By Curt Schleier

God’s winged messenger, Earl, isn’t making much promise trying to redeem Grace. 

SAVING GRACE (TNT, Mondays at 10 p.m.) isn’t going to be easy, but you’ve got to give last chance angel Earl (Leon Rippy) credit for not giving up.  His unending and enbending efforts to get Grace (Holly Hunter) out of her downward spiral into alcoholism and promiscuity are part of what make this week’s episode another winner.  Unfortunately for Earl, he really hasn’t got a shot at succeeding, because the real world always intrudes.

This time Earl tries to grab Grace’s attention by sending another client, death row inmate Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), to mess with Grace’s beloved nephew.  Don’t ask how Earl gets Leon out of his cell; angels work in mysterious ways.  Angry, Grace confronts Leon in prison. 
   
“He converted you yet,” Leon asks.
“To what,” she replies.
“Maybe he wants us to pray together.”
“That ain’t gonna happen.”
  
If there was any chance for a conversion, Grace’s newest police-related problem puts that to rest.  It’s hard to serve on the front line of the nation’s defense against the dark side and not be cynical about God – even when you’re faced with one of his angels.
   

This time, there’s one witness to a brutal murder of a paramedic, who was sent to what turns out to be a false alarm sent in by someone who wanted to steal the drugs his rig carries.  The perp is arrested, but Grace gets a call that puts her case in jeopardy.  The witness and his family are being threatened, presumably by the alleged murderer and his friends.  Both the youth and his father insist on moving ahead: they’re born again and are convinced God will protect them.
   
But Grace prefers to rely on something less ephemeral.  Because there’s no money in the budget, Grace enlists fellow homicide squad members to protect the youth on their own time.  In fact, she takes the young witness into her home.  Of course he preaches, and of course to no avail. 
   
“Why don’t you pray?”
“I pray that the beer is cold.”
   
The kid’s father wants Grace to be extra careful. God, he claims, spoke to him when his son was born, said that the boy wouldn’t live to his 18th birthday, and that’s approaching. Then something terrible happens.  The boy is kidnapped.  A cop knocked unconscious.  Has the murderer succeeded in snuffing the sole witness to his crime?  No, but God almost did.
   

The boy’s father has him.  When it appears natural forces won’t take his son’s life, dad takes on the role of a latter day Abraham, prepared to fulfill the prophecy that had been whispered in his ear. 
    
I can’t think of another TV series that would have so potentially controversial and politically incorrect a denouement.  But it isn’t controversy for controversy’s sake.  The conclusion fits naturally into the story line.
   
And truth be told, Grace may wind up rotting in hell—she even has a fantasy of deflowering her house guest—but in her own way she’s heaven sent.  Or else, why would Earl waste his time?