Broadchurch: Season 2 (Blu-ray) – Series Review

The first season of Broadchurch showed that the series has what it takes to attract a quality-seeking audience thanks to its intriguing story telling and interesting characters. Police series tend to become boring after a while as a case keeps dragging on and on. Broadchurch succeeds yet again in keeping things fresh and it’s hard to resist binge-watching the whole season at once.

Season 1 showed us how the media, family, friends and every other party involved tried to accept the death of the eleven year old boy Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara). Danny was murdered by an unknown person and it didn’t take too long before everyone started to accuse one another. Relationships were tested, suspicion rose to incredible heights in the small town at one point and eventually, Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle) was pointed the culprit and now in season 2, we get to see the whole trial where all parties go up against one another and the lawyers try to get each other to the knees.

Meanwhile, while the trial is going on, main character Alec Hardy (David Tennant) has his own personal issues to deal with. A case from long ago comes to haunt him yet again and now he’s determined to solve the murder and disappearance of two girls once and for all. His colleague, detective Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman), helps him out wherever she can but she too, has her thoughts set on other matters. Ellie is the wife of main suspect Joe Miller and her relationship with the Latimers is quite under a heavy burden. The Latimers basically don’t want anything to do with her and accuse Ellie of being just as guilty as her husband. She on the other hand wants to help out the family and get them through this process as best as they can.

There’s so much going on in Broadchurch at the same time that it’s almost impossible to become bored with the plot. At least one of the character’s issues will hold a grip on your attention span and once it does, it’s hard to let go. Not once did it feel like a storyline was unnecessary stretched for screen time longevity and although the season can be divided in two main themes (the trial around Danny’s death and Hardy’s case), you’ll never have to feeling those two cases are completely separated from one another, which is important when switching back and forth from one storyline to the other.

At long last, we’ve got another series here which doesn’t feed you the same predictable turn of events which has been done so many times before in the past. The outcome of both branches in the story is quite unexpected and revelations might leave you with a wide open mouth from astonishment. Admittedly, not everything is perfect as there are some side activities which do not really add to the overall narrative and those could’ve been left out to focus on more pressing matters. This is however the only downside you’ll find in the second season of Broadchurch storywise so all in all, there’s not much to complain on that part.

The acting in the series is ranging from good to very good and beyond. Main actor and actress Tennant and Colman form a dynamic duo on screen and both put down an Emmy worthy performance. The only small annoyance has more to do with the writing of the character of Ellie Miller than acting performances. Ellie has been put down as a very soft, vulnerable character for the majority of the season and that became rather old after some time. I mean, she’s a bloody badass detective with decent skills but she reacts to the Latimers and her own teenage son as meek as a lamb. Luckily, in the last few episodes, she finally shows her true colours but before that, the weakness of the character became quite a bore after a while.

Charlotte Rampling, who plays the lawyer in favor of the Latimers is also very pleasant actress to see at work. There’s this kind of stability and tranquility that surrounds her when she’s on screen and that suits her role perfectly. Overall, the acting was top-notch and although not everyone was as great as the people previously mentioned, everyone in the series did what they could and that really shows.

For the extras, we’ve got a mixture of deleted scenes, a making of video and some commentary on the success of the show together with a general look at Broadchurch: Season 2. As always, if you want to see a bit more about the set and get to know the people behind the scenes, you’d do well to give these a try.

Conclusion

Broadchurch spoils us with a second great season and knows how to keep the attention by throwing in a more than decent number of storylines, problems, tense situations and personal issues. The acting is great once again but Olivia Colman’s character looked way to vulnerable this time. She’s a trained and skilled detective but it doesn’t take much for her to tear up or to let people treat her like crap. Overall though, Broadchurch: Season 2 is a fine sequel to the already great series so if you’re following the show, there’s no reason to end your adventure with season 1.

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