Review: Broadchurch S:2 EP:3

The opening to this week’s Broadchurch was nothing less than gripping. With the episode picking up where DI Hardy and his dysfunctional best friend Ellie Miller left off. Within five minutes, one baby was born, two people had gone missing and there had been a flashback to the unravelling case of the Sandbrook murder.

It turns out that Hardy’s plan to bug the house in secret failed as this series’ villain, Lee Ashworth, had found the cameras and turned them off before escaping with his wife. There is no need to panic too much, though, as they were found safe and sound. Although Ashworth takes it upon himself to hold Hardy to the floor with his foot, he later makes a complaint to the police about him. In perhaps the most humorous scene of the episode, Hardy is forced to apologise to Ashworth and it appears to take everything inside of him to do so.

Ellie and her new ‘best friend’ decide to go clubbing together as Miller and Hardy are in cahoots in regards to finding out if she has been contacting Ashworth or not. Miller uses some of her detective skills to retrieve Ashworth’s mobile number and to snoop on the recent activity on her phone. And, just like that, Miller puts the phone away as though nothing ever happened – a job well done… for now. It seems Miller wants to let her hair down after this, though, as she ends up having sex with a man from the club after being peer-pressured by that so-called ‘best friend’ of hers. Poor Ellie, she just wants to be loved.

Aside from DI Hardy’s pride and Miller’s lack of it, the episode focuses heavily on the continuing trial of the murder of Danny Latimer. It is in episode three where things really begin to get to the nitty gritty. Ellie Miller, as the wife of the defendant and a police officer working on the case, is called to give evidence about the murder. Chris Chibnall, the man behind this twisted saga, then creates an awkward and nail-biting vibe in the courtroom as he proceeds to manipulate Miller’s actions after her husband was arrested. DS Miller, as we all know, went to DI Hardy’s hotel after the arrest to talk about things and to get her head around the horrific mess that suddenly became her life. We know this. But, it appears Joe Miller’s barrister thinks otherwise – claiming that Miller and Hardy had been having an affair. This creates both tension and humor as we all know this is an unlikely story.

The sub-plot of the Sandbrook case still worms and weaves in between Broadchurch’s trauma as Lee Ashworth pays Hardy another visit late at night in his chalet to give him evidence on the case he feels he was wrongly accused of being the perpetrator of. Of course, DI Hardy falls for nothing and still challenges Ashworth much to Ashworth’s great discomfort as he leaves with extreme sheepishness in his body language. Fishy to say the least.

However, no matter what was and wasn’t given away in last night’s episode, the mystery around Danny Latimer’s murder still remains. We, as an audience who are hook, line and sinker for Broadchurch, are beginning to question if Joe really did kill Danny. But if not him, who?

Broadchurch returns next Monday at 9pm on ITV.