Tonight’s episode of Grosse Pointe Backyard Society doesn’t tiptoe into its long-teased drama—it cannonballs into it. From the second the gala begins, there’s a way of future within the air. That is the evening we’ve been bracing for all season, the one which’s been glimpsed in scattered flash-forwards and ominous montages. And now, lastly, all these fragments come collectively in actual time, culminating in a dying nobody noticed coming and a twist that reframes every little thing.
The opening act of the gala is a strain cooker. Doug and Brett lastly conflict in a really public, very bodily struggle over Alice, and it’s extra than simply testosterone and jealousy. There’s actual heartbreak of their punches, many years of unstated rivalry, romantic confusion, and private failure. Watching them unravel like that’s thrilling, nevertheless it’s additionally deeply unhappy, particularly for Alice, who’s caught within the center however more and more looks as if she’s standing alone. In the meantime, Patty, ever the lady who believes she’s the star of each room, takes successful of her personal. When she geese into the toilet, she overhears Brett’s ex-wife, Melissa, and one other girl gossiping about her, and it’s not form. They name her out for being manipulative, for taking part in harmless, for being the form of girl everybody pretends to love however secretly resents. Patty tries to brush it off, however the phrases hit onerous. For somebody who’s curated her picture right down to the hemline, being uncovered like that stings.
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| “Monaco Beneath the Stars” – GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY. Pictured: Ben Rappaport as Brett, AnnaSophia Robb as Alice, Melissa Fumero as Birdie and Aja Naomi King as Catherine. Photograph: Mark Hill/NBC ©2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
The episode, nonetheless, belongs to Alice. Her arc tonight is dizzying. Bertie and Catherine attempt to raise her spirits by reminding her she’s simply landed her dream job at New York Journal, however the timing couldn’t be worse. Her marriage is imploding, she’s simply been humiliated in public, and every little thing in her life that after appeared safe is now hole. The large information that detonates her emotionally comes not from a letter or an argument—however from a drunk Tucker, stumbling into the dialog and blurting out the outcomes of the ballistics take a look at. The gun. The bullet. Patty killed her canine. The shift in Alice is speedy. Her face hardens. She doesn’t cry, she plans.
What follows is a deliciously unhinged act of vengeance. Alice steals the quilt, the identical garish, coveted quilt that’s been handed round this season like a cursed relic, and with Brett, Bertie, and Catherine in tow, takes it to the backyard centre to destroy it. They plan to chop it, burn it, no matter will make the largest assertion. However Alice doesn’t need to do it in secret. She needs Patty to look at. She needs her ache to be public, similar to her personal. And so, she sends Patty a collection of texts.
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Again at dwelling, Patty is winding down with Keith, unaware that the evening isn’t over. As they prepare for mattress, Keith says one thing odd—he generally wonders what Patty’s life would’ve been like if she’d by no means married him. Patty reassures him, with a softness that’s uncommon for her, that she loves him, and that nothing might ever change that. However the tenderness is interrupted in a stunning means that nobody noticed coming.
What occurs subsequent is each tragic and absurd, trademark Grosse Pointe Backyard Society excellence. The backyard centre turns into the stage for the present’s most theatrical scene so far. Alice, brandishing a knife, is about to stab the quilt when Keith walks in. The digicam pans to his toes, and in a single superb visible reveal, we see it: the sneakers. The identical sneakers worn by the corpse we have solely often called “Quiche” from the flash-forwards. It’s Keith. Keith is Quiche.
The confrontation is brutal. Alice, vibrating with fury, tells Keith that Patty killed her canine. Keith counters by saying Doug can do higher than her, that Alice doesn’t belong of their household or in Grosse Pointe. The insults fly like knives, however the precise knife—the actual menace—remains to be in Alice’s fingers. The scene escalates when Bertie, of all individuals, activates a wooden chipper. The quilt will get tossed in. Keith, unable to let Patty’s prized possession be destroyed, lunges for it and manages to drag it again out. However in doing so, he stumbles backward onto a backyard instrument, one thing innocuous, one thing sharp, and impales himself. Similar to that, he’s bleeding out on the ground, a person who thought he was saving his spouse’s legacy and ended up dying in a pile of potting soil and vengeance.
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| “Monaco Beneath the Stars” – GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY. Pictured: Ben Rappaport as Brett, AnnaSophia Robb as Alice, Melissa Fumero as Birdie and Aja Naomi King as Catherine. Photograph: Mark Hill/NBC ©2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
“Monaco beneath the Stars” is a triumph. It’s one of the best episode of the season, in a season that has been epically robust in it is freshman yr. It juggles tone masterfully, swinging from darkish comedy to excessive drama to real heartbreak with out dropping its footing. The writing is sharp, the performances dialed to perfection, and the pacing by no means lets up. Each payoff feels earned. Each twist hits. And now, with Quiche’s identification revealed and half the solid emotionally (or actually) destroyed, the query isn’t simply what comes subsequent, it’s how a lot worse it could get. As a result of in Grosse Pointe, there’s at all times extra grime to dig up.