Broadchurch, Series 2
Apr. 2nd, 2015 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aearwen2Well, Hubby and I had ordered the boxed set of Broadchurch Series 2 from the UK, and we finally finished the entire series last night. We'd thought to finish Sunday, Tuesday, but we ended up watching Episodes 5 thru 7, ending on the horrible cliffhanger at the end of that one.
General consensus here at the Aeärwen house: Broadchurch is extremely well-written. It draws the viewer in and then keeps them guessing with twists, turns and red herrings galore. We are definitely looking forward to Series 3, which will be the end of the story.
The first comment I want to make may offend those of my f-list in the UK: I find I have a lot less consideration for British jurisprudence and processes now than I did before I started. I mean!! Allowing a verdict with less than 100% agreement among the jury?? In the US, the verdict at the end of this one would never have been presented. Instead, we would have had a "hung" jury, meaning either the prosecution decided to try the case all over again with a new jury (and both sides knowing all the nasty little bits of info that were going to come out this time) or the case would be summarily dismissed. Allowing allegations without corroboration?? Insinuating a beating took place prior to the recorded confession could have been easily debunked because, by the time the recorded confession took place, Joe's street clothing had been removed, and he'd been dressed in the jail overalls. The intake officer would surely have noted any signs of violence at that time. Where was the crown calling foul on having the confession tossed out without challenging the grounds on which it was tossed? Where was prosecution letting defense know that such accusations without foundation could be grounds for a libel suit?
I get it that the entire investigation had been bungled - even though it didn't quite seem that way when watching it unfold. Mark's getting in to see Joe, to my uninformed US eyes, could simply have been UK procedures and allowances differing from US ones. Same thing with Ellie's ability to visit with Joe while in custody - although her attack on him was definitely a bungle. It could have been painted more sympathetically if Ellie had remembered that she flew off the handle when Joe, after expressing remorse for what he'd done to Danny, asked to see Tom. A mother's instinct to protect her child was behind her rage there - where was the prosecution pushing that interpretation?
I have decided I do not like the character of Beth Latimer. She's shallow, quick to judge and use cruelty in her interactions with others. Yes, she's grieving, hormone-challenged after the birth of her new baby, and betrayed by a cheating husband; but she behaves in a totally unhinged manner, striking out at anyone in reach. Jodie Whittaker is a darned good actress to make me dislike her otherwise sympathetic character so much.
If there was a sympathetic character, it was Paul Coates. He really buys into his religion, and was trying to get Joe to repent and deal straight-forward with his guilt. Priests are called upon to minister even to the least-deserving, and Paul truly tried. It was satisfying, however, to see Paul slowly realize that Joe was being anything but honest - either with himself or with anybody else - and trying to weasel his way out of paying for what he'd done. Paul walking away from Joe in the jail, and then being present at the very end when Joe was faced with the township's united censure and expulsion of him, felt right and good. I'm also glad he's free of Becca Fisher, who seems now to be more of a town floozy without any sense of common sense or decorum.
The Susan Wright accusing Nige Carter plot device was a bit lame, and her character line was kind of dropped prematurely. She crawls out of the woodwork to make her statement in court - and then is allowed to just crawl back into hiding? And what was that she said to Ellie at the end? Did she know what her husband was doing all along, and never said anything to protect her kids??
I think I was disappointed in Hardy's being exposed as having fumbled his decisions in his arrest and interrogation of Joe Miller. He should have called for back-up when taking him in, he should never have allowed Ellie into the interrogation room. I'm wondering how much of his bad judgment comes from being worn down and dying of heart issues, and how much is an over-all flaw in his character. At this point, I'm believing it to be the former. He certainly came to life and started functioning at a higher level once his heart issues were dealt with!!
I was prepared to hate Tess Hardy - and found I couldn't quite do it. Yes, she was having an affair - so was Mark Latimer - but there was more going on (or not) in that marriage than we knew. Alec tends to be a broody and grumpy bastard most of the time, emotionally crippled from what I suspect was a rotten and chaotic childhood. Perhaps they'd grown apart in the marriage; and had the Sandbrooke case not been involved in the discovery of the affair, they might have gone on to straighten things out between them. We'll never know now. Daisy was a typical teen, and it was a relief to see that she was once again in touch with her dad. Now that his heart issues are dealt with, that bodes well for father and daughter.
Tom Miller was behaving like a spoiled brat during most of the series, although I could almost sympathize with him being angry enough with Mark for dropping their times together to try to paint it in suspicious tones on the stand. I was SO proud of Ellie finally having a snoot-ful of her son and getting mad at him - and letting him know that she wouldn't put up with it anymore. What puzzles me is that Ellie's sister would have enabled such behavior in the first place, rather than take the kid home and let him know he's being a brat.
Finally, I loved the way the series tied things up:
(1) The "bad guys" from Sandbrooke had all their secrets exposed - and that case was a cluster-screw-up from the get-go!! No wonder Hardy ended up in a deep depression with heart issues as a result!! In the end there, though, I felt sorriest for Pippa's mum, the only one of the two couples who genuinely had nothing to do with what went down that night. Watching lie after lie come apart as the series went on was... well... tiring. I'm glad that case is over, finished, caput. Heaven help us if part of Series 3 deals with the trial for THAT!!
(2) Even though Joe was found not guilty by a majority of the jurors, he didn't get away with it. The people of Broadchurch dealt with him rather definitively at the very end. I was darned near cheering during that scene at the hut where Joe killed Danny - although Ellie's threat made me gasp. I am SO afraid I know some of what is going to go down in Series 3 - and like Alec at the end of Series 1, I really want to be wrong about it.
So that's Broadchurch Series 2. I understand Olivia Coleman - Ellie Miller - is pregnant in real life right now, so I assume they won't start filming Series 3 until after she has her baby. I guess now we wait until 2017, because it took 2 years from Series 1 to Series 2.
Let the fan fiction speculations begin!! I'm almost tempted to try my hand at one that picks up from where we leave off and explores what I think (and dread) happening.
Just what I need: another insistent plot-bunny nibbling at the back of my mind, just as I start to try to be serious about my O-fic Idago.
*sigh*
Until next time...
General consensus here at the Aeärwen house: Broadchurch is extremely well-written. It draws the viewer in and then keeps them guessing with twists, turns and red herrings galore. We are definitely looking forward to Series 3, which will be the end of the story.
The first comment I want to make may offend those of my f-list in the UK: I find I have a lot less consideration for British jurisprudence and processes now than I did before I started. I mean!! Allowing a verdict with less than 100% agreement among the jury?? In the US, the verdict at the end of this one would never have been presented. Instead, we would have had a "hung" jury, meaning either the prosecution decided to try the case all over again with a new jury (and both sides knowing all the nasty little bits of info that were going to come out this time) or the case would be summarily dismissed. Allowing allegations without corroboration?? Insinuating a beating took place prior to the recorded confession could have been easily debunked because, by the time the recorded confession took place, Joe's street clothing had been removed, and he'd been dressed in the jail overalls. The intake officer would surely have noted any signs of violence at that time. Where was the crown calling foul on having the confession tossed out without challenging the grounds on which it was tossed? Where was prosecution letting defense know that such accusations without foundation could be grounds for a libel suit?
I get it that the entire investigation had been bungled - even though it didn't quite seem that way when watching it unfold. Mark's getting in to see Joe, to my uninformed US eyes, could simply have been UK procedures and allowances differing from US ones. Same thing with Ellie's ability to visit with Joe while in custody - although her attack on him was definitely a bungle. It could have been painted more sympathetically if Ellie had remembered that she flew off the handle when Joe, after expressing remorse for what he'd done to Danny, asked to see Tom. A mother's instinct to protect her child was behind her rage there - where was the prosecution pushing that interpretation?
I have decided I do not like the character of Beth Latimer. She's shallow, quick to judge and use cruelty in her interactions with others. Yes, she's grieving, hormone-challenged after the birth of her new baby, and betrayed by a cheating husband; but she behaves in a totally unhinged manner, striking out at anyone in reach. Jodie Whittaker is a darned good actress to make me dislike her otherwise sympathetic character so much.
If there was a sympathetic character, it was Paul Coates. He really buys into his religion, and was trying to get Joe to repent and deal straight-forward with his guilt. Priests are called upon to minister even to the least-deserving, and Paul truly tried. It was satisfying, however, to see Paul slowly realize that Joe was being anything but honest - either with himself or with anybody else - and trying to weasel his way out of paying for what he'd done. Paul walking away from Joe in the jail, and then being present at the very end when Joe was faced with the township's united censure and expulsion of him, felt right and good. I'm also glad he's free of Becca Fisher, who seems now to be more of a town floozy without any sense of common sense or decorum.
The Susan Wright accusing Nige Carter plot device was a bit lame, and her character line was kind of dropped prematurely. She crawls out of the woodwork to make her statement in court - and then is allowed to just crawl back into hiding? And what was that she said to Ellie at the end? Did she know what her husband was doing all along, and never said anything to protect her kids??
I think I was disappointed in Hardy's being exposed as having fumbled his decisions in his arrest and interrogation of Joe Miller. He should have called for back-up when taking him in, he should never have allowed Ellie into the interrogation room. I'm wondering how much of his bad judgment comes from being worn down and dying of heart issues, and how much is an over-all flaw in his character. At this point, I'm believing it to be the former. He certainly came to life and started functioning at a higher level once his heart issues were dealt with!!
I was prepared to hate Tess Hardy - and found I couldn't quite do it. Yes, she was having an affair - so was Mark Latimer - but there was more going on (or not) in that marriage than we knew. Alec tends to be a broody and grumpy bastard most of the time, emotionally crippled from what I suspect was a rotten and chaotic childhood. Perhaps they'd grown apart in the marriage; and had the Sandbrooke case not been involved in the discovery of the affair, they might have gone on to straighten things out between them. We'll never know now. Daisy was a typical teen, and it was a relief to see that she was once again in touch with her dad. Now that his heart issues are dealt with, that bodes well for father and daughter.
Tom Miller was behaving like a spoiled brat during most of the series, although I could almost sympathize with him being angry enough with Mark for dropping their times together to try to paint it in suspicious tones on the stand. I was SO proud of Ellie finally having a snoot-ful of her son and getting mad at him - and letting him know that she wouldn't put up with it anymore. What puzzles me is that Ellie's sister would have enabled such behavior in the first place, rather than take the kid home and let him know he's being a brat.
Finally, I loved the way the series tied things up:
(1) The "bad guys" from Sandbrooke had all their secrets exposed - and that case was a cluster-screw-up from the get-go!! No wonder Hardy ended up in a deep depression with heart issues as a result!! In the end there, though, I felt sorriest for Pippa's mum, the only one of the two couples who genuinely had nothing to do with what went down that night. Watching lie after lie come apart as the series went on was... well... tiring. I'm glad that case is over, finished, caput. Heaven help us if part of Series 3 deals with the trial for THAT!!
(2) Even though Joe was found not guilty by a majority of the jurors, he didn't get away with it. The people of Broadchurch dealt with him rather definitively at the very end. I was darned near cheering during that scene at the hut where Joe killed Danny - although Ellie's threat made me gasp. I am SO afraid I know some of what is going to go down in Series 3 - and like Alec at the end of Series 1, I really want to be wrong about it.
So that's Broadchurch Series 2. I understand Olivia Coleman - Ellie Miller - is pregnant in real life right now, so I assume they won't start filming Series 3 until after she has her baby. I guess now we wait until 2017, because it took 2 years from Series 1 to Series 2.
Let the fan fiction speculations begin!! I'm almost tempted to try my hand at one that picks up from where we leave off and explores what I think (and dread) happening.
Just what I need: another insistent plot-bunny nibbling at the back of my mind, just as I start to try to be serious about my O-fic Idago.
*sigh*
Until next time...
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