The final season of Broadchurch brings unexpected twists this week, and quite the explosive reveal of dirty secrets. Though the investigation into Trish’s attack takes a huge leap forward, the key theme this week doesn’t focus on her investigation. Old wounds are still fresh for some Broadchurch residents and past cases still haunt. This final season of Broadchurch has done a fantastic job of looking at the aftermath of sexual assault, looking at how society and the media sometimes view those cases, small town thinking, and rape culture in general. But this week the big drive comes from bonds between parents and their children, and the means that we go through to protect those relationships.
DI Hardy and DS Miller fall into quite the goldmine when it comes to Trish Winterman, and who might have attacker her the week before. They of course are called to Jim Atwood’s garage after Ed came by and beat the crap out of him the day before. Seeing as they’re both related to Trish’s case, it seemed pertinent that they be the ones to look into it, and boy was that a blessing. After questioning Jim, they head over to Ed’s to get his side of the story. Unfortunately for Ed, Ellie spots a stack of note-cards that match the anonymous flowers sent to Trish immediately after her attack. Alec takes Ed in for questioning and Eilie continues looking around, where she finds that the fresh vegetables sold at the store are tied with the same blue twine that was used on Trish.
Image Credit: BBC America
Image Credit: BBC America
After a bit of digging, they find that not only is Ed in love with Trish, he has obsessively stalked her for years. He has been parking his car outside the end of her street at nights for the past 10 days, “checking in” on her, he has thousands of pictures on his phone, all candid’s of Trish going about her day to day life. His finger prints are on the original card sent to Trish anomalously, and it’s clear that he’s capable of bursting into violent rages. Though this doesn’t quite fit the serial profile they’d been working off of, it’s a pretty large hole he’s dug himself into regarding Trish.
Unfortunately, and what seems to be a fairly common occurrence for Hardy and Miller, Katie, their assistant on the case, has only just now decided to reveal that she’s actually Ed’s daughter. So not only has she already spoken to him in private, she’s officially spoken with him regarding the case and then also hid the fact that they’re related to her superiors. Anything about what she told him or her told her could now just be tossed aside, possibly screwing up the case entirely. She says they haven’t really spoken much in the past 12 years and that she didn’t think it would be relevant. But her oversight on this matter, possibly even protecting her father without realizing it, has seriously pissed off both Hardy and Miller and could be a huge roadblock for this investigation. And let me tell you, angry Hardy is a sight to behold. It’s not a scene any David Tennant fan should miss.
Image Credit: BBC America
Image Credit: BBC America
Ian gets schooled by his own daughter as well, giving him the opportunity to return her mother’s laptop privately. She confronts him about why he was in the house the previous night and why he wanted the laptop anyway. He doesn’t return the laptop to her locker, instead taking it to Leo to have whatever was installed on it wiped again, and so she tells her mother who tells the police. I’m dying to know what it is Ian is hiding on that laptop, and I think we’ll soon find out, because Leo refuses to touch it right now with the police questioned what feels like the entire town. So when they come by to ask him why he essentially broke into the house and what he needed the laptop for, they’re able to take it into their possession, and I hope that next week we find out what exactly he was up to with that. My first thought was hidden porn, but now I’m leaning more towards some type of tracking program so he could view what Trish was up to on the laptop. Either way, he is a shady character and though might not be her attacker, doesn’t mean he is a good or innocent man.
Ellie has a hard parenting moment with her son, when she realizes that he’s gone and stolen his phone back from her bedroom. Not only did he steal it back, he re-added on all the porn that Ellie deleted AND has added more since then. She is not a happy camper, rightfully so, with the case that she’s working on. They have an awkward discussion about consent and what that really truly means and then she smashes both his smart phone AND his laptop with a hammer. She knows how expensive those items are, and that they can’t afford new ones. So he is now SOL and will be using the desktop at the library. Interesting side note, he does admit to getting the porn from his friend at school, who gets it from his dad, Clive Lucas. Alec has a tough parenting moment of his own, in struggling to get his daughter Daisy to stand up for herself and her problems. The future isn’t inevitable, you have to create it and she can’t do that if she continues to just run away from her problems each time. He’s happy to help her and stand up for her and be her dad, but she has to put in the effort too. Not sure if that’ll be enough to convince Daisy to stay, but Alec certainly seems happy that she is around.
Beth Latimer reaches out to the third potential victim of this serial attacker, but she’s still not ready to come forward to the police. Even with the understanding that she could be completely anonymous when giving her statement, the woman just isn’t quite there. Which annoys Beth greatly, not just at this woman but the fact that this woman has been forced into this situation. The victim is right, it’s not her responsibility to do anything, she didn’t ask for it. But that responsibility has now been thrust upon her and why wouldn’t you want to come forward, if it means that someone else in the future might be spared the same trauma? Beth doesn’t understand why this woman can’t see that, but she’s also not been in the position of the other woman.
Image Credit: BBC America
Speaking of the Latimers, Mark is still up to no good on his hunt for Joe. The private eye gave him accurate information but now that he’s come all this way what is he going to do? It’s not like parking the bright blue “Latimer Plumbing” van outside of Joe’s work overnight wasn’t a bit obvious. It’s a bit stalkery at first, with Mark following him from work and to his house, in the end Joe approaches Mark and wants to know what he wants. Mark claims that he just wants to have a conversation, which Joe agrees to. Though the viewer doesn’t get to hear most of their conversation, it’s clear that this is bringing some kind of resolution, for both of them. Mark needs Joe to tell him, in detail, what happened that night. It’s the only way he can move forward and finally start to deal with those events. In a way, it might be therapeutic for them both. Joe admits that he didn’t plead guilty because he can’t deal with being in prison. He also admits that he’s lost his family and his life, and if he was a stronger person he would have already killed himself long ago. Mark listens and asks questions about the night of Danny’s death, coming to the final conclusion that he couldn’t have prevented what happened. He wants to bring justice to his family and his boy, but he too isn’t strong enough to kill Joe, as he possibly intended to do. They part ways, both maybe healed a little more than before, but definitely still both broken.
Mark talks to his oldest daughter, who can tell that something is off. He reiterates that he loves her and has always tried to do the very best he could for her, for the whole family, and he’s sorry if that wasn’t always good enough. She becomes worried and asks him to come round, that she wants to see him. He declines and also declines the offer to talk with Beth. Beth has already decided that she will likely file for divorce and the daughter knows this. Beth loves Mark, more than anything, but he’s lost and she can’t seem to find a way to reach him. Mark might have made that choice for her, as we first see him standing at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the beach where Danny was found. Then in a boat out in the ocean, where he climbs out pushes away from it and slowly floats away. JOe might not be “strong” enough to end his own life, and Mark might not be “strong” enough to take Joe’s life (I use strong in a very loose sense here, and only because that is the world Joe used in the episode), but something has changed in Mark after their conversation and those rehashed old wounds.
Image Credit: BBC America
Image Credit: BBC America
Will Mark survive? Leave me a comment or find me on Twitter and tell me your thoughts!
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