Grosse Pointe Garden Society isn’t giving away who the dead body is — yet — but could Brett’s fight with Alice’s husband, Doug, be a major hint?
During the Sunday, March 16, episode of the hit NBC series, Doug (Alexander Hodge) confronts Alice (AnnaSophia Robb) in the present day timeline about a job offer she received in New York. Alice denies knowing anything about it, which is when Brett (Ben Rappaport) admits that he sent her resume in because she deserves bigger and better things. The revelation kicks off an argument between Doug and Brett over Alice — and that quickly gets too heated.
Viewers don’t see whether Doug and Brett put a stop to the fight before someone gets hurt. Days after Brett and the group bury a body, he is asked by a police officer about Doug, who has gone missing. Rappaport, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly whether the physical argument hints at the big secret the group is hiding.
“That fight has a lot to do with the parallel timelines,” Rappaport noted. “As you watch the season, the buildup to that is really going to start to make a lot more sense — just based on what Brett and Alice’s relationship is vs. Doug and Alice’s relationship.”
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Rappaport noted that the audience will continue to see why Alice could have a future with Brett instead of her husband, adding, “The big through line of Brett and Alice’s relationship is that they both are big dreamers and they both have very aspirational dreams. Alice’s big dream is to become a writer in New York City and Brett’s big dream is to own a car restoration business.”
He continued: “That’s the thing that really connects them. They’re constantly challenging each other and encouraging each other to go for these dreams. Meanwhile, with Doug and Alice’s relationship, she’s getting this pressure from her in-laws to have a child and to settle down. So that’s really the tension that [the argument] sparks from.”
Despite how the ending hinted at a reveal, the Grosse Pointe Garden Society cast didn’t know who their characters killed until very recently.
“As a cast, we just found out very recently that information [about who is killed], which of course we are sworn to secrecy about. But for a long time we did not know,” Rappaport noted. “That’s part of what was so fun about the twists and turns. Just like the audience, they really kept us guessing. As an actor, that’s part of the reason I really enjoy doing TV. You play a character through a variety of different circumstances and journeys. I really enjoyed not knowing to be honest with you.”
Rappaport was excited for fans to see what comes next, adding, “Throughout the episodes, we go through different parallel timelines. We jump back and forth between timelines. So you’re like, ‘Wow, how did we end up here?’ Then throughout the season, those timelines begin to converge. The biggest difference between [my character] Brett in the future [and in the present] is he is very stressed out. Especially all four of us, you’ll see our most stressed-out versions of ourselves in the flash forwards and in the future scenes.”
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Grosse Pointe Garden Society, which premiered in February, follows four members of a suburban gardening club who share a murderous secret in the affluent Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. In addition to Rappaport, Grosse Pointe Garden Society stars Melissa Fumero, Aja Naomi King, Robb, Matthew Davis, Hodge, Nancy Travis and Felix Wolfe.
“It all starts with our showrunners, Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs. It is remarkable how they have woven this thing together,” Rappaport told Us. “The rollercoaster ride they’ve taken us on is absolutely incredible. Every couple of weeks we get the new scripts and we read them and are like, ‘Oh my God, what happens next?’ And we’re just dying for the next one.”
He concluded: “I think that’s the thing that’s going to hook people is the addictive quality in every episode where you think you’re getting closer — but then maybe you’re not. There’s a lot of twists and turns. But also the tone of the show [is so different]. There’s a murder mystery at the center, but it is truly a lot of fun and there’s a ton of humor in it. So I think, tonally, it’s a very engaging and addictive watch.”
Grosse Pointe Garden Society airs on NBC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET, and new episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
