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Oct 02, 2014 By Zach Hollwedel Issue #51 - September/October 2014 - alt-J

In FOX’s 10-part miniseries, adapted from the British drama Broadchurch, the body of a 12-year-old boy is found on the beach of idyllic California sea town, Gracepoint. Detective Emmett Carver (David Tennant), a newcomer to the community, heads up the investigation. His partner, Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) resents Carver for being hired into the promotion she wanted and instantly butts heads with him.

With a child victim in a waterside setting, it is all but impossible to avoid comparing the show to The Killing and Top of the Lake, and Gracepoint is by far the weakest of the three. Limp and gratuitous dialogue often borders on melodrama, and none of the characters are particularly compelling or interesting. Carver is too brooding, and Miller too inexperienced to invest in. Michael Peña, Nick Nolte, and Jacki Weaver fill out the cast, boosting Gracepoint‘s potential to be a hit. However, not even those incredible talents can elevate a series that fails to treat its subject matter with the deference it deserves. A show can’t go from the discovery of a dead little boy to a petulant protagonist to a quirky side character without viewers going away. (www.fox.com/gracepoint)

Author rating: 4.5/10