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Who Killed Danny? #SuspectEveryone

Gracepoint is a Detective Drama Miniseries airing on FOX. A remake of the acclaimed ITV series Broadchurch, it follows the same basic structure of the original, with the death of a young boy in a coastal tourist town sparking a police investigation that begins to uncover a great many unsavory secrets about the town's residents.

David Tennant stars as the lead detective (reprising his role from the original), alongside Anna Gunn, Michael Peña, Kevin Zegers, Nick Nolte, Jacki Weaver, Kevin Rankin, Jack Irvine, Virginia Kull, Sarah-Jane Potts, Josh Hamilton, Kendrick Sampson, Madalyn Horcher, Darcy Laurie and Kathryn Mott.

Unlike Broadchurch, the show didn't make it past one season, so we'll just have to imagine how it would have handled that show's rather controversial future storylines, particularly with its change in the ending.


Tropes Associated With This Show Include:

  • Adaptation Distillation: The show removes Danny's argument with a mailman, which was an unexplained Red Herring in Broadchurch. He instead has a conversation with a new character, with more impact on the story.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Given the show is 10 episodes as opposed to eight for Broadchurch, this is kind of inevitable.
  • Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
    • And oddly enough, one that the adaptation created out of whole cloth. If Tom is the one who killed Danny, why was he going after that hiker?
    • Tom the accidental murderer was most likely trying to frame Lars, as he found Lars' number while snooping around his mom's case files. He wasn't successful in doing so though. Note that this is the same Tom who conspired with his pedophile dad, was trying to destroy evidence in his laptop (on his own initiative, without being told by his father), and blackmailed the local priest. Although he is a child, he is not exactly innocent.
    • Joe having hair makes it rather harder to believe than in the original show that he could be mistaken for Nigel at a distance.
  • Adaptation Name Change: Alec Hardy is now Emmett Carver, Jack Marshall is now Jack Reinhold and the Latimer family are now the Solano family.
    • Nigel Carter is now Vince Novik. Susan's dog, who was named "Vince" in the original series, is now "Archie."
  • Age Lift: Some ages had to be tweaked due to the California age of consent being 18 compared to the UK's 16, meaning that in America a relationship between a 17 year old and a 15 year old is no big deal, while a 40 year old and 16 year old is very much one.
  • Cultural Translation: The story is relocated from Dorset, England to California, USA.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Several of the characters are this, particularly Carver.
  • Defective Detective: Carver not only has a heart problem, but is also haunted by a previous case he was unable to solve, where the suspected murderer of two young girls walked free.
  • Fictional Counterpart:
    • The 'San Francisco Globe', which Renee works for, replaces the real-life 'San Francisco Chronicle' throughout the series.
    • The 'Sacramento Post', which publishes several articles criticizing aspects of the case, stands in for the real life 'Sacramento Bee'.
    • The 'Albuquerque Metro', which publishes articles about Susan Wright's husband abusing their children standing in for the real life 'Albuquerque Journal'.
  • Foreshadowing: In telling her backstory, Susan claims she had no idea what was going on behind her back with her husband and her children. In the end, Detective Miller had no idea her husband and her son were involved with killing Danny.
  • Gender Flip: Chief Terrence Morgan replaces the character of Chief Superintendent Elaine Jenkinson in the series.
  • Happily Married: Ellie and Joe Miller. As of the series finale, that is no longer the case.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Owen tries to be this, but Renee is a straighter example.
  • Ironic Echo: Miller asks Susan Wright "back then, in your own house, how could you not know? Your husband, your child?". It is later revealed both her son and husband were complicit in Danny's murder and she had no idea whatsoever.
  • No Communities Were Harmed: The series takes place in the fictional town of Gracepoint, located in the also fictional Oak County, California.
  • Not His Sled: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the culprit will be different in the remake. A debatable case since the ending isn't even that well known, but a lot of people who are watching the remake will likely have seen the original.
    • They kept their promise, but barely changed anything else. The attraction Joe felt toward Danny was still there, but it was Tom who accidentally dealt the killing blow while trying to protect Danny from Joe.
    • It's something of a Double Subversion, since Joe originally confesses to the killing, but it turns out he didn't do it.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: David Tennant puts on a bit of a neutral American accent for his role, but his natural Scottish shows itself every so often, especially when he raises his voice.
  • Police Are Useless:
    • A detective in Carvers previous investigation left a crucial piece of evidence in her car whilst she met with a lover at a motel. The car was robbed, the evidence stolen, and the case dismissed.
    • How Carver views the majority of the Gracepoint Police Department, especially when Miller accidentally leaks Danny's name to the press.
    • When they arrest Lars Pierson, several Oak County Sheriff's deputies are seen handling evidence without wearing gloves. A furious Detective Miller chastises them for it when she and Carver arrive on the scene.
  • The Oner: Directly adapted from the original series. Near the beginning of the pilot episode, the camera tracks Mark Solano as he walks down the street and talks to the people he runs into, then gets into a van, at which point the camera pulls back into a crane shot of the van as it drives off. The whole scene appears to be one unbroken shot and lasts almost 2 minutes.
  • Race Lift: The white Mark Latimer becomes the Hispanic Mark Solano.
  • "Reason You Suck" Speech: An enraged Carver delivers a brief one to the staff of Gracepoint PD after Danny's name is leaked by the local press.
    Carver: Who told that journalist?! That family's lives are destroyed, then we screw up, and make it worse! Who was it?! Why should they trust us now?!
    • After Jack commits suicide Paul Coates, the local priest, gives a subtle one to the town during his sermon on Jack for not helping the man out when he needed it the most, especially to Detectives Carver and Miller.

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