Ellie is finally able to speak to her son Tom, but he refuses to go back to the house with her. We don’t know wholly if that is the house of memories or the blame he has for his mother. He’s a grieving, angry kid – rational behaviour is not really expected. And bravo Broadchurch for keeping the family ties and emotions at the surface. Poor Ellie, though (she says she loves her boy more than chocolate). Her whole world is in fragments and drifting away from her. To make matters worse, Tom wants to give evidence for the defense team for his dad. I mean, these bombshells are just dropping from the sky.
At one point DI Hardy tells Ellie not to get pulled into the Sandbrook case, which seems rather odd as he has been dragging her through the echoes of it for some time now. Their investigation and subsequent evidence leads them both to an agricultural warehouse and a giant furnace. Not Lisa, Pippa’s babysitter, surely? We hope not… that is very grim.
Also carrying on from last time, Beth wants to do some work for charity, primarily children. She gets a call from Rev. Paul Coates informing her about a meeting for reformed sex offenders of all social groups. I felt like I had missed a scene, as in the previous episode Beth had not shone to this idea (why the hell would she?), saying she is just not that forgiving. When she shows up at the meeting held at the church she even mutters “Why am I doing this again?” Good question.
While the narrative strands are spiraling all over the place, what remains brilliantly consistent is the photography. In particular long or medium shots seemingly scaling the characters down to size – miniaturizing them and paralleling their downfalls and emotional state of mind. What dawned on me, or at least what has dawned on me this whole second season, is that there are a lot of shots of Lee looking on from afar. Behind a tree, by a fence, in a field. Remember last week when he knocked on Claire’s door and when she answered he was like fifty yards away? Watching. He is portrayed as a real creepy fellow but sure is brisk on his feet.
Anything else? Hardy talks to Pippa’s dad Ricky again, and we see more flashbacks of Lisa laughing, running through a field. Knowing where Lee is, Ricky later rushes over to give him a beating. I am not sure if these violent outbursts are pulling us closer to what really happened to the girls or further away. Also, Nigel Carter (who works with Mark Latimer) is called to the stand and later is left a photo of him and his mum, Susan, when he was a boy.
Sharon, for the defense but out of court, is feeling helpless when she visits her locked-up son when he has taken a beating. Her anger bounces straight back at Jocelyn, who it turns out had been asked by Sharon to defend the boy. But she turned it down, that Sharon would blame her, that she always blamed someone else. These two really do have a highly-strung background relationship. The stakes now are bigger, as if they were not before. And not just about the trial, this is personal warfare. In fact, both actresses Baptiste and Rampling appear to be chewing up a hell of a lot of scenery here. We hope, as downbeat they are, these subplots continue outside of the justice system as they really add to the drama of Broadchurch.