‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Premiere Review: Suburbia, Secrets, and Missed Opportunities

The first episode of NBC’s “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” which aired on Feb. 23, plants the seeds for an intriguing series. Whether these seeds will fully bloom is yet to be seen. A mix of satire and suburban drama, the show offers interesting storylines and strong performances but struggles to find a consistent tone in its debut episode.

Set in the affluent Michigan enclave of Grosse Pointe, the series follows four members of a gardening club. Beneath the pristine hedges and carefully curated floral arrangements lies a tangle of power struggles, betrayals, and dark secrets. The concept has potential, blending elements of “Desperate Housewives” and “How To Get Away With Murder,” and reminiscent of the early-2000s network drama era. However, the pilot’s execution doesn’t quite reach the heights of its inspirations.

The pilot toggles between the present day and a six-month time jump, in which the group appears to be burying a body in the middle of their community garden. Meanwhile, Alice (AnnaSophia Robb) juggles rejections from writing companies and a particularly nagging parent-student duo — yet she still manages to attend every midday gardening club meeting. Her wealthy in-laws urge her and her husband Doug (Alexander Hodge) to move into their rental property and start having children, but Alice is more focused on her budding career.

Catherine (Aja Naomi King) is a contemporary take on the archetypal housewife — polished and traditional and juggling a career. Her husband neglects to speak more than a few words to her throughout the episode, so to bridge this rift, she seeks comfort in fellow realtor Gary (Saamer Usmani). A spat during a club meeting leads Catherine to realize that she’s only one of many women in Gary’s life, prompting her to seek revenge by getting him fired. King delivers a strong performance as Catherine, outwardly polished but inwardly profoundly unhappy. However, the character herself feels underdeveloped, her affair merely a short-lived plot device that almost cheapens the authenticity of her emotional turmoil, reducing her dissatisfaction at her picturesque life to a cringy cliché.

Brett (Ben Rappaport), destitute after divorcing his unfaithful wife, struggles to establish his car restoration business while simultaneously vying for his children’s attention. Birdie (Melissa Fumero) — a wealthy, charismatic author and socialite who joins the club to complete court-mandated community service — attempts to rehabilitate her public image by funding a scholarship for a deserving high school student. Yet beneath her carefree facade lies a more complicated past, which resurfaces when the scholarship forces her to confront a long-buried secret.

Where the show falters is in its pacing and reliance on played-out tropes — nearly every common cliché makes an appearance. While these stereotypes can be compelling when given depth, “Grosse Pointe” leans on them without adding much meaningful nuance. The result is a narrative that, while entertaining at times, fails to offer much beyond surface-level entertainment.

The premiere attempts to balance dark comedy, satire, and genuine drama, and does poorly on delivering any of this. Some moments land well, like Catherine’s genuine heartbreak over her husband’s disregard and Gary’s betrayal, as well as her candid admission to Birdie that she stays married for the sake of her children. Alice’s clashes, both with her in-laws and with the entitled parent-student duo, also resonate.

Other moments stretch believability to its breaking point. For example, Brett conveniently stumbles upon a car in need of restoration — just in time to bring it to his son’s career day, conveniently outshining the boy’s stepfather. The show’s dialogue is equally uneven. Despite the talented cast, the script offers little beyond forced, aiming-for-punchy one liners. The underlying mystery is barely enough to keep viewers interested amid the show’s many plotlines, and the frequent markers that distinguish “present day” from the six-month time jump only add confusion rather than providing any clarity.

For a debut, “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” is almost camp, but is ultimately not very good. The premiere is moderately entertaining but far from groundbreaking. Though the series has 12 more episodes worth of room to grow into something more compelling, for now, it’s more of a well-manicured lawn than a flourishing garden — respectable, but nothing to revisit.

—Staff writer Jorden S. Wallican-Okyere can be reached at jorden.wallicanokyere@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @jordensanyyy.