Saving Grace - Taco, Tulips, Duck and Spices

If the first part of the "Two-Part Finale Event" of Saving Grace disappointed, this episode more than made up for it, in my opinion.  Saving Grace, you have redeemed yourself... almost literally.  As we get started, Grace and Rhetta are cooking à l'Oklahoma in Grace's kitchen.  This means that the main ingredient in their dish is Velveeta.  The second ingredient may or may not be chili.  Grace talks about her mother's upcoming birthday; all of her siblings are rolling into town for a reunion. Rhetta wants to chat about Ham and his sappy declaration - what's Grace gonna do about her lovestruck puppy of a partner? As usual, Grace dodges the question and the subject of Earl's gifts comes up.  Rhetta thinks they all have a hidden message and a purpose.  In fact, she's so eager to figure it all out that she's seeing symbolism everywhere, but Grace doesn't seem to be buying it.  Easier to joke about it than to really analyze your life, eh, Grace?

That night, Grace dreams that she walks to her sliding glass door.  Outside, sitting and staring at her, is that weird dog with the long tongue.  She desperately tries to open the door, but it's stuck.  Tears roll down her face in the dream, and she wakes up crying, only to see Earl staring at her.  She wipes at her tears and demands to see his dog tattoo. Even Earl's not sure why he has it; he seems oddly confused about the whole thing.  Anyway, for some reason the dream has so saddened Grace that it takes her several minutes to recover.  Earl gives her a giant M T-shirt he brought her from Malibu, and tells her that all he wants is for her to heal. Sometimes, Earl says, you have to move backward before you can move forward.  That may be a cryptic clue, but I find myself really thinking about it.  It's possibly the most true thing I've heard in awhile. 

Grace gets a call from her firefighter brother, Leo.  She meets him at the scene of a car fire, and they find photos of their sister Paige in the backseat.  Okay... random!  Paige is talking to a man in the photos, and Grace is worried she's being stalked.  Either that or having an affair.  She meets with her sister to ask about the sitch.  Paige, the sister who's so straightlaced that even her panties are probably starched and ironed, claims the man is an acquaintance named Lenny.  She met him in a coffeeshop after her yoga class.  Grace can tell her sister's not coming completely clean, and promises to investigate further.  In the meantime, she warns Paige to be careful and aware of her surroundings at all times.  Paige is clearly uncomfortable with the whole "taking advice from my screw-up sister" thing.  She changes the subject and tells Grace that their mother wants a photo of the family as a birthday present.  Grace is instructed to wear all white to the birthday party.

Grace and her peeps learn that the burned-up car belonged to 76-year-old man named Hoyt Garvey.  And then it's the familial invasion as all four of Grace's brothers descend on the precinct.  There's a testosterone whirlwind of bear hugs (for Grace) suspicious handshakes (for Ham) and I'll-kick-that-pervert's-ass worry (for Paige).  The brother brigade soon departs, but not before letting all of her co-workers know that Grace used to enjoy snacking on bugs as a child.  Later, in the lab, Rhetta talks some more about the symbolism of Earl's gifts.  She's written them out on a white board, along with her theories about what it all means. Grace isn't taking it seriously, although she does tell Rhetta about the dog dream and the M T-shirt. Rhetta: "Hey!  Hey! Guess what dog spelled backwards is GOD!"  Grace is not impressed.

Grace talks to Paige's husband, Buck. He scoffs at the idea that Paige could be having an affair, and later she tells Ham that her own family is giving her the runaround.  At the coffeeshop where the photos were taken, the barista remembers cuddly ol' man Hoyt and his camera, but not Paige or Lenny.  This confuses Grace, since Paige said she was a regular at the shop.  Ham agrees to go speak to her, but before he leaves tells Grace that he'll wait for her to return his I love you.  Yeah, Ham.  You go ahead and wait.  Someday they'll mark on your tombstone: "Here Lies Ham.  Still Waiting for Grace Hanadarko to say I Love You."  Paige admits to Ham that she signed her name and social security number to a petition Lenny had for the "Parents of American Veterans."  But unfortunately, there's no such organization; not a legal one, anyway.  Lenny's a scam artist like Sawyer on Lost, except way less hot.  Grace and Ham theorize that Lenny was the target of the photos, not Paige - perhaps a former ripped-off mark wanted payback.

Grace has decided that she's done being jerked around by her family and that she's gonna figure what's going on out on her own.  And it's justified, too... it's the middle of the night, and Grace witnesses Paige's husband Buck kissing another woman goodbye on her front porch.  It's the barista from the coffeeshop!  Buck's the one having an affair, and Grace tells Rhetta that Paige must know about it; she's been checking out the other woman at her place of work.  Later, we find out that Grace isn't necessarily ignoring everything that Rhetta says about the meanings of Earl's gifts.  She heads to the lab and sets them out, sitting down to stare at Rhetta's symbolism board.  Hmmm.  Guess this means a lot more to her than she lets on.  But the most surprising thing in this scene is the expression on Earl's face when he arrives and silently stands unnoticed behind Grace.  His chest is heaving and you can tell he's about to cry.  Whoa.  What the hell is going on?  It feels like we're about to reach a moment of major importance.  So of course, TNT cuts to a commercial.

Next morning, Grace thinks she may have this symbolism thing figured out.  She may be avoiding the memory of something Irish that starts with an M.  What could this mean?  Four words: Father Patrick "Satan" Murphy.  This is the first time I've heard this name, but clearly it's going to be very important, because the expression on Grace's face when she says it could shatter cinderblock.  Grace thinks that the "Holy Redeemer" thing means that Earl wants her to redeem herself, but clearly that is something she's not prepared to do.  She erases the board, telling Rhetta that maybe she'll keep her angel gifts to herself in the future.  In wanders a completely clueless Ham; he's found more information on Lenny's scam.  The guy robbed six elderly people of two million dollars, and Hoyt was one of them. It seems that the photos' target was Lenny after all, not Paige. 

Grace and Ham go to Hoyt's. His grandson answers the door and goes all twitchy evasive when they ask questions about the whereabouts of his grandfather.  Meanwhile, Rhetta goes to lunch with Johnny and learns that Father Patrick "Satan" Murphy (who will from here on out be referred to as FPSM - acronyms are my friend) is still alive. After he was transferred to Vermont when Grace was in 6th grade, a rumor circulated that he died of tongue cancer. But actually he continued his career at parishes all over the country and retired three years ago in Tulsa.  Rhetta chokes out with horrified indignation that he was a pedophile, and Johnny looks genuinely shocked. He asks how Rhetta knows. "Check it out," is all she can say before making a run for the door.

Rhetta drives Grace down a country road in her minivan, but won't tell her where they're going. In the middle of nowhere, she pulls over and they both get out, walking a distance into a field of grass. Rhetta tells Grace to back away from her. The two women face off in the field, and I can see what's coming.  It's all been leading up to this.  It's why Earl was crying, because Grace was about to learn this truth, and we're about to learn her secret. "What?" asks an exasperated Grace as Rhetta stares at her sadly.  Finally, Rhetta just comes out and says it: "Father Patrick Satan Murphy is alive."  He lives at the Holy Redeemer Retirement home in Tulsa and before that was stationed in many different states.  Grace's expression is deadly flat.  "They told us he was dead," she says.  "I know," Rhetta replies.  She has brought Grace to this deserted piece of countryside so that she can scream and cry and let out her emotions.  But instead, Grace just wants to go back to town.  Rhetta refuses to take her, and Grace chases her down and frisks her, looking for the car keys.  Not finding them, she storms back to the minivan and goes through it with a vengeance, throwing its contents out onto the ground.  Furiously, she tosses a cooler through the air and then starts kicking it, hard, grunting with pure emotion.  And finally Grace does what Rhetta knew she needed to: screams and collapses against the side of the car, crying.  Quietly, Rhetta sits beside her.  Grace only mentioned what happened once, when they were 16 and drunk. It's time for Grace to tell her story.  And it's time for me just to lay it out.  No snark in this part of the recap, y'all. 

The first time Father Patrick was inappropriate with Grace it was raining. Grace got wet and he took off all her clothes.  He told her she was perfect and pretty, God's special gift just for him.  She was nine years old.  Grace lights a cigarette and Rhetta says that Father Patrick never touched her.  Grace thinks that was because her parents never invited him to Sunday supper.  What he did felt bad-good, and Father Patrick told her that God made her feel tingly so she'd know it was okay.  On her eleventh birthday he gave her rosary beads, and then he raped her in the pews next to the alter.  The abuse went on for a year, until Grace got her period.  Father Patrick then stopped giving her presents and started giving them to her little sister, Paige.  At that point Grace went to see him and asked for a kiss.  When he stuck his tongue down her throat, she bit down as hard as she could.  As Father Patrick spit blood and told her that she was going to Hell, Grace screamed at him to stay away from her sister, or she'd tell everyone what he'd done.  He was gone a week later, and the tongue cancer rumor started to circulate.  When Grace thought he had died, it was the only time she believed God was just.  Rhetta asks if Grace wants to kill him, now that she knows he's alive. Grace replies that she wants to know how many kids he has hurt, and then she wants him to go to prison. The women stand and hug each other tightly, and Rhetta pulls her hidden keys out of her cleavage.  There you have it, everyone.  Grace's secret, the root of her hatred for the church and her sexual promiscuity.  I have to say... you can't blame her one little tiny bit.

Ham has tracked Lenny down and found him dead in his house with a bullet through the head.  They also find his phony petition with Paige's name on it.  The theory: either Hoyt or his grandson killed Lenny out of revenge. Meanwhile, Johnny goes to Rhetta and asks if Father Patrick molested Grace. "I never said that," replies a deer in the headlights-expressioned Rhetta.  Immediately, she goes to Grace and lets her know that Johnny may know about the molestation; Rhetta thinks he's on his way to confront Father Patrick.

Next thing you know, Grace is sitting outside of the retirement home in her car, obsessively watching Father Patrick Satan Murphy.  And I have to say... Saving Grace, I salute you for this scene.   He is nothing more than a small, bewhiskered old man in a plaid shirt, happily pottering about with his flowers outside in the sunshine.  Just about as nonthreatening and... sympathetic... as they get.  If I didn't know the disgusting story behind the character, I wouldn't ever guess that this is the man who pinned down an eleven year old after having gifted her with a blessed rosary.  As Grace watches, Johnny drives up gets out of his car.  FPSM warmly goes to shake his hand and instead Johnny lands a hard right hook to the older man's face.  Then he walks back to his car and drives away.  Grace watches the whole scene from her car, and Earl shows up in her passenger seat.  Grace asks if this is what he wanted; she's followed his evidence here.  Earl replies that he didn't plant any evidence.  He can't interfere; he's just FedEx delivering a message.  The old man sits slumped over, his hand cradling his bruised face. Holy crap.  That scene was... I don't know.  Just amazing.  My heart is still kind of pounding a little.

Hoyt's Grandson is trying to smuggle him into the house when they're accosted by Ham and Bobby.  Hoyt flat out admits that he killed the con man, Lenny.  The Grandson pleads with him to be quiet, but Hoyt says after Lenny took their money, Hoyt's wife had a heart attack and died.  The cops couldn't track him down.  And then Hoyt randomly saw him at a bookstore.  He took photos and was planning on turning him in, and then Hoyt saw Paige sign the petition.  He couldn't handle the thought of the con man cheating another person.  Hoyt followed him home and shot him through the head.  His car overheated on the way home.  Obviously feeling sorry for the old man (Lenny wasn't exactly the salt of the earth, after all) Ham tells him to listen carefully and then changes the story so it'll look better for the old man.  He and Bobby tell him exactly what to say, and encourage the grandson to get a good lawyer as they put Hoyt in handcuffs.

It's family reunion time at Grace's, and she's put on all white but also appears to have paper streamers in her hair and a feather boa around her neck.  Tacky payback for Paige's uptightness, probably. Grace goes over to Johnny, and you can see on his face that he knows.  She asks him not to say anything.  Even if Johnny didn't know, the church did, their mother thinks Father Patrick is dead.  Grace doesn't want her to know.  She doesn't want anyone to know.   She changes the subject, telling her brother that he's a good priest, and asking about a family he's been counseling whose baby died.  They're interrupted by family picture time.  Grace holds up a photo of her dead sister as the camera goes off, and the still that is captured shows her with a wistful, sad expression.

Later, Grace sits at home alone, deep in thought.   She looks over and sees the dog with the long tongue sitting outside in a pool of light.  "Are you God?" Grace asks.  The dog runs off and Grace says that it figures.  God, the powerful and almighty.  He wants her to talk to him, turn to him, believe in him?  Grace asks aloud why she should trust him.  And thus begins the third - yes, third! - powerfully emotional scene of the evening.  I can't take my eyes off of the screen.  A baby dies, Grace says, but Father Patrick Satan Murphy gardens outside of his beautiful retirement home and can go for walks and ogle little girls.  The world is full of horror and injustice, and God gives Father Patrick roses.  Goddamned roses.  "I hate you!" Grace shouts to the sky.  She cries for Earl, but he's nowhere to be seen  "I'm going to blow his head off," Grace says triumphantly to the empty room, knowing that somebody's listening.  "I don't give a shit about you."  The dog is back outside, as though to contradict her statement.  Grace aims her gun at him, too, threatening to blow his tongue off.

Instead, she makes good on that first threat.  Grace shows up at FPSM's retirement home, wearing latex gloves and carrying a pistol equipped with a silencer.  She breaks into his room, sits on the side of his bed.  Then she grabs his junk and gives it a nasty twist to wake him up.  FPSM awakens with a horrified gasp of pain.  "A little girl says you touched her inappropriately in the classroom... what do you think of that, Father?" Grace whispers harshly.  "I...I'm not in the classroom anymore," trembles the old man, afraid and small and frail.  He's wearing blue pajamas and has a tremulous gravelly voice, all alone in his narrow bed.  God help me, I feel a little sorry for him.  Grace asks how many girls he raped.  Hundrreds?  FPSM says that he spends his life in prayer, but she asks if he takes walks and looks at little girls.  "Do I know you?" he asks.  "I'm Grace Hanadarko," she replies, and you can tell she's wanted to say these things to him for years.  He gasps, and she orders him out of bed and down onto his knees.  "Open your mouth," Grace says.  She puts her gun against his tongue, and Father Patrick Satan Murphy begs her to forgive him.  He says he prays for her all the time.  He's going to Hell for his sins, but he pleads with her not to put the mark of murder on her soul.  He's just FedEx, he concludes in a querulous, defeated voice.  Trying to deliver a message. 

As Grace would say: Well. Shit. 

Grace sits up ramrod straight and starts shaking like a leaf.  Those are Earl's words, what he said to her in the car, verbatim.  "Do you know a guy named Earl?" she asks.  "An angel... named Earl?"  Father Patrick Satan Murphy looks up, past the gun pointed at his face, and their eyes meet...

And that's all she wrote.  GAH!!!  Is Earl FPSM's Last Chance Angel as well?  Will she shoot him, or let him live?  We'll all have to wait until next summer for the conclusion.  I will definitely see y'all then!