Monday
nights have become a bit surreal of late. As Broadchurch has become increasingly bonkers, they’ve taken on a
kind of mad escapist quality, not always vastly satisfying, but
unmissable nonetheless.
This penultimate
episode however, did feel a little like an hour we could have survived without.
There were a few revelations; it turns out Claire (Eve Myles) had an abortion
years ago whilst Lee (James D’Arcy) was either in prison or on the run, I
forget/no longer care which. We also learned that, with Alec Hardy (David Tennant) lying next
to her when she awoke from the procedure in flashback, that perhaps they’ve
always been closer than he would have people believe? Having had his heart
surgery, it seems that Alec is going to survive until the end of the series
after all, which is just as well given that he and Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman)
have finally started to make some headway with the Sandbrook case, connecting
Claire and Ricky Gillespie (Shaun Dooley) through the mysterious dialled number
on Claire’s phone. Perhaps Lee is innocent after all? He’s creepy as hell, which
by the usual Broadchurch standards means he hasn’t done a thing wrong.
So far
so relatively logical, although none of this felt like it contributed to the
wider plot in any significant way. It felt, and I hate to say it, a little
filler. And then we had the madder scenes of the episode to contend with, the majority of
which, now I think about it, seemed to happen around the beach and cliff areas.
Ah, that sea air. We had Claire inexplicably choosing to hide out at the beach
huts after Alec threw her out. ‘No one knows I’m here, do they?’ what, here in
your secret hide-out on the beach in broad daylight? It’s hardly Fort Knox is
it, love? And then the mad fight between her and Lee with them both seemingly attempting
to drown each other in the surf, then giving up and realising that perhaps they’re
not good for each other after all. Really, you think? And then to cap it all
off, there was that kiss between
barrister Jocelyn (Charlotte Rampling) and journalist Maggie (Carolyn Pickles).
In the
right context, it could have been
very sweet, albeit random. Unfortunately, this wasn’t that context, and it felt
thrown in and a little insensitive. That said, there has been a bit of a theme
in recent episodes of people changing their behaviour due to ill health,
becoming more rash and emotional (Hardy, Susan) so given Jocelyn’s failing
eyesight, meaning it (just about) fits the pattern, I’ll let this one slide for
now.
On the
plus side, at least Ellie seems to have her family and her life back together a
bit now, thankfully. I never quite understood why her eldest son turned against
her as he did, so I was pleased to see that rectified through another fabulous
Ellie Miller common sense shouting match last week. She was beginning to turn into a bit
of a downtrodden plot device, so it was good to see her firing on all cylinders
again here, even if she has made a bit of a mess of her evidence in court
on a number of occasions. It was also good to see Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s
arrogant, self-serving Abby get a bit of a comeuppance, again in a slightly
bizarre exchange, as lawyer Ben (William Andrews) took great
delight in telling her what a horrible person she is. It was a laugh out loud
moment amongst a sea (literally) of disbelief.
Despite
all the madness, there was a little bit of tension to be found, as the case against Joe
Miller (Matthew Gravelle) finally came to an end. For a while it almost, almost appeared that we were going to
hear the verdict in this episode. But of course we weren’t.
If nothing else, it
would have been nice to give Matthew Gravelle something to do. He was outstanding
in the final episodes of series one, yet this series all he’s really been able
to do, albeit for obvious reasons, is sit behind bulletproof glass and widen
his eyes occasionally.
Which
seems a shame to me.
Will
he be found guilty? All will be revealed tomorrow.
Jen
@jenniferklarge
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