Broadchurch: Season 3
Ratings: 4.8/5
Creator: Chris Chibnall
Director: James Strong
Producers: Dan Winch
Genre: Crime Drama
Release Date: 27th February, 2017
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Star Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Arthur Darvill, Carolyn Pickles, Matthew Gravelle, Charlotte Beaumont
Plot:
The story for the final season of Broadchurch is set three years after the events of series two. The eight-episode series follows a local woman who has come forward about being raped after her friends’ party. Detectives Hardy and Miller begin to investigate the case, questioning everyone who were at the party that night, however, they soon find out that a lot of the guest have secrets so they try their best to uncover the attacker - all these happening in the same old coastal town of Broadchurch in Dorset, England.
Review:
The show is in its final glory.
Season 3 focused on the aftermath of a rape incident instead of a murder, and was tormenting in its portrayal. ‘Julie Hesmondhalgh’ playing the rape survivor gave a particularly convincing and startling performance as Trish, a woman assaulted at her friend’s birthday party. This season did not shy away from investigating every horrifying detail of Trish’s rape with the police and the invasion of her privacy.
Meanwhile, it’s heart-breaking to see the fate of the Latimers (who stuck together through all of this turmoil) couldn’t make their marriage work, as Beth tells Mark it’s over. They fell out as Mark is too pulled in his own grief. Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan are outstanding, especially when you acknowledge Beth and Mark’s history through all these seasons.
Season 3 wanted to tell was about pornography and the effects it has on a young male’s understanding of sex. The season also explores the concept of ‘consent’ (which Miller explains sternly to her teenage son) through 16 year-old Michael (forced and manipulated by Leo) who raped Trish of his own volition, the plot seems to express all the misunderstandings and foolish naïve qualities that the young men have about ‘sex’. For instance, in the scene with interrogation of Leo:
“It’s just sex,” said Leo in the interview room when the game was up and it was revealed that as well as bullying Michael Lucas into Trish Winterman’s attack, he was behind at least two more similar crimes. “It’s rape,” Olivia Colman’s DS Miller shouted. “They did not get a choice, their bodies are not yours.”
As always this season too, delivered the mystery around the crime, providing with twisty clues and multiple potential suspects over the course of each season. And yet, even after the mystery unfolds and the truth is dropped, it’s equally unnerving and engrossing.
