Cynical Cinema

Saving Grace is a show on TNT in the States and on Showcase here in Canada. Season Two kicks off tonight, at 10 p.m. Eastern, and it’s solid. Holly Hunter stars in her first TV series as Grace, a hard-drinking, smoking, promiscuous detective in Oklahoma City. In the first season, she apparently has a string of one-night stands, an affair with her partner, and she kills a pedestrian in a hit-and-run with her Porsche. An angel appears to her and tells her she has a chance to do right again. I say “apparently” because I had not seen this show before. And I’m disappointed that I haven’t. Showcase specializes in the type of shows that you don’t normally see, with flawed characters, dark humour and creepy situations. And Saving Grace certainly qualifies.

I got a chance to see the first episode of season two today, and this really is a remarkable show. In the season opener, Grace has managed to capture and kidnap the priest who molested her as a child. While she is keeping him a prisoner in her house, she manages to kill a man who was on the FBI’s most wanted list. The internal affairs department begins an investigation after that shooting, because it gets reported that she was drunk at the time. It’s a powerful, dark and troubling episode to begin season two of a series that is better than most. Check it out tonight.