BWW Recap: One Tragedy After Another on GRACEPOINT

Grab that box of Kleenex before you sit down to watch the sixth episode of GRACEPOINT, folks, this one's tough. The town as a whole thinks Jack's a guilty man, but something about him just seems innocent and honest. Deep down, he's a good guy. There's a shortage of any viable leads, though, and the detectives have no credible evidence linking Jack to Danny's murder, so mob mentality takes over. Frustrated? Imagine how the detectives feel.

The whole town watches as Tom skates the route that Danny took the night he died. News cameras are on the scene, but the street is so silent, it's eerie. The detectives need to time how long it would've taken Danny to get to the cabin, so that they can narrow down the window of time in which the murder could've occurred. It's a beautifully shot opening sequence showing just how much this murder impacts everyone in Gracepoint.

Ellie's frustrated. Nothing adds up. Jack's age makes it improbable that he would've been able to move a body too far, and Tom always insinuated that Danny had a smartphone, but the one Jack found is a basic phone. Ellie's frustration seems minor compared to that felt by Beth and Mark, though. The Gemma scandal is finally discussed (over the din of the news feature about their family), and tempers flare until Beth snaps and tells Mark about her pregnancy. Mark wants her to keep the baby, but Beth's not so sure.

Meanwhile, in Owenland, Ellie's nephew wakes up - once again - with Renee, after a night of writing the article about Jack for their shared San Francisco Globe byline. One problem, though: the Globe completely changes their story to make it much more sensational. Kathy is upset that Owen didn't go to her, and she's even more upset that Owen's betraying an innocent man. Deep down, his heart is in the right place, but he has to keep his ambition in check if he wants to do right by his neighbors in Gracepoint.

Everybody's desperate for some solid leads. Vince is convinced that Jack is guilty of murdering Danny, and even Ellie's sister (and Owen's mother) Sarah tries to use tips as leverage for money. Jack goes to the police station and insists that he's innocent; he's frustrated with - and a little bit hurt by - Owen's actions. After all, he's known Owen since he was a young boy. Dean, who we haven't seen much of since his time in police custody, resurfaces and tells Chloe he's got important information about Jack. Chloe listens, and the pair goes to Owen and Renee with a potential story. Dean claims that while he was a member of the wilderness club, Jack got a little touchy-feely with him and a few of his friends. Renee is in favor of publishing the story, but Owen turns them down and insists they go to the police with this information. Finally, he listens to his conscience! You go, Owen!

Beth isn't having as much progress. She's stuck in a world of anger - and she likes it. She interrupts a discussion between Gemma and Paul Coates, smashes glasses on the floor and confronts Gemma about her affair with Mark. Later, she tells Paul that it felt good to get angry. Small talk quickly leads to more heavy subjects, and she breaks down, saying she hates the baby inside of her. She feels she has failed Danny by not protecting him. She wants Danny back, not the baby that she feels will "replace" Danny. Paul thinks having a memorial service for Danny will help, but Beth explains that Mark wants no part of it.

Jack, poor Jack, is completely overwhelmed by the newspaper articles revealing his prior conviction. Photographers swarm his house, but Carver and Ellie say they're too short-handed to chase them away. Feeling defeated, Jack comes clean about his past. He was a piano teacher, she was his student, and they were in love. Her father reported Jack to the police, and she furious with him for it. He served his two-year prison sentence, and then married her as soon as he was released. Turns out Jack's not as bad as everyone thinks.

Susan, on the other hand, is still sketchy. If there's someone we shouldn't trust, it's her. I don't know if she killed Danny or not, but either way, she's a creepy lady and we should run away from her. She's got an adorable dog, though, and that's exactly what catches Tom Miller's attention. He plays with her dog while his dad tries to control the angry Jack mob outside, and Susan invites him to her house. See? Sketchy. What's more, the CSI team finds cigarette butts from the sand that were buried around the same time that Danny was buried, and they're a specific, uncommon brand of high tar cigarettes. You know who smokes? Susan. Just saying.

Things start to unravel very quickly from here. Owen approaches Ellie about his dad's missing boat, concerned that it may be the one that washed ashore with Danny's blood. The divide in the Solano family spreads to include Chloe, who is determined to convince her mother to keep the baby. The tension is broken by a knock on the door, and Joe Miller tells Mark that Vince is rallying up a lynch mob to attack Jack. Mark intervenes and pulls Vince away from Jack, and Jack tells his story to Mark, with more detail than he gave police. As it turns out, Jack and his wife had a son together, but he died in a car accident when he was nine. Mark identifies with Jack; they've both suffered the same loss. Jack says that grief ripped him and his wife apart. Sound familiar, Mark?

Hugo, head of the CSI department, confirms that Owen's father's boat is the one that washed up on shore, and then makes a very awkward pass at Ellie. Carver makes a joke about this, and just when the tension between the detectives starts to dissolve, Ellie asks about Rosemont, Carver's previous case. All Carver will reveal is that a mistake was made, and he vows that he will not let that happen again in Gracepoint.

He better be careful about Jack, then. Jack sits down at the piano and plays a hauntingly beautiful song (uh oh...), which plays over a montage (never a good sign) of Ellie working and Beth and Mark looking at Danny's baby pictures. The serenity is disturbed when Jack's glass doors are broken. He investigates, and finds "pedophile" graffitied on the dock. He's completely devastated.

That night, the world's most awkward hotel scene takes place between Gemma and Carver (you know what I'm talking about), and Jack wakes up the next morning to more devastation: the story about his son's death is front page news, complete with a family photo. As he clutches a picture of him, his wife, and his baby son close to his chest, he wades into the water. Carver and Ellie wake up the next morning with another body on the beach. Cue the Kleenex.

Have any idea who did it? Need a shoulder to cry on while mourning Jack? We're here for you! Come chat with us in the comments below or speculate with me on Twitter @CourtHenley.

Photo Credit: FOX

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