spoilers! watch the show before reading!
While this show was short, it wasn't lacking in the slightest. The ending felt complete, the characters stories coming to an end, regardless of the questions that hadn't been answered. Normally that is something that would irritate me, but in this case, I'll let it slide. Whether or not Grace was guilty has little importance to the story, which was about how she was perceived more than what was true.
Dr. Jordan spends his time talking to Grace, hoping to find answers, or more likely to prove she was innocent, since it's those who believed so who brought him to her. He regarded her as a mystery, but one he was attracted to. One he wanted to unfold. But he came up short, giving up on the report he was supposed to right because he could find no definitive answer. The hypnosis of Grace only made the situation that much more complicated when Mary spoke through her, saying it was her who killed them, and Grace was an innocent in the matter. As if it wasn't confusing before.
But do we need to know the truth? If Grace did kill them, I could forgive her. If Mary killed them, I'd worry for Grace's safety. If Grace was innocent in the matter, I'd pity her. But those are not quite as attractive as the mysterious aura surrounding her which made the book and now tv show such a hit.
And that, is what the story is really about. The mystery surrounding Grace.
People thought of Grace as a murderer, a whore, a victim, an object. She was abused by her father, sent off to work in an unknown place where she would send him all her wages. She saw her friend die from an abortion, and the man who impregnated Mary move onto her. She went to a new house where the servant and employer both treated her as a desirable piece of property they wanted to get their hands on. Jamie was sweet, but he testified against her in court. Jeremiah was the best of them and wanted to protect her, but wanted to marry her too.
She was never allowed the opportunity to be her own person.
Like the painting in Kinnear's room, men were always prying. She was alone in a meadow and Jamie found and joined her, which was followed by everyone in the house commented on her being alone with the boy. They presumed the worst, called it inappropriate, regardless of the fact it wasn't a situation she willingly put herself into.
Then with Dr. Jordan, who was there to help her, she was being pried open yet again. She was to tell him her story, and he was to judge her.
I couldn't blame the girl for lying.
