Grosse Pointe Garden Society is a murder mystery drama that aired on NBC in Winter 2025. It's about 4 friends covering up a murder in their community garden club, with flashbacks that led up to the murder. The show stars Anna-Sophia Robb, Ben Rappaport, Aja Naomi King, and Melissa Fumero. There is currently one season available streaming on Peacock.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society starts off with Alice looking for her dog, Molly. Alice (Robb) is a high school English teacher, a volunteer at the Grosse Pointe garden club, and lives with her husband, Doug. (Alexander Hodge) Brett (Rappaport) is a dad, car mechanic, and gardener who is learning to live alone after his wife divorced him for a rich tax lawyer. He hangs out with his best friend Alice and volunteers at the garden club. Birdie is a rich author who has been ordered to complete community service at the garden club after drunk driving and crashing into a fountain. To save her image, she creates a scholarship and picks a high school boy to give the money to. However, we soon learn that the boy is her son, whom she gave up when she was 16. Catherine is a real estate agent and vice president of the garden club. She has an affair with her co-agent, but soon learns that he is also cheating on her with multiple other women, including Birdie. As revenge, Catherine gets him fired from the firm and divorced from his wife. All four of them become friends at the garden club and hang out together. Brett tells Alice that Molly was found dead by a gunshot. Alice begins to suspect that one of her students killed Molly after the student suggested that her death was karma for failing his essay. This leads to the four of them killing the person responsible for Molly's death and covering up the crime.
The actual plot of the show was not the greatest. It was a typical rich town murder story where all the rich people are snooty and care about themselves. The beginning of the show started off horribly. It felt so gross to watch Alice, a 30-year-old woman, accuse her student, a minor, of killing her dog. And then, she got hired as the same student's tutor and went through his room at his house during a session. I tried watching the first two episodes last year while airing on TV, but I couldn't take it. The middle of the season was okay, and it felt like the show was getting on the right track, and it was. Each episode got closer and closer to the reveal of who was murdered (which was so sad and made me hate Alice more), while also developing the characters and creating a connection for the viewer. I think it could've been good, but the last five minutes of the final episode made me so angry, it felt like a joke. It was the most Disney Channel ending ever. I hated it. It upset me so bad I thought, "Good, this show got cancelled." It was bittersweet because the show takes place in Michigan, in a city so close to me. It was so fun seeing and hearing the places I know. And I loved 3/4 characters on the show and would've loved to see how they deal with the repercussions of their actions. Their stories were also well written, and it was easy to empathize with their situations. They still were accomplices in the murder, but with their backstory, I rooted for them to get away with it. Alice could've gone to jail, I don't care, she deserved it.
One of the reasons I started watching was for Melissa Fumero. She really was the best character, and it's sad that we won't see her again as Birdie. I think her character development was really well done, with her starting off as a shallow woman wanting to do her own thing, to having a support system and starting a family. From the moment she joins the garden club, she shrugs it off and doesn't want to connect with anyone. But as time goes on, she grows to enjoy it and tries to learn more about gardening so she can stay. We also see her leave her old life behind towards the end of the show when she goes to lunch with her old rich friends and she realizes she doesn't like them. She sees there's more to life when she tries to reconnect with her son and begins a relationship/affair with his step-dad, the sheriff. Birdie also now has new friends because of the garden club, whom she loves and protects. Her interactions with her estranged son were really sweet to watch. She was trying to be there for him and to fight for him. We saw her deal with a lot of personal things like love, relationships, acceptance, and fitting in. The sheriff was also super protective and considerate with her. Birdie had been with rich, eccentric guys (which is how she got her money) and with the sheriff, she was down-to-earth and more relatable. Birdie was a fun character with a lot of depth that made her a favourite for me. Melissa Fumero did such a good job playing her.
I could not stand Alice and what she was doing. How could you go that crazy over a dog? Alice was a terrible woman who really lived up to her white privilege. I get the grief of losing a pet, but Alice went so extreme that she lost her job and almost her marriage. It was so gross to watch the first 3 episodes and see her accuse one of her students and her husband. She literally broke into her student's room and looked through all of his drawers. It was so gross. And I felt so bad for her husband. He tried helping her out, but she would not give up. Eventually she did when he left, but god I was still so grossed out. I hated her the entire season. Just awfully written. The actress Anna-Sophia Robb seems good, though. She really made me hate her character. That's good acting.
I also enjoyed the other two characters, Catherine (King) and Brett (Rappaport). Catherine did have a bad start in the beginning, getting caught having an affair, but she kind of redeemed herself. Watching her manage the garden club, saving her marriage, and starting her own real estate firm made her stronger. I enjoyed her character arc. Catherine's husband was a good man. Attractive, loving, and stood by her after she murdered somebody and defended her. That's a good marriage, really tested all the vows. Brett was also good. I really felt bad for him. His wife cheated on him, left him after he helped her through law school, his kids favour the step-dad, and he's trying to get by in his life and career. I wished better for him, and he almost had it until the murder. But he was also in the wrong for it, too. He supported Alice's decision to murder the person all because that person killed her dog when they actually didn't. Meaning, they killed an innocent person. All for a dog. I hated Brett's ex-wife. She was also a terrible white woman and only cared about herself. Just gross.
They spent so much on production design and it was worth it. The houses were so beautiful and insane. Every backdrop is so memorable. The garden itself, each characters' house (my favorite is Catherine's), the city. I like the idea of a garden club too. Normally shows have a setting of work or school. There's not really any third places like a social club. It's mostly bars, coffee shops, or a character's house. This was like a productive hobby that brought people together for a good reason, to make the community look beautiful (and to win the Southeastern Michigan Garden Trophy). That was pretty refreshing and out of the box for me. Barry also did it with an acting class but it became his passion instead of a hobby. I liked the idea of a garden club alot. It's certainly better than getting drunk or addicted to caffiene.
Overall, Grosse Pointe Garden Society was nothing extraordinary. It felt exciting to me because of the setting and Melissa Fumero. Other than that, it just upset me over and over again. Would I recommend this show? Not really, unless you're looking for something quick and easy to watch. I binged it in a weekend. Another similar show is How to Get Away With Murder, which also stars Aja Naomi King. Both shows are really similar to each other in terms of how the plot is played out. It also goes back and forth between the past and present, giving clues to who was murdered. One of the actors from HTGAWM, Jack Falahee, guest starred in one episode alongside King. It's pretty cool how close they are years after the show ended. There's also Revenge with Emily Van Camp, haven't seen it though (yet...).
Rating: 6.5/10
