Gracepoint Recap: "Episode 10"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

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.  

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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...

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