Countdown to Thirteen: Broadchurch: Series 2, Episode 2 (2015)

I was a little underwhelmed by episode 2.  While the stuff on the Sandbrook side of the plot is all right, the trial stuff is more all over the place.  And since the trial is the storyline I was more intrigued by in the season premiere, that’s disappointing.

Hardy becomes increasingly bent on finally solving the Sandbrook case, and he enlists the help of Ellie and Claire (the woman he knows from Sandbrook) in a tricky gamble.  As the trial gets underway, the first witnesses are called in to testify for the prosecution, and the defense doesn’t hold back in cross-examination.

As I said, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the start of the trial.  I’m still trying to get a read on Jocelyn – obviously, a big part of that is her backstory, which is being intentionally kept secret, but her general characterization also seems like it’s still getting settled.  Furthermore, I don’t know what Sharon is about.  As the killer’s defense attorney, she’s of course aiming to cast doubt on the prosecution’s evidence, but the way she goes about it in this episode seems at least as much about stirring up soap-opera drama as it is about defending her client.

The Sandbrook stuff is better.  It’s interesting to see how the working dynamics between Hardy and Ellie have changed since they were investigating Danny’s murder.  And given Hardy’s “this time it’s personal” attitude toward the case, that puts Ellie in a position of having to be the more clear-eyed one, urging him to be reasonable and less myopic.  Additionally, there are some neat interactions between Ellie and Claire.

And what’s Beth up to?  Still continuing her journey from last season to figure out how to “be” now without Danny, and while she’s made halting progress on that front, the trial is throwing her for a serious loop.  She’s one of the witnesses questioned in this episode, and it’s rough.  Whittaker does a fine job capturing Beth’s bewilderment, disgust, and churned-up grief at the questions she’s being asked that, in her mind, are only picking at old wounds and distracting from the fact of who killed her son.