Picture this: a picturesque small town filled with gorgeous citizens all hiding scandalous secrets becomes the site of a shocking murder. I bet you can think of a few TV shows with that basic set-up. At this point, it’s a tale as old as time. And yet, audiences have shown they are drawn to these soapy stories, so networks continue to invest. It’s from that nugget that NBC’s newest drama,Grosse Pointe Garden Society, comes, serving up a familiar mix of affluent intrigue and attention-grabbing twists.
Thebasic premise ofGrosse Pointe Garden Society, created by Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs, is simple. Four friends who participate in the local gardening club are brought even closer together when they kill someone and prepare to cover it up by burying the body in the garden. The series uses the now very common dual timeline structure, jumping back and forth between the time immediately surrounding the murder and six months earlier, when the seeds for the dastardly deed were planted. It should make for a show filled with drama and intrigue, and that’s what it is — mostly.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society Has A Strong Core Cast
They Just Need To Spend More Time Together
Our four main characters are all distinctive personalities. There’s Catherine (Aja Naomi King), the perfectly put-together type-A member of the group who feels neglected by her husband and seeks pleasure elsewhere, and Brett (Ben Rappaport), a landscaper grappling with co-parenting his children with his ex and her new, rich beau. AnnaSophia Robb’s Alice is a teacher who has no interest in starting a family of her own despite pressure from her in-laws and, to her dismay, her own husband. And, finally, Melissa Fumero plays disgraced socialite Birdie, who only shows up because she needs community service hours.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society’s central ensemble is great; I only wanted to see more of them working together.
They’re all wildly different, yet they are drawn together by the garden, which offers a reprieve from the things troubling their personal lives. However, outside the murder and the garden club meetings, the main characters ofGrosse Pointe Garden Societydon’t actually intersect much. Each one is capable of leading their own storyline, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the characters are all defined enough to be their own person. On the other, we lose out on some of the key bonding moments for the group because their storylines before the murder are, for the most part, standalone.
Now, I’ve only seen four episodes of season 1, and episode 4 did provide the clearest moment of connection between the group thanks to an ill-advised but well-intentioned act from Birdie.Grosse Pointe Garden Society’s central ensemble is great; I only wanted to see more of them working together. Some key dynamics emerge early on, namely Brett and Alice (a classic case of unrequited love between best friends) and Birdie and Catherine. The latter relationship intrigued me the most as a friendship born from wildly different personalities, and I can only hope the rest of season 1 builds on it.
Despite Its Premise, Grosse Pointe Garden Society Is Missing Some Thrills
Though I Remain Entertained For Now
The biggest thing that baffles me about the series is, despite being incredibly watchable and filled with suitably soapy plot points, it doesn’t quite become the breathless guilty pleasure I was expecting. This could be partially because Bans and Krebs refuse to reveal the murder victim, instead leaving a trail of potential candidates for us to sort through. It’s more frustrating than alluring, though I do intend to keep watching to get the answer.
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Beyond that, many of the biggest twists and secrets within each character’s storylines are predictable, a result of the genre becoming so well-trodden over the years. That doesn’t entirely erase the fun ofGrosse Pointe Garden Society, and I did hoot and holler over certain developments, but it does take away some of the suspense a show like this desperately needs. Of course, only four episodes into the season, anything can happen, and there’s enough here that works that I’m willing to keep going.
One of the strongest assets ofGrosse Pointe Garden Societyis its cast, which extends well beyond the core four. Everyone gets the chance to shine, but the standout for me was Fumero, who gleefully sheds her high-strungBrooklyn Nine-Ninecharacterto embrace the hot mess that is Birdie. Prone to day-drinking and wearing clothes not suited to getting down in the dirt, there’s far more to Birdie than meets the eye, and Fumero brilliantly walks the line between ditzy party girl and lonely, hurt woman.
ThoughGrosse Pointe Garden Societydoesn’t get off to the strongest start, it’s funny and dramatic enough to keep you tuned in. After four episodes, I still have plenty of questions I want to see answered, though it will be disappointing if the show withholds some of those answers for too long. On a broader level, it’s refreshing to see this kind of show from one of the major networks, which so oftenrely on proceduralsthese days. We could all use some wild, easy fun and, in that sense, the series delivers.
Grosse Pointe Garden Societypremieres Sunday, February 23 at 10pm ET/PT on NBC.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society
Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four suburban garden club members—Birdie, Alice, Brett, and Catherine—as they navigate entangled lives marked by murder and mischief while striving to bring vibrancy to their conventional existence.
