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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 8 review

by with No Comment Reviews

Broadchurch__where_we_left_the_characters_at_the_end_of_series_oneWARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD.

The finale of the second series of Broadchurch has finally arrived. After eight weeks, everything comes to an end. While the series 1 finale of Broadchurch was tense, emotional and just all around brilliant, sadly, this finale is not.

The episode starts immediately where episode 7 left off. Joe Miller’s (Matthew Gravelle) verdict has been reached and in a shocking twist (and a rather bad night for the British justice system) Miller is declared NOT GUILTY! The man who murdered an 11 year old boy and dumped his body on a beach has been cleared of all charges. Straight after, Alec Hardy (David Tennant) arrests Claire (Eve Myles) as a suspect in the Sandbrook case, which Hardy vows to close today.

This is all powerful stuff, and the episode starts off so promising, but it also makes series 1 feel kind of pointless. Whenever anyone watches the previous series back, they’ll watch knowing that Joe Miller will be cleared and declared innocent even after he confesses to his crime.

The major problem here is simple: it focuses way too much on the solving the Sandbrook case and not enough on the Joe Miller case. The Sandbrook section could have easily taken 15 minutes of screentime to solve everything. But instead, it drags and drags.

We start off in the old Broadchurch police station, which at first is great. The series felt like it was home again and it felt quite nostalgic to see Hardy and Ellie Miller (Oliva Coleman) interview suspects Lee (James D’Arcy) and Ricky (Shaun Dooley) in the same room where they interogated the suspects of the Latimer case.

While this is going on, we see the town of Broadchurch all team up to deliver their own justice against Joe Miller, which is incredibly tense and exciting. But as perviously mentioned, the finale spends far too much time on the Sandbrook closure. Though the case is finally cracked and solved, the resolution and reveal of the true mastermind behind the murders is incredibly underwhelming. It is revealed that Lee, Claire and Ricky were involved in the murders.

The arrests of all the suspects also didn’t feel nearly as satisfying as they should have done, mainly because the case didn’t hold a candle on the original Latimer case and it was never strong enough to work as a story for an emotionally gripping finale.

Although the Sandbrook case came to an underwhelming end, it was nice to see Hardy finally have his closure on the case. The finale also included beautiful cinematography and standout acting, but that’s to be expected from Broadchurch now.

The finale would also have worked better if it spent more time on the townsfolk reactions to Miller being cleared and their plans to deliver true justice. But it didn’t. Instead it felt very rushed and poorly edited at times.

Half of the original characters from series 1 don’t appear in this episode (where was Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke)?) and most of the supporting cast don’t even get a line of dialogue.

The first 15 minutes were fantastic as it was both great and shocking to see Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) kidnap Joe Miller and take him to the hut where he killed Danny Latimer.

The only saving grace here was the section of the town dealing with Miller in their own way. While rushed, the ending of the Joe Miller story was still well done. Watching Beth (Jodie Whittaker) lay into Joe and talk about true justice was wonderful to watch and extremely powerful. We get a good feeling that both the Latimers and the Millers are now ready to move on with their lives. This whole scene makes the finale watchable.

Sadly, Joe Miller being “Banished” from the town didn’t feel like the best comeuppance the character could have got. Though the shot where he has to walk past all the townsfolk, who all know he’s guilty, was very well done.

Speaking of comeuppances, it wasn’t great watching Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) end her story arc by asking to work with Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). It just didn’t feel right for the character as she also seems to have forgotten all about her feelings to Maggie (Carolyn Pickles) from the previous week.

Concluding with Hardy about to leave the small town and wondering where to go next was a good closing shot as for the first time ever, he is free. However, it also hinted towards a possible third series. And what a surprise, it has now been confirmed that there will be a third series of Broadchurch. Likely to either air in 2016 or very early 2017, let’s just hope that the next series focuses more on drama and not another murder mystery.

Overall, series 2 of Broadchurch has been a very mixed bag. It started off so well, but lost its edge as it went along. Still, it provided enough engaging elements to make it a watchable and enjoyable season of television.

What was your opinion on series 2 of Broadchurch? Let us know in the comments below.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 7 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The penultimate episode of Broadchurch series 2 is upon us and while it isn’t as strong as its predecessor in series 1, this one is still pretty good.

“It never ends well, does it?” asks Claire (Eve Myles) during a flashback which reveals that she almost certainly slept with Alec Hardy (David Tennant). This was a very powerful opening line which could very well be foreshadowing the finale, which airs next week.

It seems that the pieces are finally falling into place in the Sandbrook case. Evidence is being turned over, conclusions are being drawn and more importantly, characters are being “Reborn”. That’s what Alec Hardy says to Lee Ashworth (James D’Arcy) in a really well done confrontation scene. It is great to see Hardy show off his new emotions to Lee, who Hardy is now certain is the mastermind behind the case.

The Latimers share some very good scenes together, which shows that their family is on the verge of breaking apart forever. Even Beth (Jodie Whittaker) confides in Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) stating that she is considering leaving Mark (Andrew Buchan).

What’s also strong about this episode is that some very minor characters get a chance to shine. A particular favourite moment was when a member of the prosecutor Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) speaks up against a member of Joe Miller’s (Matthew Gravelle) defense team, Abby, by saying that she’s a “horrible person”. That’s all that needs to be said about her character.

The trial scene this week for the most part seemed like unnecessary filler, but it did manage to deliver some tense scenes and some amazing single camera panning shots, that manage to pan past every character from the show. It’s also really nice to see all the original cast reunite again in the courtroom.

However, Sharon Bishop’s (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) villainous performance is very annoying to watch, solely because, it’s too unrealistic. The acting is fine, it’s just that the character does nothing but moan at poor Ellie and she never gives her the chance to defend herself. With that said however, it is nice to see the defense for Joe finally come to an end.

The episode features some great banter between Ellie and Hardy like always. But one thing it hasn’t featured is some of the new characters. For example, Ricky (Shaun Dooley) has been a real missed opportunity. He’s barely had five minutes of screentime this entire series. He started off as a creepy new suspect, but the character never had a chance to shine. Also, Susan Wright’s (Pauline Quirke) comeback feels wasted now. It was great to see her return at first, but like Ricky, she has not had enough time on screen.

The episode’s saving grace is it’s ability to deliver some very tense courtroom and interaction scenes. Lee and Claire share a very tense scene together that is quite hard to watch. Here we see their relationship sink to new lows. But this scene also leads to a nice interaction between Claire and Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill), in which Paul convinces Claire to face her demons.

Speaking of nice interactions, there was a very sweet scene shared between Jocelyn and Maggie (Carolyn Pickles). It was very warm and powerfully acted. It would have been nice to see more scenes like this, in this series.

The ending of the episode was both predictible and tense at the same time. Even though the dialogue that came out of the judge’s mouth was very silly, the final courtroom scene was very exciting, right up until that cut to black.

Overall, this second series has been a mixed bag. But there is still one more episode to go. One more chance for Broadchurch to shine. Here’s hoping next week provides us with a satisfying conclusion.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 6 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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The second series of Broadchurch is nearing its end and while last week’s episode was a strong comeback for the series, unfortunately episode six is not as strong.

The episode begins with Tom Miller (Adam Wilson) being called to the witness box to give evidence to help defend his father Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle) where he predictably reveals his secret meetings with Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) to the court. For once, this trial scene and all of the trial scenes this episode were very well done and emotionally powerful.

Sadly though the same cannot be said for the Sandbrook case. This week it was just not interesting to watch. Even the ‘twist’ ending that reveals who really stole the pendant from Alec Hardy’s (David Tennant) car that fateful night isn’t really that shocking.

However, seeing Claire (Eve Myles) finally start to crack under the pressure was engrossing. It’s always been hinted that she may have been the crazy mastermind involved in the Sandbrook tragedy, and this week, she exploded. Her big outburst after Hardy orders her to move out of the witness house was a big shock.

Although the Sandbrook case wasn’t so gripping this week, thankfully the trial scenes were. Mark too was called to the witness box and instead of telling us facts that we already know from the last season, this time it is revealed that after Mark’s affair with Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay) he was in the process of preparing to tell wife Beth (Jodie Whittaker) that the marriage was over!

This leads to an extremely moving scene between Beth and Ellie (Olivia Coleman) where Beth breaks down. It is in this scene that we finally see how much this trial is destroying the Latimer family. Will Beth and Mark still be married when the series ends? Only time will tell, but it doesn’t look good for them.

Speaking of family, the episode also focuses on Hardy trying to reconnect with his own family and it actually really works. It is very refreshing to see Hardy act like a family man (after FINALLY having his operation) instead of an obsessed detective. However, the scene where Hardy asks his wife if they can be a family again feels very rushed and awkward. In fact a lot of the scenes in this episode feel rushed. For example, Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) and Joe Miller finally share another scene together, and while it is powerful, it is also far too short.

The writing this week was for the most part very good. The scene where Ellie takes charge of the situation with her son Tom, and orders him to come back home to the family house with her is written and acted brilliantly. In fact it could be argued that Olivia Coleman delivers her best performance as Ellie so far in this scene, and considering that her acting in this show has been truly astonishing throughout, that’s saying something.

But there are some scenes that are not written so well. Sharon’s (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) subplot and Ollie Stevens’ (Jonathan Bailey) sudden love affair with one of Joe Miller’s defendants are both handled very poorly. The dialogue that comes out of these characters mouths is awkward and occasionally cringeworthy.

The cinematography is great as always, leading to some very tense visual scenes that make for some great cliffhangers (the cliffhanger during Hardy’s operation halfway through the episode is far more interesting than the cliffhanger at the end).

This episode’s saving grace was a good theme of family and how important it truly is. Overall, not the best episode of the series, but certainly not the worst. Hopefully the final two will provide us with a satisfying and rich conclusion that the first season did.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 5 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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Episode five of Broadchurch has arrived and there is only one word to describe the episode this week: Strong.

This week, Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) are back in the small town and Ellie finally gets her son Tom (Adam Wilson) to meet with her, trying to patch things up with him. It’s an emotionally powerful scene and Olivia Coleman once again delivers an outstanding performance. The series may have had its weak spots, but Coleman has always remained on top form throughout. A Bafta nomination can’t be far away.

In fact, the ITV drama seems to be getting better and better since episode four, and that is largely thanks to the episode focusing on strengths like the tense mystery of the Sandbrook case and the relationship between Hardy and Miller.

The Sandbrook case is getting more thrilling as it develops further and further, with new suspect Ricky (Shaun Dooley) finally getting a decent amount of screentime to make an impression on us. He is now growing more interesting and creepy the longer he’s on screen. Ricky has now appeared in Broadchurch to find Lee Ashworth (James D’Arcy) who provides another creepy flashback to the murder event which will have the audience questioning what really happened that night.

Meanwhile, Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker) wants to organise a charity in her son Danny’s name, but while she is doing this, her husband Mark (Andrew Buchan) is bonding with their newborn baby daughter. Any scene with those two together is beautiful to watch. Sadly for Beth, she is having trouble bonding with her new child and can’t seem to let Danny go.

Unfortunately, this sub-plot isn’t that engaging or interesting, nor is the charity storyline. It would be more interesting to focus on teenager Chloe Latimer (Charlotte Beaumont) who hasn’t appeared for quite a while. Where is she during all of this? She should be bonding with her new sister, but she is rarely seen.

Thankfully, the character of Reverend Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) appears again and is shockingly asked to be a character witness for Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle) for his trial. This leads to a well done scene between Paul and his girlfriend Becca Fisher (Simone Mcaullay) who hasn’t appeared on screen since the show’s second episode. It’s nice to see Becca and Paul share some screentime together, although it’s short, it’s romantic at the same time.

Speaking of romance, Hardy and Ellie do seem to be developing their relationship. The drama of Broadchurch is always great when these two characters are together on screen, but hopefully the show won’t go down the romance road as it wouldn’t work. Although it is quite nice to see see the two strolling along the beach with Hardy pushing toddler Fred in a pram.

It’s also interesting to see Ellie dive more and more into the Sandbrook case: She says that she “can no longer sleep” and that she has nothing left in her life, except getting her son back and solving the Sandbrook case.

It also seems like Hardy’s illness is catching up with him as he pays a surprise visit to Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling), where he asks her to do his will. The biggest strength of this episode is that it finally felt more like the ‘classic’ Broadchurch. The investigation of Sandbrook is growing more interesting as all the suspects are introduced to motives (Don’t trust anyone). Hardy and Ellie are a joy to watch whenever they’re on screen and this week’s instalment manages to be tantalising, thrilling and emotional all at the same time.

The trial scene this week wasn’t that strong as it only involved watching Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke) telling lies that we already knew about. But it leads to a very good showdown between Ellie and Susan, where Ellie finally accepts that no one will ever believe her when she says she never knew about Joe.

The ending, while predictable, is very well done and makes for a great cliffhanger. It’s nice to see Broadchurch return to its former glory. Here’s hoping that episode six continues to stay strong.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 3 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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Broadchurch series 2 is nearing the halfway point and the third episode of the ITV drama continues to provide tension, shock and fantastic entertainment.

The episode starts off immediately where last week’s ended. Lee (James D’Arcy) has kidnapped Claire Ripley (Eve Myles) and is being pursued by Alec Hardy (David Tennant). While this is going on, Beth Latimer’s (Jodie Whittaker) waters have broken and it’s up to Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) to save the day and help her through the ordeal.

It’s great to finally see Ellie defend herself. First she scolds Hardy for saying it’s her fault Lee escaped, then even when Beth is telling Ellie to go away, she won’t stand for any more insults and insists she is going to help Beth whether she wants her to or not. While Beth is having her home birth, the episode awkwardly keeps cutting back to Hardy chasing down Lee and tracking him back to Claire’s safehouse. Unfortunately, these transitions are awkwardly filmed and edited quite poorly.

After the chase is concluded, Ellie and Chloe (Charlotte Beaumont) share a sweet scene together where she shows that not all the Latimers hate Ellie. Even Mark (Andrew Buchan) doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge against her. Sadly, Beth continues to be hostile towards Ellie, and it actually seems like she’s being a bit too harsh towards her; Ellie just helped Beth give birth to a beautiful baby girl and all Beth does is order her to leave and to never come near her again. It’s hard to sympathise with Beth when all she does most of the time she’s on screen is bully Ellie. Still, it is nice to see a new member in the Latimer family and to see the family share a happy scene together.

Back at Claire’s house, Lee leaves after scolding Hardy for recording him, making the entire chase feel slightly anti-climatic. However, the bluebells make a reappearance and it seems that their presence is getting more and more intense. It’s also intriguing to see a flashback of Lee looking at the murder victims of the Sandbrook case, before the tragedy occurred. It’s clever not to reveal the entire backstory of the case as it makes it all the more exciting for the audience and allows them the time to come up with their own theories on what really happened the night the two girls disappeared.

Speaking of Lee, he is getting more and more interesting as the series progresses. We never know what he’s thinking, all we do know is that he wants to prove to Hardy that he is not the killer everyone thinks he is. One of the best scenes of this episode is when he arrives at Hardy’s house to present all sorts of documents and evidence to the detective. Could he actually be innocent? Only time will tell. To make matter worse, he gets Hardy arrested on a false charge! Lee drops the charge when he gets Hardy to publicly apologise. It’s a very tense scene and it wouldn’t be surprising if this series ends with some sort of face off between the two characters.

It’s also nice to see the new characters develop. We now know that Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) has a son who’s in prison! And Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) seems to be in debt while caring for her mother. Unfortunately, Sharon still acts like a cartoon villain, as does her assistant. Like Beth, it’s hard to sympathise with Sharon when all she does is act like an evil antagonist.

The acting is fantastic as usual and once again Ellie steals the show. There’s a great subplot in this episode when she goes out with Claire, to keep an eye on her and to question her about the Sandbrook murder case. Instead Ellie ends up making love to a stranger. We’ve never seen Ellie do anything like this before and it all leads to a very sad moment where she reveals to the man that all she wants is to hear someone say that they love her. This episode manages to show how lonely Ellie truly feels in this world, and it’s beautifully acted.

Claire seems to be getting more and more suspicious with each episode and this one is no exception. Even Hardy is beginning to think that Claire hasn’t told him everything. While this is interesting, it’s not as tense as it should be. In fact, every scene with Claire in this episode wasn’t that intriguing to watch, and they should have been. A lot of her scenes seem rushed and failed to deliver any interesting twists. Hopefully next week’s episode will provide Claire with more exciting material.

As stated before, the trial scenes in this series have always been the standout moments and once again this episode delivers on a very tense courtroom scene. What makes this one even better though is that Ellie is finally called to the witness box. This scene is extremely powerful as Ellie has to not only watch as all of her former friends watch from afar and judge her, but she has to also talk about her marriage to the killer of Danny Latimer, Joe (Matthew Gravelle) and try and prove that she didn’t know that he was the killer the whole time.

However, Sharon then asks Ellie about her and Joe’s sex life and it seems to come out of nowhere and feels really out of place. It’s hard to believe that a defense team would ask something like that and it wouldn’t be a surprise if some audiences find the moment a tad unrealistic.

The episode ends of a clever cliffhanger when the defense team announce that Ellie and Hardy were having an affair! Of course, the audience know that this is nonsense, but it’s going to be hard to prove that with no evidence or witnesses. As good as the cliffhanger is, it does also feel like an ending we’d see in a soap opera.

While not the best episode of the season, episode three still manages to hook and impress with its clever twists and intriguing characters.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 2 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Last week saw the ITV drama Broadchurch return with a fantastic series opener which saw murderer Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle) deliver a shocking “not guilty” plea at his hearing. The series also introduced another subplot of Alec Hardy (David Tennant) revealing he was protecting Claire Ripley (Eve Myles) from her husband Lee (James D’Arcy), whom he thinks is the killer in the Sandbrook case. The second episode continues to prove that bringing the series back was a good idea.

This episode is just as engaging, exciting and explosive as the first one, if not more. We begin with Hardy at his new job; a lecturer of police training. And what a surprise, he hates it. He finds it tedious and boring. Luckily for him, tension begins to build as Claire receives a voicemail from Lee. He wants to meet her. Upon hearing the news, Hardy immediately meets Lee in a huge field and considers a possible arrangement. The scene is so huge and tense, it almost feels like a western.

Meanwhile, Joe Miller’s trial is about to begin and the Latimers, Beth (Jodie Whittaker) Mark (Andrew Buchan), Chloe (Charlotte Beaumont) and everyone else who was involved in the murder investigation from series 1 are summons to witness. While this is going on, poor Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) tries her best to look after Claire and to avoid confrontation with Beth, who exploded at Ellie last week after she discovered that Joe’s defense team had ordered Danny’s buried body to be exhumed.

The biggest strength about the series so far is that both of these stories are engaging. Each one presents the audience with shocking reveals and new questions that need to be answererd. The more mystery is thrown at the audience, the more intrigued they are. Watching Joe’s trials slowly begin is exciting and tense and joining Hardy on his investigation is both fun and mysterious. Another positive point is that the series manages to cleverly bring plot threads from series 1 and make them connect perfectly into this series. For example, Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling), who is now prosecutor for the Latimers, questions Hardy and Ellie and is fuming to find out that Ellie assaulted Joe when she found out he killed Danny. Because of this, she will now have to justify her actions to court, thus making the job of proving Joe’s guilt all the more difficult.

Once again, Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) visits Joe in prison and it is just as uncomfortable as it was before as Joe constantly asks to see a photo of his son Tom (Adam Wilson), who is secretly meeting Mark. It seems that Joe doesn’t care about Danny’s death at all and he’s certain he will be coming home soon. Is he playing a long game? No one knows for sure, but one thing is for certain, Joe seems to be getting more dangerous and spooky everytime he’s on screen.

Ellie and Claire seem to be developing a nice friendship, but Ellie is still concerned as to why Hardy thinks Lee is guilty. It wouldn’t be the first time he was wrong. There is a particularly well done scene where Ellie tells the story of how she and Joe first met to Claire. It starts off touching, but ends on a very sad note as it’s just another painful reminder of how far Ellie’s life has sunk. The bluebells return again and so far, there has been no explanation to them at all, but that’s good: It keeps the mystery building.

The Latimers also have more screen time thankfully. Beth in particular gets the best line of the episode. She states that no one will lie when called to the witness box as “No one has anything left to hide anymore.” The moment that line is said, everyone in the room looks away. Without a word of dialogue, the scene shows that Beth’s statement couldn’t be more wrong. There will always be secrets in Broadchurch.

The acting is once again spot on, and the characters are still very well written, for the most part. Unfortunately Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and her assistant (Joe Miller’s defense team) both act like villains we’d see in a Saturday morning cartoon a lot of the time. They seem a little out of place in this episode, with the assistant providing silly unfunny dialogue between her and Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay) and Sharon acting like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers franchise with her cocky attitude. Still, Sharon provides a little bit of mystery when she shares an emotional phonecall between her and an unnamed caller. The town journalist Ollie Stevens (Jonathan Bailey) also seems to be acting like an immature idiot so far. Previously, he was goofy, but had a good heart and cared more for his family than he did the story. Now he just seems to be only focused on the story. A little more character development for him would be quite welcome.

Also, the cliffhanger from the previous episode has a disappointing conclusion which could have easily been revealed in the first episode. The reveal is so obvious that it didn’t really need to be a cliffhanger.

Still, the episode has some great build up throughout. Claire agrees to meet Lee at Ellie’s old house, which leads to a sad scene when Ellie takes a trip down memory lane. Also, Joe Miller’s trial finally begins and slowly falls apart when secrets from the past are revealed in front of the town and Joe’s confession is excluded from the prosecution after Ellie’s assault is revealed. Once again, the scenes in the courtroom are handled fantastically, full with emotion, tension and a very powerful performance from Jodie Whittaker as Beth, when she enters the witness box.

The episode has a terrific conclusion when Lee manages to escape with Claire after Beth unknowingly ruins the secret meetup that Hardy and Ellie had arranged. And to make matters worse, Beth’s waters have broken! This episode manages to deliver on both tension, emotion and shock all at the same time.

So far, the new series of Broadchurch has a very different energy about it and that can only be a good thing. The story is very slowly falling into place and is doing a great job at keeping the audience hooked. Hopefully episode three will continue the success.