Gracepoint 01.03 (SPOILERS) Also, a little about the pain of depression…
SPOILERS
I just gotta point out that this is like the biggest chore in the world for me right now. When you have depression, as I do, motivation to do things is really tough. So, typing this and watching Gracepoint at the same time really just hurts my head, but I’m still going to force myself to do it. I’m hoping that it will give me motivation to do something else. Anything else. I know that even getting up to WATCHING the second episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show is going to be difficulty with total speed, let alone recapping. That would seem like I didn’t like the show, but that’s the horror of depression – it takes away the things you normally like. I know that’s kind of maybe TMI for the people on Gamersledge who are reading this post, since I’ve never talked about my depression there, but even if you don’t suffer from depression yourself, you know someone who does. A relative, a neighbor, a friend, a coworker.
Onto the show…
We start with Mark Solano walking slow-motion to his son’s room, where he finds Danny crying in the closet, soaking wet. Flashback? No, dream.
David Tennant is being all broody and grumpy, and gives Ellie bitchface for being too clangy with her thermos, and doesn’t even thank her for the coffee. Mr. Jerky Bitchface. They talk about maybe a missing boat, and that’s how Danny’s body was transported to the dump site. They’re bringing Mark Solano in at 9:00 AM, and Carver bitches her out for not immediately wanting to arrest the father. So, he kind of decides to punish her by running a meeting in the morning without prep, and then digging the knife in even deeper by wondering why she didn’t ask them to all find ways to disprove Solano did it, and her list of other suspects.
In the interview, Solano is more avid about his alibi because he texted a friend to get an instant alibi. He does own a boat, which is kind of damning. While Dad’s at the cop shop, Beth is running on the treadmill. She then starts talking to the officer who’s watching them, about her priorities, how she should have cared about spending time with him, instead of caring about dirty clothes on the floor. She even takes a dig about Anne Hathaway not being funny since her and Chloe watched one of her movies on cable the night. I don’t get all the Anne Hathaway hate, even by fictitious characters. It’s trendy to rag on her because she’s pretty and successful, I guess? Just like all the hate around Angelina Jolie.
Ellie and Carver go to Solano’s boat, and Carver shows a fear of water, and definitely doesn’t want to be on a boat. So, Ellie goes on alone, and finds blood. After the commericals, they go to Creepy Dog Lady’s trailer to find out about Mark Solano, and if he fixed the burst pipe at the Harvey Ridge cabin. She says that he did not, but she doesn’t offer up the sign-out sheet that Carver had to sign to get the keys from her. She also does everything in the world possible to act suspicious.
Carver and Ellie then go to check on Mark’s alibi, with his friend/co-worker Vince. He says that he was with Mark, and met him at Harvey Ridge. They then went to a sports bar outside of town. But then his mom totally screws him and says that he was home all night, and went to the pharmacy. Solano still stands by his alibi, even though it’s crumbling all around him. He says the blood in his boat was Danny’s from when they were catching fish a couple of weeks prior. It looked pretty fresh for that… Carver is his usual cheery, sunshine self, and immediately starts shouting at Solano about obstruction of a murder investigation. Solano still won’t talk because he feels all his words just get twisted, but not telling the truth certainly isn’t doing him any favors.
Renee goes to Rhinehold, or Nick Nolte’s, shop. She introduces herself, and Rhinehold is salty about not speaking to the press. Owen has issues with his bank account. She wants Owen to do a story about Danny after she finds out that Ellie is Owen’s aunt. She also starts putting her nose in with Vince, the plumbing apprentice. The establishing shot of him shows blood staining in the back of the van. He’s also salty with her about being a reporter, and not wanting to tell her anything.
Carver then interviews Tom, Ellie’s son. His father is present. Carver asks about Danny’s cell phone, and how they talk about baseball. Tom says he likes the Giants, but that Danny kind of stopped caring. Tom admits that Danny said his dad hit him. After the interview, he also spies on Ellie with her family from his office window. Him and Ellie will not be getting friendship bracelets at any point.
Beth needs to get out of the house, and yells at her mom again for smothering her because she wants to go out alone. She winds up at a look off over the ocean, and Raymond the psychic phone guy winds up sitting beside her. He starts talking about the migrations, but he has a message from Danny. She doesn’t want to hear it though, and warns him to step off. Once at home, she’s armpit deep in food. “I’m sorry your son’s dead. Here’s a meatloaf.” I’ve never understood that mentality. I mean, I know it’s a nice gesture, but it’s a WEIRD nice gesture. Paul, their cop shadow, lets them know that Mark was arrested because he wouldn’t account for his whereabouts. But then he doesn’t tell them more. Probably because he doesn’t KNOW more, even though Chloe flips her shit. It’s not like he’s at the top rung of the ladder in the police department. Beth drags her off to the bathroom, and then locks them in, whispering that they have to lock down, and stick together, just the two of them. Chloe says ‘and Dad too’, but Beth says nothing.
After the commercials, we get a gorgeous establishing shot of a whale’s tail cresting. Carver is meeting with someone who’s apparently his doctor. They’re talking about a ‘time bomb’ in his system. So, the shooting up earlier wasn’t a junkie issue. The doctor wants him to go on medical leave, but he won’t. Even though he hates EVERYTHING about Gracepoint. The sea, the air, the smiling faces, the sky.
Beth is wandering aimlessly in her house, not knowing what to do with herself, when she notices that Raymond left a message under her door. She’s very tempted by it, so she talks to the local priest. They hold hands a little too long on the table, and she pulls away. He suggests some sort of memorial service for Danny since they can’t have a funeral yet, and she’s not sure. Meanwhile, Chloe is in her room, texting someone about telling the police where Mark was on Thursday night. Maybe her boyfriend?
The tech team is going through Danny’s clothes when we get back from commercial. Gemma, the innkeeper, comes in. Ellie thinks that it’s about the cocaine, but it turns out that she’s Mark’s alibi, because they were fucking in the Harvey Ridge cabin that night. Carver is pissed that they wasted so much time because he didn’t want to be the source of gossip. Ellie asks why, and Carver snaps about her also being a couples’ councilor. He begs them not to tell Beth about Gemma. So, that’s who Chloe was texting…
Raymond winds up meeting with Beth, and he has two messages. One is that he’s safe, and not in pain. And the other is that he doesn’t want Beth to look for his killer, because it’s someone that he knows really well, and he doesn’t want her to be upset.
We go back to the tech team, and they find a torn piece of a crossword page in the seam of his jacket, with a phone number written on it.
Ellie’s on the phone with her husband, talking about how ‘delightful’ Carver is. He’s then there, giving her bitchface, and telling her to get Chloe awake to ask about the cocaine. He’s a dick about it (as usual – he must have jerk store disease), and Ellie warns him to step away, and then goes home. Carver still calls Chloe about the cocaine.
In bed, Beth wonders why Mark won’t tell her about his alibi, and then she wonders if he killed Danny. Mark’s mad that she could even ask that (he IS lying to her, so he’s getting a bit preachy). He storms out, and goes to see Gemma. They wind up kissing, not knowing that Beth followed him and witnessed the whole thing.
Just as Carver’s about to go home, the tech guy gives Carver the crossword page piece, and he’s pissed that they didn’t find it sooner. Nothing is good enough for you, Carver! You got so grumpy since you lost your TARDIS. So, he looks up the phone number, and it belongs to… commercials! Those damn commercials, they’re responsible for everything. I’m live-typing this, so I’m guessing it’s Tom’s cell phone (Ellie’s son). But we don’t find out. We get the credits. We won’t find out until next week.
