Gracepoint had its season finale and it was a jaw-dropper. It didn’t take long for us to find out who killed Danny Solano, and when we did, it seemed like everything was open and shut.
However, a twist came within the last half hour of the show that put things into perspective and made us wonder what could possibly happen next if the show is picked up for a second season.
I won’t spoil who the killer is in the introduction even though this is where I normally summarize everything. But what you need to know is this episode did an amazing job portraying the events that happened the night Danny was killed and particular actors nailed their performances, especially when Mark Solano confronts the person who killed his little boy.
The episode was breathtakingly beautiful, heartbreaking, and amazing as we saw what came together following a lengthy investigation that led to painful truths, families being brought together, and families broken apart. We’re looking back at the ten moments that left our hearts in our throats as we saw the final product of the investigation.
*This article will contain spoilers and does name Danny’s killer.*
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10. You did good work
Carver has hours until he is pulled off the case because of his health issues and has to hand it over to Ellie. But it appears that Carver feels like he could be close to finding out the truth. He takes Ellie to a part of the beach where he tells her he came here years ago as a kid. Before she goes off to interview Vince, Carver tells her she did a good job on the case.
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9. Telling the family
After a confession is made, Carver goes to the Solano home to tell them who the killer is. Beth immediately pleads with him not to say that they know the person. But she is shocked when she finds out who it is and Mark is overcome with confusion to learn that it was Joe Miller, Ellie’s husband, who confessed. When Mark seems to get it together, he gets up and walks out of the house.
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8. How do you not know?
Beth has a scene with Ellie outside their home. The two had been friends until this point, when Beth finds out it was her own husband who had killed her son. It had been revealed they had been secretly meeting and Beth asks Ellie, echoing Ellie’s own words to Susan, about how she couldn’t see what was going on. Ellie can’t answer as Beth goes home.
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7. Carver’s call
Carver calls his daughter at the end of the case to ask about her graduation date and that he plans on having the heart surgery he needs. Julianne calls back later to give him the date and that she will be there for him when he has the surgery.
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6. Finding the killer
Within the first ten minutes of the episode, we knew Carver found the suspect. He drives past the church and the Solano house, where we see Mark on his own phone and Paul sitting in a pew. Carver walks up to a house and looks at Tom and Dylan through the window before he finds Joe in the garage with Danny’s smart phone.
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5. Ellie’s reaction
Ellie is horrified and shaken to discover her own husband is the killer. She vomits upon hearing the news and when she confronts her husband, she angrily tells him that Danny was just a child. Overcome, she begins hitting and beating her husband before Carver comes to pull her off.
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4. The real killer
You thought this was it, right? Wrong. It turns out the real killer was Tom, who accidentally struck Danny with an oar in an attempt to rescue his friend from his own father. Ellie finds out the truth when she is talking to her son in their hotel bathroom after leaving their home. She realizes he is acting oddly and she notices his shoes, which are the same size prints that were all over the crime scene. Tom tells her what really happened to Danny. Tom saw his dad leave the house and followed him, where he saw what happened inside the Harvey Ridge house. When he saw Danny trying to run away, Tom had been waving an oar toward his father, but Danny ended up running toward him and was hit in the head.
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3. Joe’s confession
Joe’s confession was eerie, terrible, and plain creepy as we watch a scene where Joe looks like he is about to make an inappropriate advance toward Danny. The young boy gets up before anything can happen and runs off, telling him he will tell his parents about what has been going on. While it doesn’t appear Joe has done anything to him yet, they apparently had been meeting up for some time. Joe’s story is that he fell and hit his head hard when he was trying to stop him from running. As we found out later in the episode, he was actually lying about this part to protect Tom.
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2. Mark confronts Joe
Mark goes to the police station after finding out Joe was the one who killed his son. He is devastated, angry, and in tears as he tears into Joe about how he had invited him to his own and when Joe says he cared about Danny, Mark screams. “He wasn’t yours to care for!” This scene was a powerful performance from a man who has lost much and has endless guilt inside him.
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1. Danny’s memorial
Danny is finally laid to rest and the family has his funeral before going down to the water to light a tower in his memory. Beth looks out to see more towers are being lit and Mark asks Paul gently if he was the one who told everyone. He responds, “I spread the word. I guess the word was good.”
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