by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
As proof that the best writers have moved to television, two award-winning movie actresses, Holly Hunter and Glenn Close, have accepted leading roles on highly touted TV series. Oscar winner Holly Hunter is starring in her own series on TNT, Saving Grace, while Glenn Close is playing the leading role as a high-profile lawyer in the new FX series Damages. Both actresses have rejuvenated their careers in television.
Both series feature quality production values, intelligent writing, and stellar casts. When asked if jumping the movie ship for television would hurt her status as a movie star, Close said, “I go where the best writing is and producers who will give me freedom to help develop my characters.”
Close was initiated into the grueling 16-hour-a-day TV grind when she did a season of The Shield. She said she had never worked so hard, but felt it was very rewarding. FX then offered Close her own series, and she didn’t hesitate to say she would be happy to do it. Clearly, the Damages’ script appealed to her as a dark tale of legal machinations with a murder mystery subplot.
Hunter also liked the idea of working on her own TV show, in which she had input into the development for her character. Indeed, with Saving Grace, Hunter was able to create a multidimensional character, Grace Hanadarko, an Oklahoma City police detective who is morally conflicted and seeking answers to profound philosophical questions of life and death.
When her sister was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, she too was working in that building but had taken the day off. Sadly, her sister was killed in the blast. Now Grace suffers from survivor’s guilt and is on a self-destructive path. She’s a chronic alcoholic, sexually promiscuous, and having a sordid affair with her partner, Detective Ham Tipton (Kenny Johnson from The Shield). He’s married and feeling guilty about their affair, but he just can’t stop having rough sex with her. The two are feeding off each other’s addictions.
One night, Grace is boozed up while driving home. She hits a pedestrian and he is killed. She cries out for God to help her. Up pops an angel—tobacco chewing good ol’ boy Earl (Leon Rippy, Deadwood) who says, “What do you need?” At first she thinks he’s a threat, then he suddenly transports her to the Grand Canyon and shows her his wings. Earl tells her this is her last chance to turn her life around. As the series evolves, Grace will need more convincing that her dream vision has crossed over into her reality, and Earl is real.
Hunter’s skillful characterization of Grace is multifaceted, powerful, and riveting as she fights her demons, walking a fine line between complete destruction and redemption. Saving Grace runs Monday nights on TNT at 10 pm after The Closer.
In contrast, Glenn Close’s characterization of big-time litigation lawyer Patty Hewes in Damages is steeped in power and control. In this FX series, nothing is what it seems. Patty tells her protégée Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) to “trust no one,” which is sound advice, especially in regard to Patty, whose Machiavellian scheming inspires mistrust and dread.
The story opens with a scene in present day. Ellen is coming out of a Manhattan apartment building covered with blood. She is arrested and put in an interrogation room. When confronted by detectives, she asks for a lawyer. Then the story flashes back to six months ago, as Ellen is courted by Patty Hewes at Ellen’s sister’s wedding to be her new hire.
Ellen is warned by a senior partner in a big firm that she may regret working for Patty. He makes her sign his card, “You have been warned.” But Ellen is swept up in Patty’s forceful charm, and soon she is working on Patty’s big litigation case against billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) who will do anything to get Patty off his back.
Finally, Frobisher offers to settle for $150 million, and the plaintiff’s group agrees to the settlement. But Patty has an ace up her sleeve involving Ellen and her soon to be sister-in-law. As the story unfolds, it become obvious that Patty had an ulterior motive for hiring Ellen, which gives her leverage against Frobisher. Ellen is being used as a patsy.
Patty is working multiple angles to drag Frobisher to trial, where his sinister machinations can be exposed to the world. To avoid a trial, Frobisher has his henchmen and private investigators running interference against Patty’s legal machine. Ellen could get caught in the middle of this high-stakes game of one-upsmanship. Close delivers a complex characterization that hooks the viewer into her web of intrigue. Rose Byrne is up to the challenge as Ellen, who is a quick study at discovering Patty’s endgame. Damages runs Tuesday nights on FX at 10 pm.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
