Saving Grace, the TV Series

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

This is one irreverent TV series from TNT. The heroine is a boozing, adultering, cussing, lying, exhibitionist female cop, goaded to do good and be good by a tobacco-chewing old guy who pops up every now and then and calls himself an angel.

Get it?

The main premise is simple: can a very sinful woman be saved, albeit by divine intervention? It's a tale often told in many different ways. This time, it so irreverent that the pilot's first scene shows our protagonist butt naked and having sex with a married man.

And who else can pull it off but the very talented Holly Hunter. I don't think anyone can dispute that talent when she shoves her little best actress Oscar on your face.

Also in the cast is the delightfully neurotic Laura San Giacomo whom we know from the comedy series Just Shoot Me, playing Rhetta, Grace's old friend and the forensic scientist who actually believed the angel story and even wants to prove its existence.

Ok, so Holly Hunter is a rather convincing sinner-cop. Then what?

This is not a story based on accounts in feel-good books and magazines. On the contrary, this is trying very hard to be more real. Grace's brothers provide a contrast to her. One is another cop and the other is a very "tight-assed" Catholic priest (pardon the reference but that was how they described him in the show). Her lover is proving to be one incorrigible cheating husband who feigns conscience in the first scene (mentioned above) but keeps on going back to Grace just the same.

And her angel is another story. He can't be summoned. He comes when he wants. He even cooks breakfast. And, get this, he wrestles too. To illustrate the resistance Grace is putting up against this spectacle, she challenges him to a wrestling match, which happens in a Greek arena complete with columns and Earl (the angel) cheats! He compares her to his other wards and says they're more pleasant and she's the only one to wrestle him. Kinda reminds me of Jacob in the Bible. Aside from all that, he tells Grace that faith can be manifested in many forms -- not exclusive to Christianity or any other religion for that matter.

So now I am at a quandary. Here is a pretty good series that has peaked my interest; but no local network will ever dare show it. While watching it, I was half-expecting the wrath of God to strike lightning at my house. If my parents find out I watch this and actually like it, they're going to have the same fit they had when I told them that The Last Temptation of Christ was worth watching if only to see what was so controversial about it. You get what i mean.

Yes, I do like the show. Notice the rating I gave it?

But I have to say that it is not the kind of show for everybody. To enjoy this truly, one must have an open mind about religion and redemption. No fundamentalist will accept the premise of this series, for sure. There are many things in this series that cannot be taken seriously (tobacco-chewing angel, come on!) but there is a relevant message: be mindful of what you do, sometimes it's already so bad it's considered a sin.