The constant suspicion of the last few weeks came to a steady boil in episode five. We learn the town of Gracepoint is rife with neighbors who do not really know each other and families with sordid secrets that are bound to tear them apart. Affairs, convictions, secret pasts and addictions all come to the surface like so much flotsam and jetsam revealing themselves in indelicate fashion.
This week’s episode delivered in many different ways. It would have been excellent to have made this the first episode and then played the other episodes after. This was the kind of hook that Gracepoint needed right up front. The energy between the characters crackled and story lines started to come to life. Alas, we cannot go back in time.
The Solano family breaks their silence and gives an exclusive interview to Renee for the San Fransisco Globe. This interview heats things up at the police station and brings to light some ugly truths that a few folks in town would have rather had suppressed. The article makes Carver call a press conference with the family to make a more official presentation of the case to the public.
Renee who promised to share a byline with Owen has thrown him to the wolves. She diverted attention away from her own actions by having Owen follow up on Reinhold’s past. Poor Owen is a rube. I feel sorry for him allowing an out of towner to steal his opportunities to shine as a journalist. Dutifully Owen goes to the docks and quizzes the old salt, Reinhold and gets man-handled in the process.
Carver’s character sprang to life this week helping to craft a more solid picture of the enigma who has been brooding about Gracepoint insulting everyone he sees. It was good to see a more animated and engaging version of Emmett Carver. The brooding surly detective is not so easy to embrace. From his cursory review of the burnt boat to the shared camaraderie with Joe Miller over dinner and a glass of red wine to his plaintive voice message left for his teenage daughter a more human Emmett Carver has begun to emerge. 
From revelations of Reinhold’s criminal past, to Susan Wright being a shifty so and so who threatens Kathy Eaton about revealing her secret, to the psychic Raymond having a break down in his car after a confrontation with Detective Carver Gracepoint is finally starting be a more alluring show. We have new questions about all the suspects and I would like to know when we are going to cover earlier clues. We need to know about Vince’s suspicious behavior, and the skateboard in Susan’s closet. And the super big question why was Tom wiping his phone records and cleaning his hard drive. I am not convinced that Tom is the killer, he is a small guy and moving a dead body is thirsty work.
I have finally placed exactly what it is about this story that is failing me. It is lazy writing and casting. It seems too rushed and that it was ok to rush production because the Director already had his ducks in order. The thing is you cannot rush anything of quality. And regurgitated and abbreviated dialogue that is not native to the viewing audience when reprocessed specifically for an audience that knows what the original is about is just poor form.
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