Does TV Need Saving From 'Grace'?

"How could I resist a script that opens with your lead character naked, having sex with a guy?" That's how actress Holly Hunter—no stranger to racy roles on the big screen—describes her new small-screen role in TNT's raw, TV-MA cable drama about sin and redemption.

Let's start with the sin part.

Hunter portrays Grace Hanadarko, a maverick detective in Oklahoma City whose addiction-fueled personal life rockets down the rails like a runaway locomotive. When she's not locating abducted kids or solving love-triangle murder mysteries (à la Without a Trace and CSI), Grace indulges in illicit—and explicit—sex romps with her married police partner. (Lots of skin and even glimpses of breast nudity leave very little to the imagination—and will leave most viewers asking, "This is on basic cable!?")

When she is wearing clothes, Grace guzzles hard liquor and smokes incessantly. Oh, and she slings the s-word around like she's starring in a Kevin Smith movie. (TNT seems intent upon following FX's edgy lead when it comes to more liberal—read: profane and vulgar—language in its dramas.) Drunk driving, repeatedly flashing an "appreciative" elderly neighbor, and taking children for siren-wailing slalom runs through downtown just for kicks are the name of the game for this case-hardened detective.

Until, that is, she mows down a man on a deserted side street while driving home drunk one night.

Angels on the Sidewalk
Grace's desperate, almost reflexive prayer for God's help as the man dies in her arms is answered in the form of a frumpy, tobacco-chewing good ol' boy angel named Earl (Leon Rippy). He informs Grace that God is giving her a final shot at redemption—on the condition that she starts cleaning up the unholy mess that is her life. "You're headed for hell, Grace," he says nonchalantly between spits. "But God's giving you one last chance." That supernatural opportunity begins with the apparent erasure of the accident—no bashed-in-the-head victim, no blood on her hands, no knocked-over speed-limit sign.

Was it just a dream? Grace wonders. She hopes that's the case—until Earl shows up again to dispense more homespun exhortations about how she needs to amend her wild ways. Still disbelieving, angry and resistant, Grace begins to gather bits of physical evidence from Earl—including his chaw—and delivers them to her best friend, a crime-lab technician and flaky-but-sincere Catholic named Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo). The hard evidence points to Earl's otherworldly origins, but Grace stubbornly resists the idea that he could be what he claims. Because that would mean God's claims are real, too. And Grace, whose life has been marred with hardship and tragedy (including being molested by a priest) doesn't want to believe that God exists, let alone cares about her.

As the show's title implies, then, Saving Grace is about a woman's struggle to come to terms—in this case, terms enforced by a hand-me-down angel—with her need to relinquish her sinful way of life. But the relationship between sin and redemption here is, at best, a complex and tangled one.

Grace's Erratic Redemption
For starters, we're given an unvarnished and voyeuristic look at Grace's sinful habits. Hunter believes the camera's unflinching look at her character—body and soul—will make Grace compelling to audiences. "I think her flaws are quite fascinating," the actress says, "Audiences will appreciate Grace's humanity."

Accordingly, the lens zooms in exploitatively on her moral failings, especially her predilections for sex and substance abuse. Earl tells her that many of her choices are wrong—but only after we've gotten an up-close-and-personal view first. The show's producers obviously relish the role of showing us every side—and I do mean every side—of this bad girl's life.

Oddly, Saving Grace does say that right and wrong choices exist, that sin matters and that there are consequences for choosing disobedience to God. In one conversation, Earl challenges Grace to end her adulterous relationship. Grace says there's nothing to talk about, but Earl counters, "Well, there's his marriage. His wife. His conscience. Your conscience. God and how He feels about the whole mess."

"God cares if I'm sleeping with a married man?" Grace asks.

"AIDS in Africa, the Middle East, Grace and Ham [her partner]—we were just talking about it this morning," Earl drawls.

Likewise, a number of characters make positive references to prayer, church and faith. Rhetta, for example, is thrilled that Grace is thinking about God again. She gushes, crudely, "I see Him working in you ... and it's a good thing. I want you to believe. I think He can help you get your s--- together. ... This [conversation] right here is evidence of a miracle—you and me talking about God. That hasn't happened since catechism in second grade. Pretty soon you'll be draggin' your a-- to mass."

Salvation Short-Circuited
As if determined to contradict the story's apparently Christian context, however, Earl also displays breezy universalism. When Grace begrudgingly suggests that she'll have to begin going to church again, Earl counters that any temple or mosque will do. Later, Grace implies that Islam offers a different path to God than Christianity, but Earl dismisses her: "You say po-tah-to, I say po-ta-to." USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco says of the angel's wishy-washy convictions, "Earl ... represents your standard, vague, interdenominational Supreme Being."

Indeed. And while the show's premise seems to promise a wrestling match with matters of faith, Grace's Jacob-like grappling with Earl doesn't do the trick. Grace's gospel seems little more than a vague commitment to try harder. Interestingly, we haven't yet been told exactly what the terms of Grace's "last chance" are. Apparently her one-step-forward-two-steps-back approach to letting go of her bad habits is enough to constitute salvation.

A postscript: What's next? Given Earl's "all paths lead to God" attitude, this ultimately unsatisfying message about salvation won't shift much as the novelty wears off and the episodes drag out. Nor, for that matter, will TNT likely back off the buzz-building language and sexual content. And that leaves this series needing a whole lot more saving grace than cable TV can possibly provide.