Safe: Dangerous

Just finished watching Safe, Harlan Coben's 8-hour mini-series that started streaming on Netflix on May 10.  Its closest competition for the apex of this kind of crime story is Broadchurch, where a death is investigated in a town in which just about everyone is a suspect - including parents of the victim and the police - but Safe is somehow even tighter, more harrowing, and more complex.

I won't say anything specific about the plot, because I don't want to give even an inch of it away.  I will say that there are shockers and red herrings galore, and, like all top-notch who-dunnits, thoroughly plausible in retrospect.  It's also just possible to guess some of the crucial components and villains, but not likely all of them, and I find this sort of tension and balance very much the essence of great mystery.

I can say a lot about the acting, because it gives nothing away.  Michael C. Hall makes his first return in a television series since Dexter, easily in the top 10 and maybe top 5 of all series ever in any form on television.   He's excellent, with a fine (to my New Yorker ears) British accent (yes, the story takes place in a gated-community in England, another reason it evokes Broadchurch).   Audrey Fleurot, who did such a good job in the French series Spiral and A French Village, is powerful in a supporting role in Safe, and I didn't mind at all she played a character somewhat similar to the one she played in A French Village.  Indeed, all the acting is top notch, and I got a special kick out of Nigel Lindsay (who plays Sir Robert Peel in Victoria), who almost provides comic relief as a beleaguered  father striving to protect his daughter and his family from the long arm of the law.

Indeed, Safe, like Broadchurch, is as much a dysfunctional family drama as it is a crime and police story.   The gated community seethes with dangerous pasts and relationships, and is anything but safe, which makes Safe such commanding viewing.

Broadchurch Season 3: Hope to See You Again

BBC America offered the series finale of Broadchurch last night - the end of the third and apparently final season - with customary complexity, emotional turmoil, and sheer brilliance.

The lead characters Hardy (David Tennant) and Miller (Olivia Colman) were good and true to their personas to the very last drop, with Hardy saying no to Miller's offer to have a drink, she ever striving to humanize their relationship and he ever resisting.

The plot this season, as the two search for a rapist of an older woman, once again managed to serve up a plethora of suspects, all plausible and many despicable, each in their own ways.  And the revelation at the end of the whodunnit was nonetheless surprising.

This third season also managed to provide at least a little closure on the crime which started the series off two seasons ago, the death of Danny.  The Latimers are fractured, maybe, almost, beyond repair, and the final scene between Beth (Jodie Whittaker, moving on to Dr. Who, which of course Tennant once played) and Mark (Andrew Buchan) was itself worth the price of admission.

For a variety of reasons, the American version of this drama (Gracepoint), which also starred Tennant, was disappointing, and lasted only a single season.  But the British version, also for a variety of reasons, is memorable as one of the best police dramas ever on any television, and certainly deserves and could support further seasons, in case that counts for anything.

Those reasons include superb acting in all the leading and supporting roles, stories with sharp turns at every juncture, and a realistic view of human nature that is almost Dickensian, except darker and Freudian, too.

I hope to see more of it, someday - and Miller, I'll have a drink with you any time.

See also Broadchurch 2.1: Stronger than Ever

And see also  Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving ... Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad" ... Broadchurch 1.7: Missing Links ... Broadchurch Season 1 Finale: "Lying Next to the Murderer"

a different kind of murderer

Broadchurch 2.1: Stronger than Ever

Broadchurch was back tonight with its second season on BBC America, which seems not long at all after the first, but that's because the American remake Gracepoint, with David Tennant also in the lead, was actually on just this past December.  And seeing Broadchurch again tonight made me realize, among other things, how much better Broadchurch was and is than Gracepoint, which is saying a lot, because Gracepoint definitely had its moments.

The two series had virtually the same narrative until the end, with the killer in Broadchurch being DS Ellie Miller's husband, and in Gracepoint Ellie's son.   I didn't think Broadchurch had the more meaningful and original ending at the time, but I've changed my mind.  The cop's spouse as killer is something I don't recall seeing before and it's really stayed with me - and the second season picks right up on this, with a stunner of its own:  Joe Miller is pleading not guilty to the crime he confessed to.

This sets up what will no doubt be a powerful part of this second season, the battle in the courtroom and among lawyers over Joe and his plea.  Charlotte Rampling on hand - or brought in - to play the Crown Prosecutor is a great addition, promising some compelling drama in the trial and its attendant machinations.

But that's just part of this second season, which also brings us back to DI Hardy's previous case, the shadow of which loomed large over his investigation into the death of Danny.   It looks as if we'll get to see much more about this case now - including Hardy clean shaven in a flash back - which is welcome indeed, as this looks to be a riveting story, too.

And, we learn that there's apparently more to the story of Danny's death than we saw last season, as well. Although it's not likely that Joe confessed to save someone else - though you never really know for sure, in this age of cinematic unreliable flashbacks - there's more of this story here to be told, with parts by who knows what familiar and unfamiliar characters in this cursed town, which should make for a harrowingly winning season.

Broadchurch has a brooding, almost symphonic pace in a discordant key, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

See also Gracepoint Debuts: Deja Vu with a Vengeance ... Gracepoint Finale: Satisfying and More Realistic in the End

And see also  Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving ... Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad" ... Broadchurch 1.7: Missing Links ... Broadchurch Season 1 Finale: "Lying Next to the Murderer"

a different kind of murderer

The Missing Season 1: Worth Finding

Checking in with a review of The Missing, which I saw over a couple of nights on Starz On Demand earlier this week.   It's much in the new tradition of The Killing, Secrets and Lies,  Broadchurch, and its American remake Gracepoint - which is to say, excellent in its portrayal of the impact of the crime on the victim's family and people in the town, a place with no shortage of plausible suspects - and in some ways The Missing is even better.

The special power of The Missing in contrast to those other crime shows no doubt stems from the fact that the crime at hand is a kidnapping not a murder - or, a missing boy who we learn pretty early on survived his being taken - which makes the parents much more active in pursuit of their child and hence the kidnapper than the parents of the murder victim in the other series.  Indeed, whereas the police are the central characters in the other series, the father - Tony Hughes - takes that role in The Missing, and is given a riveting performance by James Nesbitt.   Tony is most assisted by Julien Baptiste - a retired French detective brought back to the case after he retired from it and the police when the initial investigation in 2006 turned up nothing, and now believes there's a chance of finding the missing boy, Ollie.  Julien is a class act and a memorable detective - wonderfully played by Tchéky Karyo - who more than anyone other than Tony (including Tony's wife Emily, well played by Francis O'Connor last seen as Mr. Selfridge's wife) believes Ollie may be still alive and can be found. But even he comes to believe that Ollie was killed, which leaves Tony alone in his belief, pursuing his son in the face of all reason, except he turns out to be right.

The press are portrayed as villains in just about all of the other series - not the killers or kidnappers, but getting in the way of the police at every turn - and in The Missing, the free lance reporter, looking for a lift in his career, is almost as despicable as the kidnapper.   But he's fortunately as vulnerable to blackmail as the people he's been threatening and manipulating for information, and near the end provides some crucial clues.

I guessed who the kidnapper was - a combination of being around and not being brought in for any questioning always raises my suspicions - but the ultimate question is not who was responsible for Ollie's kidnapping, but will Tony, now totally alone again in his pursuit of his son, ever find him. The ending is ambiguous, but, I think, hopeful.  If I'm interpreting what's on the screen correctly, Tony has tracked Ollie down to the Eastern European place where he now lives.   We know that the boy is Ollie, because he has drawn the same picture that Ollie drew before he was kidnapped.   When Tony shows the boy, now almost a teenager, the picture, the boy doesn't respond.   But I think the most likely explanation is that Ollie needs some time to process this.   Or, even if this boy is not Ollie, someone drew the picture in the snow, so Tony can't be too far off.  Why he and we are deprived of seeing him reunited with his boy is a good question.  Probably the creators of the show thought an outright happy ending would be too easy or trite.

But in any case, even without an unambiguously happy ending, The Missing concludes its first season on a more positive note than the other series, and that's a plus in my book.  It's coming back for a second season - with a new case - and I'll definitely be watching.



different kinds of crimes

Secrets and Lies: Excellent Australian Whodunnit

Hey, I want to recommend to you Secrets and Lies, an Australian TV mini-series which I just saw on Netflix.   The story is very much in the Broadchurch/Gracepoint new tradition - a boy is found murdered, and there's no shortage of suspects, including and especially family members and people who live on the same block.  But Secrets and Lies, maybe because of the evocative Australian countryside, but also because of its pacing, has a winning style all its own.

The acting is excellent.  But what especially caught my attention was Anthony Hayes as the lead investigator Ian Cornielle.   He has a quiet power that you don't usually see in cops on any continent - or, at least, how they are portrayed on television - that's almost reminiscent of Mickey Rourke.

The ending was genuinely surprising, if a little rushed, but it certainly made sense in retrospect.   One problem with these Broadchurch kinds of stories is that you soon realize that every new suspect, regardless of how suspicious and convincing, is just a straw man or woman to occupy our attention until the end of that episode.  I'm not sure what can be done about this narrative predictability, because it's so fundamental to the story.   But Secrets and Lies worked quite well anyway.

In fact, so well, that ABC here in America was impressed enough to commission an American version of this same story, from a brand new script.  I'll probably watch it, but it likely won't be quite as good as the Australian original, just as Gracepoint, though it had its moments, generally fell a little short of Broadchurch.  The problem is that however much the remake may change some of the details, we already know the story.   It may well be that the whole notion of remakes needs to be re-examined in this age in which we can easily see TV series from overseas on cable, Netflix, and Amazon.

So my advice is see Secret and Lies as soon as you can, and then decide about its American remake.

Gracepoint Finale: Satisfying and More Realistic in the End

Well, I was having my doubts about Gracepoint - the American remake of the excellent British Broadchurch - all season, because there frankly were not enough differences between the two series to make the American Gracepoint worth watching.   I mean, well acted, for sure - David Tennant as the lead detective (now named Carver) was strong and sensitive, as he was as Hardy in Broadchurch, and Breaking Bad's Anna Gun was top-notch as his second in command Ellie Miller - but other than Carver not actually sleeping with the blonde inn keeper (a change for the worse), I can't recall any significant differences between the two series.

Until tonight's ending - which I've got to say, was better than the ending of Broadchurch.  Joe Miller as the killer was a stretch in Broadchurch, a wild enough twist, except that it was mostly unmotivated.   The same would have been true in Gracepoint, where we saw even less of Joe through the story than we did of Joe in Broadchurch - so Gracepoint went ahead and pulled out another rabbit from the narrative hat, and one which makes more sense.

Tom, furious at what he saw going on between his father and Danny, swings at his father with a hockey stick and hits Danny.   And then, to protect his son - and feeling guilty because it was his, Joe's, lust for Danny that put of all this in motion - Joe takes the rap for Danny when he can't keep this all to himself any longer.  That makes more sense.

And it also opens the story up to what happens after, as Carver, the brilliant detective, begins to realize what actually happened, and moves to confront Ellie about it.   And that's where Gracepoint ends - at least, for now.  A good place to end, I think, with Carver's brooding face on the screen.

So, I would say that Gracepoint was worth watching, if only for this new, more satisfying and realistic ending, which was effective indeed.  Broadchurch is returning with a second season, which I'll definitely watch.  Hey, I'd be up for a second season of Gracepoint at this point, too.

See also Gracepoint Debuts: Deja Vu with a Vengeance

and see also  Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving ... Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad" ... Broadchurch 1.7: Missing Links ... Broadchurch Season 1 Finale: "Lying Next to the Murderer"



A different kind of police fiction

Gracepoint Debuts: Deja Vu with a Vengeance

Gracepoint debuted on Fox this past Thursday - the 10-part remake of the 8-part British series Broadchurch, which was on BBC America last year, and, word has it, was originally supposed to have 10 episodes, too.   Word also has it that the ending has been changed for Gracepoint - meaning, the killer in Broadchurch will not be the killer in Gracepoint - but otherwise the story will be the same.

And it's a powerful, heart-wrenching story indeed, in which there are as many or more prime suspects in the killing of Danny as his age - 11.   Further, these suspects come from everywhere, including Danny's family and the family of one of the two main investigating officers.

In a remarkable move, David Tennant plays the lead investigator in Gracepoint as well as Broadchurch, though with different names.  Anna Gunn of Breaking Bad fame plays his second in command, with the same name, though with a ranking of Detective rather than DS, which was Ellie Miller's rank in Broadchurch for the character memorably played by Olivia Colman.

There's been lots of head-scratching and even complaint about why a series recently shown in America should be re-made with the same lead actor no less.   But I've got to say:  after feeling the same way, I'm now glad that the series has been remade.   Why?   Because the story is so compelling, complex in plot yet fundamentally raw in emotion, that I'm happy to see it again.

I reviewed Broadchurch here last year.  You're welcome to read those reviews, though they will no doubt contain spoilers, if not about the ending then about how our story and characters get there. And to make matters even more interesting on the meta level, there will be a second season of Broadchurch over in the UK.

It's enough to make your head spin - deja vu with a vengeance - but you know what? - I think it's good for television to do crazy things like this.

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A different kind of police fiction

Broadchurch Season 1 Finale: "Lying Next to the Murderer"

The first season of Broadchurch concluded tonight with a brilliant episode, even though I didn't quite believe the murderer, revealed at last.

He would be Joe, Ellie's husband, and that provides the major obstacle to believability.  As Ellie herself says near the end of the episode, how could she, an excellent detective (my evaluation, not hers, but clearly true) have missed this?  How could she have been "lying next to the murderer" she was looking for?

I don't see how, either.   The similar looks of Joe and Nigel, a nice touch to explain Susan's incorrect, heartfelt identification last week of Nigel as the man she saw on the beach and therefore the killer, still doesn't explain how Ellie could have been so blind to Joe.  Even the old adage that we can be blind to things too close to us doesn't quite explain this.  Was Joe such a great actor that he not only fooled Ellie and Tommy, but everyone else in town?  No one saw even a slight hint of his attraction to boys, a glance in the market or on the street?

But the finale was brilliant nonetheless because of the way it showed the impact of the revelation of the murderer on the town, especially on Danny's parents.  Danny's father shouting at the sea, after holding it in for so long, was a major scene, and perfect for the deepest emotions that the sea can symbolize and set loose.  Danny's mother not believing how Ellie could have missed her husband as the murderer was right, too, for the reasons indicated above.

And the last scene between Ellie and Alec - following several superb earlier scenes - couldn't have been better, either.   Both detectives not seeing much of a future for them in the police force of Broadchurch - Ellie because of Joe, Alec because of his health.  Ellie again comes up with a great phrase, saying they're a "former detectives club".

But there is a Broadchurch second season in the works, so we may well see these two again.  Or maybe not, if the common thread of Broadchurch is the town and its events, with murder just the venue for the first season.   Whichever way it goes, I'll be watching.  The Brits know how to make television.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving ...Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad" ... Broadchurch 1.7: Missing Links





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Broadchurch 1.7: Missing Links

Broadchurch 1.7 turned all the burners up tonight - or at least the burners on two major very different suspects.

Nigel goes in and out and back in contention as the killer tonight.  He took Susan's chocolate lab last week, but as we saw in the coming attractions, he didn't harm it, even though he raised a crossbow in its big-eyed sweet direction.   Tonight we learn that he's Susan's son, and she has a story that would make a good series in itself.   But its relevance to Broadchurch is that Susan claims she saw a man take a body off a boat, and leave it on the shore where Danny's body was found.   She eventually identifies the man who carried the body as Nigel.  In a good twist, Nigel says under questioning that he's her son, who we previously learned was taken away from Susan at birth.   Nigel claims Susan's identification of him as the boatman was due to the bad feelings she harbors for him  - which we later learn in part arise because Nigel looks just like his father, Susan's husband, who was child killer himself.

But back to the Broadchurch story, other than our learning that people living in its town have a high percentage of sickos indeed, we now think Nigel - like the priest, Susan herself, and all the suspects we've thus far encountered - is in the clear.  Which makes the final word on this tonight, that Susan tells Nigel in private that she did see him carry Danny's body on the beach, all the more surprising and disconcerting, or just what a show like Broadchurch should be doing to us.

But is it possible that Nigel was carrying Danny's body, but didn't kill Danny?  Was Nigel carrying the body on someone else's behest?  Whose?

This brings us to the second suspect tonight - Ellie's boy Tommy, who we learn had a big argument with Danny. We further learn at the very end that the messages that Tommy erased - which we saw him erasing in the very first episode, and which the police have now retrieved - are enough to make Hardy react with an expletive when sees them.

So here's my current theory:  Tommy killed Danny, maybe accidentally, and Nigel on someone's behalf put the body on the beach.  But whose?  Mark is Nigel's boss, but why would he want to protect Tommy if Tommy was the killer of Danny?  Joe Miller would have a motive for protecting his son Tommy, but there's no connection we know of between Joe and Nigel.

So tantalizing missing links continue in Broadchurch, but tonight's outstanding episode also finally told us what happened with Hardy in that other, previous case, which is another provocative story indeed. Broadchurch is a series in which even the secondary stories are powerful and commanding.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving ... Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad"




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Broadchurch 1.6: "A Break from Being Sad"

It was probably the best line of  episode 1.6 of Broadchurch tonight - "a break from the sadness," which Chloe says she needed, and everyone affected by Danny's murder needs, and of course no one got a bit of in tonight's fine, taut hour.

What we do get is a grilling of the priest - who of course cannot be the killer, because he's been too obvious all along.

Susan Wright has also been a too-obvious suspect, ever since we saw her hiding Danny's skateboard, in addition to her nasty attitude towards the police.  Tonight we learn that she has a history, regarding something bad that happened to her husband and children, though apparently she was not found guilty of anything.

And she has a dog - a beautiful chocolate lab - which she understandably gets upset about when it goes missing.  (I'm a fan of this dog, especially since my daughter and son-in-law have a lovable black dog, Pooka, who reminds me of Susan's dog.)   And, actually, we see the lab being taken by Mark's partner Joe, and we also see him point a gun at the dog - but, thanks to the coming attractions, we know the dog was not harmed.

Thanks to the coming attractions we also know that Hardy survives whatever fells him, just another reason why we'd probably be better off without coming attractions in shows like Broadchurch.   But I'm glad that Hardy survives, not the least because I was mightily impressed that he was able to tie his tie without even glancing at a mirror!

But back to the identity of the killer: I've thought for a while that it's most likely Joe, except now that he kidnapped the dog he may have become too obvious.   The hallmark of a good cracking mystery: a plethora of obvious suspects, and none are the killer.   But Susan, in the coming attractions, says she saw the killing.  Hmmm ...

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects ... Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving



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Broadchurch 1.5: Good Loving and Almost Loving

One thing becomes even more crystal clear in Broadchurch 1.5: things are not what they seem.

As a prime case in point:  The gent whose presumed pedophiliac past made him too obvious to be a real suspect in Danny's killing turns out to have a big reveal - which makes him obviously not a suspect in this case.  He served a year in jail because, when he was in his late 30s, he slept with a girl just a few weeks short of her 16th birthday, or the legal age in England.  When this gets screamed across the headlines, he commits suicide - the first casualty in this case after Danny - though, I wouldn't be stunned if he was thrown to his death rather than jumped.

The search for Danny's killer continues without much apparent progress, but because we don't even have motive yet for his murder.   Even pedophilia isn't completely removed - some other male adult could have killed Danny out of perverted lust.  But the most likely motive for Danny murder is that he saw, heard, or knew something that someone didn't want Danny to know, and he was silenced.  What makes this series so good is that this killer is no doubt hiding in plain sight, right before our eyes, on our screen.

There's some good loving and almost loving in episode 1.5, too.   The young reporter sleeps with the hot-shot reporter from the big city, and even gets off a good line when she tells him in the morning to go through the "back door".   And, Hardy at least asks Becca to sleep with him - asking her, after she comes into his room, if she would like to "relax" with him - and although she demurs, it's a satisfying scene, because it shows a welcome humanity in Hardy that we haven't seen before.  And although Beth and Mark aren't exactly sleeping together again as yet, it's good to see them reach a bit of emotional rapprochement as they look at pictures of Danny.

As for the prime suspects: my current thinking is maybe Chloe's boyfriend - with or without Chloe - but that's a wild guess, based on no real evidence, which leaves Broadchurch an increasingly intriguing blank book.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy ... The Broadchurch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects



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Broadchuch 1.4: The Unusual Suspects

With a fine series like Broadchurch, you can usually tell who the killer is not by discounting who the killer most likely appears to be in the early episodes.  Here's where we stand as of episode 1.4 as far as likely killers who likely not to be revealed as the killer at the end:

• The old guy who may have some history as a pedophile:  His denial seems sincere, and he's in any case too obvious a suspect at this point.
• The unpleasant woman who had some of Danny's stuff in her closet, and most recently threatened the editor of the local paper: She's a despicable piece of work, to be sure, and she may turn out in the end to have helped the killer, or know who the killer is, but she's just as likely to be killed by the killer because of her nasty attitude.
• The priest is just too obvious: The show is spending a good deal of time on him, but the priest as killer is just too trite for a story like this.

So where does that leave us?   Someone in Danny's family is still a possibility, including the father who now seems exonerated.   Danny's sister seems an outside shot.  I'd say Danny's mother and grandmother are beyond the pale as possible suspects.

How about Ellie's family?  Her son obviously knows stuff he's not talking about, but he's not the killer.   There's something about Ellie's husband that makes me wonder about him - he's, I don't know, maybe too nice?   We have no reason at all to suspect him as the killer, which puts him higher on the list than those we have ample reason to suspect.

But if I had to pick someone now, I would say it was Danny's father's partner.   Another nice guy who seems to want to do nothing more than be of help, but there's an edge to him.  So I'd put my money on him at this juncture.

More after the next showing.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence ... Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy



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Broadchurch 1.3: The Spy

Broadchurch 1.3 continues with its almost everyone a suspect in Danny's murder - even after someone is apparently cleared after lying.

Danny's father is the prime suspect in 1.3, which starts with his lame alibi for the night Danny was murdered, Danny's blood on his boat, and Ellie's son telling Alec that Danny told him his father Mark had a temper and hit Danny a few times.  Mark is held but released, when the woman he was sleeping that night - not his wife - comes forward.  This was my feeling all along - that Mark was lying to police to cover up not the murder of his son but his cheating on his wife.

But where does this leave us?  Not 100% sure of Mark's innocence, because, even though he has a good explanation for how Danny's blood got  on the boat, we see someone - presumably Mark - burning it at the end of the episode.  Is this where Mark slept with the blonde, not his wife, on the fateful evening, and that's why he burned the boat?  That would make sense, since Mark feels guilty about what he was doing on the night of the murder.   But we don't know for sure at this point that Mark burned the boat, or even if the burning boat was Mark's.

And what's going on with Ellie's son?  Was he telling the truth about Mark hitting Danny, and, if not, why not?  Here's a wild little theory:  Ellie's husband killed Danny, and Ellie's son is lying to protect him.  Or maybe not - it's just a wild theory I have with no evidence at this point.

The show continues to have great scenes and lines.  Like when Ellie tells Alec to back off,  and says she'll "piss in a cup and throw it at you" if you don't.  Those courteous Brits know how to hurl an insult when they're mad - just as you see to such good effect on another brilliant show, Luther, which is coming back week after next.

But in some ways my favorite scene is when Danny's mother Beth warns daughter Chloe not to talk in front of the mild-mannered cop who is staying with Danny's family ostensibly just to be of help.  He's a "spy," Beth tells Chloe, and Beth is right.   One of the few things we can sure of - one of the few pieces of incontestable truth - we get on this taut and excellent show.


See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing ... Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence



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Broadchurch 1.2: Brooding Excellence

Broadchurch delivered an excellent second episode on BBC America last night, as well as one of the more memorable lines on television, when Ellie aptly calls Alec on his "brooding bullshit shtick".  We also learn that Alec has some kind of drug dependency, which makes him a more interesting character, and may be the cause, the result, or both, of his as yet undisclosed problem in his previous posting.

Our not knowing anything more about Alec, one of the two main investigators, is typical of the charm and power of this series, which doles out clues in a miserly way that makes the characters all the more provocative.

For example, we see Susan Wright - after displaying a nasty attitude to the police - opening a closet which contains what is apparently Danny's skateboard.  Presumably her attitude arose from her not wanting Alec and the police to look around on the inside of the house by the cliff and finding the skateboard.   Her allergy to police serves as a good pretext for not inviting them into the house.  But does this make her the killer?  Possibly, but likely not.

And we learn that Chloe is involved in some kind drug business - having nothing to do with Alec's problem, but likely having some connection to Danny's killing.  Or maybe not - maybe this is a red herring.  After all, it has less literal connection to Danny than his skateboard.

So we're left with our full slate of suspects, with a bit more suspicion cast on Susan and Chloe (or her friends and associates), but no winnowing out of anyone.   About the only people beyond all suspicion are Ellie, Alex, and the Guv.

Hey, in that sense, Broadchurch is a big departure from The Killing after all.

See also Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing



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Broadchurch: Powerful Viewing

I caught the first episode of Broadchurch on BBC America last night, and found it outstanding.   If you're a devotee of British detective and cop shows - from Morse to Frost to Lynley to Waking the Dead to Prime Suspect to Luther - you'll recognize Broadchurch as very much belonging in this evolving tradition.   Broadchurch has all the elements - the tension between men and women in various police positions, all that great DI, DS, DC, CS, Guv stuff - plus an upping of the ante with an intense single-investigation plot spans the entire 8-episode season.

BBC America has been comparing Broadchurch to The Killing, and the comparison is apt.  A teenager is murdered (in this case, a boy, Danny), and everyone and their grandmother is a possible suspect, or at least in possession of some information vital to solving the crime.   The detectives themselves are connected to the case far more personally than detectives should be.  DS Ellie Miller lives nearly next door to Danny's family, and indeed Miller's son Tom was not only good friends with Danny, but erases messages on his smartphone from or to Danny as soon as Tom learns that Danny was murdered.  DS Miller was due to be promoted to DI, but the position was given without warning to Alec Hardy, who is fresh off some controversial case from wherever he was previously.

The media also get some cold scrutiny and a good bashing in the first episode of this series, as they invade the privacy of Danny's family in pursuit of the story.  And a prime player in this media part of the narrative is Ollie, eager to make a name for himself, finding it hard to move up in the shrinking traditional media world, and, oh yeah, he's Ellie's nephew.   This makes her doubly involved in the case beyond her detective work.   But as my wife pointed out, Broadchurch is a small town.

The show also has a keener than usual appreciation of social media and their contribution to contemporary journalism.  Ollie tweets some early breaking news about the case - he's the first to identify the family - and Danny's sister Chloe gets information on the case by putting out a Google Alert on Broadchurch and death.   I don't need to put Broadchurch into my Google Calendar, because it's easy enough to remember that show is on Wednesday night, same night as Law & Order UK.

Driven by who knows what, and amplified by traditional and social media, just about everyone in Broadchurch seems to be hiding something, and I'm in for the roller coaster ride of discovery.



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