Saving Grace

I've been watching a new show on TNT-HD called Saving Grace starring Holly Hunter. It is a raw and gritty view of a woman on a spiritual search. It is rated TV-MA and with nudity, profanity, adultery and violence, it definitely deserves the rating.

The plot was best summarized on the TV Guide website: "Hunter plays Grace Hanadarko, an Oklahoma City police detective who seems to break as many rules as she enforces. She drinks... to excess. She’s an exhibitionist. She’s adulterous. And on one fateful night, in the first episode, a confluence of her myriad trespasses finds her racing along a seemingly desolate road until she mows down an innocent pedestrian. It is then that she is afforded a most unlikely second chance, in the form of an atypical angelic figure named Earl. The lady cop, though, is not immediately ready to tone down her hard-living ways..."

I've only watched the first two episodes, but here is what I like about the show so far...

• Grace is a great picture of who every church should be trying to reach. She's self-sufficient and has no need for God, but has a gnawing ache for purpose and a sense that "there must be more to life than this."
• Grace acts like you and I would without a relationship with Christ. Without Christ, who cares if the guy you are sleeping with is married? Without Christ, who cares if you bend rules to get to a preferred outcome?
• Earl is not who you ever pictured as an angel. He has long hair, is overweight, and chews tobacco. I love the thought that his portrayal is really messing with a lot of Christians concept of the divine.
• Grace's brother is a Catholic priest who has no idea how to handle Grace. He comes across as intolerant and judgmental. I wonder, though, if it is a good picture on how many of us come across to people like Grace.

If you dare, check out this show. You can watch all the episodes online at TNT.TV, or if you are a Comcast subscriber, check every episoide out On Demand under TNT.