Alice is great but this story not one of Munro's best

It's Alice Munro, so at least you know the story is going to be worth reading, but Munro has set a very high bar for herself - or we've set it for her - and I think most would agree that Gravel, her story in the current New Yorker, is not one of her best. It certainly has the Munro elements: a strange and tragic childhood incident that haunts the central character over time, the small-town Canadian setting (apparently in the 70s or so, but feels earlier), the stifled housewife yearning to break free of a dull marriage and hoping to find herself through a connection to the arts. And yet - just think of the central act in this story and how poorly it stands up against the similar Munro story in which two girls drown a forlorn fellow-camper, and the action ruins their lives. In this case (spoilers here), an older sister - improbably - tells her younger sib that she is going to jump into the pond and to go seek help. The younger sib, strangely, does not respond very quickly and the sister drowns. This is a story of inaction rather than action: we don't see the most dramatic scene, in fact, the central character, in a Munro-like jump forward into present, says that she is unable to recall the details despite years of therapy. This does not help us, or the story. If I were with Munro in a workshop (hah!) I'd say: let's see the young girl come back to get her mom, let's see her barge in while her mom is having sex or let's see the door locked keeping her out - something to make this more precise and dramatic. Munro can be the master of subtlety and indirection, but this story feels under-developed, a missed opportunity.