Gracepoint

The first couple of Gracepoint episodes follow the same plot [as "Broadchurch"]--even some of the same camera angles in some scenes--with such stringency it will be difficult for "Broadchurch" viewers to avoid a sense that this new show is a rerun.... For the murder-mystery fans [who haven't seen "Broadchurch"] among them, Gracepoint is fine, but they’d be better off seeking out the superior "Broadchurch."

The series--adapted by Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman, with a premiere written by “Broadchurch” creator Chris Chibnall--is competently executed.... Yet while it’s hard to pinpoint, Gracepoint can’t help but feel as if something significant has been lost in translation.

Gracepoint is not a poorly made television show: There’s attractive cinematography and solid acting throughout. But the energy levels are off, as though those involved were all waiting for someone else to step up and pull the whole production out of a stupor.

The problem is that Gracepoint lacks the expression and personality of either "The Killing" or "Broadchurch."

Through seven episodes there is nothing wildly different about the two shows, but Gracepoint has a facsimile’s faded quality. Something about it is less sharp, less bright, less keen, and you are left with a washed-out flier you have seen before.

For the moment, set aside comparisons to the original. Standing on its own, Gracepoint is too slow, too disconnected from its supposed California setting, and too indifferently — and in some cases, badly — cast. As for its length, if there is a good artistic justification for adding two more hours to a story that was perfectly told in eight, Gracepoint does not provide it.

There's no sense of spontaneity, no sharp thrill of discovery (or fear). Gracepoint just plods along, right straight into the surging Pacific tide.

If only these flashes of actorly conviction were enough to elevate Gracepoint above the rank of pretender. As is, the series is a competent yet unexceptional genre exercise that only rises above its limitations in its opening passages.

The 10-part limited series is a serviceable mystery-slash-melodrama about small-town life, small-town minds and small-town secrets, but nothing really to write home about.

Limp and gratuitous dialogue often borders on melodrama, and none of the characters are particularly compelling or interesting. [Sep/Oct 2014, p.83]

What anchored Broadchurch was its harrowing sense of loss, how it played out with the parents and changed the small coastal town where a number of people had come to start new lives. Much of that is either missing or lost in translation.

Gracepoint certainly has higher [ambitions] than many broadcast crime dramas. ... [But Tennant] is nowhere near as good in Gracepoint as he is in Broadchurch. ... [And] the coastal-town milieu of Gracepoint, so vivid in and integral to Broadchurch, seems just as fake as Tennant's accent.

It’s like a remix of a great song with added instruments and increased volume, smothering what worked about the original. ... Perhaps Gracepoint will work better for those who have not seen Broadchurch. I can’t honestly imagine anyone who has seen the original preferring this one.