By Mary DeTurris Poust
If you think television’s most recent foray into mystical spirituality and redemption ended last night with the season finale of Lost, think again. Tonight is the return of the final few episodes of Saving Grace, the sometimes-raunchy TNT show that, like Lost, has kept its sights focused on questions of faith and redemption while giving us compelling characters and a twisting story line.
I’ve been a fan of both shows, caught up in the writers’ fascination with God and with both the world beyond what we can see and the one buried deep within us. These shows hit the mark for so many of us, I think, because they dare to go where we are sometimes afraid to go. They zero in on the battles that rage within us, the internal contradictions that can make us feel lost even when we are right at home.
Even if we couldn’t figure out what the mysterious island of Lost was supposed to be, we knew without a doubt that it was a place where faith and reason, good and evil, sin and redemption were all critical parts of the equation that we were trying to solve. Saving Grace takes us to that same place. As we watch the main character struggle with her own doubts and demons, we are at the same time painfully aware of the faith that must exist deep within her to allow her to believe and trust in Earl, the angel who guides her, protects her, comforts her and challenges her.
Grace’s hard drinking and hard living provide the backdrop for the story of a soul in need of saving, one who is being dragged toward God kicking and screaming -- sometimes literally. Like Lost, Saving Grace comes down to our need for redemption and our willingness not only to see others as loved by God but to see ourselves as worthy of the same. Season by season, we have watched the characters of Lost and Saving Grace peel away the sins of their pasts to uncover the human goodness, the image of God, that lies within every person. No wonder these shows hit home. If even these troubled and tortured souls can be saved, then surely we’ve got the same chance, right?
Tonight Grace returns to the screen, picking up the mantle of spiritual struggle that was laid down so peacefully on Lost last night. For at least a few more weeks, TV will tackle the stuff more typically reserved for theology classes and spiritual direction.
