Unfortunately, episode director Euros Lynn cannot find a visually appealing way to frame these interrogations, and so they all seem to flow together. In other moments of “Episode Nine,” where we step into Carver’s dazed, blurry vision, Lynn overdoes the splotches of bright light. The low-angle shots of angelic-looking children and blasts of sunlight bleeding onto the screen do not effectively portray his altered state of mind.
Besides the visual template, one noticeable change this week were the differing attitudes of Ellie and Carver. At the end of earlier Gracepoint episodes, he would return to his hotel in a mood of bitter scorn, while she would just feel depleted by the work. Here, he marches off in a huff from the Gracepoint Journal, but it is out of resignation rather than rage. Meanwhile, she feels pushed to her breaking point as she rummages around Tom’s room for his computer, which she cannot find, and gets slackened support from Joe. “All I do is work and all I do is worry,” she says, chiding him. “What do you do all day?”
This episode should have been a crowning hour for Gunn, especially since it involves a lot of anguish coming her way, both in the station and back with her family. However, her stony approach to a few smaller moments was absurd. At the episode’s beginning, when Carver wakes up in the hospital, she yells at him for nearly dying on her, causing them to lose the suspect. Even Carver would show more sympathy in this instance, as Ellie’s chilly retorts are very out-of-character.
Away from the various scenes of questioning (along with some questionable answers), we return to a subplot that should have been finished by this point. The previous hour’s bowling escapade with the Solanos helped to look ahead to the future, but Mark is still jealous of the attention his wife gives to Paul. (Once again, the composer chooses to bleat chilly, alien music during a scene with the priest, when he rubs Beth’s back.) Beth tells her husband she is having second thoughts about keeping the baby. She doesn’t want to raise a child in a town where so much doubt resides.
However, does much doubt reside when trying to figure out who the murderer is? I wouldn’t have much of a problem waging a bet as to the identity of the prime suspect. Gracepoint’s penultimate hour is exposition-heavy, trying its best to cram in a lot of contradicting evidence to keep the viewer guessing. However, one wonders if the American iteration is doing as fine a job at building up to the explosive finale as Broadchurch. Based on this episode, the conclusion seems to be pointing in a familiar direction. Could the last hour make this elongated, twisty mystery finally worth it? Stay tuned for a finale that, hopefully, manages to catch us with surprise.
