Broadchurch (2013)

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   Siskoid

   Season 1: The gritty hit series from ITV and Chris Chibnall about a child murder in a small town. David Tennant and (especially) Olivia Coleman are highly effective as the police detectives in charge of the case, but the entire cast is good. As can often happen when a case takes as many as 8 episodes to unfold, there's a risk of the destination not being half as interesting as the journey, and that happens here. I don't really buy the solution. But that doesn't invalidate the acting, dialog, realpolitik, and setting (Broadchurch is one of the geographically clearest places in fiction). It's a complete and textured mystery, a bit dour but not without humor, and though it's a complete arc, there's a second season (not to mention a needless American version called Gracepoint set in California, but also starring David Tennant).
   
   Season 2: I'd thought the first season was an involving, well-acted and shot drama, but that the solution to the mystery let it down - it was a complete left-turn cheat. And I wondered if, somehow, ridiculously, something horrendous would happen every season in the small seaside town of Broadchurch to keep the show alive. Thankfully, that doesn't happen. Rather, we get to deal with an ugly trial, as the town's people would, and D.I. Hardy (David Tennant) reopens the investigation on the case that ruined his career, which led him to Broadchurch in the first place. So at the risk of feeling like an extended Law & Order episode, it's still the same continuing story. And while less lurid, leads to a more satisfying pair of endings.
   
   Broadchurch Season 3, while it does still feature some of the regulars from Seasons 1 and 2 exploring their grief in various ways, 3 years on, presents a different, but equally heinous, crime for Alec and Ellie to solve. This time, the small sea-side community is rocked by the news that what is essentially the lady who lives down the street has been brutally raped. It's a complicated case with many suspects, etc., but also a fine procedural, sensitively presented, showing just what victims go through, both with the police, and in their communities afterwards. Suspicion and paranoia, especially when sexual images are found (and they are very common in the world today), is rampant. And Olivier Colman, as usual, broke my heart with her performance. I was on the verge of tears almost every episode, sometimes not quite knowing why. And while I thought Broadchurch's first series ended on a cheat (and Series 2 was basically the immediate sequel), Series 3's solution can partly be deduced by the audience, and feels earned. So where other shows are often dwindling by their last season, I think this third season of Broadchurch is its best. 6 years 8 months ago

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