The series has an innocuous enough beginning: Arthur Milligan (Jonathan Morgan Heit) is the new boy in Granite Flats and he sees what he believes to be a comet fall somewhere near town. That incident begins a ever growing story of greater and greater complexity with plot lines criss crossing and becoming a spiders web of tangential vibrations. What you think of as a mixture of The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Thee Investigators morphs into a very dark cold war drama with three children at the epicenter. Arthur, Timmy, and Madeline join together to first solve the mystery of the comet which turns out to be a Russian spy satellite. Along the way of solving a serious mystery, the trio solve typical junior high conundrums.Add to the mix two scientists, Dr. Ronald Andrews and Dr. Susan Andrews— Madeline's parents— who are intent on turning a soldier into a Manchurian Candidate. Chief of police John Sanders,— Timmy's father—who finds himself working with FBI agent Ezekiel Scoot to trap a Russian mole, Major Slim Kirkpatrick, and his contact, an Avon lady. Nurse Beth Milligan—Arthur's mother—who gets co-opted into turning soldier Frank Quincy into a weapon with herself as his trigger. Dump in a side plot with ex soldier Hershel Jenkins trying to wrest back parental rights to his son Wallace from nurse Regina Clark. Well with the second half of season two and all of season three, Granite Flats falls off the rails or just finds a very different trackSeason two, episode five also introduces two new characters: English teacher Professor Hargraves (Christopher Lloyd) and Hugh Asmeade (Cary Elwes). Initially Hargraves appears to be introduced as a way to get the teens more involved in conspiracy theory. Hargraves constantly uses his teaching of Hamlet to expound on his theory not only did Shakespeare not write Shakespeare but also that the play Hamlet has secret codes and references to prove the real author was Edward de Vere. Asmeade (Elwes) has a short juicy role as the shadowy head of a clandestine agency (the C.I.A?) that makes life uncomfortable for both Drs. Andrews and their boss, Dr. Millard Whittison as he takes over their secret project (Mad Man). In turn he figures out a way to use their trigger— Beth Milligan—and their weapon—Lt. Frank Quincy—to attempt an assassination attempt on Chief Justice Earl Warren. In the season three opener, Arthur Milligan's mother is dead. Was it really a car accident with Lt. Quincy in the car? Suddenly the orphaned Arthur has an Aunt: Alice White (Parker Posey) who has been released from prison after serving a term for homicide but gets custody of her nephew. A turn that upsets both Arthur and Dr. Whittison who has decided to undertake the training of Arthur as a possible future agent. And Arthur has ended his relationship with his friends Tim and Madeline (who now are involved in a romantic tryst of their own somewhat encouraged by Professor Hargraves their own Friar Lawrence). Aunt Alice who gives off the persona of a stupid hillbilly has the vocabulary of a college professor, speaks fluent German, is a bit of a snoop, and when suffering an epileptic seizure she experiences Cassandra like visions which she shares with her nephew. P.S., watch out for teased hair and enough eye shadow for a dozen women. Then there is Wallace whose life has really changed. His father Hershel has rehabilitated himself and after his dishonorable discharge from the army is now a police officer with the Granite Falls PD and has custody of Wallace, which has left nurse Clark somewhat, upset that she has lost her ward. But she has some solace with her romantic involvement with Pastor Todd. Oh and Chief Sanders wife June is now an Avon Lady with a penchant for snooping. And Chief Sanders, officer Jenkins, and agent Scott are still looking for the Communist cell set up by now deceased Major Slim Kirkpatrick (KGB). Then there is really big news, Arthur's father is alive, is in Russia, appears to be a James Bond like figure, and is coming back to the USA for his son. And everyone wants to know who is the person referred to by Kirkpatrick as "the plumber." (It's not that hard to puzzle out.) The plot continues to muddle on with the all too brief return and disappearance of Roy Milligan; the appearance of Scottie Andrews (George Newbern), younger gun toting lawyer brother of Dr. Ronald Andrews who works in the same building as Zelda, the KGB handler; the return of Wallace's long, long absent mother; the capture of Zelda the KGB handler; the reunion of the "three investigators" instigated by Lt. Quincy who wants them to find out what happened to his missing memories; Professor Hargraves is nothing more than a harmless old radical who believed in exercising his civil rights and encouraging others to do the same; and the big resolve at the end with everyone sitting around a table waiting for Dr. Whittison to tell story of why the name the plumber was actually chosen. Then there is quite a Christmas cliffhanger an the end.As I understand it Granite Falls concludes with season three which is a good thing as the three child actors are getting so big that in a season four I would expect them to be wearing leathers, riding around on motorcycles, carrying .45's, and personally executing suspected spies and enemy agents. And personally I am tired of the proliferation of Shakespeare quotations and references, and thirteen year olds spouting Whitman from memory. Come on, this was the paranoid 50's, any teacher found pushing the "good gay poet" in junior high would have been fired for teaching any part of "Leaves of Grass" which was then considered obscene for its sexuality at the time period which serves as the setting for this series.

I have now watched all 3 seasons of Granite Flats and I was impressed overall. The third series came to a very good climax although I did guess who the "Plummer" was long before he was exposed. Very thought provoking program. Was Lee Harvey Osward programmed to kill President Kennedy? I suppose we'll never know the real story behind that but who knows what dirty dealings went on then and still do to this day. Granite Flats shows the good and bad in all people. Here we have characters who do a lot of stuff they think is for the good of mankind but deep down they regret what they do. Certainly a family type show but the storyline might be too complex for the under tens although I may be underestimating the intelligence of many of them. My main criticism is how the story switches about so much it's often hard to tell what's happening. In between series two and three we learn that Arthur's mother is dead and he is suddenly not very friendly with Timmy and Madeline and we realize how much we have missed because of the huge gap between each season and I wish we could have had more episodes. I was hoping that Arthur would be reunited with his father and I'm not sure there will be another season. Shame if there isn't because there are still a few loose ends. Very enjoyable viewing.

We watched the whole series through Netflix a couple of episodes a night. Enjoyed it immensely and it's definitely a breath of fresh air compared to the repetitive shock value shows that no longer shock or ever entertain- drug and alcohol use, sex, language, violence, slander- I guess you get the picture.A few previous comments mentioned the religious aspect is terrifying and overdone although it's produced by BYU it doesn't have an abundance of religious references. A pastor is a minor character and a few of his comments are biblical scriptures but if you aren't religious and some what intelligent those lines won't cause any discomfort. If you can stand what's said on other programs this certainly won't affect you.I would strongly suspect those commenters didn't bother to watch the show once they learned it was funded by BYU but possibly just have animosity towards Mormons in particular, Christians or anyone with faith and instinctively believe it must be a tool to persuade them to oppose what they learned elsewhere. It's not, it's too bad that misconception caused them to miss out on a good show.But back to the show, you might consider keeping a dictionary handy as the vocabulary isn't what I would consider normal language but I found that to be another interesting part of the show. It's filmed well and will make you believe you are back in 1962 although a few cars that weren't made yet passed by on the street. If you liked Hardy Boy's, Nancy Drew or other mysteries of that caliber I would think you would enjoy this as well. And, it's still a mystery of what happened to Arthur's dad. Maybe next season we'll find out?

This show is beautifully filmed- movie quality. The story is fun on many levels - writing is great. The editing is great. Most of the actors are EXCEPTIONAL. There are a couple of things, however, that are so distracting that I can barely endure watching this show.First, one of the lead child actors is so bad (and many of the extra child actors) that after getting lost in the plot, I get jolted back into reality and feel like I'm at a school play. I THINK this actor is supposed to be the geeky intellectual, but she comes across as, well, a kid reading a script.Second, there's something about the direction - maybe it falls under timing, that makes it feel stilted. People standing a bit too stiffly for just a little too much time that adds to the distraction.This is a great family show - just wish it had a tad more polish.