No one knows us better than our BFF Netflix. She knows what we like, what we’ve seen, and notifies the NSA when we’ve watched all the murder shows. She knows that I would enjoy a historical murder drama. Only this time, she was wrong.
Grace had enough in the beginning to intrigue me but it couldn’t keep up. Still, this didn’t stop me from binge-watching the entire thing. If you haven’t seen it, take this with a grain of salt. Watch if you want, but don’t forget I warned you. Slight spoilers ahead.
The show tells the story of an Irish housemaid in mid-1800’s Ontario, who along with another man is convicted of the murders of her former employer and his housekeeper who he has been having an affair with.
After being in prison and an asylum for fifteen years, a handsome psychiatrist, Dr. Jordan from “the states” comes to interview her to get to the bottom of what really happened the day of the murders. Dr. Jordan develops a crush on Grace. He grows to look forward to their meetings.
However, not much is done about this as the entire story is told in a flashback where you only hear Grace’s side of the story. SPOILER: you never get a firm resolution.
The six-episode series ends without clarifying if Grace is the evil muderer some think, if she’s innocent, or if she is suffering from some sort of mental illness. The series points to all three at different times and still fails to provide a resolution.
A part of the reason why there is no resolution is that the real Grace Marks was lost to history. After serving thirty years in prison, Marks was pardoned, moved to upstate New York, and was never heard from again. Another reason why there is no resolution or at least why I think so is due to literary laziness.
As someone who creates their own fictional worlds, ambiguous plots and zero resolutions are a HUGE pet peeve of mine.This show also uses another one of my literary pet peeves-when a character doesn’t remember events. This aspect ends up being a major plot point at the end of the six-episode limited series but, I won’t say anything else because I don’t want the spoiler police knocking on my virtual blog door.
Personally, I think it’s much more interesting to see different point-of-views from different characters even if it is the same event. Considering the true story of Grace Marks was unresolved due to the fact she was lost to history, I understand why this happened.
For the story-hungry, binge-watching folks with dirty hair who have been wearing the same pair of $5 Old Navy flannel pajamas for three days, this is a huge letdown. Now, on to the vomit. As someone who has been paid to write about the murder of babies, it can be assumed (and assumed correctly) that I’m not one to be grossed out. However, vomit is the one thing I have a huge problem with. This show is loaded with it, so get ready if you decide to press watch now on your remote. Props to the writers for including perhaps the most realistic aspect of life.
Maybe I was just cranky when I watched it (a possibility). I was expecting so much more from this show. By more, I mean a hell of a lot more murder and story.
A Murder Most Foul 
