nails Oklahoma City police detective with explosive tendencies, a dark past involving both the Oklahoma City bombing and molestation by a Catholic priest, and a relatively universal reputation for walking on the wild side. At first Grace, a forceful personality with girlish carelessness and freewheeling sexuality, feels sandwiched into the series for the purposes of being edgy. She drinks hard, wakes up groggy, shamelessly flashes the old man next door on her way to the shower, and then reports for one of the world's toughest jobs half in the bag and without a care in the world. Yet she's a sharp detective and fearless protector. Every bit of her wrecklessness wreaks of open emotional wounds. For every foolish impulse there is a dormant darkness waiting to be uncovered. All the conflict and confusion boiling beneath her surface throws itself at you in heaps and mounds at first, only to be settled and soothed as the series progresses by writer Nancy Miller's wisening with each weekly episode and Hunter's growingly rich performance. By season's end, in the gripping finale "Taco, Tulips, Duck, and Spices," the show has boiled itself down to some of the rawest drama ever to be broadcast on American television. The journey is well worth the dalliances with melodrama and frivolity, many of which stem from its surreal premise: Grace's wicked ways have earned her a "last chance angel" named Earl (Leon Rippy), a chain-smoking beer-bellied son of a gun. At times their unconventional, undefinable relationship makes for rollicking tension but often it's the smaller moments of quiet drama such as meaninful conversations with best friend Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo) that really do the trick. In spite of any and all shortcomings, Saving Grace is an artistic bullseye that keeps you riveted as you fall madly in love with every one of its disgruntled, imperfect characters.
