Dylan Minnette Movies

The edgy crime series' sophomore season charts hard-living detective Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) solving myriad crimes in Oklahoma City, confronting a haunting figure from her past, and continuing her extended journey toward spiritual fulfillment with otherworldly help from her ragged "last-chance angel" (Leon Rippy). Swirling through it all: the dark memory of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The season opens with hell-raising antiheroine Grace finally cornering the priest (Rene Auberjonois) who molested her as a child. In other developments, Grace gains a new partner in the form of Abby Charles (Christina Ricci, in a three-episode guest arc), a single mother who helps Grace investigate a serial-killer case and a deadly drug party that involved Grace's niece. But there might be more to Abby than meets the eye. Other probes include the murder of the squad's evidence supervisor, the vanishing of a mother of two, and the slaying of a young Mexican woman in a case that brims with racial and political overtones. In another case, Grace's self-destructive, girl-gone-wild penchant surfaces yet again when she's lured to a high-profile murder suspect (Elias Koteas) with an unconventional sex life. Meanwhile, life-changing events impact Grace's coworker and off-and-on paramour, Ham (Kenneth Johnson): He's mired in a divorce and his little brother goes missing during a tour of duty in Afghanistan. On the home front, Grace's wide-eyed nephew (Dylan Minnette) joins a youth police program; and love blooms between Grace's brother-in-law (Chris Mulkey) and the local joint's new bartender (Kathy Baker). Then there's death-row inmate Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), whose spiritual bond with Grace is tested as the final hours tick away to his execution. ~ Dean Maurer, All Movie Guide

Oscar winner Holly Hunter made her TV series debut in the gritty semi-fantasy Saving Grace. Hunter was cast as Oklahoma City police detective Grace Hanadarko, who after the death of her sister in the Murrah Building bombing of 1995 had turned her back on God and taken the first step down the road to self-destruction. Drowning her problems in booze and clouding her neuroses in cigarette smoke, Grace also degraded herself with a long line of dead-end romances, most recently with her married partner Ham Dewey (Kenny Johnson). Late one night, while driving drunk, Grace was involved in a terrible car crash. She was plucked from certain death by the enigmatic Earl (Leon Rippy) a "last chance" angel who had been giving the unenviable task of helping Grace find redemption before it was too late. Far from grateful, Grace constantly groused about Earl's unorthodox methods and the fact that she no longer had control over her own life; but little by little, our hard-bitten heroine began to turn her life around, beginning with her affectionate treatment of her late sister's troubled son, Clay (Dylan Minnette). Even so, it was hard for Grace to convince her co-workers that an angel had entered her life -- all except for forensic specialist Rhetta Rodriguez (Laura San Giacomo), a deeply religious woman who was estranged from her family because of her unwillingness to "judge" anyone. Besides Grace, the only other person able to see Earl was death-row inmate Leon Cooley (Bokeem Woodbine), who likewise had precious little time to save his own soul. Rounding out the regulars were Detective Butch Ada (Bailey Chase), former college athlete and one of Grace's discarded lovers; and Detective Bobby Stillwater (Gregory Norman Cruz), a devoted family man with a burning desire to make the world a better place (though he didn't quite know how). Saving Grace premiered July 23, 2007, on the TNT cable channel. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide