What Happened in Grosse Pointe Garden Society's Premiere? All the Time Jumps (RECAP)
The premiere of NBC's Grosse Pointe Garden Society introduced a complex rode to a murder that cuts back and forth in time.
Warning: Spoilers ahead about Grosse Pointe Garden society's premiere episode, "Pilot".
With its premiere, Grosse Pointe Garden Society wasted no time revealing an apparent murder that leads Birdie (Melissa Fumero), Catherine (Aja Naomi King), Brett (Ben Rappaport), and Alice (AnnaSophia Robb) to bury a dead body in the soil of their town's cherished garden. So as fans begin the 13-episode journey towards figuring out who was killed and why, one key storytelling element will help viewers as they piece together the mystery: time.
In the "Pilot" episode we learn that six months passes between the formation of the garden club foursome, through to them getting rid of a corpse. As the story unravels, the show not only focuses on present day events, but frequently jumps back and forth in time, giving away tiny pieces of the puzzle along the way. A quick cheat sheet to understanding the timelines that play out on screen? Pay close attention to the camera filter.
"[We used] cooler, wintry light in the future, 'cause it is set In the winter," explained Grosse Pointe's director of photography, Brian Burgoyne. "And then a kind of warmer, more sunny colorful Norman Rockwell kind of world... We left the present pretty much as was."
He continued, "So now we're bouncing back a lot in the episodes, and it's proven to be a good thing I think for the audience. 'Cause within one second you know where you are, 'cause they're very different."
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Another helpful visual aid? Organically building "months later" messaging into a shot to mark how much time passes between scenes, rather than on-screen text. The idea came from pilot director, Maggie Kiley, and will continue throughout the season.
"In the pilot I there was, like, a throw pillow on a house for sale. And there was a band concert poster at a coffee shop that looked like the band was called Six Months Later," Burgoyne said. "It was a great idea, and I think it gives the show a little bit of idiosyncrasy."
To help keep track of what exactly has happened during the show's alternating timelines, NBC Insider has broken down a premiere recap of spoilers explaining key events from the past, present, and future.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society "Pilot" premiere episode recap
The past
- While bringing his two kids for an office visit, Brett caught his now ex-wife Melissa (Nora Zehetner) cheating on him with her co-worker.
- On the way home from her memoir book signing, Birdie drunkenly crashes into the town fountain. Even further in the past, Birdie became pregnant in the tenth grade.
The present
- Alice's dog, Molly, is missing. Brett later tells her Molly was found shot and killed in the local park. Alice suspects it was her student Payton whom she gave a failing grade to for plagiarizing. After his mom threatened Alice to improve his grade, Alice confronts her at the hair salon and publicly accuses Payton of the murder. Alice gets fired.
- Birdie joins the Grosse Pointe Garden Society to fulfill her community service after her DUI and also creates a college scholarship to improve her public image. She awards it to a teen named Ford (Felix Wolfe). It turns out, Ford is the baby Birdie gave up for adoption as a teen, and his mom Misty (Daniella Alonso) tells her stay away from him. Ford's dad Joel (Matthew Davis) is the town sheriff.
- Catherine is having an affair with fellow realtor, Gary (Saamer Usmani), but discovers he's simultaneously sleeping with multiple women at Grosse Pointe open houses — and he also had a fling with Birdie. (He gives every conquest the the same diamond tennis bracelet.) Catherine and Birdie team up for revenge, exposing him to their boss and the other women and get him fired. Gary sits outside of Catherine's house with a gun.
- At dinner with her husband Doug (Alexander Hodge) and his parents, Alice breaks the news that she's been rejected from The New Yorker... again. Her in-laws are eager for the couple to move into their rental property and start a family, but Alice insists there are still things she wants to do before considering children. Her mother-in-law Patty (Nancy Travis) is clearly disappointed and says, "Dreamers don't get far. They just get hurt."
- Melissa is married to the man she had an affair with, Connor. He and Brett do not get along, and Connor instructs someone to dig up dirt on Brett because "I'm gonna need a lot to take the kids."
- The garden club is in the midst of planning their winter gala fundraiser.
The future
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- Birdie, Catherine, Brett, and Alice dig a grave in the club's garden and dump a body wrapped in a blue and white embroidered quilt. The corpse is wearing New Balance sneakers.
- Dressed in gowns and a suit, the group sets the victim's car on fire.
- While conspiring at a diner, Birdie flees with the victim's phone. She turns up the next morning at garden club without it, but doesn't say how she got rid of it.
- The foursome learn at next morning's club meeting that the garden will have to be dug up to make room for a new koi pond. The only problem? They just buried a body there.
Watch Grosse Pointe Garden Society every Sunday at 10/9c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
