Related Sites: · IMDb: Saving Grace Grade: A photograph courtesy TNT Network, and copyright 2008, Jeff Riedel

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Holly Hunter returns to the small screen this week as the protagonist of the engrossing and disturbing drama, Saving Grace. The lead character, Grace Hanadarko (Hunter), is a police detective for the Oklahoma City PD, and is about as self-destructive as they come. Fortunately for her, she's got an angel looking out for her -- and that's not a euphemism meaning that she exhibits unique luck; she's got a real angel named Earl (Leon Rippy), and she's more than eager to shut him up and send him away.

Throughout the last season, with Earl's help, the cast was fed clues that led them to a man they had thought was dead -- Father Patrick Murphy, played by veteran actor, Rene Auberjonois in one of the most arresting performances of his career. Over the course of his career, Father Murphy had molested nearly a score of children -- among them a young Grace Hanadarko, which pretty much explains Grace's attitude toward faith.

 

Touche'd by an Angel. Too late, Grace realizes her mistake, and Earl is there to comfort her. (L-R: Rippy, Hunter; photograph (c) 2008, Erik Heinila)

The thing is, the police have lost track of Father Murphy since they recently rediscovered him. Well, most of the police have, that is. Grace knows exactly where he is, and has a plan that will rid her of both Murphy and that pesky do-gooder angel Earl at the same time. Hunter really throws herself into the role in this second season premiere episode, as Grace throws herself headlong over the line separating sanity and madness.

The episode also follows Grace's friend, Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo), who believes in Grace's angel, and Grace's brother, Father John (Tom Irwin), who does not. But it may be that Father John is starting to show a little more willingness to open himself up to the possibility of heavenly intervention when Rhetta engages him in debate over how he can believe in a God who forgives pedophiles (Father Murphy has repented his actions), and yet not believe in miracles.

Child abuse -- specifically pedophilia -- could be argued as an easy -- even cheap -- plot device to engage the viewer with an element of horror, particularly when it involves a Catholic priest. However, the writers challenge the audience to try to come to grips with the idea that God can forgive even those sins which we mere humans have difficulty conceiving. Further, as the story develops, the writers sucker punch us as we find out that much of the storyline has been a macguffin, and the real horror was occurring just slightly off-screen and off-script, something which Grace doesn't discover until it's entirely too late, despite her own tangential involvement. This episode is definitely going to be fodder for water-cooler discussions everywhere the next morning -- a gripping, heart-wracking story that exemplifies why Saving Grace continues to grow in popularity. Highway to Heaven this ain't!

The second season of Saving Grace debuts on TNT, July 14, 10/9c.