24 Frames of Dreaming

"It never ends well, does it?" "What does?" "Love."

At least in Broadchurch, it seems.

The penultimate episode was equal parts nail-biting and infuriating, as we finally discovered the mysteries behind Claire and her relationship with Lee, but the secrets of Sandbrook remained well hidden for the finale. There wasn't much subtlety this week, with drama raging on all fronts - and the episode dealt with some heavy themes - abortion, partner violence, attempted suicide - that hadn't been approached before now. It felt like we didn't get much closer to solving Sandbrook even here, at episode 7 - but undoubtedly the clues have all been laid, and when we find out who did it and how they did it, we'll be kicking ourselves for not guessing it sooner.

"Doon't let the cuddly sweater fool yeh, Millah - not all the tea in the warld can quench mah thirst for justice"

Alec Hardy is a new man - post-surgery and on fire again to solve Sandbrook, he's almost unrecognisable - and this week he's taking bold steps to expose the truth, risking Claire's personal safety to bring out the secrets between her and Lee. The Latimers' marriage is still on the rocks but could perhaps still be saved. In a few scenes of keen poignancy, Jocelyn finally confesses the love of her life, Maggie, with the truth - maybe that conversation with Alec was just the nudge she needed. Tom and Ellie are on good terms again - the same can't be said of Claire and Lee, whose brutally dysfunctional relationship finally reaches breaking point. We see again how mixed many people's motives are, and a theme surfaces that reared its head at the end of Season 1 - of the relative futility of knowing the truth in light of the colossal damage to people's lives. Knowing who did it doesn't change the fallout.

I was grateful to see that Tess took a back seat this episode, allowing Alec and Ellie to do what they do best - although Tess finally takes the key step of re-opening Sandbrook for official investigation. Claire confirmed what we've suspected for a while: that the pendant belonged to Claire and that Alec's 'smoking gun' is a big mistake. I think this episode has established fairly certainly that Claire didn't kill anyone. But Alec's 'setting a fire under' Claire could have easily got her killed by Lee, who is just as violent as we've feared he might be.

"It's really pretty and the location is fantastic, but I'm going to need somewhere with plumbing."

After seven episodes of mystery, we learn Claire's secret - and it's much more sympathetic than anyone could have guessed. She's still a suspect - she still used Alec, broke into the car and withheld vital evidence - but I felt so badly for Claire this episode. She's clearly the victim of circumstances in several ways, has allowed herself to become hostage to an abusive partner, and would have gone through a traumatic abortion completely alone if it wasn't for Alec. Yes, she's clearly complicit in the murders, but she's also completely lost and alone, and I felt sympathetic toward her for the first time all season. It was a huge relief to see Lee and Claire's toxic spiral finally broken. And in a lovely touch, Rev Paul finally found something worthwhile and authentic in his conversation with her. Is the moral of Claire's story that secrets make us look more guilty than we really are? Could this be true of Lee and the Gillespies as well?

Surprisingly, a new character appears at this late juncture: Gary Thorpe, ex-boyfriend and stalker of Lisa Newbury. No way we could have seen that coming. Is he involved somehow in the murder(s)? Also - is that ubiquitous bluebell picture some kind of secret membership badge for the Gillespie-Ashworth Swingers Club? Seriously, though - it's been annoying me for about four episodes now.

"This new Alec Hardy's even meaner than the old one!"

It's fantastic to see Alec - for the very first time - actually optimistic and full of energy. He doesn't look like a breeze would blow him away, and he's actually smiling! David Tennant got his first decent speeches for the last few episodes and I really enjoyed them - even if there's something slightly unsettling about Alec's ferocious determination to wrestle the truth out of the Sandbrook suspects. I have the sinking suspicion that the truth isn't going to satisfy him - or us.

As an aside, I always find it amusing how Alec's Scottishness increases exponentially when he gets angry or excited, until it practically drips off him. I've seen a lot of David Tennant's Scottish roles and yet Alec's accent is so thick I have trouble understanding him. If there's a Season 3 we might need subtitles for him.

I'd assumed by now that Alec and Claire had an affair. I was wrong - Alec was involved with Claire but not in the way we think. Have we got to the bottom of it yet? I enjoy the concept of Alec as an unreliable narrator. Technically, he's not the narrator per se - Ellie, if anyone, is the protagonist - but whenever the camera takes a person's point of view, it's Alec's. So we see significant parts of the story through his eyes, but there's still a lot that he hides from us. Have we got to the bottom of it yet or is there another bomb waiting to drop in the finale?

Now this fascinates me: Alec's still pretty convinced, despite his previous doubts, that Lee is guilty of at least one murder. His conversation with Lee was pretty unequivocal: "I look at you and I see someone stained by death. I think it haunts you every single day." The question is, why is Alec still so sure? He's acting on instinct, and in Season 1 his instincts were almost always right. But this time his involvement with Claire complicates the picture, and I'm nowhere near as certain as he is.

One advantage of not being the protagonist is that you can get away with smoking onscreen

The high tension in the courtroom this week was pretty much what you'd expect - but the very real possibility of Joe being acquitted was enough to keep me biting my nails. We finally discover what Ellie's sister Lucy has to hide, and sure enough it's to do with the money Ellie gave her in exchange for evidence. Ellie herself has a surprise turn in the witness box and takes a real beating from the villainous Sharon. I admire the way the loose ends of Season 1 have been gathered up one by one and steadily woven into the plot - it's really very clever. Not so subtle is the evil Sharon, who's pointedly shown smoking while staring ominously at the horizon, as if we have any doubt at this juncture whether she's the baddie of the piece. However, she's not the only person causing damage - there's a subtle parallel between Jocelyn and Alec, which has come up a few times before in different situations: their single-minded pursuit of justice is not without fallout, and it inevitably creates ripples of unintended damage both for their own personal lives and for the lives of others.

On a more cheerful note, Jocelyn and Maggie get together - during an exquisite clifftop picnic that could only happen in Broadchurch (mind you, I thought they knew to stay away from clifftops by now?). This episode did well with contriving picturesque places for the characters to meet - apparently the residents of Broadchurch are incapable of meeting anywhere that doesn't look like a postcard.

She's a treasure, isn't she?

Here's a few of my theories and questions:

Lisa's alive in France, according to Lee's hint. Did she run away to get away from her father? From her stalker boyfriend The likelihood of an affair between Lee and Lisa - or at least some sort of cooperation - is looking more certain.
The only person pointedly missing from this episode was Cate. Huh.
Why would Ricky deny knowing Gary Thorpe? Because Gary is connected to Lisa and Ricky holds some guilt concerning Lisa?
Judging by the photo Ellie was looking at in Alec's house, it seems that Pippa got on well with Lee and Claire - which strengthens my suspicion that Claire herself didn't kill anyone. But what has Lee done that she's hiding?
There was a lot of mentions of death this episode. Is someone going to die in the finale? Honestly, I don't really care too much, as long as it's not anyone from the Former Detectives' Club.
Alec and Ellie have been doing so many things off the books/records - most significantly, Alec protecting Claire, and all the investigation they've been doing while the case has been closed - isn't that seriously going to impact the admissability of the evidence they've collected during that time?
Alec was wearing Claire's heart pendant around his own neck in his dream. I don't have to spell out the symbolism there. Does this mean there's more he hasn't revealed about his involvement with Claire, or have we got to the bottom of it already?
Now that Claire is finally done protecting Lee, what other evidence is she sitting on?

Overall, I enjoyed this episode very much, and the only drawback for me was the suspense - which is really why I watch it in the first place, so I can't really complain. As I mentioned before, this episode prioritised drama and tension over other elements, and subtlety wasn't really its strong point. The brutal scene of physical violence between Lee and Claire was quite shocking for a show where most of the violence happens off-screen. The worst part, of course, was the obnoxious but inevitable cliff-hanger, which, I admit, called forth a wee little scream of anger from yours truly. Did it feel cheap? Yeah, a bit. Was it inevitable? Probably.

The moment that had everyone throwing the nearest thing at the TV screen

There seems like an awful lot still to resolve in the final episode. Is Lisa still alive? What is the nature of Lee, Claire, Ricky, and Cate's guilt? And, of course (though this won't take long), is Joe going to get off? I really, really don't know what to think. There is still so far to go with Sandbrook (or it seems that way), and although I'm pretty sure the finale will answer all our questions, I think there's a small chance we might be in for an end-of-season cliffhanger and the dreaded "Find out what happens in Season 3, which will be...err...two years from now...sorry!". And let me say, I'd be totally down for another season. A cliffhanger, not so much.

So we're a few days away from the final reveal and I haven't figured it all out. If I had to put my money on someone for at least primary culpability it would be Cate, but the reality is I don't have a clue. I've been fixating on solving it for weeks now, but the reality is it's also kind of nice not to know - it's also fun just to sit back and see the story unfold. And since such high-quality TV comes around so rarely, it's all the more important to enjoy the ride. A superbly-crafted, sublimely cast drama like Broadchurch doesn't come around often, and we're extremely lucky to be enjoying a second season of it. So I'm going to do my best to enjoy these last few days of nagging suspense, because it's all going to be over too soon.

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping."

---
images source