At fifty-two years old, and looking fifteen years younger than that, Holly Hunter’s character in “Saving Grace” is perhaps one of the most complex in a career spanning nearly thirty years. She’s the kind of actress whose face is recognizable, but most people can’t think of what they know her from. Make no mistake: this show has changed that. Hunter’s character isn’t all that likable. She’s a police officer; an alcoholic; a chain-smoker and, to be honest, kind of trampy. But she’s also an excellent best friend; a whip-smart detective and well-liked by her co-workers and teenage nephew. Frequently naked, mouthy, and railing against injustice, she can turn also on a dime, vulnerability oozing from her tiny 5″2 frame.
Grace Hanadarko has been with the Oklahoma City Police Department most of her life. She’s good at her job; has amazing instincts and has an uncanny ability to discern when she’s being lied to. When the series began three years ago, Detective Hanadarko was driving too fast while intoxicated.
After seemingly striking a homeless man with her car she begs God for a second chance. And then she meets Earl – an unconventional angel full of cryptic messages from her maker. Grace has always had a problem with organized religion, stemming back to childhood abuse at the hands of a priest. She finds it hard to reconcile a God which would let this happen to her; a God which would allow her sister to die in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, leaving behind a newborn baby… with a God that who would give her a second chance; would send her someone to help her make sense of it all. Seasons 1 and 2 focused on the character’s disbelief and anger, and on fleshing out the person that one becomes after so much wrong is foisted upon them.
This is sadly the last season in the series. It works to examine the relationships Grace has with the people around her. She’s involved with not one, but two fellow police officers. The first is her married ex-and-sometimes-current lover played by Bailey Chase (yum!) and the second is her unmarried-and-sometimes-current lover played by Kenny Johnson. Then there’s her lifelong best friend, Rhetta Rodriguez (a toned-down Laura San Giacomo whom you may remember as Julia Roberts best friend in “Pretty Woman”). This season is certainly the show’s darkest in terms of creepy crimes and crazy killers. But it also has the most memorable episode of the entire three-year run, and if you purchase this box set for no other reason, purchase it to watch the episode entitled “Looks Like A Lesbian Attack To Me”. In this episode, Clea DuVall guest-stars as a lesbian law enforcement officer with a terrible secret: her girlfriend is beating her, abusing her in every possible manner. But because lesbian relationships aren’t exactly the norm in Oklahoma City, and she still loves this woman, she won’t report it, and thus, it won’t stop. Grace sets up a situation which results in possibly the most perfect use of music ever employed in the history of this (or maybe even any other) television show. I won’t spoil it for you, but Florence & The Machine’s song “Kiss With A Fist” will never be heard the same away again after you watch it in the context of this episode.
while it’s a new release – you won’t be disappointed. (Guest post written by Carissa White, Marketing & Promotions, Princess Cinema, Waterloo Ontario)
I have Saving Grace: The Final Season
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