Grace Season 1 Episode 1 Recap

As the episode begins, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace (John Simm) feeds his fish before going for a run. Then, he attends the murder trial of Suresh Hossein who has been accused of killing Raymond Cohen. Roy tells the court that he believes Suresh killed Raymond and destroyed his body to conceal the crime. Roy is asked about a brown, crocodile-skin loafer associated with the case. He is questioned about taking the shoe to a medium by the name of Harold Frame. Roy admits he did because Mr. Frame gave him sufficient information to put a name to a murder suspect several years ago. He claims that the medium’s input led directly to the suspect’s arrest and conviction. He is asked if he is a man of the occult and a believer in the supernatural.

Roy fires back by saying he took an oath to a supernatural being and that it would be strange if everybody else in the room did not believe in the supernatural. Roy stops his run and finds a newspaper headline joking about him calling the ghost busters. He is taken into ACC Alison Vosper’s office and questioned about his decision to go to a medium. Roy says the shoe had been through forensics and signed out and in again so they cannot lay an exhibits contamination charge against him. He is ridiculed for using a medium before being told that people make allowances for him. Roy realizes it is probably not the best time to ask about a return to proper work. He is warned that the chief is thinking about removing him from operational duty completely. He is only keeping Roy around because firing him would be poor optics.

Then, we’re introduced to Michael Neward (Tom Weston-Jones) and Mark Warden (Matt Stokoe) who seem to be running a property empire. With Michael on the verge of marriage, he goes out that night and party with their friends. His best man, Mark, calls him midway through the night and complains about being delayed, but Michael doesn’t like his excuse. Later that night, Michael gets into a white van with his friends and it drives off in the rain. Meanwhile, Grace calls the control room to tell them about being stuck in traffic on Fircroft Road south of Crowborough. He learns that there has been a major accident and the road will be blocked for a while. He is forced to use another route to reach his destination. The tow truck driver Phil Marshbrook (Rupert Holliday-Evans) arrives and learns they’re still cutting the last one from the vehicle.

He finds out that it was a stag party done wrong and he’ll need to wait. Phil tells his son Davey (Cian Binchy) to stay in the truck, but he doesn’t. He gets out and walks around the scene before we see that it was the white truck Michael was in. Mark finally makes it to his vehicle before his phone’s battery dies. As for Roy, he meets with Francine (Catherine Bailey), apologizes, and gives her flowers. He questions whether the flowers are too much for a first date and admits he is out of practice. Mark returns home and charges his phone while Davey places pieces of the van into his backpack. He finds a handheld radio before his father calls his name. Francine tells Roy about her awakening or epiphany and the realization that there must be more to life than Blockbusters.

She finally gives Roy a chance to talk and he says he has been with the police for 25 years or so. When he is told he doesn’t look like his profile picture, he admits it was an old photo and a colleague signed him up for the site. He tells her that he is separate from his wife. Mark tries to contact Robbo but he can’t get in touch with him. He learns he has 14 unread messages and seven missed calls. He checks the voice messages and hears a distraught woman asking for him to pick up. She tells him she is at Lewes Victoria A&E. He rushes over and tells the women he only returned from Jersey as they ask about Michael. He learns from Ashley (Alisha Bailey) that there has been an accident and Pete, Robbo, and Luke are dead.

They’re operating on Josh now and nobody knows where Michael has gone. Roy gets up and goes to work before he gets a visit from Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson (Richie Campbell). After a joke about the tabloid article, Glenn asks about Roy’s conversation with ACC Vosper. He doesn’t want to talk about that though. Glenn tells Roy he didn’t need to disappear on him before they discuss the missing people hanging on the wall. Roy tells him about the difficulty of the people who loved the missing before they go out for brunch. Then, Glenn tells him about the stag party and the accident. Three of his buddies are dead and one of them is on life support. Glenn tells him about the missing man who was a groom. Michael Neward was a local boy made good who worked as a property developer for Pelicano South Properties. Roy knows the name from the Warehouse development on Shoreham Harbour.

Glenn wants Roy’s help on the case and Roy quickly agrees. They return to the office and meet with Bella (Laura Elphinestone) and Nick (Brad Morrison). Roy is introduced to the new girl Emma Jane Boutwood (Amaka Okafor). Roy quickly learns that the group went to The Hispaniola on the front. They were there for roughly 45 minutes and the last signal for them was on a mast on the A22. All five pins remained together from 6:30 until shortly before 9. At 8:45, Michael Neward’s phone disappears and they haven’t had another hit on it. After confirming they have a search warrant for Neward’s place, Roy and Glenn search it together. Glenn grabs a laptop from the table nearby and bags it before Mark interrupts. He sits down with them and tells them about his meeting in Jersey to look at a development.

Mark says Michael was his best friend and they were going to get together for a few drinks. Roy asks if Michael might’ve had second thoughts about the wedding and run off but Mark doesn’t believe so. He says Michael worships the ground Ashley walks on so he wouldn’t have another woman. He explains he just came from the hospital and Michael’s mom Gill (Maggie O’Neill) asked him to drop by in case her son had returned home. He goes on to say that the business was going great before admitting he should’ve been in that van. Roy and Glenn go to the hospital to speak with Michael’s family. Gill doesn’t think her son would’ve done this to them and he has plenty of time to sober up by now. Michael’s father was a drinker and took his own life when he was just 11.

Ashley lost her parents as well so Gill thinks that is why Michael hit it off with her so quickly. Zoe (Tiana Khan) storms out distraught over Josh’s death while Ashley comforts her. Then, Roy questions Ashley outside. She explains she met Michael while interviewing for a job as a receptionist with the firm eight months ago. Ashley claims Roy looks familiar so she wonders if they’ve met somewhere before, but he doesn’t think so. When questioned about it, Ashley doesn’t think their relationship would’ve impacted Mark at all. She believes something is wrong since people don’t just disappear before pleading with Roy to find him. She tells Roy about being in care because of her parent’s death. Meanwhile, Davey puts batteries into the radio and plays around with it.

He is surprised to get a response from Michael Neward. When his dad checks on him, he pretends he was talking to someone online. He hides the radio and his bag. Mark deletes the boys group and its messages from his phone. Back at the station, Bella confirms that they checked most of the nearby pubs and they found a few sightings of the stag party. They were on a lager binge and the toxicology results confirm that. There were no allegations of a fight or anything that would send Michael away from the group. Glenn tells them that Pelicano has another account in the Cayman Islands. Roy wonders if Mark was at Michael’s house to get the laptop and hide their dodgy offshore tax scam. Roy asks them to check the databases for anything out of the ordinary before apologizing for taking over Glenn’s case.

That night, Roy attends a meeting for people with missing loved ones. Once it ends, Roy tells the female speaker that Sandy is back in his dreams and there is a ghost in his house. He doesn’t think it is a stress response, but she isn’t sure about that. He admits she might be right because of the big trial and everything else going on. Roy goes on to tell her about the dream which starts that morning and he tries to warn himself not to let her go. Next, Roy gets in touch with Glenn who tells him about Pelicano salting away roughly 5.25 million pounds to the Cayman Island.

Michael and Mark are joint signatories on the account. They discuss whether one of the men might’ve tried to take the money for themselves or if they’re both involved. They search through the van. Roy asks about the owner of the van before they track down Sean Stourton (Tim Treloar) who admits it was out of character for Robert to take the van. Roy asks about the webbing and finds that the tape is used for interments. Sean explains people favor cremations this day for cost reasons. Roy asks about the coffins and Sean taking stock before we see a flashback of Michael getting into the van with his buddies. Michael is taken to the woods and told it is the Gravedigger’s Arms. He is quickly pulled from the van before being thrown into a coffin.

He freaks out because he is claustrophobic but the guys put screws in the coffin to keep him in it. Then, they push a straw through the wood so Michael will have a way to breathe. One of the men asks what happens if the water rises, but another suggests another couple of hours won’t kill him. They claim Michael deserves it after what he did during a prior stag. The coffin is buried while Michael pleads for help. He listens as the van drives away. He grabs the radio and pleads with the guys to come back and let him out. He hears the vehicle accident and panics. We jump forward and see that Michael is still alive with a bottle of alcohol with him. Michael uses the radio to see if anyone can hear him while he breaks down emotionally. Then, he hears Davey and tries to get him to help. A man listening on a scanner overhears the conversation as well.

Meanwhile, Roy tells his partners about the missing coffin. He believes they should talk to Mark again because taking a coffin is not a spur of the moment decision. Emma Jane confirms that all of them had clean records before Alison Vosper enters. She pulls Roy aside and tells him he has his own work to worry about. He reminds her that he works on cold cases so a day or two won’t make a difference for his victims anyway, but it could mean life or death for Michael Neward. She encourages him to keep a low profile. Roy and Glenn try to get in touch with Mark while Michael struggles to stay calm. Later that night, a van pulls up near the burial site and Michael begins screaming for help. The individual removes the air hose and covers up the hole while someone watches him from a distance.

Ashley Haynes is questioned about the coffin and whether Mark told her what they planned for Michael. She denies knowing anything about it before being asked about the account in the Cayman Islands. Roy explains he doesn’t want to waste hundreds of man hours only to find Michael sunning himself in the Caymans. Glenn encourages her to tell them everything including stuff that might get him into trouble. Glenn leaves them alone and Ashley says she knows where she remembers Roy from now. She knows him from the papers because of the Hossein murder trial. She asks Roy about his wife going missing five years ago, but he says it was six. She wants to know how he copes and deals with. He says he does it one day at a time before promising to do everything he can to help Michael.

She begins telling Roy about meeting Michael and how he changed her life. She wants to know about Roy’s wife because she thinks it might help her. He agrees and begins by saying it was his 40th birthday. His wife went out to work and she never came home. There were no signs, warnings, or notes. She asks about the psychics and whether he could talk to one of them about Michael. She wants him to put her in touch with one of them. Then, they track down Mark again and he says Robert was going to book a stripper-gram. He denies knowing anything about the coffin. He is asked about the account in the Cayman Islands and reveals Michael has majority ownership. Michael put up two-thirds of the money to start the business and Mark put up the rest of it.

Mark denies there was any animosity about that because they’ve been best mates since they were kids. Roy says it is hard to believe that everyone knew about the coffin prank except for Mark who claims it is the kind of idiot stunt that Robbo would pull on his own. They discuss the outcome of Michael’s death and the fact that his mom will get his life insurance but Mark will get the business. Mark says Pelicano South without Michael is worth nothing because he is the real brains behind the business. As for himself, he says he is a people person. He is asked where he was when they visited last night before he says he went for a spin around to clear his head. He says his phone was on charge so there is no one to vouch for him.

When they leave, Glenn and Roy agree that Mark was likely involved, but it doesn’t get them any closer to Michael. Roy has a bracelet he got from Ashley and suggests it might help, but Glenn seems concerned he is going to talk to the pendulum man. Roy admits Harry came up short when Sandy went missing, but that is the only time so far. He tells Glenn he can wait in the car if he is worried about getting into trouble. When they visit Harry Frame (Adrian Rawlins) Glenn goes in with Roy. Someone takes pictures of them as they step inside. Harry knows Glenn is a skeptic and says it is a good thing because there are too many frauds about. Roy tells the medium about Michael before handing him the bracelet. Glenn laughs as Harry performs his trick and tries to find out about Michael’s whereabouts. Harry doesn’t believe Michael is in any of the three areas mentioned by Roy so they need to look wider.

He uses the pendulum above a bigger map and tells Roy that they’ll find their man in Kemp Town, but Roy isn’t sure about that. Harry says the pendulum never lies. As they leave, Roy tells Glenn about Abigail Roth and why he trusts what Harry says. He explains that Abigail was found in a crate at Gatwick that was bound for Holland and Harry was responsible. They decide to take a break and get something to eat while Davey contacts Michael on the walkie-talkie. Someone listens to their conversation as Michael desperately tries to get Davey to help him. Roy has dinner with Glenn’s family. Glenn’s wife, Ari (Rebecca Scroggs), encourages Roy to move on with his life since Sandy likely isn’t coming back. Michael pleads with Davey to let him talk to his father. Davey says he has a headache and needs to go to bed now before abruptly ending the conversation.

Gill contacts Ashley and encourages her to cancel tomorrow, but Ashley won’t because that would mean she has given up on Michael. When the call ends, Mark enters the room and Ashley tells him that they didn’t crash the van. It just happened. He gives her the air hose and says she should call it a wedding present. She asks him to kiss the bride and he does. Davey watches a news report about Michael. Kevin Spinella with the Argus approaches Roy and asks what the spirits think about Michael Neward. Roy enters the church and sits down next to Ashley. She asks about the medium but Grace says there is no news yet. Meanwhile, Glenn checks on the progress of the CCTV footage from Warden’s flat. Nick explains that there is a delay in the footage so they might miss the vehicle completely.

After waiting two hours, Gill tells Ashley that Michael isn’t coming. Gill talks to Roy outside and contemplates whether Michael had a row with the boys and they split up before the accident. She is convinced that he is still alive. After they leave, Glenn notifies Roy of incoming reports about a body in Ashdown Forest. Roy meets up with them and learns that the victim is not Michael, but he took a savage beating to the face and head. Before long, we see that the victim in question is Davey. Glenn and Roy ride over to the Marshbrook place so they can notify Pal immediately. Paul can’t understand why they would want to hurt someone so harmless. He explains Davey claimed he had important business to take care of before leaving. Then, he tells the detectives about his son not being quite right. He reveals Davey said he had been talking to his friend Michael Neward on his walkie-talkie.

Roy searches Michael’s camper and finds pages ripped from a notebook. When Glenn enters, Roy says they don’t have a walkie-talkie, but they have what appears to be directions. They theorize where Davey was going before Bella interrupts and lets them know that Nick has something from the CCTV footage. Roy confronts Mark and tells him he found the bracelet on the stairs. Mark admits that the bracelet belongs to him. Then, the conversation turns to Mark going for a drive in Old Mill Forest. He doesn’t deny it and says they have outline planning permission for 20 hours on a site down there. Roy recites the directions from Davey’s notebook. Mark admits it sounds like the place he went before Roy tells him about those directions and Ashley’s partial address being found in Davey’s home. Roy wonders how difficult it would be to find the land and whether Mark would help them.

They head there immediately. It doesn’t take long for Roy to find the site of the coffin. Mark is surprised when he finds that the coffin has been opened and Michael is already gone. Roy returns to the office with the others and they contemplate what happened. Roy recommends doing a deep dive on Mark because he thinks there might be something that wasn’t in the database. Glenn brings up the question of Michael’s whereabouts while Mark tells Ashley that he could be out there watching them right now. He is worried that Michael might know about them, but Ashley tells him to get a grip. A motorcycle delivery man arrives at the door and demands a signature from Mark. Back at the office, Emma says she finds it odd that Mark and Ashley aren’t friends on social media.

She also hasn’t been able to find any online history for her before last year. Roy suggests there might be many reasons she would change her name. Mark checks the package and finds pictures of himself removing the air hose from Michael’s coffin. He dumps it upside down and finds a finger inside. Then, we see that Michael is tied up and being interrogated by someone. The man tells Michael that he needs his autograph for starters. Then, he takes Michael’s finger. Next, Mark gets a call from Simple Simon who gives him orders and threatens to turn his perfect world to shat if he doesn’t obey. Mark rushes to get papers to give power of attorney to a lawyer in the Cayman Islands named Julius Grobbe from a safe. He signs them, scans them, and emails them to the man.

After that, he transfers a large amount of money from his account to a numbered account in Panama. Ashley gets a message from Michael’s phone before Roy tells his partners that Ashley’s former employer in Toronto is going to send over her HR records. Ashley calls and tells them about the text she received from Michael. Glenn tries to contact the number while Roy tells Ashley it is good news because he is alive but bad news because he is clearly in trouble. Mark finishes the task list and returns home before getting a call from Simon who tells him to go onto the balcony and look down the street. Mark is pushed over the balcony from behind. Ashley is questioned about some of her comments that don’t add up, including her parents being killed in a bike accident.

She explains she was born Ashley Davies before Roy asks about her lack of internet presence. She explains there was a client in Canada and he ended up stalking her. The police couldn’t help. All she could do was disappear and pay someone to remove every trace of her online. Glenn gets a call and steps away while Roy confronts Ashley about giving him Mark’s bracelet. She says it was in the drawer on Michael’s side of the bed so she thought it was his. He wants to know if there is something going on between them but she denies it. Glenn returns and tells Roy about Mark’s death. They go to the balcony and contemplate who pushed Mark over. Roy checks the fridge and finds the mysterious package inside. He opens it and finds the finger and pictures.

Roy admits he thinks they’ll be lucky if they find Michael Neward alive. Meanwhile, Michael is caught using his phone. They talk about the five million and Simon admits he already has it. He warns Michael that he doesn’t need him anymore. Glenn finds the paperwork in the scanner and quickly finds out that he sent a scan of it to Julius Grobbe. The firm in Canada sent a copy of Ashley’s security pass and it isn’t her at all. Back at the office, they learn about a tragic sailing accident and the discovery of Joe Kerwin’s body. They tracked down the real Ashley and she was living with a girl named Jacqueline or Jackie Huron. She was married to Kerwin and got his money. She did it again while using the name Gail Griffin.

The police raid Ashley’s flat immediately but she isn’t there. When searching the trashcan, Roy finds an electronics receipt for a frequency scanner. Since she was with them at the hospital, Roy says she had help. Then, they learn that the signal from Michael’s phone came from somewhere in Newhaven. They’ve put out an alert at all ports. The late ferry from Newhaven docked in Dieppe at four this morning and it has already disembarked. We see Ashley with the kidnapper and they contemplate what to do with Michael. She says he should die slowly for everything she has put up with. Ashley complains to Vic (Diarmaid Murtagh) that he has left loose ends and the police are now looking for two people. Roy and Glenn argue why they decided to remove Michael from the coffin.

Roy suggests the original plan was for Michael to die in the accident and Ashley to get his money. They agree that Mark was likely a useful idiot who was used by Ashley. Bella enters and confirms that they didn’t take the ferry, but instead rented a black Merc in Hove. They’re going to the Caymans on a plane. Alison stops Roy and tells him he is done. She shows him a newspaper article with a picture of his visit to Harry Frame. Roy is worried that the couple won’t crack and Michael’s life will be lost as a result. Once she leaves, Glenn apologizes to Roy and blames himself, but Roy suggests otherwise. Roy doesn’t understand why they wouldn’t leave tonight since they know the cops are after them. Roy leaves when Vosper steps out and asks Glenn if this is what he went out on a limb for. Glenn admits he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Roy goes for a walk to clear his head and watch the waves. He rethinks the evidence and everything that has happened. Then, he goes to the dock while the others watching camera footage. Vic decides to get a drink before they leave. They argue about the amount of money they got and Vic thinks they should’ve got more. Vic wonders why she wouldn’t let him kill Michael but she pleads with him not to be jealous. Vic notices Roy in the distance and tells Ashley. She takes the boat’s speargun and uses it to kill Vic. When Roy boards the boat, Ashley claims that Vic was going to kill her. She says Vic was her stalker from Canada. Roy asks about Michael and she claims Vic told her he would release Michael if she did everything he asked. Roy tells her to stop because they know all about her past.

She wipes her fake tears, removes her wigs, and admits the parts he liked can be true. He knows about Mark’s bracelet before she offers to take the 5 million and start over with him. She offers him a new life and suggests it would be better than what he would be leaving. When he tries to grab her, she stabbed him in the arm but he quickly pushes her down. Then, he claims his wife left because he wasn’t enough and let her down somehow. He demands to know where Michael is but she isn’t going to tell him. She is led away in handcuffs moments later. When she is gone, Roy gets into their rented vehicle and checks the GPS history. Along the way, he calls Glenn and tells him he just handed Ashley over to uniform officers at Shoreham. He tells him where he is going because finding Michael alive is the only thing that matters now.

Roy makes it to the house and calls Michael’s name. He finds that chair that Michael had been tortured in and the scanner. Roy goes down to the basement and finds a freezer that has been closed shut and blocked. Michael is inside and he is alive. Michael is taken to the hospital moments later. Vosper tells Roy that this doesn’t change anything, but he says it does for Michael. Glenn wonders how Michael stayed alive before Roy reveals that Michael said Ashley gave him hope.

 

Grace Review

Overall, Grace was decent. The good news is that it showed a lot of potential, but I think it was too long and long-winded. Do we really need an hour and a half of this? The longer episodes only cluttered the story with unnecessary side steps and whatnot. It tried too hard to be elaborate and a lot of the important things got lost in translation.

Wasn’t it impossible to remember Davey or Hossein by the time Michael was found in the freezer? Personally, the episode should’ve ended some point after Roy figured out that Ashley gave him Mark’s bracelet. That was the real highlight of the episode and helped differentiate it from other similar shows.

Although not bad, I think Grace can be a lot better. It needs shorter, more direct episodes. Nevertheless, the opener wasn’t bad. If I were only watching and not recapping simultaneously, it might not seem so overwhelming. The episode was decent so I’d give it a 7 out of 10. At 4,700 words and after 1 AM, I don’t have time to reread everything above. Just decipher anything stupid above please. Not to mention I’ll take me another 20 minutes to add pictures and post this.