Directed by Jonathan Brough, Playing Gracie Darling may have its flaws, particularly the holes in the screenplay that left certain elements unexplained. Still, I genuinely enjoyed the series. Its haunting and thrilling atmosphere, eerie backdrop, layered relationships, the characters’ traumatic histories, the rebellious nature of many characters, and above all, the strong performances make it absolutely worth watching. I think Morgana O’Reilly as Joni Grey was exceptional, and even the other actors did a fabulous job. So, let’s find out what happened in the series and if Joni was able to find out what happened to her friend back in the day.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Joni go back to her hometown?
Joni got a call from her old friend, Jay, who told her that another Darling girl had gone missing. That news took Joni back to that fateful night when her friend, Gracie Darling, had gone missing, and it was the last time anybody saw her. Apart from Gracie and Joni, even Anita (Jay’s ex-wife) and Jay were present during that night. Joni has always had feelings for Jay, and he was attracted to her too, but they never expressed what they felt about each other. So, Gracie, being the rebel that she was, decided to go to the old shack in the forest and hold a seance. Gracie stated that she could make contact with a spirit named Levi, who she thought was still stuck in the mortal realm. Apart from Gracie, nobody knew who this person was, and they didn’t even ask Gracie how she came to know about him. So apparently Levi’s spirit did arrive, and things really got out of hand. Gracie got possessed, and after that nobody remembered what exactly happened on that night. They all were traumatized, and it took them some time to get over that incident. Gracie was never found after that night, and nobody really knew what happened to her.
Joni’s mother took her to the city, where Joni eventually got married and had two beautiful daughters. Joni brought up her daughters all by herself, and she loved spending time with them. But then one day Jay called and informed Joni that Frankie Darling, the daughter of Gracie’s sister, Ruth, had gone missing. Frankie had gone to that same forest shack, tried to perform a séance, and then vanished. Jay’s daughter, Raffy, was the last one to have seen Frankie alive, and the poor girl was traumatized. Joni couldn’t help but go back to her hometown to find out what exactly had happened to Frankie. Deep down, Joni also hoped that it would give her an opportunity to solve the mystery behind Gracie’s disappearance, as she desperately needed closure.
Why did Joni have doubts about Zac Tepora?
Joni was staying with her father, and she somewhat loved being back in her old town. Joni’s kids and mother soon followed her there, as they missed her and wanted to be there for her in such a difficult time. Mina, Joni’s elder daughter, was good friends with Raffy, Jay’s daughter, and together, they went to a party that was organized in the middle of the forest. They didn’t tell their parents about it, as they knew that after what had happened to Frankie, they wouldn’t let them go there. Caitlyn Kelly, one of the students at the party, first supplied party drugs to whoever wanted them, and then convinced a bunch of students to play Gracie Darling with her. It was a game that was devised by the kids where they took the name of Gracie three times and then tried to make contact with her spirit out there. Something strange happened that night. The students who played the game got a seizure, and nobody could explain why it happened. Not everybody was under the influence of drugs, and so it wasn’t possible that all of their bodies reacted adversely to it and that too at the same time. Joni tried to find some scientific explanation for what had happened, but she couldn’t find an answer. Caitlyn stated that, though she actually felt something in the forest, she had exaggerated her reaction, as she wanted to get in the good books of the local pastor, Zac Teporoa, who was quite popular with the kids. Caitlyn told Joni that Frankie used to be his favorite student, and they often used to have private sessions. That piece of information made Joni believe that Zac was trying to sexually exploit those girls. Joni went to confront Zac, and she found Mina sitting there with him in his underground room. Joni lashed out at Zac, but later she realized that he probably wasn’t the lecherous man she presumed him to be. But while leaving the church, she noticed a memorial plate on a wall. She noticed that Levi’s name was on it (together with other members of the Darling family), and his surname also happened to be Darling. Now, that meant that Gracie knew that he was her great uncle and that something bad had happened to him, because of which nobody talked about him in the family.
What happened between Joni and Jay?
Jay, seeing Joni after such a long time, couldn’t hold back his feelings. I believe the moment that pushed him to express his feelings was when he learned that Joni had had a few drinks with Peter Darling, Gracie and Ruth’s cousin, who’d lived with them since a very young age. Jay obviously felt jealous, but he didn’t say anything to her.
Joni got an idea that she wanted to run through Jay. She told him that she believed that if they went back to the forest shack and did a séance, then probably they would be able to remember what happened that night. Joni was a psychologist, and she believed that being in the same environment could bring back memories, helping them remember what happened to their friend. It was hard for Joni to visit the same places once again, and she couldn’t help but get flashbacks of her past life. Probably those flashbacks were the reason she got an idea of visiting the forest shack so that she could remember the details she had missed. Joni didn’t trust her own memories, and there was a part of her that believed that either she or Jay had done something to Gracie. But no, that was not the case. Joni and Jay went to the shack, and they took an Ouija board and tried to contact the spirit. They felt the presence of a supernatural entity, but they got way too scared and escaped from there. Joni spent the night at Jay’s place, and he told her what she meant to him. Jay was amused that Joni didn’t have a clue that he was literally in awe of her for all those years.
Who killed Gracie Darling?
Joni often took her daughter, Mina, to meet James Darling, Gracie’s grandfather, who was suffering from dementia. She wanted to fill the void that was created in the old man’s life after Frankie went missing. But the day after she saw the memorial plate, which had Levi’s name on it, together with the other members of the Darling family, Joni took her chances and asked the man if he knew about Levi Darling. The old man got paranoid, he threw a fit, though he didn’t reveal what had happened to Levi. One thing became clear: James knew something about Levi that he was not telling anyone. So then one day, Mina took her chances and decided to get some information from the old man. But things got out of control, and James Darling tried to kill Mina, something that he had done with Gracie too.
So, coming back to that fateful night when Gracie went missing, I believe she contacted the spirit of Levi Darling. Gracie had done her own investigation, and she had found out that he was her grandfather’s brother. Back in the day, Levi had been burnt alive, and I believe that James had something to do with the incident. Maybe James lost his temper due to some conflict and intentionally locked his brother, Levi, in the same forest cabin where Gracie and the others went that night. Levi kept shouting for help, but James left him there to be burnt alive. The guilt of killing his own brother (this is a presumption) stayed with James, which was why he didn’t lie about it. That day, after Gracie got possessed, she saw everything that had happened. Gracie didn’t die in that cabin; in fact, after she regained her senses, she walked all the way back to her house. She accused her grandfather of murdering his own brother, and in a fit of rage, he shoved her head into a water tank, drowning her. Ruth and Peter arrived at the scene and tried to stop him but James killed his own granddaughter as he seemed possessed with rage. Later, he took Peter with him and burnt Gracie’s dead body in the forest. James, in a fit of rage, tried to do something similar with Mina too, but fortunately Joni and Peter arrived at the scene and saved Mina’s life.
Was Frankie Dead Or Alive?
Though Gracie’s case was solved, nobody had any clue where Frankie was. Apparently, the cops had found CCTV footage where they had seen Billy dropping Frankie’s backpack in a trashcan. Billy was one of Joni and Gracie’s acquaintances who was always ill-treated by others, as he didn’t come from a very privileged background, and I believe that his parents had abandoned him at a very young age. Billy was infatuated with Gracie, but she always took advantage of him and never treated him well. So Frankie had gone to the same shack with Raffy, Jay’s daughter. They had performed a seance, after which Frankie got possessed, and she too, just like Joni, saw in her vision what James Darling had done. Moreover, I think that Frankie had realized that Peter was her biological father, and probably she found it disgusting that her mother had a sexual relationship with her own cousin. After the woman realized what her grandfather had done, she got so petrified that she decided to not go back to her house. She went to Billy, whom she trusted more than her family, as she considered him to be a very good friend who would help her out in a time of need. She asked Billy to arrange for a hiding place for her, and he did. It was Jay who figured out that Frankie might be with Billy, and at the end of Playing Gracie Darling, he found her.
Could Joni see the dead?
Moira Darling, Gracie’s mother, asked Joni if James Darling would be convicted for what he had done. Joni told her truthfully that, considering his age, she didn’t think that legal proceedings would be initiated against him. Moira, at that moment, decided to take the law into her own hands and make the old man pay for his sins. Once Joni left, she choked the man to death, as she just couldn’t stand the sight of him, and moreover, her conscience couldn’t let him die a natural death.
In Playing Gracie Darling’s ending, Joni, her daughters, and her mother came back to the city. Joni was entering her house when she saw Ivy, who happened to be one of her patients, in her backyard. Moments later, Joni’s colleague informed her that Ivy had taken her own life the previous day. What this meant was that Joni could see the dead. Maybe she had some supernatural powers because of which she had these visions where she could tap into her subconscious mind. She had seen the spot where Gracie was burnt on that fateful night and though she might not have remembered it, that piece of information stayed in her subconscious mind. I believe even Frankie had a similar power, and additionally, the spirit of Levi Darling was actually present in that forest cabin. Levi wanted his truth to come out in the open, and I believe that after James’ death, his soul would ascend into the divine realm.
