[7.5/10] We’ve reached the point of the series where the mystery is likely to be consumed with nothing but red herrings. Maybe I’ll be eating crow when we hit the finale, but I sincerely doubt that Trish’s ex-husband, Ian; her best friend’s husband, Jim; or her cab-driver, Lucas are the culprits, despite the suspicion the show wants to throw on them in the early going here.
Jim feels like the Mark character, the shady, semi-intense guy who hasn’t done anything wrong that we know of just yet, but who seems to have something off about him that makes you wonder if he knows more than he’s saying. Ian seems like a genuinely nice guy (despite him probably having installed tracking software on his ex-wife’s laptop without her knowing), which ironically may increase his chances of being the culprit on this show. But he blacked out at Cath’s party and seems to still be carrying a torch for her, so the show wants us to seriously consider the possibility that he did it.
Then there’s Clive Lucas, a local shit who has unaccounted for time and similarly shady practices going on. He seems like a prime candidate for having done other stuff wrong, whether it’s cheating or creeping or, I don’t know, nicking pheasants, without being the culprit. Despite that, we get a look at his personal life here, as he’s a serial philanderer with a wife who’s resigned herself to this sad life, and a stepson who hates him. Oh, and that stepson is the boy who Tom got caught sharing porn with, because everything in this damn show has to be connected for some reason.
Despite my grousing, I continue to enjoy the nuts and bolts police work of Miller and Hardy here. The two of them continue to have such a fun rapport that livens the simple scenes where they’re running evidence to ground. The bit about Ellie wanting to stop for a bite and Hardy just soldiering on is a big laugh, as are their interactions with a local musician and “Will you please hold my scotch egg?” moment.
But they also stand in for opposing ideological positions here: with Ellie once again wanting them to take it easy on Trish given what she’s been through and Hardy wanting to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. There’s some solid, and even subtly written scenes about how the police and communities writ large treat rape, with both officers looking disugsted when Ed Burnett tells them that what happened to Trish is especially horrible because she’s “not the type of woman” to have that happen. So far, this season has spent a good amount of time educating its audience in subtle ways, and that disgust, alongside Miller reminding Hardy that the crime is about power, not sex, aids that tremendously.
That said, there’s an odd streak of misandry in this one. Hardy feels ashamed to be a man after talking to so many cads. Trish and Cath reckon that any of the men they knew could have done it. The police officers look at the board of possible suspects Georgina has put together mouth agape, and Ellie laments that the list of potential culprits just gets longer. It’s a common thread here, and one that seems strange and unmotivated.
Weirdly, one of the parts I liked most about this is the confrontation between Mark and Beth over whether to pursue a civil case against Joe Miller. The show sets up the two in opposition to one another, with Beth trying to heal and move on from the grief of losing Danny by appreciating the life and chances and family she still has, and Mark struggling to make peace with his future in the absence of getting justice against Joe. Both positions make sense, and the disconnect between them is filled with the pathos of a family that started on shaky ground and was torn apart by the afterimage of this tragedy.
Otherwise, we get more weirdly puritanical After School Special material with Tom here. We see Rev. Coates, in one facial expression, feel increasingly estranged from his community and vocation. And we see Hardy be suspicious of the boys his daughter’s hanging around with. That last part is interesting, not just because it paints ol’ Alec as a traditional “Stay away from my daughter, you punks!” sort of dad, but because we hear him spill his guts a bit. In a roundabout way, he calls Broadchurch his home, and expresses his faint hope that it might heal his daughter in the same way it healed him. Sorry vicar, but that’s as good and wholesome a confessional as you’re likely to hear in this one.
Overall, the mystery part of the show sputters a bit here, but the character work continues to sustain Broadchurch despite that.
Top Suspects: -- 1. Clive’s Wife’s Baby Daddy -- We’ve never met this guy, but here’s my cockamamie theory. Baby Daddy is still mad at Clive for “stealing” the mother of his child. He witnessed Clive going on a date with Trish and ferrying her around, and so decided to try to “steal” Trish as a twisted way of getting back at Clive. Just a shot in the dark. -- 2. Twine Guy -- I doubt he actually did it, but his access to other people’s keys suggests he’s in the shit, or at least involved in some way, even if he doesn’t quite know it. -- 3. Joe Miller -- I mean, Trish isn’t really his type, but it’d be quite a twist, huh?
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-07-09T02:36:02Z
[7.5/10] We’ve reached the point of the series where the mystery is likely to be consumed with nothing but red herrings. Maybe I’ll be eating crow when we hit the finale, but I sincerely doubt that Trish’s ex-husband, Ian; her best friend’s husband, Jim; or her cab-driver, Lucas are the culprits, despite the suspicion the show wants to throw on them in the early going here.
Jim feels like the Mark character, the shady, semi-intense guy who hasn’t done anything wrong that we know of just yet, but who seems to have something off about him that makes you wonder if he knows more than he’s saying. Ian seems like a genuinely nice guy (despite him probably having installed tracking software on his ex-wife’s laptop without her knowing), which ironically may increase his chances of being the culprit on this show. But he blacked out at Cath’s party and seems to still be carrying a torch for her, so the show wants us to seriously consider the possibility that he did it.
Then there’s Clive Lucas, a local shit who has unaccounted for time and similarly shady practices going on. He seems like a prime candidate for having done other stuff wrong, whether it’s cheating or creeping or, I don’t know, nicking pheasants, without being the culprit. Despite that, we get a look at his personal life here, as he’s a serial philanderer with a wife who’s resigned herself to this sad life, and a stepson who hates him. Oh, and that stepson is the boy who Tom got caught sharing porn with, because everything in this damn show has to be connected for some reason.
Despite my grousing, I continue to enjoy the nuts and bolts police work of Miller and Hardy here. The two of them continue to have such a fun rapport that livens the simple scenes where they’re running evidence to ground. The bit about Ellie wanting to stop for a bite and Hardy just soldiering on is a big laugh, as are their interactions with a local musician and “Will you please hold my scotch egg?” moment.
But they also stand in for opposing ideological positions here: with Ellie once again wanting them to take it easy on Trish given what she’s been through and Hardy wanting to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. There’s some solid, and even subtly written scenes about how the police and communities writ large treat rape, with both officers looking disugsted when Ed Burnett tells them that what happened to Trish is especially horrible because she’s “not the type of woman” to have that happen. So far, this season has spent a good amount of time educating its audience in subtle ways, and that disgust, alongside Miller reminding Hardy that the crime is about power, not sex, aids that tremendously.
That said, there’s an odd streak of misandry in this one. Hardy feels ashamed to be a man after talking to so many cads. Trish and Cath reckon that any of the men they knew could have done it. The police officers look at the board of possible suspects Georgina has put together mouth agape, and Ellie laments that the list of potential culprits just gets longer. It’s a common thread here, and one that seems strange and unmotivated.
Weirdly, one of the parts I liked most about this is the confrontation between Mark and Beth over whether to pursue a civil case against Joe Miller. The show sets up the two in opposition to one another, with Beth trying to heal and move on from the grief of losing Danny by appreciating the life and chances and family she still has, and Mark struggling to make peace with his future in the absence of getting justice against Joe. Both positions make sense, and the disconnect between them is filled with the pathos of a family that started on shaky ground and was torn apart by the afterimage of this tragedy.
Otherwise, we get more weirdly puritanical After School Special material with Tom here. We see Rev. Coates, in one facial expression, feel increasingly estranged from his community and vocation. And we see Hardy be suspicious of the boys his daughter’s hanging around with. That last part is interesting, not just because it paints ol’ Alec as a traditional “Stay away from my daughter, you punks!” sort of dad, but because we hear him spill his guts a bit. In a roundabout way, he calls Broadchurch his home, and expresses his faint hope that it might heal his daughter in the same way it healed him. Sorry vicar, but that’s as good and wholesome a confessional as you’re likely to hear in this one.
Overall, the mystery part of the show sputters a bit here, but the character work continues to sustain Broadchurch despite that.
Top Suspects:
-- 1. Clive’s Wife’s Baby Daddy -- We’ve never met this guy, but here’s my cockamamie theory. Baby Daddy is still mad at Clive for “stealing” the mother of his child. He witnessed Clive going on a date with Trish and ferrying her around, and so decided to try to “steal” Trish as a twisted way of getting back at Clive. Just a shot in the dark.
-- 2. Twine Guy -- I doubt he actually did it, but his access to other people’s keys suggests he’s in the shit, or at least involved in some way, even if he doesn’t quite know it.
-- 3. Joe Miller -- I mean, Trish isn’t really his type, but it’d be quite a twist, huh?