After last week’s collapse during the chase for the killer, Hardy ends up in the hospital again. He suffers from arrhythmia which nearly killed him that night. Doctors want to implant a pacemaker, but they’re not sure he’ll survive the operation. Those around him keep asking him why he took this case if he knew his health was so bad, but he’s remaining pretty tight lipped about it. Could it be guilt from his inability to close the last case of the murdered young girl?
Susan Wright’s alibi was confirmed by a neighbor, but cigarette butts found near Danny’s body indicate she knows something. Miller has her in for questioning and it’s during this time that we learn all about why Susan is so cold and distant. She’s got a past more tragic than anyone we’ve been introduced to so far, even worse than the Latimers.
Susan was married once and had two daughters. Her husband sexually abused the older daughter, but Susan didn’t know about it at the time. When the husband decided to do the same with the younger, her older sister tried to stop him, but he killed her and told Susan she’d gone traveling. When the police got involved, they took the youngest daughter into child care services and the husband told the police Susan knew about the abuse. Even worse, Susan was pregnant at the time and her baby was taken away by child services since she was deemed unfit as a mother.
Because of a disgustingly sick husband, Susan lost her entire family through no fault of her own. The police never really believed she knew nothing and twisted everything she said. It’s no wonder she’s a recluse with trust issues.
That night, when she found Danny’s body laid out so peacefully with the skateboard by his side, she wondered if her murdered daughter looked so peaceful. It’s never said directly, but I imagine she took the skateboard in a moment of grief, not because of some sinister reason.
For the first time in this series I feel sympathy for Susan Wright.
Because he knows he’s running out of time, Hardy meets with psychic Steve for anything he can get on the case. Steve tells him the killer is, “Close to home,” but has no more details other than that. Steve suddenly realizes Hardy has been to Broadchurch before and though he doesn’t react verbally, it’s clear by the look on Hardy’s face that Steve is right.
Back at the interrogation, Susan tells Miller she saw a small boat with an outboard motor approach the shore. There was one man in it and he laid Danny’s body out on the beach. Susan says she recognized who the man was and suddenly the police arrest Nige Carter on suspicion of murder. At Nige’s home they find several shotguns, his crossbow, and Susan’s dog.
Hardy interrogates Nige while Miller continues to interrogate Susan. They discover the secret that these two seemed to share which is that Nige is Susan’s son who was taken away from her as an infant. The reason Susan was so quick to blame her own son for the murder of Danny Latimer is because she’s afraid he’s inherited his father’s criminal tendencies.
One odd fact that popped up was the result of the phone trace on the call about the break in at the hut. The call came from Danny Latimer’s missing mobile phone. For reasons unknown it seems the killer called to report his own break in. Odd.
Reverend Coates calls Hardy over to the church to show him the broken bits of Tom’s computer. Coates tells him that Tom threatened to report him as having abused Danny if he told anyone about the computer. Hardy, ever the sour skeptic, asks Coates directly if he was abusing Danny. Clearly disgusted by the question, Coates says no.
Hardy agreed to sit down with Olly and Maggie for an exclusive story about his last case involving the murdered girls. He explains how they had plenty of evidence on the prime suspect, but it was all circumstantial until a DS on the case found a pendant belonging to one of the missing girls. This pendant had the suspect’s print on it and was the key to closing the case.
On the way back to the station, this DS, a female, decided to stop off at a local pub to celebrate. The reason she stopped is because she was cheating on her husband with another DS. Her car was broken into and everything stolen which caused the case to fall apart.
Maggie said the story had already been reported in the big newspapers, but that the car cited was Hardy’s. Hardy explains that the DS who was responsible for the case falling apart was his wife. He didn’t want their daughter to know about the affair so he took the blame all these years, causing him health problems in the process. And though he gives them permission to report the story as he’s told, he states that it’s only under the condition that he doesn’t name the DS, his wife.
When Susan returns home to her trailer that evening, she finds Nige there waiting for her. He tells her to call the police and say she was mistaken about seeing him on the beach the night of Danny’s murder, then he tells her to leave town. As Nige leaves, Susan insists she saw him that night.
The Latimers have invited Chloe’s boyfriend over for dinner, welcoming him into their lives. They’re all in agreement that Nige couldn’t have killed Danny. Chloe’s boyfriend says that Danny and Nige got along every time the three of then went out on the farm at night to catch animals. Chloe’s boyfriend said Nige told him the Latimers knew about these excursions, but they were unaware of them and seemed shocked at the news.
That exchange really cast doubts about Nige’s innocence. If he was lying to the family and about the family, what else might he be lying about? To make matters worse for Nige, the boot print found in the hut was a match for his shoe size.
Even though he’s already sent the broken pieces of Tom Miller’s computer to forensics for data retrieval, Hardy asks Miller if she would bring the boy’s computer to the station. Miller was unaware of her son’s attempt to destroy the computer and also unaware that Tom and Danny weren’t really friends, at least not any more.
In the middle of a rainy evening, we see Susan packing up and leaving her trailer, and assumedly Broadchurch, behind. We’re treated to a montage of several main characters all trying to get their worried selves to sleep. Then there’s Hardy who’s still at work when he gets an email regarding the recovery of Tom Miller’s emails. We don’t see the contents, but he shouts, “Of course!” It definitely sounds like he’s found something to help close the case.
Don’t miss the conclusion of Broadchurch next Wednesday to find out who killed Danny Latimer.
Broadchurch airs Wednesdays at 10:00pm ET/PT (9 CT) as part of BBC America’s Dramaville.
