MNPD assemble! It's Broadchurch time

[EauRouge]

Notebooks at the ready We should have enough information at the end of the first episode to start cooking up some slightly implausible theories.

she said no, her friend (ex?) tried to persuade her, failed, Beth and mark tried to persuade her, failed, then she changed her mind

Right, but it was that friend (local newspaper editor) who was advising the family from the beginning that they should act to get Charlotte Rampling on the case, rather than the default choice...

A lot of this nagging, persuading, lobbying, agonising, toing and froing took place on beaches...

Is any of that really in the same postcode as normal procedure?

Ditto the idea that not only were the jury not sent out for legal argument re the confession/Ellie's attack on Joe, none of the discussion/ horse-trading had taken place pre-trial.

Where were the CPS exactly?

The way her waters broke all down her jeans like she'd wet herself was ridiculous. And her saying to Miller "look what you made me do!!" err no love your waters would have broken anyway, an argument/getting stressed wouldn't cause that...

Also how far away could Claire and her ex have reasonably got in the short space of time til Miller noticed? And why did Claire not scream/protest/run away?

Not really enjoying series 2 but will persevere....

Ugh, yeah, the way Hardy ran in to that field (past Ellie, who would have seen) and looked around. They were probably just hiding behind next door's hedge. Rubbish.

And her saying to Miller "look what you made me do!!"

and her shouting hysterically at Miller in the street wasn't something that Miller started!

On another tack, did anyone else notice how healthy the house plants were in Ellie's house despite the place apparently having been deserted for months?
Am so impressed by the observation skills on MNPD! They really should get someone in to check details like that.

i suppose it's quite well done to make Beth so unlikeable.

are we hoping that joe will be found guilty?

do we think that he did it?

Would you find him guilty knowing that the only thing "wrong" with his confession is that his wife beat him up?

Is Ellie now supposed to be working as a traffic cop in Devon (vis first episode?)
No idea how much she would earn, but presumably paying for accommodation, childcare for the baby, upkeep for Tom, and still keeping her own house empty and presumably paying a mortgage after being previously just back from mat leave... And now taking a load of time off to go back to Broadchurch to hang around with DT.

Interesting suggestion re maybe Joe protecting Tom. That would make sense in the context of the plot being nonsense.

It's made me unspeakably grumpy Eau.

The pacing and suspense is completely out too.

When you rewatch series 1, knowing whodunit, the subtlety of the small clues is impressive.

In contrast, just one shot of the back gardens (Eve Myles and James D'Arcy sitting impassive while their neighbours sobbed on the other side of the fence) was like a smack round the head with a shovel.

Am so impressed by the observation skills on MNPD! They really should get someone in to check details like that.

Yes; us signora

I was pissed off by how quickly the judge dismissed the confession without looking at a) timescales of the confession followed by the beating and 2) didn't look at whether the confession matched the forensic evidence 3) made the decision in a split second.

Arsenic, no the CPS guy said first, in the vein of 'but she'll never do it' the editor went independently to her ...friend? ex? I don't think the editor is overly friendly with the Latimers her connection is actually - I think - with Miller (the assistant guy, who was also in W1A and has been in Dr Who but not a Chibnall episode, and was in Othello at the NT (he was very good in that) is Miller's nephew I think...)

She wasn't on maternity leave they were on holiday in disneyland.

in the vein of 'but she'll never do it' the editor went independently to her ...friend? ex?

Yes, after speaking to them. None of that sounds off key to you?

- I think - with Miller (the assistant guy, who was also in W1A and has been in Dr Who but not a Chibnall episode, and was in Othello at the NT (he was very good in that) is Miller's nephew I think...)

Oliver? The rookie reporter?

I an quite shocked, actually, that people find Beth unlikeable. In the past 7 months or so, her child has been murdered by her friend's husband, her mother has died, her husband has had an affair, she's pregnant with a baby she was ambivalent about- but she's supposed to be all reasonable and sweetness and light and understanding?

No, but she doesn't have to be such a bitch to Ellie!

The fault lies with the killer alone!

but she's supposed to be all reasonable and sweetness and light and understanding?

It's not that hak. It's that her thought process doesn't ring true. Or at least isn't shown at all.

If she is supposed to be somehow focussing all her negative emotion on Ellie, I need a bit more to show me why that makes sense in her head.

Her reaction to the courtroom revelation that Ellie attacked Joe just seems perverse. Ellie is someone she has known for years. Why does it make sense to her that Ellie was in on it or covering up despite the evidence?

Beth has had a crapy year (understatement!) but since when would that give her the right to demand that Ellie doesn't even live in her own house?!

I don't like all te screaming in the streets, it seems a long way away from the sleepy little backwater, where everyone knows everyone, village portrayed inthe first series.

It's the standard response- I've seen it on here a hundred times and thought it myself- how could she not have known? Ellie said it herself........

And Ellie's still get her son- of course Beth will at the very least resent that.

Actually, I think Beth is one of the most realistic characters. But I am old, and I've been round the block a few times..........

Actually, the reaction to the courtroom is one but I do understand.

Beth is already furious that Ellie didn't know what Joe was up to (part displacement of emotion, as she didn't know what her husband, or either child was up to), and obviously finds it difficult that her friends dh is the murderer.

And then, on top if that, he might end up getting away with it because of professional incompetence on Ellie's part. Did Beth actually say she thought Ellie was involved (am sleep-deprived, can't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning, let alone what happened in a tv programme a few days ago!) or was it more fury at the while shitty situation?

Still doesn't excuse the whole witch hunt, imo, and being so upset that Ellie dared go back to her house (not even scene of cream so no reason for it to be important to Beth) is OTT.

It's the standard response- I've seen it on here a hundred times and thought it myself- how could she not have known? Ellie said it herself........

Yes, maybe. But deciding that Ellie battering Joe was 'A Cunning Plan' seems a bit out there as an immediate response.

And at the same time, she got over the affair very quickly and was absolutely fine with the OW lighting her son's memorial beacon? I just don't buy it.

Ellie hasn't got her son though - he's not living with her and refuses to talk to her (although obviously he is still alive)

You're not the only older person, Hak. I'm no spring chicken either, and I couldn't see any oft family or friends behaving the way Beth is - not to te same extreme. The 'didn't you know' reaction is very true to life, as is the wrecked friendship. But not the chasing out of town/fury at Ellie drying to set foot in Briadchurch again.

Grr, phone. Ellie daring to set foot in Broadchurch

Hakluyt I don't think anyone is suggesting Beth is supposed to be all reasonable sweetness and light and understanding. This doesn't delete the fact that she has been pretty nasty.

I might have to rewatch (the things I do to myself...)