Grosse Pointe Garden Society premires Sunday, February 23 at 10 p.m. ET.
From Desperate Housewives to How to Get Away with Murder and Good Girls, we’ve seen loads of soapy dramas the place a bunch of individuals abruptly commit a criminal offense then go to nice lengths to fake every little thing continues to be regular whereas their seemingly excellent lives disintegrate round them. It’s a easy hook, however one that may be mined for nice escapism. If performed appropriately, it may possibly provide a mixture of character drama, suspense, and sarcastic humor. But it isn’t a foolproof components, as the primary 4 episods of Grosse Pointe Garden Society show. While the dynamic between the characters is compelling, and among the particular person storylines are fairly enjoyable to observe, the completely different parts do not fairly combine collectively into an absorbing thriller.
From Good Girls creator Jenna Bans (who additionally wrote for Desperate Housewives) and Bill Krebs (co-showrunner on Good Girls), Grosse Pointe Garden Society opens with its 4 leads burying a physique in a lavish backyard within the prosperous suburb of Grosse Pointe. This is the type of place the place every little thing and everybody appears as if it had been accepted by a committee, the place nothing occurs with out your entire neighborhood listening to about it, the place the most important present of creativity is the annual backyard competitors. The questions of who the lifeless physique is, how they had been killed, and why they had been killed echo all through the present, which slowly (very slowly) strikes towards offering solutions. Unfortunately, the opening episodes take such a gradual method to revealing new hints and items of the puzzle that by the point we truly begin studying what occurred, it feels uninspired and redundant.
Thankfully, there’s extra to Grosse Pointe Garden Society than its boring central thriller. The story is advised throughout two timelines, every providing some campy enjoyable. In the current, we see the occasions main as much as the homicide, as we study in regards to the lives of the titular society and the numerous potential victims that the characters would wish to rid from their lives. Though most of the facet tales really feel like they’re being rushed by, they’re some which might be so bonkers that it is inconceivable to look away. (To identify one, and to supply a warning to pet house owners: A misplaced canine seems to be murdered!) Meanwhile, we get a glimpse of six months into the long run, when the group scrambles to cowl up their crime. It’s right here that the group dynamic shines brightest.
The characters are what make Grosse Pointe Garden Society satisfying. The principals – AnnaSophia Robb, Aja Naomi King, Ben Rappaport, Melissa Fumero – have nice chemistry. Sadly, they’re attending to their particular person arcs for a lot of the first 4 episodes, solely actually converging sooner or later timeline. There’s Alice (Robb), a high-school English trainer combating in opposition to her husband’s needs to desert her artistry to turn out to be an atypical and respectable member of Grosse Pointe society. She’s the one with the canine that will get murdered, which does lead to some scrumptious drama when she begins doubting the folks closest to her – however as soon as that subplot is deserted, her character has little to do. Next up is Catherine (King), an unhappily married mom of two who makes use of her realtor job to cheat on her husband, and finally ends up too entangled along with her lover, who desires to destroy her life. Though King isn’t any stranger to this type of present – having delivered an ideal efficiency in How to Get Away with Murder – she, like Robb, will get little to play with in Grosse Pointe Garden Society, trapped in a flat subplot with a personality who’s largely reacting to folks round her.
The two standouts are Brett (Rappaport) – the backyard retailer supervisor who scores some laughs along with his paranoia and nervousness within the post-crime timeline – and absolutely the MVP of the season to date, Birdie (Fumero). This is the primary cause to look at the present: To witness former Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Fumero shed her high-strung onscreen persona and play a needy socialite who joins the Garden Society as a part of her neighborhood service sentence after a DUI. (Naturally, she spends each episode day-drinking.) Birdie is a sizzling mess, but she’s a delight to look at. And she incorporates multitudes: a subplot involving the son she gave up for adoption as a child is emotional, but in addition boasts some moments of chaotic amusement.
