There was an important question that Detective Miller asked Susan Wright when she let her go on "Episode 9" of Gracepoint in regards to the horrible things that happened in Susan's home, "how could you not know?" It was a question that didn't seem as important as I thought at the time, but the series finale of Gracepoint proved that it was a question relevant to everyone in this little town, because it seems no one really knows anyone in this city and the reveal of Danny's killer proved this to be true.

Last night, with his suspension on the line, Detective Carver asks the chief of police for eight more hours to wrap up any loose ends. He says this with confidence for some odd reason and sends Miller off to do busy work to interview Tom Miller, with his dad present, about the emails he managed to recover from the busted hard drive on the PC. Halfway through the camera fails and Carver is forced to record on his phone and during this we find out that Danny had a new email address that only two people emailed Danny from and Tom was one of them. As Carver presses Tom on how much anger arose from the two of them arguing, Joe puts an end to the interview and takes his son home.  Carver makes sure to meet up with Miller shortly after to see how her side of the investigation is going before sending her back to the station to continue interviewing Vince. But before they part ways, Carver gets a phone call...the GPS on Danny's missing smartphone is active and Carver goes to find the signal without Miller...and with good reason. The signal leads him to the Miller home, and Carver finds Joe holding the phone before Joe tells Carver he will tell him everything.

Yes, Joe Miller admits to the murder of Danny Solano.  It turns out he and Danny had been hanging out secretly for months on end and well...Joe felt a compelling sexual attraction to Danny and on the night Danny died, Joe made a move at the Ranger Station that Danny rebuffed and that led to an argument over Danny planning to tell everyone about Joe's unwanted advances and when Joe tried to stop Danny, the ensuing struggle led to Danny tripping and slamming his head on a rock, killing him instantly.  Joe of course then moved the body to the beach before cleaning up the ranger station. With his killer now in custody, Carver has to do one other ugly duty...tell Detective Miller.  The horror of it all sends Miller over the edge when she sees her husband, in fact she beats the crap out of him before being removed from the case and placed on leave with pay.  

She and her boys are sent to a hotel and Carver breaks the news to the Solano family, forcing Mark to pay Joe a visit in jail and confront the man who killed his son.  But at the hotel, a set of clues suddenly allow Ellie to put the pieces of the puzzle together for herself and she confronts Tom about where he was that night and what he is not telling her. It turns out that Tom saw everything at the station and when Danny ran off, there was no struggle, just Tom waving a plank of wood at his dad, defending his friend and in the ensuing confusion, when Danny tried to stop Tom, he smacked his best friend square in the skull, killing him instantly and forcing Joe to send his son back to the house so Joe could deal with it all. It's a secret that Ellie keeps to herself, even as they bury and honor Danny's memory.  In the final moments of the show, Miller asks Carver how on earth he knew it was Joe and Carver points out the two accounts that emailed Danny as the evidence he needed.  One was Tom, the other was Joe.  As they part ways, Carver watches his interview with Tom on his phone and notices a strange interaction between father and son...and Carver puts two and two together, Tom was in on it and the show ends on an ominous moment where Carver is calling Miller and she makes a point, not to answer. 

So ends Gracepoint and man...what a ride. I did not expect it to be Tom Miller all along, and the reveal of his involvement was utterly shocking since it really seemed like Joe was our guy in what was by far the darkest and most devastating episode of this show.  At the end of this one I really needed a few minutes to collect myself from how brutal it was to see Miller be faced with what her family had done and how it hit the Solano family to know someone so close hurt their child.  In fact one of the ugliest moments of the night is when Detective Miller goes to see Beth and Beth has only one question for Ellie..."how could you not know?"  I love the fact that this question came back to haunt Miller and mother or no...her actions this episode show just how awful a cop she really is and quite frankly, I like her as a person even less. To not let the facts come out about Tom's involvement is just despicable and well, while the show may have faded to black, I'd like to think that what went down in the darkness was Miller being taken into custody along with her son.

Sadly we may never know, but what matters most, is we got our closure. We know who killed young Danny Solano in what was a compelling and breathtaking mystery and quite frankly, despite all the ugliness this show provided us with, those final moments of unity on the beach offered a sense of hope and made me realize, I'm going to miss this show and all the thrills and chills it brought our way.  So long Gracepoint...

Something relatively new to television that we have all begun to see advertised from our favorite shows is the Midseason or Winter finale. The actual midseason break is nothing new when it comes to the industry as a whole. The majority of shows out there only have a 20ish episode order from the networks and since we are spending time with our families during the holidays our shows take a break.  

But there is now a paradigm shift in the quality and the importance of this midseason break in television shows, the fact that it has now become an event. It used to be that the season premiere and season finale were the keystone to our television viewing, heck even Star Trek: The Next Generation made both ends of the season of major importance with quality cliffhangers, but now what happens before the winter break completely has our attention and quite frankly, I think it's a fantastic thing to see.  

Now if we can thank any particular show for bringing this whole idea forth, I would have to say it was the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. From Season 2 to the end, BSG left us wanting more by setting up an incredible plot twist or cliffhanger that we knew we would have to wait to see resolved and I'm so happy to see it spreading into the big time networks. The Walking Dead is a great example of how well the midseason finale has sucked us in, from Sophia hiding in the barn, to the battle of Woodbury this is a show that knows how to thrill us and leave us dying to know how the story ends come springtime.  

That's why this whole phenomenon is good for television, because it is making the medium as a whole...better.  Think about it, writers and producers know now that it is what we crave and rather than just chugging the story along, and letting the winter break come and go without notice, they now have to completely up their game and impress us with an incredible episode that leaves us talking for weeks on end and leaves us completely and utterly captivated. We are truly seeing better writing, a heavier investment in character development and all around, better television shows because of the investment going into these winter episodes.

It's a wonderful thing to see, and as long as it doesn't become a gimmick and continues to enhance the story, I'm all for it because right now, I'm dying to know what happens next on my favorite shows.  I have to know what happens next to the group after their devastating loss on The Walking Dead. How Barry Allen will deal with his hunt for Reverse Flash on The Flash and what comes next for S.H.I.E.L.D. after Skye's discovery, all thanks to the simple concept of making the middle of the television season as important as the beginning and the end. 

Gracepoint returned from its Thanksgiving break last night and well...clearly they have saved the best episodes for last as Detectives Carver and Miller finally seem to be making big time progress on the Danny Solano case with some epic and disturbing evidence and revelations finally being revealed to us in "Episode 9".

We picked up exactly where "Episode 8" left off with Carver's heart damn near giving out on him in pursuit of the suspect that he and Miller found at the Ranger Station in the middle of the night.  It of course leads to Carver ending up in the hospital where it is revealed his heart is in pretty bad shape and an operation will be in order to heal him up. Of course Carver has no desire to get away from the case and discharges himself from the hospital.  With that in mind, the Chief of Police lets Carver know that his medical status is now under review and he has 24 hours before he is pulled off of the case.  

With time running out, we come to the big focus of last night's episode, the enigmatic Susan Wright and her connection in the case. In fact this was Detective Miller's shining moment in the entire series so far since she handled the interrogation of Susan in incredible fashion and man...we learned so much.  In the most disturbing moments of the show, we learned that Susan came from a shattered home, not as a child, but as an adult. Her former husband as it turned out had an abusive sexual relationship with one of their daughters that led to that daughter's death and the death of her husband in jail. Susan was also pregnant at the time and child protective services took that baby away as well after he was born.  So why is all of this so important?  Simple, because Susan dropped two giant bombs.  For one, the cigarettes forensics found by Danny's body were indeed ones she smoked because...she was there.  She stood near Danny's body after it was placed there and chose to not get involved and to top it off, she saw Vince place the body there.  Oh, and the second revelation...she is certain Vince is her long lost son.  

This of course leads to Vince's arrest, and plenty of damning moments for him as well.  We find out he took Danny hunting without Beth or Mark knowing about it, and for some odd reason, he has a tattoo of Danny's name now on his arm. But in the end, Susan has to be let go since she has committed no crime essentially, and Vince remains locked up.  But there are still some loose ends to tie up. The killer called the police with Danny's phone from the ranger station and Paul the Priest apparently confiscated Tom Miller's busted PC and it is now in the possession of Detective Carver and he has made a phone call to get some help in retrieving the damaged data. But in perhaps the most shocking moment of the night, Detective Miller gets some disturbing information from her junkie sister...that sis witnessed someone putting something large and wrapped in a tarp into the Solano work van on the night Danny died.

My only complaint about last night? The Solano sub plot was unnecessary. Seeing Mark and Beth battle it out over who loves who was insignificant compared to the powerhouse moments from Susan and Vince and well, it made this by far the darkest episode of this series to date.  After all, Susan's story and admissions left a heavy air hanging over the show and of course her packing her bags after getting out of the police station, only speak to further guilt. But right now, it truly looks like Vince is the guy.  With the information that Miller's sister provided, it all looks extremely bad for Mark's apprentice but sadly...we still don't truly know. It could be Vince. Or it could be that Vince stumbled on the body or moved it for someone else.  Either way, the mystery is now coming to an end, for next week brings us the Series Finale of Gracepoint and I cannot wait to finally find out the answer to the question...who killed Danny Solano?