2x07 Episode 7

[7.3/10] Ah piss off, show. I know that television has to build drama, especially as you nudge toward the endgame. But having a dramatic reveal about Claire’s involvement in the Sandbrook murders, to the point that she gets dragged into the courtroom so Hardy doesn’t lose sight of her, and cutting away right before the jury’s about to read its verdict, feels so damn cheesy. Artistic license and all that jazz, but it makes it hard to take things seriously when Broadchurch jams them together for maximum television melodrama.

I also love and hate Hardy in this one. I really enjoy most of his speech to Lee, because it’s the most character development he’s had on the show. He’s emotionally honest about his sense that the Sandbrook case would kill him. Facing down his demons, accepting that he needs to address his health and doesn’t deserve to die, gives him a new lease on life. Now, he can finally throw himself into the case with new vigor and conviction. He seems legitimately changed by the experience, and with good reason.

But then he tells an abusive husband that his wife had an abortion without telling him about it, and frankly, it seems monstrous. I know Hardy’s convinced that Claire was involved in the murder, and he wants to put her feet ot the fire. But siccing her violent spouse on her is unconscionable. The scenes where Lee drags Claire into the ocean and nearly drowns her are hard to watch, and the whole time all I could think is that Hardy was partly responsible for it. Hell of way to build your character up and then demonstrate that he’s still an asshole in the span of a single scene.

Oh, and by the way, I officially don’t care about Sandbrook. Maybe they’ll find a brilliant answer to the whodunnit that makes me retroactively appreciate what they’ve set up through the first seven episodes. But honestly, it all seems so random and cartoonishly sordid that I can’t muster any investment in it. For the record, my top guesses are 1. Lee conspiring with Lisa to do it and living with her in France and 2. Ricky doing it on his own, maybe blackmailing Lee. But I still feel like we barely know any of the potential culprits as real characters, and instead they all feel like cardboard caricatures in twisty pulp.

But the courtroom stuff isn’t bad this week! The way Phoebe Waller-Bridge got the info is shite, but Sharon’s right to bring up Ellie paying her sister for her info as something that casts doubt on Lucy’s testimony and represents another questionable element of the policework that went into this case. I’ll say this much for season 2. There were things that struck me as cheesy in the show’s first season, which I wrote off as concessions to the needs of T.V. drama.

But this season is bringing up those ethically-questionable (or at least unprofessional) choices from the detectives as hurdles for a jury believing that the investigation was fair and that the police got their man. It’s frustrating, because the audience knows Joe did it. And much of it’s B.S., because Sharon takes legitimate misconduct and spins into asinine conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, it’s fair to bring those details up as key moments which might jeopardize a conviction. I like Broadchurch showing that it’s not enough to just find the killer. You have to do things according to procedure so you can actually convict him.

The closing arguments are strong. Jocelyn points to the “wall of evidence” and key facts that indicate Joe’s guilt. Sharon spends time on a cockamaie alternate theory based on thin evidence that Jocelyn should have objected to and the court shouldn’t have allowed due to lack of foundation. But she does seize on the notion that you don’t have to believe that Mark did it, and you don’t have to be sure that Joe didn’t. You just have to have sufficient doubt, based on police misconduct and potential alternatives, to where you can’t convict. She’s still a monster (see also: the way she laughs off her co-counsel sleeping with a witness’s son to pilfer evidence), but she makes a good point about doubt in her closing statement.

(For the record, my bet is that the jury finds Joe guilty, if only because the foreperson affirmed that the jury had a majority, and I feel like it’d be easier to get ten to convict than ten to acquit. But I’d put that guess at about 60% confidence, so take it for what it’s worth.)

I also found myself unexpectedly touched by Jocelyn away from the courtroom. Her scene with Maggie is really sweet. And while the bit with her mother dying still feels like an undermotivated throw-in to provide an excuse for the actress to go big in terms of emoting (see also: Sharon’s “fuck the justice system” speech), Jocelyn’s relatitonship with Maggie feels much more lived-in and heartening.

Were that I could say the same for Mark and Beth. I’ll be honest. I really don’t care if they stay together or not. They should probably be separated, if only because they weren’t great before Danny’s death, and there’s never been a sign that they’ve truly been on the same page since. I like the scene of Beth and Ellie commiserating over everything, grappling with notions of being truly alone versus being with someone who seems incapable of being a better man. But it feels like the show wants the Latimers’ marriage to ride on this verdict somehow, and I’m just not with them on it.

Otherwise, the only thing left to do now is wait for the show to deliver on its verdict and the answer to its whodunnit. I hope it’s worth the wait on both fronts, even if I wish the show would cool its jets on the high drama, cheap serial nonsense.