'Broadchurch' Recap: 'Series 3 - Episode 2'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Showing us the aftermath of trauma and loss is one of the true staples of Broadchurch and it is definitely one of the show's strengths for certain. After all, we've spent the past two years seeing exactly what the void of a family member does to people since we've suffered alongside the Latimer family as they mourned the loss of their son Danny and it's been quite the brutal experience to say the least.  But for the final season of the show, Chris Chibnall decided it was high time to evolve that concept and take us right into the middle of what life is like when someone survives a violent crime. 

Because this go round, Trish Winterman has to wake up every single morning with what happened on her mind and quite frankly, this is a brilliant stroke of storytelling because we rarely think about what comes next in matters such as this. We see the reports on the news, read the stories about violent crimes on the internet, but we rarely think about what those folks have to go through after it has happened to them, and how hard it is for them to pick up the pieces and once again, the show held nothing back when it came to this. Trish is merely going through the motions at this point, trying to find a sense of normalcy and she's not having much luck. If anything, something as simple as meeting Beth is proving to be quite the task for her and while it's nice to know Beth and her organization have her back...it's clear how difficult this is on Trish and you truly feel for her every single second she's on screen.

Yet, what was equally as surprising was the fact that the show found a way to integrate this whole theme of struggling with survival following violent crime, by way of Mark Latimer's plight as well. Because despite the fact that the trial is behind him and his family, he still cannot make peace with what happened and he says it himself, there is a powerful anger building inside of him. He wants justice for his boy, he wants Joe to properly pay for what he's done and he's even feeling regret for not taking the opportunity to end Joe's life to make things square, at least in his mind. If anything, this is another genius twist when it comes to the story since its clear Danny's death is haunting Mark in ways we never imagined and it's clear now that trauma and his inability/outright rejection to deal with it all is breaking him down minute by minute.  

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But despite spending some quality time analyzing what life is like for those that have survived traumatic and violent moments in their lives, the show did start moving the case forward since Hardy and Miller dug deep into the details of Trish's assault and what they turned up, was incredibly fascinating. For starters, it seems as though there are plenty of suspicious characters that come into play when it comes to that fateful night, but two stood out last night in grave fashion...the cab driver named Clive and Trish's husband, Ian. Because both of these men seemed awfully uncomfortable when it comes to their respective relationships with Trish and both of them refused to provide Miller and Hardy with a DNA sample, which lets be honest...seems odd to say the least.  

If anything, I throughly enjoyed everything this particular episode tossed our way, since it delivered an engrossing and emotional drama with a quality 'who done it' feel, but nothing quite compares to the twists it delivered at the end of the episode. Because Trish's official interview with Hardy and Miller takes a complete left turn when it's revealed that Trish was intimate with someone earlier on the day she was assaulted, a matter that could most certainly be relevant to the case, along with glimpses of Ian doing his best to wash and scrub clothes he was most likely wearing that night and of course, there was the interesting revelation that Detective Constable Katie Harford, the proverbial pain in Miller's side, is the daughter of Trish's boss and it would seem she's ready to share some information with him that could get her into some hot water if Hardy and Miller find out...

Now, if you feel like this episode threw a lot at us, you'd be 100% right. This was in many ways a buffet of ideas and concepts and storylines all coming to life in rapid fire fashion and while one would or could normally consider a cornucopia of ideas such as this to be a wasted opportunity or a poor episode, how it was handled here is what makes this episode so fascinating and wonderful. Everything that surprised us was cleverly crafted and revealed at just the right time and the emotional moments once again put our feels through the wringer. So if anything, these first two episodes have been quite the grand setup to this powerful and painful mystery and now that the facts are starting to come forth, I'm expecting that the pieces will start to come together and more uncomfortable secrets for some are about to be revealed. Until next time. 

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