Grosse Pointe Garden Society would've been a hit ten years ago

Because I am apparently a masochist and have learned nothing from my decades-long experience of cancellation-induced heartbreak, I’ve broken the cardinal rule of watching broadcast television and become quite fond of and invested in all three of NBC’s midseason drama offerings: The Hunting Party, Suits: LA, and Grosse Pointe Garden Society. Inevitably, at least one will find itself on the chopping block come May (or earlier), leaving me devastated and forever contemplating the endless “what ifs” after the finale cuts to black. That said, though we’re just a few episodes in with each, the one I know will hurt the worst to lose—and the one I recommend the most of the bunch—is Grosse Pointe Garden Society.

While I truly adore both The Hunting Party and Suits: LA and wish for nothing more than all three shows to be renewed, Grosse Pointe Garden Society has transported me back to the better, simpler times of television, when fans were rabid and ruthless on Twitter in their search for answers about the identity of Pretty Little Liars’s black-hooded baddie and Annalise Keating asked her husband point-blank why a photo of his penis was on a dead girl’s phone in How to Get Away with Murder. Back to a time before streaming services threw a grenade into the metaphorical room of the television industry, slamming the door and locking us all inside as it detonated.

Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four members of the titular garden society—Alice (AnnaSophia Robb), Catherine (Aja Naomi King), Brett (Ben Rappaport), and newcomer Birdie (Melissa Fumero)—as they deal with the ins and outs of life in suburbia, particularly as things begin to get rough. Alice is searching for her missing dog, whose body is later found which sets her on a path for answers and vengeance. Additionally, Alice is pondering the future of her marriage to husband Doug (Alexander Hodge) as their plans for the future shift against her will and her in-laws continue to place enormous pressure on her to start having children. Meanwhile, frustrated by her husband’s lack of interest in her and their marriage, Catherine is in the throes of a hot and heavy affair with her colleague Gary (Saamer Usmani). They plan to leave their spouses and run away together, but Catherine is stunned and furious upon discovering he’s sleeping with just about every other woman in town.

Brett—a man who I feel should definitely be gay and is inexplicably not—is trying to move forward with his life but struggling with an identity crisis. His wife Melissa (Nora Zehetner) left him for a hotter, richer man, Connor (Josh Ventura). Connor is plotting to take Brett’s children away from him, legally speaking. Thus, Brett is drowning in a pit of his insecurities, namely about his future, and specifically regarding his fraught relationships with his children and the state of his career, while his ego and manhood are severely bruised. On the other hand, Birdie is a loaded divorcée desperately lacking in both purpose and responsibility. Her arrival in town creates some chaos for a couple of its longtime residents because she’s the biological mother of their teenage son Ford (Felix Wolfe), who doesn’t know he’s adopted. Aside from her confidence, Birdie’s notable personality trait is poor decision-making, which ultimately lands her at the garden society and encourages her to foster a spark between her and Felix’s father Joel (Matthew Davis).

We quickly learn that Alice, Catherine, and Brett have been members of the garden society and close friends for years. They have a deep, beautiful, and true friendship, offering each other support without judgment and still delivering hard truths when necessary. When Birdie reluctantly begins to help out around the garden, she attaches herself to the trio, now forevermore a foursome, and starts to develop her place in the group. Thankfully, whereas many shows immediately thrust a new character into a long-standing group dynamic with no consideration for the difficulties of opening up to a new person and finding your place amongst an existing friend group, Grosse Pointe is approaching it as more of a slow burn. Sure, Birdie is learning some of the others’ major secrets a bit earlier than may be realistic, but she often makes a comment or does something that makes her stand out and doesn’t work in this group dynamic.  As far as introducing and developing a signature “core four” goes, the series is doing an impressive job already.

However, my primary fascination can be attributed to the show’s major mystery. In flash-forward scenes interspersed amidst their chaos in the present day, the story jumps six months into the future with the core four weathering the immediate aftermath of committing murder. They bury the body of the figure in the community garden, whom they refer to without pronouns as “Quiche” and whose body is completely covered with a quilt, and try to plot out their next steps forward to stay calm and stay out of prison. Unfortunately, complications begin to arise, putting their lives and futures in jeopardy.

In short, the present-day storyline introduces us to these characters and immerses us in their messy, complicated lives, developing strong personalities and relationships before they commit murder. Their lives are beginning to go entirely off track, creating incredibly complex dynamics with the people in their lives that are slowly but thoroughly being fleshed out, while building tension between the characters and generating motives for murder as we theorize about Quiche’s identity and what could have led these four friends to such a drastic action.

As anyone who knows me can attest, I love a good flash-forward storyline, so Grosse Pointe Garden Society feels perfectly curated to my taste. Plus, between the mystery and the core four friendship, the series feels reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars in many ways, which is one of my favorite television shows of all time. Had Grosse Pointe aired ten years ago, it surely would’ve been an unbelievable success. It perfectly captures what audiences loved then, which is also fueling my love for it now as someone who seriously misses what television used to be. So, to be brief, start watching and spread the word because, predictably, the series has received basically zero promotion in the shadow of Suits: LA.