Award Winner Holly Hunter excels in her role as self-destructive Oklahoma City detective Grace Hannadarko in this action-packed series on TNT. The show is not your ‘typical’ detective show – it pushes the limits with its sometimes raunchy scenes between Detective Hannadarko and her partner, Ham Dewey (played by Kenneth Johnson, best known from ‘The Shield’).

In between solving crimes, Grace is dealing with the loss of her sister from the Oklahoma bombing; throwing herself into her work, deadening the pain with alcohol and one-night stands. Enter the ‘Last Chance’ Angel, a tobacco chewing, tough-talking man named Earl.  He’s been sent from God, as her ‘last chance’ to find spiritual awakening.  The special effects are believable when Earl takes Grace to various locations to ‘prove’ he really is who he says he is.  While Saving Grace does not refer to or promote any particular religion, Grace’s story is used to show an incorporation of simple faith in every day personal battles.

Monday’s episode introduced a new temporary partner for Grace, guest-star Christina Ricci playing the part of uniformed officer and single mother, Abby Charles. If you were following the show last year (the last episode was July 2008), you’ll remember that Grace’s regular partner, Ham, was going through a crisis when is brother was killed in Iraq. When he comes back from bereavement leave, he’s partnered up with Butch Ada (Bailey Chase), because Butch’s partner Bobby Stillwater (Gregory Norman Cruz) has gone into top secret, deep undercover work. Part of the separation of Grace and Ham is due to their personal relationship that Chief of Police Kate Perry (Lorraine Toussaint) wanted to ensure wasn’t interfering with their detective work. Christina’s guest character brings a little bit of light to a dark and gritty show; I think we’ll see some softer sides of Grace because of it.

Abby Charles maintained a level head even though faced with a serial killer case right at the start of her 28 day rotation into the squad. She didn’t score any ‘first impression’ points with the squad because she was late – we find out later it was because her small son’s goldfish had died and she took time to comfort him. Grace made it clear that being a detective is a 24/7 responsibility since criminals don’t keep ’9-to-5′ hours. Abby proves her dedication by not only assisting with the identification of the Serial Killer, but showing up and giving support to Grace who was dealing with her ‘first shoot’.

Next week’s episode will deal with drug-riddled parties; Grace will be personally affected by it when a party turns deadly and several teen partygoers land in trouble – including her niece. Abby Charles will try to prove she’s worthy of ‘detective status’ by scoring some important leads in the case. If you haven’t checked out Saving Grace, you really should. The chemistry between all members of the cast is a pleasure to watch, they interact very well together and bring the camaraderie to the screen. Saving Grace is not your ‘typical’ detective show – it pushes the limits with its grittiness and sometimes raw sexuality, but weaves spirituality into its core that gives you something to really ponder. Saving Grace is on TNT Mondays at 10pm, 9 Central.