Gracepoint - S1E3 - Episode 3
Previously on Gracepoint, ‘Episode 2’
Now that they know where Danny was killed, Carver wonders why the killer bothered to move Danny’s body to another spot on the beach. As he puts it, “There’s a perfectly good cliff right here for body tossing.” Miller bristles at the way he refers to Danny. She is taking this entire case way too personally, and that’s understandable… to a degree. Carver thinks the killer used a boat to move the body which is why there aren’t any tracks between the two locations.
When Mark is brought in for questioning, Carver grills him on where he really was the Thursday night Danny was killed. Mark says he fixed a busted pipe after receiving a call from the property’s caretaker. He says before that he was out with his friend. Since he’s already texted his friend to supply the alibi, Mark thinks this is going to work. Oh, and Mark has a boat so…
Despite the fact that Miller clearly doesn’t want to believe Mark is guilty - citing what it would do to the family and the town - she and Carver set out to confirm Mark’s alibis. The caretaker of the property in question swears that she never called Mark about a busted pipe and Vince, Mark’s friend, is busted lying about going tout to eat with Mark when he mother says he was home with her all night. A search of Mark’s boat turns up bloodstains and Mark admits that it’s Danny’s blood, but says his son cut his foot a few weeks ago on a family outing. Still, Mark refuses to say where he really was the night Danny was killed, so Carver instructs Miller to arrest him for obstruction.
Carver interviews Miller’s son, Tom. Tom reluctantly admits that Danny complained about his father hitting him twice and that he “sometimes got in really bad moods.” Because this episode is working so hard to paint Mark as guilty, it clearly isn’t him, right? I don’t think Carver necessarily believes that Mark is guilty, but he knows he’s hiding something.
The telephone technician who Miller caught looking at Danny’s case file approaches Beth while she sits on a bench by the shore. The conversation begins pleasantly enough until he tells her he has a message from her dead son. Nope. She ain’t tryna hear that and warns him to stay away from her. When she arrives home, Beth learns from Pete that Mark has been arrested because he won’t account for his whereabouts. Chloe loses it. She insists that her dad couldn’t have killed her brother. Beth snatches her up and drags her to the bathroom. She says that Pete isn’t their friend, he’s a police spy and they’re watching everything the family does. They need to lockdown and only speak to each other. “And Dad, too, right?” Beth’s face says, “Fuck your dad,” but she actually says that Chloe is going to have to grow up a lot faster than she should. Psychic telephone man doesn’t give up so easily and slips a note under Beth’s door asking her to call him. Later, Beth meets with Reverend Coates and admits that she hasn’t told anyone but him about her pregnancy and that she is tempted to call the psychic because she’d give anything to hear Danny’s voice again.
Chloe texts someone and says that if they know where her dad was on Thursday, they need to come forward. Next thing you know, the woman who runs the inn - the one who supplied Chloe with the cocaine - comes into the station and admits to being with Mark the night Danny was killed. Carver is furious that Mark wasted 48 hours of the investigation because he was worried about gossip. Miller wants to know how he could do such a thing. “What? You offer marriage counseling, too?” Carver asks. I love him.
They let Mark go, but Miller now doubts him as well. Beth meets with the phone psychic after all and he tells her that Danny said he’s not in pain, he was on a boat, and that she should stop looking for the person who killed him because he knew that person very well and it would just hurt her to know. While in bed with Mark later that night, Beth confronts him about where he was that night. He says he’ll tell her later. Then she comes right out and asks if he killed Danny. He gets offended and storms out. He didn’t say no.
Carver wants Miller to call Chloe and find out where she got the cocaine. Miller refuses because it’s late at night and the family has been through enough. *sigh* Carver does it and tells Chloe she has until the morning to tell him. Before he can leave the office, the forensic analyst brings him a piece of paper they round in Danny’s sweatshirt lining and it has a phone number on it. Carver goes back to his desk to look up the number.
Meanwhile, Mark meets with the owner of the inn and the two kiss before he walks aways. Beth is standing nearby, watching the whole thing.
Thoughts & Questions:
- How the hell does Chloe know about her father’s affair?
- Ellie needs to get with it. I understand that this is hard for her. Her town is torn apart and people she thought she knew are now suspects, but the undermining of Carver when questioning witnesses is unprofessional.
- What’s up with Carver’s health. He meets with someone (his personal doctor?) on a bench and he’s told he needs to eliminate stress from his life. I’d say a murder investigation is pretty stressful.
