Television: Gracepoint 1.9

The penultimate episode in which the net tightens around Mark Solano's plumbing partner Vince . . . Which almost certainly means he didn't do it. (Especially since previews promise a big twist.)

What Gracepoint is actually about—and what Broadchurch was also about—is paying attention to all the wrong things. It's about what one knows and doesn't know and about looking to one's own house. Beth didn't know about Mark and Gemma. Neither Beth nor Mark knew what Danny was up to. Ellie doesn't seem to know anything about her own house, and especially about whatever is going on with her son Tom. Susan Wright professes not to have known her husband was molesting their daughters. Carver didn't know his wife was having an affair until it all but ended his career. On and on and on, these shows are about blindness and possibly willful ignorance.

The solution in Broadchurch, that is, the answer to the mystery of whodunit, was the ultimate in this theme. (I won't give it away in case anyone plans to go watch it.) I'm guessing Gracepoint will aim for a similar revelation. They've said the answer won't be the same as for Broadchurch, but that doesn't mean it can't be close.

Maybe it'll be about the whole town not knowing something. Like that the reverend is doing bad things to the kids or something.

As for this episode, it focused on Susan versus Vince. Susan's backstory of her husband, and how it turns out Vince is her son, taken away and put into a foster system after her husband was locked up. Susan tells Ellie she saw Vince take Danny's body from a boat and lay it on the beach. Is she lying? Is she mistaken? It was dark and there was a fair distance between them.

But Vince has a tattoo of Danny's name on his arm. And Ellie's sister tells Ellie she saw the Solano plumbing truck that night, and someone putting a heavy, tarped item into it. Vince has no alibi since his mother was knocked out on cough medicine. And he had opportunity since he's known to make skateboards for the local kids. Things look pretty bleak for him. (Though motive is questionable. Kill the boss' son because you don't make enough money? And speaking of money, where did Danny get all his again?)

Someone is using Danny's missing cell, too. Hmm.

Next week we will have the answers. Next year, we will have a second season of Broadchurch. So if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you catch up. Because based on ratings, I'm not sure we'll get any more Gracepoint.