'Gracepoint' goes through the motions
Ever since 'The Office,' I've learned to keep my big mouth shut about how American remakes of British series are doomed. The first years of the American 'The Office' and the entire American 'Shameless' so far stand as lessons in how to successfully reframe a series for a relatively different sensibility. These shows were endowed with their own distinct and rich identities right from the start; they were smart reinterpretations and remixes rather than replications.
'Gracepoint,' alas, is not among the triumphs. The new 10-part Fox series is a bland cover version of 'Broadchurch,' which is an extraordinary British murder mystery about the death of a boy in a small seaside town. It simply goes through the motions of the original, without evoking the elaborate sense of local culture that's so essential to the twisty story line. And yet 'Gracepoint' features some of the same talent behind 'Broadchurch,' including the star, David Tennant, who plays the chilly lead detective again but with an American accent.
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I'm not saying 'Gracepoint' seems mediocre simply because it's not as good as 'Broadchurch.' On its own merits, 'Gracepoint,' which premieres Thursday at 9 p.m., fails to inspire an emotional investment in the world it creates. The characters don't have much texture and their interconnections don't resonate; they seem more like utilitarian creations, stick figures there solely to forward the plotting and serve as red herrings. And when we don't care about the victim's family, the detectives on the case, the disrupted townspeople, or any of the possible killers, ultimately we're probably not going to care much about whodunit.
The first season of 'The Killing,' a similar murder mystery that was adapted from a Danish series, built up the kind of inner life that 'Gracepoint' lacks. We got close to the teen victim's family in the days after her death, and we spent time with the two Seattle detectives, as they very slowly formed into a team. 'Top of the Lake,' too, kept adding layers of particulars to its eerie New Zealand locale and its inhabitants, as it built toward its disturbing denouement. These effective murder mysteries aren't reinventing the wheel; they're simply making their stories matter on a human level. They've got more time than the countless case-of-the-week procedurals on TV, and so they filled it with well-chosen details.
The 'Gracepoint' blueprint is simple. After the body of young Danny Solano is found at the bottom of a cliff on the beach, the Northern California town of Gracepoint is thrown into chaos. Local cop Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) gets teamed up with Tennant's brittle, new-to-town Emmett Carver to solve the case. The two don't click; he got the job she wanted, and she is too personally involved in the case for his tastes. He's insensitive and officious to people she cares about. Gunn and Tennant are both fine, and yet their mutual annoyance is hollow. Their anti-rapport doesn't burn hard enough.
As they pick through the Gracepoint community for clues, everyone seems to be a suspect at some point. There's Danny's family, including his parents, played without any chemistry by Michael Pena and Virginia Kull, and there's the priest (Kevin Rankin), the youth group leader (Nick Nolte), and the trailer park lady (Jacki Weaver). The story obligatorily ambles forward as we run into these and other character types, including a few reporters, with 10 hours to fill. There's no sense of discovery along the way; just the clock ticking until the finale.
According to Fox, the ending will differ from that of 'Broadchurch,' supposedly giving the small American audience of the original a reason to tune in. But with storytelling this uninspired, you're better off binge-watching the eight-episode 'Broadchurch' and waiting, with the rest of its fans, for the promised second season.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewGilbert.
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