Broadchurch finale. Roll up, Roll up.

[fruitstick]

Eyes down for a full house on Monday.

Hopefully we can combine both threads.

In advance, why don't we each post ONE theory, then we can all gloat afterwards about how clever we are

I agree about him going to meet Joe made no sense. And if he didn't want to see him anymore-why not just avoid?

Because he was 11 and abusers/potential abusers/groomers work up to things slowly. Danny trusted Joe, he was someone to talk to and probably enjoyed spending time with him. Joe gave him a phone and £500, which is great currency for a lonely 11-year-old .

I think Tom may have had an inkling what was going on with Danny and his dad. When OC told Tom in the hotel that his dad had killed Danny then asked Tom why he'd sent the threatening emails to Danny, Tom said it was because Danny had said he had a "new friend" and Tom was very quick to say to OC, "That was Dad, wasn't it?". I think he knew, but wouldn't have wanted to process it IYSWIM

I think it was done so well. It's unusual for tv to show that kind of profile of child sex abuse, and it might help break the stereotype that some people still carry in their heads that an abuser is a strange/creepy man and can be "spotted".

Which is a very problematic myth as children are still not believed when they try to disclose abuse if the perpetrator seems like a "nice normal family man".

Or they are not believed as there would be no way that the perpetrator's partner for example didn't know what was going on if there was anything happening. I'm impressed Broadchurch had a go at tackling both myths.

And the crucial decision made by someone who goes on to abuse children is not to commence abuse, it's the earlier one that puts them in a position where it would become easy to go ahead. One thing treatment has aimed to do is get people recognising and stopping themselves before they take that seemingly justifiable crucial first step. That was Joe deciding to befriend Danny and he had already moved on to justifying the relationship in his head and making it into something (a love affair) that could justify abuse to him. I think it's great they researched it so well and didn't go for the lazier easier stereotype.

Also it actually makes sense now how Joe could be smiling away at Mark and acting normal so soon after killing Danny as he was so used to living in denial and justifying things in his head already.

really enjoyed this series - and we were (mostly) right! (Except no one guessed the child abuse-grooming thing). I found the people much more realistic than in run of the mill crime stories.

I could definitely watch more BC but I don't think a court case would be interesting, unless it gets overturned and we find out it really was someone else after all and Joe was just covering for that person (unlikely unless that person was Tom who doesn't have man-sized hands).

How could it continue if Ellie is moving away to give the kids a fresh start and Alec is at death's door?

good actors. I thought JW did a believable job as Beth. She got it just right IMO but Mark was strange. In the last episode though he had me totally convinced, seemed really authentic but for most of the episodes, he had a strange half smile on his face almost the entire time as if he was not all there. I found him really odd till the end.

I loved it espeicially most of the acting. OC was outstanding.
But I would have liked a more complex ending. I wanted Joe to be covering up for Tom and only Ellie to find that out, therefore having to choose between sacrificing her husband (which is what he wanted)or losing her son.

JW is wonderful. She's just one of those mesmerising actors you can't stop watching because everything she does is meaningful. I'd like to see her play someone a bit more kick-ass though, I seem to have seen her playing a lot of slightly put-upon women.

The acting and the way if was filmed was brilliant but I think the ending was a bit dissapointing.

Great finale but can't help feeling deflated that the murderer and motive were so mundane - perhaps that was the point though. So many supporting characters left unexplained but maybe that is for the return ...

Ellie said to Pauline Quirke character 'how could you not know what was going on' (in your own home) not to Beth. For me it was the clencher re Joe's guilt in an earlier episode.
See the other earlier thread on Broadchurch on Mumsnet which is now full.

Yes it was signposted a mile off who the killer was, but it was so obvious thought it couldn't possibly be the case!

Yes, I went from thinking it was some kind of Joe/Tom thing in about week 4/5 to a huge elaborate conspiracy involving everybody and I'd just at the last minute caught on to the Chloe/Dean idea before I watched it.

And it was clearly obvious to everyone else as well because Joe was the bookies' favourite!

Loved it! The acting was amazing especially OC! JW also great but after playing two young, bereaved mothers in Broadchurch and Marchwood she needs to now move on and play something less heartbreaking.

Caught up with last nights finale this evening and haven't read the whole thread so sorry if this has already been discussed, but...

When mark was yelling at joe in the cell, didn't he (mark) say something like 'I only did it once and I'll regret it for the rest of my life'... After asking joe whether he abused Danny

Is this me or did that imply he himself abused Danny? Or is this the fragment of a lead as to the next series?

He hit him, which is when Danny ran to Tom & Joe took care of him.

That was the beginning so Mark blames himself.

I don't think Joe did it....I think he's covering up for someone else........we'll see...

jazzcat Mark was referring to hitting Danny. He hit him once and that is what he regrets..

DH's theory, when we were watching it last night, was that Danny wasn't dead when Joe left him on the beach, so someone else actually killed him. The Susan Wright character came and took his skateboard - she could have done it, or someone else. That could be the basis of a new series.

We never found out about the power cut either, did we?

I really really want series two to remain focused on OCs character and the fall out of her dh murderer. Please NO new stories / villages.

When David Tennant went into the Millers house to get Joe, the son, sitting in the living room didn't say anything to him- did anyone else find that strange?

Ending reminds me of mayday :( - a letdown :(

After all the red herrings it came down to grooming and potential child abuse - very cliche

Apart from poor Ellie :(

My ds said the sameholly. Very strange. He didn't look suprised to see him did he?

The puzzling thing for me is that Joe as the main carer of the toddler would surely not go out in the middle of the night when the other parent had taken a sleeping pill? Unless he drugged the bably, we all know toddlers wake up at random time, night terrors etc, or vomiting... So would at the very least wake Tom, who would wonder where his dad was... unless he was also drugged

MrsSalvo, good point!

I'm also wondering why Ellie would believe that he was 'running, cycling, at the pub', which he said was what he told her to explain his absences, in the dead of night. It's feasible that you'd go out to do any of those things in the evening, yes, but at 3am?