Broadchurch - Recap: Born to Run
Recap and review of Broadchurch - Season 1 Episode 6:
As we get closer to the finale, it's hard to tell if Broadchurch is actually getting any closer to solving Danny's murder. I've said on numerous occasions that the solution doesn't really matter, and that's doubly true in an episode like this one, where so much is focused on the relationships between the various members of the community, but there has to feel like some progress is being made, you know? Luckily, this episode actually gives us a peek at the possible killer, all while placing DI Hardy (David Tennant) in direct peril. It's exciting stuff, as intriguing as the quieter bits that precede it, and it's not the only sequence of its ilk, as we also get a tense scene in which Tom (Adam Wilson) is teased with the possible threat of harm. It's getting harder and harder to parse out whose behavior is most suspicious, as everyone has a reason or a backstory for what they do. The presence of plausible motivations could be what separates Broadchurch from like-minded crime shows, which seem less centered on creating three-dimensional characters than simply providing a delivery mechanism for the crime.
Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke) has to have some sort of reason for her actions this episode, one would assume. Her interactions with Nigel (Joe Sims) continue to be frustratingly vague, as they allude to a shared past that Nigel wants no part of, but even without Nigel in the picture, Susan's actions this week would have been strange. After Tom takes Susan up on her offer to walk her dog any time he wanted, she gives him Danny's skateboard. This in itself is strange enough, but the director James Strong really squeezes as much tension out of the interaction as possible, making it seem not implausible that Susan would harm Tom in some fashion. Of course, with two episodes left to go after this, it was unlikely that anyone would commit such an incriminating action. The show needs to keep all suspects viable without pointing the finger too much at a single one of them.
Naturally, Tom reveals to his parents that he got Danny's skateboard from Susan, which leads to the police bringing her in for questioning. They find her at the Echo, where she's confronting Maggie (Carolyn Pickles) over her continued investigation into her past. It apparently has something to do with things that were written in the papers about Susan's husband, and what "was said, but never proved" about Susan herself. Yet, as the police take Susan in, she realizes that her dog, tied to the post outside the Echo, is missing. Ultimately, she spends the majority of her interrogation demanding the return of her dog, not terribly unlike Mickey Rourke banging on about his bird in Iron Man 2. But the cops have no idea where her dog is, because they weren't the ones who took him. It was Nigel, who places the dog in the back of his van. He then aims his crossbow at the chocolate Labrador. Thankfully, we don't see or hear a trigger being pulled, which at least gives me some hope that Nigel didn't go through with killing the poor thing. But this does help to give insight into Nigel's slightly deranged psyche. Whatever past he shares with Susan, he seems hellbent on sticking it to her, in some form or fashion.
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But there are still other matters to attend to in the investigation. After indicting the town for failing Jack Marshall at the news agent's memorial service, Rev. Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) comes under scrutiny from Hardy, who saw the vicar's hand on Tom's knee as they were talking. Hardy asks Tom a few questions about Paul and Danny, but Joe (Matthew Gravelle) practically rushed over at the sight of his son being unlawfully interrogated. Or perhaps he was freaking out because either he or Tom was involved in Danny's murder, and he's trying to protect the secret from getting out? I do like that everyone is a plausible suspect -- well, except the ones who are presented as the most obvious persons of interest, meaning we could probably cross out Paul, even though we learn he's a recovering alcoholic who is one of many different people who use the boat found burning just off the shore, the same boat which was discovered to contain Danny's hair and paint chips from his skateboard. To make matters worse, he allegedly assaulted a child at his last job, though Paul claims it was simply a joke gone wrong. "What possible reason could you dream up for me to murder an 11-year-old boy?" Paul asks, before turning his rage against Hardy for what he perceives as his failures not only as a cop, but as a symbol in the community. "People need hope right now. And they certainly aren't getting it from you."
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However, the Latimers actually seem to have a bit of hope on the horizon, if only temporarily. When Chloe runs away from school after spending most of the day being gawked at by her scandalizing classmates, Mark (Andrew Buchan) and Beth (Jodie Whittaker) track her to her boyfriend's place. Realizing that his daughter needs to just be a teen for a day, he takes them to an arcade, and it's there that the Latimers seem to have hope of reclaiming whatever sense of family exists between them. They have fun, smile together for the first time in ages, and remember all the good times before Danny's death. Beth even says they'll have to bring the baby after it's born, confirming that she plans to keep the child. It's a lovely scene that offsets the devastating scene earlier in the episode, in which Beth meets with the mother of the Sanbrooke victim, in order to get her advice on how to deal with the death of a child. However, what Beth learns, other than that Hardy properly mucked up the investigation, is that the pain never goes away, never gets any less difficult. The woman explains that her days basically consist of an endless cycle of drinking, crying and sleeping, adding that she and her husband couldn't deal with the aftermath of their child's death and eventually divorced. It's a harrowing scene that further illustrates the paralyzing nature of grief, and it's easy to see Beth crumble at the possibility that she could be looking into her own future. It's a moment that sets up the arcade scene beautifully, as she's able to reclaim the hope that she actually might be able to move on from Danny's death, that she might not end up as alone as the Sanbrooke woman.
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At the very least, Beth has as good a shot of it as anyone else in Broadchurch -- as upset as she's been in past episodes about the secrets Mark has kept from her, at least she knows about them. Ellie (Olivia Colman) is apparently being lied to by both her husband and her son. At Jack Marshall's memorial, Tom lashes out at Chloe for intimating they were best friends, saying that he hated him and is glad he died. Later, Tom came to Paul for advice about retrieving deleted data on a computer. Upon learning that even deleted files could still be recovered, Tom takes his laptop into the woods and destroys it with a rock -- a scene Paul witnesses. So Ellie is still clearly in the dark about those closest to her. But even then, her concerns about her own family have to take second place once things get serious in the investigation...
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There are reports of someone musing around the hut that is the alleged Latimer crime scene, and so Hardy and Ellie check the place out, discovering a mysterious stranger, presumably the killer, in hiding. The man or woman is wearing a hoodie, their face obscured, and a chase ensues that pushes Hardy to his physical limits. Though he gets closer and closer to catching the assailant, Hardy ultimately fails when his heart starts to give out. He collapses to the ground as the killer gets away, and cops swarm in to help out. Hardy will more than likely be fine, but will the higher-ups allow him to continue working the case with a weak ticker? Or will Hardy remain resolutely committed to finishing this investigation even if it kills him? It comes close to becoming a run-of-the-mill thriller towards the end, but the character work is so strong that it's hardly even noticeable (hell, one of the best scenes of the entire episode has nothing to do with the case, as Hardy has a one-way phone call with his daughter's voicemail. It's not unlikely that he's more pained by her rejection than by his own heart trouble. At this rate, I imagine Sanbrooke troubles him more than his heart, as cavalier as he is about his own health. As long as his body holds up long enough to solve the case, Hardy would be satisfied).
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While Broadchurch continues to make incremental progress toward solving the Danny Latimer case, it takes leaps and bounds towards further defining this community in relation to itself. While such a murder isn't exclusive to this community, it's becoming more and more apparent how this community fostered the kind of attitudes, fear, and suspicion that would potentially lead to such a crime. Of course, no town is perfect, and murders happen even in the most idyllic, as evidenced by the very premise of this series. But this is a town that appears more innocent and innocuous on its surface than it actually is, and therein lies the rub, as this could potentially be a nature vs. nurture situation. Was it Broadchurch that drove Danny's killer to murder? Or was it simply inherent in the killer's nature? The former might be a laughably implausible supposition, but in a dramatized murder investigation, truth and fiction often ride side-by-side in the same car. Thankfully, Broadchurch manages to strike a balance between the ridiculous (Psychic Steve?) and the chillingly plausible (Jack Marshall's suicide by media abuse). With or without red herrings, this remains a series worthy of investment.