Gracepoint Recap: "Episode 8"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

This is the second time now in a few weeks that Gracepoint has managed to completely and utterly surprise me. This downtrodden (that's a compliment) drama usually leaves me wanting a hug after the episode but this week the show went a different route and for the most part gave us lots of warm fuzzies. Don't get me wrong, "Episode 8" had its shocker moments, but for the first time, I had hope for this tiny town. 

This week picked up right where last week left off, with Tom Miller still missing and everyone from the town doing their best to find the boy.  The town's beleaguered priest just happens to stumble upon Tom and upon his arrival at the hospital we learn that Tom did all this, in the hopes of bringing the killer of his friend to justice and to get his mom back home.  With this crisis behind him we see for the first time, the town trying to get back to normal.  

We also see the town unite at last, shunning the reporter that has already caused so much trouble. But of course, she is still hanging around and that matters in a moment.  For as the town shuns her, the Solano's try to feel normal again.  Chloe goes back to school, Mark goes back to work and Beth heads out for a run, where she runs into Renee and asks a favor, to speak with the mother who lost her child in Rosemont.  The mother agrees and Beth learns that Carver botched the case completely and to beware him, but the meeting leaves her frightened, only because the mother from Rosemont is clearly still a mess after losing her child.

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As Beth deals with that, Chloe and Mark have trouble dealing with their days as well and when Mark comes to see his daughter at school he instead watches her ride off with her drug dealing sweetie.  It leads he and Beth to confront her, only to find out she is trying to find a sliver of happiness again.  It leads to the family enjoying  a day of fun, and then of course, things get crazy.  Our intrepid editor-in-chief at the paper has discovered more about Susan Wright and after dropping off a present, Susan shows up at the Miller home, to give Tom the skateboard belonging to Danny.  Susan is of course arrested at the newspaper office, but refuses to talk to the police until her dog, that Vince now has, is found. The episode ends with another stunning and tense finale as someone breaks into the ranger station where they found evidence of a clean up and the person inside attacks Miller and Carver, but sadly manages to get away since Carver's heart finally puts him down into a medical emergency.

So there we go, suddenly this week we get a massive clue to the police and a few interesting tidbits in between.  Obviously, Tom knows something about Danny's death since he is so intent on fully destroying his computer to hide the data we saw him wipe earlier in the series and of course the town priest is still under investigation and his being near Tom as the young boy destroys his computer won't likely help his cause. I'm still not sure the Priest has anything to do with this, but we still don't have a real clue do we?  

Either way, like I said, this was a hopeful and uplifting episode, minus the last few minutes.  It was really lovely to see the town angry at someone who actually caused trouble rather than one another, and it was quite uplifting to see the Solano family smiling and happy once again.  Heck, Beth might even keep the baby.  But I have a feeling this is the last of the feel good moments, for there are only two episodes left and we should know the killer soon.  

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