Broadchurch continues its saga of pain and turmoil as the trial of Joe Miller continues.
If we thought the trail of Joe Miller was going to be a slam dunk for the prosecution, then think again. With the confession ruled out, it’s a dirty fight to ensure a conviction or acquittal depending upon what side you are on.
New life
Beth (Jodie Whittaker) and Mark Lattimer (Andrew Buchan) welcome a new baby daughter, Lizzie. Though Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) helps Beth before Mark arrives for the home birth, Beth’s not ready yet to reconcile with Ellie. She still blames Ellie for Danny’s death.
Beth seems to rejoice in her new child and visitors, while Mark, on the other hand, is happy enough for the new baby, he’s not keen on the local pastor (Arthur Darvill) visiting. He claims that God has no place in his home.
Claire and Ellie new BFFs
DI Alec Hardy, (David Tennant) pushes Ellie to become closer to Claire (Eve Myles), because he believes that Claire trusts her. He has cause to be suspicious. Among other things, Claire has hung onto a mysterious letter that only included a bluebell. She is evasive about who it’s from and why she’s kept it. She also seems to be less afraid of Lee than she previously indicated.
In the end, Ellie and Claire go for a girls’ night out on the town. Both get hammered, and pick up one-night-stands. Claire has a blast, but Ellie, not so much. The only successes of the night for Ellie was breaking into Claire’s phone when she went to the ladies room, and having Claire claim that Lee drugged her the night of the Sandbrook disappearance, and when she awoke Lee was cleaning the entire house. Ellie tells Hardy that she doesn’t believe Claire’s claims, and that she thinks Claire has fooled Hardy into trusting her.
Private life woes
Mark Lattimer continues to see Tom Miller (Adam Wilson) on the sly, neglecting various responsibilities by doing this. Crown prosecutor Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) has her mother in a care facility, and she’s quite behind on the bills. On her way home she wrecks her car, possibly due to an eyesight problem that she’s trying to hide. Last, but not least, the solicitor for the defense, Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) has a son who is incarcerated, and is apparently having a rough go of it.
Lee Ashworth’s odd agenda
Lee (James D’Arcy) visits the town paper and puts in an ad offering his handyman services. He seems to be in town to stay. Bafflingly, Lee then visits the police station, presses harassment charges against Hardy, and then dismisses the same charges only after Hardy is forced to apologize. Even more baffling, he visits Hardy at his home and asks him to reopen the Sandbrook case, claiming that Hardy didn’t do a good enough of a job years earlier. He dumps a pile of supposed evidence that he collected on Hardy’s table. Despite all this, the only thing Lee won’t admit to however, is sending the mysterious bluebell letter to Claire.
Trial recap
Phone and computer records show that Danny Lattimer sent various messages from his private phone number and emails to Joe Miller. The defense tries insinuate that Ellie Miller had access to Joe’s computer, and that Hardy let her beat up her husband while he was in custody. The defense also states that Ellie and Hardy were having an affair, and they decided to frame Joe Miller to get him out of the of the way so that they could continue their supposed affair. Needless to say, all of these accusations cause both Hardy and Ellie to lose their cool in their respective court appearances.