24 Frames of Dreaming

Okay, before I say anything else about this episode:

ALEC'S ALIVE.

And smiling. I'm not sure which is more shocking!

Whew. Now I can breathe freely for the first time in about a week.

This episode - the final one, it feels like, before all hell descends for the finale - was engaging enough, but not nearly as nail-bitingly gripping as last week's brilliant offering. It spread our attention in a lot of different directions, as we caught up with pretty much each character in turn, drawing everyone together both plot-wise and location-wise before the showdown.

After last week's huge developments on Sandbrook, Joe's trial takes centre stage this episode: Ellie's son Tom takes the stand, with emotional results, driving Ellie to claim control back over her disintegrating family; Jocelyn confides in her assistant about her failing sight, and new revelations in court mean that Beth and Mark's marriage is in deep trouble again.

Elsewhere, Alec finally gets that pacemaker, and he and ex-wife Tess make moves toward patching up their relationship; Claire and Lee can't live with or without each other; Rev Paul does what he'd been needing to do all season and ends his self-serving attempt to get Joe to repent; and in a nice cliffhanger, we find out who really stole the pendant from the Hardys' car so long ago.

It's all about relationships this episode - repairing them, ending them, re-negotiating them - and beginning them again. And in that sense it makes for a dramatically strong episode - taking care of the character side of things before the plot takes centre stage in the final two episodes.


It really felt like the deep breath before the plunge.

Honestly, the court procedure this season has always struck me as rather unrealistic, and I know that's been a common criticism. I'm pretty sure there are a handful of examples of leading the witness, but hey, you know, dramatic effect and all that. However, a highlight this week was one of Charlotte Rampling's finest scenes so far, as Jocelyn handles the unenviable job of questioning Tom Miller with gentleness and sensitivity. Tom will do anything to get his dad acquitted, including doing his best to frame Mark. He makes a total hash of it, and seems relieved to be confronted with his dishonesty, but you do have to feel sorry for the poor kid.

Am I the only one who thinks Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Sharon) is overplaying her part these days? Sharon's obviously the baddie of the piece, and although we're kept from completely hating her by the plight of her son (of which we're constantly reminded), she's played so viciously and so over the top that it's getting a bit irritating. Plus, Jocelyn and Sharon's antagonism has long begun to fall flat - it's just more of the same, really, and that's why Jocelyn's strong scene this week was such a relief.

It's tragic to see the Latimer family strained to breaking point yet again, and Jodie Whittaker (Beth) turns out a moving and fiery performance as Beth tells Mark, quite rightly, to "tell the truth or piss off". It's been lovely to see the Latimers repairing their lives quietly in the background this season, but is the revelation of Mark's plans to leave Beth going to be more than their relationship can take?

Cate Gillespie...if anything, I feel this week has brought us closer to Cate as a suspect, even though the episode spent barely any time on her. Her few short appearances provoked a lot of questions. Why does Lisa hate her? Did Cate kill Lisa? Did Lisa hate Cate because they were both flirting with Lee? (Lee flirts with everyone, we know now). And why do Claire and Lee seem genuinely afraid of Cate and Ricky? The function of that garden gate, however, is much clearer - I don't think Lee built it so Ricky could sneak over. Also, I'm positive Cate was lying when she denied knowledge of Thorps Agriculture. Did she actually dispose of Lisa's body there, or was it just evidence that was burned?

Kudos to Ellie for reminding Alec of what we've suspected all season - that Claire has got a lot invested in controlling Alec (and I think we've all suspected that Alec is too emotionally involved with Claire for his own good). It was a huge relief to see Alec call her bluff - and boy did Claire smash up the place when he did. It's pretty obvious, too, that sex with Alec was part of her effort to control him, as is her MO. Claire gets in people's personal spaces and manipulates them, which is why I was briefly terrified when she offered to do Ellie's hair...I envisioned that sharp scissors, a guilty motive, and an unsuspecting Ellie might be a bad combination. Fortunately Broadchurch isn't quite as lurid as my imagination!

A few other thoughts: It seems that Ricky, Kate, Lee, and Claire all have violent tempers. Huh. Anyone suspecting a crime of passion with multiple perpetrators? Also, is it possible that Pippa killed herself? I mean, it would be a horribly unsatisfying resolution to her case, but seeing as she came from a pretty unhappy family, it's a possibility at least.

This episode made a rather blatant point of reminding us, yet again, that Lee and Claire's relationship is incredibly toxic. But who's controlling who? That's what I can't figure out. Perhaps it's mutual. Or perhaps even Lee has underestimated Claire. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.

Claire is the centre of attention when it comes to Sandbrook in this episode, but I'm not convinced. Sure, she has a complex and inexplicable relationship with Lee, and in the shocker revelation that (admitted rather smugly) this viewer saw coming, she was the one who stole the pendant from the Hardys' car. But although this shows that she obviously has lots of things to hide, none of it actually brings her any closer to being the murderer. It's disappointing, actually, that Alec's 'smoking gun' piece of evidence was a simple mistake. Does the guy ever get a break?

Actually, he did get one this episode. About time, too. You can pretty much hear the collective sigh of relief as Alec opens his eyes after surgery. Over the last week I'd worked myself into knots, almost convinced that Alec was going to die this season, so to have his whole heart condition (apparently) resolved in a few short scenes felt like a bit of an anticlimax, although I'm incredibly relieved. His exchange with Ellie when he wakes up - "I'll give you more money to be less of a knob," she says - summarised everything we love about Alec and Ellie. And Alec's gently touching phone conversation with his daughter confirms what we've always known - that the grumpy Scottish knob is possibly the nicest person on Earth underneath it all. He's almost unrecognisable when he smiles - and it's like we've finally seen the person he used to be. I got warm fuzzies, I won't deny it.

I enjoyed the brief hallucination sequence as Alec goes under the anaesthetic - dream sequences and flashbacks are always tricky to pull off without feeling intrusive or contrived, but I always enjoy these exquisitely-shot glimpses into Alec's haunted psyche. But the question is, what are the significance of the images? Why does he think first of Claire when he wakes up? Why is Lisa crying? And why does Alec see himself wearing the pendant? Does this just mean that he's invested in solving Sandbrook for Pippa's sake, or does it imply some further connection to Claire, since she was also shown wearing the pendant in this episode? If Alec is wearing the piece of (supposedly) incriminating evidence around his own neck, does that mean that he's still withholding information that personally involves him yet deeper with Sandbrook?

Spurred by the thought of his impending death, Alec makes a move to reconcile with ex-wife Tess this episode. I can understand his personal motive, but the larger narrative significance of this move puzzles me. Tess confuses me. It seems churlish to nit-pick about the quality of acting when the cast is absolutely swelled with brilliant performances, but actress Lucy Cohu's performance seems to be blocking something - whether it's the actress's inability, or that the character is hiding something, I don't know, but Tess seems harsh and incredibly self-satisfied when she's the one who made Alec's life such hell. And her sudden willingness to help with Sandbrook - after her blank refusal of a few episodes ago - aroused my suspicion as well. I may have the wrong end of things here, though - only time will tell.

I'm not keen on Tess if only because I don't want anyone coming in between Alec and Ellie's brilliant relationship. (Did you sense Tess's jealousy when she came to see Alec in hospital and firmly turned Ellie out?). As I've always said, Ellie and Alec's relationship is the absolute linchpin of the show, and they are the only two people who deserve to solve Sandbrook - and they deserve to do it together. Nothing would be more unsatisfying than having Tess, of all people, solve Sandbrook instead of Ellie. I don't think I like Tess, and I definitely don't trust her yet. Also, this episode made me realise that sooner or later, Alec and Ellie are going to have to go their separate ways - and it gave me an unexpected pang of sadness. I'm struggling to think of a resolution to their relationship that would be satisfying. I just want them to be grumpy crime-solving best friends forever...

It's not often that you want to actually stand up and cheer for a TV character, but Ellie Miller had me doing it more than once this episode. She's tough as nails, and finally wrestling back control over her future and her relationship with Tom. Ellie does a lot of much-needed truth-telling this episode. It was hilarious when she called Claire on her duplicity - and when at her suggestion Alec did the same. This is where the deepening trust between Ellie and Alec pays off - they've both given each other strength for their other relationships. She helped him see Sandbrook more clearly and I think that motivated her to take back control over her own life as well. Olivia Colman can do no wrong, I swear - she never milks a scene too far, but instead gives us an authentic, vulnerable, and incredibly strong woman who we all find ourselves cheering for. #GoEllie has been trending on Twitter this week, and no wonder - it's impossible not to love her.

With two episodes to go, we're walking slowly but surely toward the final reveal and I still have no idea what it's going to be. (Honestly, as frustrating as that is, it's kind of fun, too.) This episode was mostly getting character development out the way, establishing relationships and setting the scene for the plot-driven next episodes. We still don't know what Lee and Claire are afraid of. We know their relationship is terribly toxic. We do know that the pendant was Claire's and she stole it out of Tess's car. But exactly how that incriminates her in the death of the two girls is still a mystery.

For me, this week was not nearly as electrifying or gripping as last week's terrific episode. As powerful as all the character development was - and I enjoyed it immensely - it was frustrating, after last week's grisly furnace cliffhanger, to have that tantalising lead completely dropped this episode. There's no question that narrative-wise, two apparently separate stories (Sandbrook and Joe's trial) are harder to handle than Season 1's single focus, and that was the main weakness of this episode. It felt a lot like cleaning house before the finale - and not that we don't care about the minor characters, but the lack of Sandbrook leads and Alec-Ellie interaction just robbed it of that something special. Hopefully, the final two episodes will make up for that.

Most of the pressing questions I had from last week from last week still remain unanswered. Unsurprisingly, now I have more!

What is Lucy hiding?
Claire found Alec passed out in her yard?
How will Claire and Alec's affair alter the outcome of the investigation?
Is Joe going to have a change of heart and put the madness to an end? Is there anything he can do about it now or does the trial have to run its course?
Is Lisa sending Claire the bluebells??
It's clear now that Claire is protecting Lee and she has evidence that could (rightly or wrongly) convict him. If Claire and Lee do actually split up, might she come forward with evidence?
What is Abby's 'something juicy'? Does it involve Alec? Will next episode be when Sandbrook and Joe's trial really collide? Which minor characters will be most involved when that happens?
Is Alec hiding any more bombshells? Is there going to be more fallout from his getting too personally involved in Sandbrook? I hope his affair with Claire is going to be important to the conclusion, not just another example of Claire's general manipulation.
Finally, am I crazy or was the pendant Claire was wearing different to the one Alec was wearing in the dream? It can't be a production error, so has Ellie made a mistake?

By the way, if you're on Twitter and keen to speculate, drop me a line: @24framesblog.
Until next time...