The real question is whether we'll see a second season of Gracepoint. (A second season of Broadchurch is coming in February, btw.) Gracepoint's ratings have been middling at best, and the show didn't seem to spark the furor that FOX probably hoped for. I'll admit, from my own perspective, while I found Broadchurch to be appointment television, I felt lackluster about Gracepoint. I don't know if it's because I'd seen it before? People who are interested in something like Gracepoint are also interested in something like Broadchurch, so remaking the show for what amounts to the same audience probably didn't win them very many new viewers and possibly lost them a few who didn't feel the need to see it again from an American perspective.
Still, they've left Gracepoint open for another season if they choose to do it. If you're wondering about the whodunit aspect [spoilers], it was partially the same answer as Broadchurch: Joe, Ellie's husband confesses to Danny's murder. He tells Carver that he and Danny had been meeting in secret, etc. The American twist is the presence of Tom at the scene. He was actually the one to hit and kill Danny—an accident, as he was trying to defend Danny from Joe.
Maybe they were thinking this would be more palatable to American viewers, to make Joe more sympathetic by taking the fall for his son. It certainly complicates things. Joe is still kind of awful—what weirdo hangs out with underage boys? Oh, except Jack and athletic coaches and scout leaders . . . Okay, I guess a lot of people. Our culture actually fosters this in some ways. But that's another topic for another time.
I think if they'd played up the idea that Danny and Joe had more in common, and Tom and Mark too, it might have made a bit more sense. Like, I used to hang out with my best friend's mother. She was artsy, like me, and my mother wasn't. Funny about the gender lines, though. Moms are expected to nurture their kids, others' kids, whomever. If a dad wants to nurture and hang out with boys other than his own, it's . . . weird. Creepy. Something in our evolutionary history balks at it.
The episode ended with Carver realizing Tom's involvement. He doesn't know exactly how Tom was involved, but he's pulled together the evidence and seen the clear picture it paints: Tom was there. (After all, if it had been a rock, they'd have found the blood and hair, if not the rock itself.) He calls Ellie to confront her with this, but she won't answer. We're left hanging: What will she do? Go on the run with her sons? Try to cut a deal with Carver to leave Tom out of it? We don't know and might never know if there isn't another season.
But to make you feel better, here's a trailer for Broadchurch Season 2:
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