‘Broadchurch’ goes beyond typical cop show
setting and the focus on the unlikely crime-solving duo, but also by the presence of other characters, including Danny’s parents, Beth and Mark ( Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan), and the local vicar, Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill), among others.
The third and final season focuses on the rape of a middleaged woman named Trish Winterman ( Julie Hesmondhalgh) who was attending the 50th birthday of her best friend, Cath Atwood (Sarah Parish), when she was attacked.
Trish’s husband, Ian (Charles Higson), recently left her, although they were both invited to Cath’s party, held at a former manor house a few miles out of town. Trish was determined to have a good time at the party, but was knocked unconscious when she went outside for a cigarette. She was dragged to a spot near a waterfall, had a sock stuffed in her mouth and was raped by someone she cannot remember.
With more than 75 men at the party, Miller and Hardy have their work cut out for them, but the first challenge is getting Trish to talk about the incident. She feels shame, as if it’s her fault. She locks herself away in her house and all but refuses to open the door to anyone, save her daughter. To complicate the investigation, it turns out she had had consensual sex with someone she calls “a stranger” the morning of the party.
There is no end to possible suspects, from Ian Winterman, to Cath’s husband, Jim (Mark Bazeley), to Trish’s boss, Ed Burnett (Lenny Henry), to the local taxi driver Clive Lucas (Sebastian Armesto).
Chibnall overstuffs the script with coincidence to suggest the possibility that any one of these men, and others, could be Trish’s attacker. In the case of one suspect, Miller and Hardy become conveniently blind to the obvious reason the man couldn’t possibly be the culprit; it takes them a long time — too long — to figure out what we’ve known for two episodes.
Another misstep: One of the younger cops has a personal link to one of the suspects, which is only revealed when it comes in handy for Chibnall to further muddy the waters. It’s the kind of coincidence you’d expect to find in 19th century British novels.
Fortunately, there are enough more legitimate hooks to keep our interest in the eight episodes — the elements that hooked us from the beginning of the series, beginning with the characters. The performances are extraordinary, especially those of Colman, Tennant, Whittaker and Buchan, as they have always been since the first season, and the amazing Hesmondhalgh as the woman who struggles but finds the strength after the attack to stop being a victim in her own life.
Chibnall may stumble a bit in plotting, but not on characterization. This is not just the story of one crime, but the story of a village of human beings dealing with all sorts of personal issues. Ellie discovers her son and his friends are watching porn on their cell phones and puts her foot down. But the intensity of her involvement in work means that she’s not always there to be the mom she wants to be. And it’s difficult for her to learn her son is watching porn while she’s working to find the man who violated Trish Winterman.
Mark and Beth are growing further and further apart in the wake of Danny’s murder. Beth works as a rape counselor and is trying to help Trish. She still feels the pain of her son’s loss, but either she truly is living in the present, as she puts it, or she’s willing herself not to dwell on the past, but the point is, she’s functioning. Mark is not. He’s obsessed with his son’s death and the fact that the killer, Ellie’s ex-husband, was acquitted. He also tortures himself with the belief that he could have prevented Danny’s death.
Even with its flaws, the third season of “Broadchurch” does what the final season of any great show should do: It wraps some things up, but with enough slightly open doors to dangle the hope that Chibnall and his superior cast could return to “Broadchurch” sometime in the future.
It would be welcome.