- TV Review: Doctor Who – Oxygen - 13 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – Knock Knock - 6 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – The Pilot - 17 April, 2017
We’re hurtling towards the finish line as the penultimate episode of Broadchurch teased viewers with perhaps the cruelest cliffhanger they could possibly pose.
But we’ll get to that in a moment.
Episode 7 opens with Claire lying in bed, and Alec lying beside her. I know that this was later ‘revealed’ (I use ‘revealed’ loosely here, because I don’t believe it is as straightforward as we are led to believe) to be when Claire was having an abortion – but why the hell would a police officer escort a witness to have an abortion?! Well, it’s because the baby she was aborting is Alec’s. Yes, I am still an advocate for this theory, and next week will either prove me right (smugly) or wrong (shamelessly).
Even Lee has his suspicions, and during a particularly powerful scene in which he brutally attacks Claire, he asks whether the baby was his. Claire takes a moment to reply, and even then she doesn’t categorically confirm this. James D’Arcy and Eve Myles are simply stunning together, and it’ll be a shame if and when their story comes to an end next week. Their chemistry is almost enough to rival that of David and Olivia.
This week Alec has a plan. He feels revived after his recent surgery (which he recovered from instantly, I have to say…) and decides to put the willies up Claire and Lee by telling them that the Sandbrook case is being officially reopened (it isn’t). But this leads to a heart-to-heart (of sorts) between Claire and Lee in which Claire callously tells Lee that he wouldn’t make a good father. I thought that Lee would kill her then and there. The look on his face was brutal.
Also, after another visit to Ricky Gillespie, Alec and Ellie phone the number they got off of Claire’s mobile a few weeks back and discover it’s the number of Ricky’s business, thus sowing the seeds of discord even deeper. I don’t know what the connection between Ricky and Claire is, but I do know that Ricky isn’t the killer. No, Alec is, categorically. And Claire, after growing increasingly deranged, reveals that she still has the pendant and gives it to Alec. Alec must be getting hot under the collar because he knows that his involvement in the murders is about to come unravelled…
And finally, Lee mentions that he’ll return to France because he has somebody waiting there for him. Is this Lisa? Or is this too obvious? Chris Chibnall doesn’t include lines like this without reason, so I suppose it’ll have more significance in the final episode.
Onto the Broadchurch case now. Thankfully, the court scenes are finally coming to an end – they have been dragged out massively, I feel, despite making some brilliantly tense scenes. We were treated to several more standoffs between Jocelyn and Sharon, but my personal favourite moment of the entire series came when Ben told Abby that she wasn’t a nice person. Boom! Sit the hell down Abby, you have been owned.
I feel that if there is a third series of Broadchurch there needs to be less focus on the Lattimers. Because even though the court scenes have largely been entertaining, they have felt overused. And truthfully now that we know who killed Danny (regardless of whether Joe gets off or not) Beth and Mark just aren’t as interesting anymore.
Despite some fans being ‘outraged’, it was genuinely heartwarming to see Jocelyn’s admission of love to Maggie. I predicted a few weeks back that Jocelyn was a lesbian, but I wrongly thought the object of her affection was Sharon. Now this strand may have been a bit out there and not wholly relevant to the story, but it was nice anyway. I just hope that Maggie reciprocates this love – there aren’t enough older same-sex couples on television in my opinion.
All of this – the Sandbrook threads, the discontent between the townspeople – ultimately leads to Joe’s fate being announced. But Chris isn’t that nice – we’ll have to wait until the final episode to find out what happens. The tease!
What do you think will be the outcome? I personally think he’ll get off, and in series 3 he’ll go after another kid (maybe his own, Tom?), thus showing that Alec and Ellie were adept all along, but ultimately who knows? Let Vada know in the comments what your theories are.
