Gracepoint Vs. Broadchurch

[Hero]

It mind sound really stupid, but I think Tom killed Danny and Joe helped him hide the body.

[alias1]

Noticeable absentees in the pictures: Joe and Tom.

 

Those are the two that I find "missing." 

 

I thought on an off chance that Vince might have been the one to cover up the killing (Tom being the killer) but Vince is very clearly at the funeral.  It seems like most of us now think it might have been Tom who killed Danny and Joe who covered it up.  Although it is possible that Joe did all of it and Tom witnessed it somehow.  If Tom did it, there has to be someone else (Joe?) who moved Danny's body to the beach. 

Edited December 8, 2014 by SierraMist

[Ellaria]

Those are the two that I find "missing." 

 

I thought on an off chance that Vince might have been the one to cover up the killing (Tom being the killer) but Vince is very clearly at the funeral.  It seems like most of us now think it might have been Tom who killed Danny and Joe who covered it up.  Although it is possible that Joe did all of it and Tom witnessed it somehow.  If Tom did it, there has to be someone else (Joe?) who moved Danny's body to the beach. 

 

Based on those photos and, importantly, who is missing from those photos, it is most likely Joe or a Joe/Tom connection similar to the scenarios listed above. It will be interesting to see how much - if anything - has been changed from BC and how it is incorporated into the show.

[Guest]

It mind sound really stupid, but I think Tom killed Danny and Joe helped him hide the body.

I do, too.  Not stupid at all.  If you read this whole thread, that's probably the most popular theory from the start.

 

I'm dying to know why Vince has that tattoo, though.  Maybe in this version Tom was jealous of a relationship between Danny and Vince?  But Joe not being a pedophile takes a little bite out of the "how could you not know" for Ellie. 

 

Maybe Vince simply saw something fishy that night but didn't intervene (hence the truck sighting) and blames himself for Danny's death, so he got the tattoo as some sort of penance/reminder.  

[Black Knight]

Well, I just caught up on Gracepoint after letting it slide all fall since most of it was a straight redo of Broadchurch and I found I didn't find most of the scenes very interesting with the different actors.

 

Having caught up, I think they're keeping Joe as the killer, and the difference will be Ellie's reaction, because they used most of BC's Ellie's reaction with Pierson during the Tom-goes-missing SL: Both Ellies wanted to see the guy, both Ellies promised to keep their shit together, both Ellies proceeded to lose their shit on the guy, both Ellies had to be physically dragged out of the room. GP Ellie didn't get to actually hit and kick Pierson like BC Ellie did Joe, but everything else was essentially the same. The show will have to do something else for GP's Ellie's reaction because it wouldn't have the same power here after we already saw it with Pierson. On GP it worked great and was both powerful and a little shocking because we had never seen Ellie lose it like that.

 

Plus, the casting of Anna Gunn makes the dynamic so different. No offense to Olivia Colman, and I'm sure part of it was the styling choices Broadchurch made for her, but BC Ellie was several rungs below Joe looks-wise. Of course people don't always marry other people who are as attractive as they are, looks aren't everything, so it's not necessarily a red flag...but you could see where it was something where Ellie had been aware of the disparity and probably been concerned early on, but she eventually relaxed as the marriage continued for years very successfully. So when her husband turned out to be a pedophile, there was that extra layer of humiliation underneath, unspoken but still, a "I was a fool to think this better-looking guy was actually interested in me" vibe.

 

But this Ellie and Joe don't have that - they're both around the same level of attractiveness. And the underdog thing in general is lacking too - this Ellie seems like everything has always gone very well for her and that she expects life to go very well for her. The other Ellie was happy with her life, but she didn't have the same air of entitlement and expectation - more like she'd been kicked around some and was grateful for the nice life she now had.

[alias1]

Plus, the casting of Anna Gunn makes the dynamic so different. No offense to Olivia Colman, and I'm sure part of it was the styling choices Broadchurch made for her, but BC Ellie was several rungs below Joe looks-wise. Of course people don't always marry other people who are as attractive as they are, looks aren't everything, so it's not necessarily a red flag...but you could see where it was something where Ellie had been aware of the disparity and probably been concerned early on, but she eventually relaxed as the marriage continued for years very successfully. So when her husband turned out to be a pedophile, there was that extra layer of humiliation underneath, unspoken but still, a "I was a fool to think this better-looking guy was actually interested in me" vibe.

I could not disagree more about the difference between Olivia Coleman and Anna Gunn.  I find Anna Gunn extremely unattractive in this show.  I have never seen her in anything else so I can't say if she has been more attractive elsewhere.  She is so bland and unlikable (gangly even), whereas Olivia Coleman had a lively, likeable personality and I never once saw her as inferior to Joe, certainly not in appearance.  She never struck me as insecure.

Edited December 10, 2014 by SierraMist

[Black Knight]

I like BC Ellie's personality more than I do GP's Ellie's, too.

 

But I do think that if you put the two of them next to each other and ask others to judge strictly based on physical looks, GP Ellie is going to win by a significant margin. She fits the tall thin long blond haired profile that's so popular as a standard of beauty. Olivia Colman is probably more attractive in real life than she was on BC (I haven't seen real-life photos of her), but the show styled her somewhat frumpy, the hair especially. A lot like how Downton Abbey, the first few seasons, would purposely style the beautiful Laura Carmichael in a way that made her the "plain" sister of the three, since the storylines called for Edith to be frustrated, the forgotten child, and perpetual spinster.

 

I agree also that BC Ellie wasn't insecure - as I noted, she had relaxed as the marriage endured, and by the time we met her she was totally confident in her husband. But in the dinner scene where they're explaining how they met, I found there to be an undercurrent of her knowing that people tend to wonder a bit when one-half of a couple is notably less physically attractive than the other half of the couple. Not insecurity, because by that point the marriage had been successful for years and produced two children, just knowing there's that disparity. And then when she found out her husband was actually a pedophile, well.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Black Knight

[miles2go]

people tend to wonder a bit when one-half of a couple is notably less physically attractive than the other half of the couple. 

 

They do?  Can't say I've noticed.  Guess I'm just clueless.

[alias1]

 Black Knight, I saw none of the inequality you are reading into the BC Ellie/Joe marriage.  Nothing I saw in present day would lead me to speculate on what their marriage was like in the early years, before Ellie ended up with the better paying job.  In my opinion, casting Anna Gunn was not done to make Olivia Coleman seem less attractive by comparison, so I don't think it will figure into the story line.  Just my opinion.  We'll have to agree to disagree.  And we'll see how it plays out on Thursday.

[HermitsUnited]

Intriguingly Gracepoint was released on DVD in Australia yesterday. Ended up getting it, but would love to know if there's anything at the end of the credits when it airs tomorrow in America. I get the impression they wanted to do a second series (based on the very last shot you get on camera) and am curious if there will be any message like in Broadchurch. I highly doubt it given the way it was marketed as the series finale...but still curious.

 

Can't wait to check this forum out tomorrow once it has aired hahaha.

[GreyBunny]

Reading the basic description of the second season of Broadchurch makes me not want to watch it, like it will shift from mystery/drama to some dumb soap opera.  Of course the American version would be a whole lot worse.

[Guest]

I didn't think Colman's Ellie had any prize in Joe, even before the reveal.  If anything I felt bad for BC Ellie for being stuck with a bald clod with poor earning potential whom she has to support.  I feel bad for both Ellie's on that count.

[Raingirlkm]

My feeling is that BC was more about the effects of this terrible event, the ripples and repercussions felt by so many. Not so much a whodunit, though that certainly played into it, but looking at the many people whose lives were impacted and how they weathered the storm. Since the pre-release tag is "The end is where it begins." and Chris Chibnal has said it will not start with another body, my take was that BC2 will pick up right where the first season/series left off. The new trailer seems to verify that. I am interested to see the continuation of this story, as opposed to a new mystery.

 

I think part of the issue with GP is that they tried to have it both ways. They closely followed the plot and pacing of BC, but Fox hyped it as a whodunit. The translation seemed to lose some of the intimacy of BC and I'm not sure that American audiences in general were sure what to do with a mystery that didn't make major progress in every episode. We're used to an A and a B plot but here the mystery was in some ways the B plot, while the effects on individual lives were the episodes A plots.

[Ellaria]

I have no idea what to make of this:

 

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/either_gracepoint_cast_didnt_know_who_killed_danny_solano_or_theyre_all_great_liars-2014-12

[alias1]

I have no idea what to make of this:

 

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/either_gracepoint_cast_didnt_know_who_killed_danny_solano_or_theyre_all_great_liars-2014-12

I'm afraid to watch this until after I've seen the last episode tonight.

My feeling is that BC was more about the effects of this terrible event, the ripples and repercussions felt by so many. Not so much a whodunit, though that certainly played into it, but looking at the many people whose lives were impacted and how they weathered the storm. Since the pre-release tag is "The end is where it begins." and Chris Chibnal has said it will not start with another body, my take was that BC2 will pick up right where the first season/series left off. The new trailer seems to verify that. I am interested to see the continuation of this story, as opposed to a new mystery.

 

I saw the trailer.  Is Olivia Coleman in season 2 of Broadchurch?  I always hoped she would be but I hadn't read any confirmation that she is.  Also, do you know if BBC America will carry this in January or will we have to wait for it?

[Maelstrom]

Also, do you know if BBC America will carry this in January or will we have to wait for it?

I found an article from July that states BBCA will air season 2 in "early 2015." Not overly helpful, but it was all I could turn up. I wonder if they'll revisit the Rosemont case in season 2? And Olivia Colman will be returning (woo hoo!)

 

I haven't spoiled myself for Gracepoint's ending at all, but my best guess is still Tom being the murderer with Joe involved somehow. In a few hours, I'll find out if I eat those words. And then I'll forget Gracepoint ever happened and pretend Broadchurch has no remake.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Maelstrom

[Automne]

Welp, the killer is exactly the same in Gracepoint as it was in Broadchurch. Only difference is that the manner of death makes more sense than accidental strangulation (you don't accidentally strangle somebody with your bare hands considering how long it takes to kill somebody via that method, even a 12-year old. With the way it was in Broadchurch, Danny would have merely passed out).

 

EDIT: And an 11th hour twist redeems the whole show and vindicates my theory that Tom killed Danny. Ending the series on a cliffhanger was stupid and pompous, given that Fox will cancel shows at the drop of a hat and not give them a chance to tie up loose ends (I'm still so bitter about Dark Angel and it's why I fucking hate Firefly and Firefly fans).

Edited December 12, 2014 by Automne

[alias1]

I knew it wasn't over because there was too much time left after Joe confessed.  Plus I was really struck by Tom's cryptic answer that Carver later kept replaying on his phone.  I still think it was a gyp.  To call this a different ending is really misleading.  

 

The only thing I liked better about Gracepoint is the conversation that Carver had with his daughter at the end.  If that happened in Broadchurch, I don't remember it.

 

I will not be watching another season of this, unless they get all new actors (besides Tennant).

Edited December 12, 2014 by SierraMist

[kaygeeret]

Someone help me please.

 

I missed the last two episodes and made no effort to watch them as I had seen and liked Broadchurch a lot and didn't feel the need to feast on the filler of two additional epis.

 

That said, what the hell was up with the narration - throughout the ENTIRE episode - including the insightful "the waves foamed at the beach".

 

I hated, absolutely hated every single minute of the episode due to the narration.  WTF??????

 

So my question is - Did they use narration in the two episodes prior to the final?  If not why did they do that for the final?

 

Insight anyone...

 

Also, if I am crazy, don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Kinda' hated that they made the 'killer' Tom.  Pretty clear they thought they would get a second season.  If they are picked up - which I doubt - I will be among the missing.

 

I had high hopes for the show at the start, but they faded pretty quickly and I still am not sure why.

[Maelstrom]

And…. it's exactly what we all kinda figured from the start. Sigh. Agree that the cliffhanger ending was annoying. Though I did like the addition of Tennant's daughter, both tonight and in episode 7. But on the whole I'd have to call this finale, and the entire series of Gracepoint, very unsatisfying.

 

Off to watch the Broadchurch season 2 trailer again.

[thuganomics85]

I didn't want to get too much on it in the regular thread, but now that it's over, I have to say that, overall, I vastly preferred Broadchurch over Gracepoint.  I think the only thing that really stood out to me on this version was Tennant's surprisingly good American accent (didn't have any of the blandness that tends to plaque some British actors/actress faking it), and the slight differences between Carver and Hardy from the original.  Overall, I just found Gracepoint's location and scenery lacking, and it's cast and characters underwhelming.  Even the actors I normally love, like Anna Gunn and Nick Nolte, had moments, but I thought just couldn't compare to Olivia Coleman and David Bradley.

 

For me though, I will say the biggest offense was the Solanos vs. the Latimers.  Despite going through the same stuff, I just remember finding the Latimers way more sympathetic and wanting to see them get justice, even Mark.  While I just found the Solanos to be unlikable tools.  Again, that might be an acting thing: Michael Pena was so underwhelming, and Virginia Kull wasn't anywhere close to being in Jodie Whittaker's league.

 

That said, part of me thinks the idea wasn't a bad one, and I'm all for Tennant getting some recognition outside British and/or Doctor Who audiences, but overall, I think it just didn't completely work for me.

[Guest]

Fail for me, too.  I think I'm a 'no' for BC season 2, also.  

 

At least Mark/Pena finally showed some emotion.  He did look pretty mad at Joe. 

[HermitsUnited]

Fail for me, too.  I think I'm a 'no' for BC season 2, also.  

 

At least Mark/Pena finally showed some emotion.  He did look pretty mad at Joe. 

No to Broadchurch season 2 as well? Did you not like either show?

 

Did anyone catch watch Mark shouted at Joe in that scene. There's one line where I have absolutely no idea what he said. He looked super mad though!

[Dust Bunny]

I haven't watched one minute of this show, after having read early reviews and seeing the trailer last summer. I knew it was no Broadchurch, mostly because it would have no situational/contextual meaning or nuance, being simply transferred from one coast to another. 

 

I've been reading the forums all fall, so I feel especially good tonight that I skipped it. I feel for Tennant, because I'm guessing he felt the substandard quality as filming went along. He probably leaped at the chance to get back to Broadchurch 2, where context matters.

[Guest]

No to Broadchurch season 2 as well? Did you not like either show?

I did like Broadchurch but I feel let down by the writers/creators by this adaptation so I'd just prefer to be done with Chibnall.  I like a novel (as in new) murder mystery but I hate that every successful show has to get turned into 7 seasons and re-done ad nauseum.  

 

Make new shows!  I love the mini-series format!  I mean, how many times can we see Bones and Brennan solve a crime, or Castle and Beckett or Jane and Lisbon or Ellie and Alec?  I'm fine with once!  lol

[HermitsUnited]

I did like Broadchurch but I feel let down by the writers/creators by this adaptation so I'd just prefer to be done with Chibnall.  I like a novel (as in new) murder mystery but I hate that every successful show has to get turned into 7 seasons and re-done ad nauseum.  

 

Make new shows!  I love the mini-series format!  I mean, how many times can we see Bones and Brennan solve a crime, or Castle and Beckett or Jane and Lisbon or Ellie and Alec?  I'm fine with once!  lol

Oh yeah, I can understand that actually. Although the trailer for Broadchurch 2 has me excited. Mainly because I wanted to know more about Hardy's background.

 

Strangely, Gracepoint kind of got a little bit more out of their "Hardy" character by having Carver's daughter turn up. You get more closure on Carver's story in Gracepoint than you do for Hardy's story in Broadchurch. But I certainly don't want to simply see Miller and Hardy solving murder mysteries every "season".

 

Apparently the second series isn't solving a murder, so I'm hoping it'll be different. Admittedly, little bit hard to trust given how similar Gracepoint ended up being. I feel like I spent 10 weeks re-watching a lesser version of Broadchurch with a couple of token scenes that mean I can't say they were actually identical. I'm glad Tennant got a chance to go over there and prove he's capable of doing an American accent, but honestly I'm not sure why they didn't just play Broadchurch on the mainstream TV and just make a new American TV show if they liked the idea so much.

 

Ah well. I'll be curious to see if FOX comes out with an announcement regarding the future of the show. They've been oddly silent. And from the way people talk, they're not normally shy about cancelling shows.

[GreyBunny]

Well, that was dumb.  

 

American Beth's "How could you not know?" delivered with all of the intensity and gravitas of Hello Kitty.

 

Olivia Coleman sold her confrontation with her husband, Anna Gunn just made it into a silly slapfest.  Tom accidentally killed his friend while trying to defend him?  Also dumb.  I really hope the American version doesn't get a second season, the British version sounds bad enough.

Edited December 12, 2014 by GreyBunny

[SFoster21]

Well, I just caught up on Gracepoint after letting it slide all fall since most of it was a straight redo of Broadchurch and I found I didn't find most of the scenes very interesting with the different actors.

Having caught up, I think they're keeping Joe as the killer, and the difference will be Ellie's reaction, because they used most of BC's Ellie's reaction with Pierson during the Tom-goes-missing SL: Both Ellies wanted to see the guy, both Ellies promised to keep their shit together, both Ellies proceeded to lose their shit on the guy, both Ellies had to be physically dragged out of the room. GP Ellie didn't get to actually hit and kick Pierson like BC Ellie did Joe, but everything else was essentially the same. The show will have to do something else for GP's Ellie's reaction because it wouldn't have the same power here after we already saw it with Pierson. On GP it worked great and was both powerful and a little shocking because we had never seen Ellie lose it like that.

Plus, the casting of Anna Gunn makes the dynamic so different. No offense to Olivia Colman, and I'm sure part of it was the styling choices Broadchurch made for her, but BC Ellie was several rungs below Joe looks-wise. Of course people don't always marry other people who are as attractive as they are, looks aren't everything, so it's not necessarily a red flag...but you could see where it was something where Ellie had been aware of the disparity and probably been concerned early on, but she eventually relaxed as the marriage continued for years very successfully. So when her husband turned out to be a pedophile, there was that extra layer of humiliation underneath, unspoken but still, a "I was a fool to think this better-looking guy was actually interested in me" vibe.

But this Ellie and Joe don't have that - they're both around the same level of attractiveness. And the underdog thing in general is lacking too - this Ellie seems like everything has always gone very well for her and that she expects life to go very well for her. The other Ellie was happy with her life, but she didn't have the same air of entitlement and expectation - more like she'd been kicked around some and was grateful for the nice life she now had.

I like this analysis, tho I disagree that that actress, Anna Gunn, is it? is as cute as Josh Hartnett.

And, one thing you didn't mention specifically, he is a pedophile attracted to males! which would make any woman question their entire relationship.

[queenanne]

If this show had a bigger audience, Chibnall would clearly become infamous as one of those people who whored out their original creation and integrity once Hollywood backed up the Brinks truck (I'm sometimes surprised people have let Vince Vaughn live down the "Psycho" remake already). 

 

Trying to figure out a tactful way to ask this without spoilers, but did the "nearly identical" (depending upon whom you ask) Broadchurch, also have stuff like detectives waving a hand at anything less than a Class A felony, and proclaiming a body can't be released for a funeral until acres of sand sheaves are sorted through?  If so, how did those things play credibly in England but poorly in America, and not throw viewers right out of the story?  This ties in with my thoughts on Chibnall because of the appalling amounts of time I watched the meandering pointless time-wasting "action" of Gracepoint, and thought "gosh, this is kind of putting me off of trying 'nearly identical' Broadchurch." 

[Vermicious Knid]

A bunch of us guessed the ending even before it started airing, so this was hardly a surprise. I agree everything in the American version felt smaller and flatter. Except Tennant. And they didn't keep "Do I irk you, Miller?" :(. That was one of my favorite lines of the entire series. The maybe!psychic was still pretty useless. I really don't understand the entire extra episode spent on Tom's disappearance in light of him being the killer. He knew the drifter didn't do it. Was he trying to deflect any closer look at his family? There are so many other things they could have explored with the extra time.

 

I've been assuming BC2 will be the inquest into the investigation since it was announced. Why else would they all be together back in town, especially the former cops who don't live or work there anymore. With the murderer being the husband of one of the lead detectives an inquest would be have to held, which is a very different process than in the US.

[MDKNIGHT]

I think in the original the guy hadn't gotten around to molesting the kid either.  But that kind of made the discussion between his wife and him after he'd been found out all the more powerful and creepy in the original.  The wife gets to hear him prattle on about how he "loved" the boy and it was special etc etc till you are kind of relieved she starts beating him up so he'd shut up.  I was deeply disappointed by the scene as enacted in this show. I felt there was so much waisted potential in this show.

 

As a medical professional I couldn't help but be horrified for Tom.  The amount of guilt he must feel and now can never talk about would most likely lead a kid like Tom to suicide.  His mother thinks she's protecting him but in real life she would be destroying him because as someone else pointed out he will forever think his dad is is prison for his "crime" which was not a crime at all.  Dude wants to fall on his sword?  You betcha but have it done right.  Confess to the pedo behavior and clear your son of murder and go to prison for the pedo part and negligence  but don't let your kid take this horror to the grave.  Kids are NOT made to carry around that big a responsibility.  I want both Tom's parents to be punished for even contemplating this plan.

Edited December 12, 2014 by MDKNIGHT

[Guest]

In the original, didn't an innocent Tom delete emails and texts to hide some bullying that he thought might make him look bad?  Or the pheasant poaching thing?  Why was this Tom deleting messages and destroying the laptop?  

 

And why was Tom in Danny's secret email contacts anyway?  It seems like if Joe gave Danny a smart phone just so they could communicate in secret, Danny wouldn't use it to also talk to Tom.

 

Note to self:  If I ever want to secretly cozy up to a child, don't give him/her $500 and a smart phone. 

[izabella]

So my question is - Did they use narration in the two episodes prior to the final?  If not why did they do that for the final?

 

I've never heard any narration on Gracepoint.  However, I know what you're talking about as I randomly tuned in to a couple of Castle re-runs on TBS a month or two ago and I heard the narration.  I believe that is for vision-impaired folks, and it's added like closed-captioning.  I have no idea why it was on my Castle re-runs like that, as I'd never heard it before.  It's probably a software glitch at the cable company that it was turned on for those shows only.

 

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/video-description/

[Maelstrom]

Trying to figure out a tactful way to ask this without spoilers, but did the "nearly identical" (depending upon whom you ask) Broadchurch, also have stuff like detectives waving a hand at anything less than a Class A felony, and proclaiming a body can't be released for a funeral until acres of sand sheaves are sorted through?

My memory may be fuzzy on this, but I seem to recall from Broadchurch that British law states that a body can't be released until the murderer is found, hence the police holding Danny Latimer's body until the finale. I could well have misunderstood/misremembered this, but somehow that's what has stuck in my memory banks. Anyone with a better memory and/or actual British citizens want to clarify?

[alexvillage]

 

My memory may be fuzzy on this, but I seem to recall from Broadchurch that British law states that a body can't be released until the murderer is found

So, are all those victims from Jack the Ripper still frozen in the morgue?

 

 

he is a pedophile attracted to males! which would make any woman question their entire relationship.

The fact that he is attracted to boys (male) is not the key here. The fact that he is attract to pre-pubescent boys is.

She would be questioning the relationship if he was attracted to pre-pubescent girls too

[SFoster21]

Sure she would, but males adds a further wrinkle.

And Danny was barely prepubescent at 11 or 12,

[alexvillage]

 

Sure she would, but males adds a further wrinkle.

This is a false assumption. pedophilia and sexuality are not linked. Th preference for pre-pubescent kids might differ completely from the preference for sexual encounters with adults

[Guest]

Because walking into the copshop and asking to see Carver would have been too dramatic?

 

 

 

 

Carver didn't have Danny's hard drive.  He had tom's hard drive.  The other email account was attached to Danny's phone and they didn't have that until Joe had already given himself up.

 

 

Based on what?

 

The script tries to make sense of the ending by pretending Carver was already on to Joe/Tom.  Nonsense about how he thought it was Joe from the size of the figure running away from the hut.  No, Carver's thin collection of out-of-thin-air deductions voiced right at the end of the series is supposed to cover for nine episodes of nothing on the part of Carver and the cops.

 

Haven't these people seen Murder, She wrote?  It's fine for the heroic crime-solver, at the end of the show, to list out clues they spotted, but the clues must be clues that the audience spotted too, even if they didn't put it all together. 

 

Let's face it.  They could have gone with anyone being the killer, with it easily as believable as Joe/Tom.  They could have said Gemma/Chloe killed him because he found out Chloe was supplying coke for the hotel on a far more regular basis than claimed, and threatened to go to the cops.  That would have been just as easy to do.  It would have had the added benefit that at least the motive had been hinted at earlier.  The $500 could have been a bribe to keep him quiet. 

 

If they had gone with someone else, would you say they left Joe's suspicious behaviour unresolved?  No, because Joe never did anything suspicious.  In fact, the most suspicious thing about him was that in a town where everyone else was acting suspicious, Joe was cast as lily-white from beginning to end!

 

No, this was a rotten ending to a rotten show.  It stinks like roadkill in the rainy season. 

I was confused about how Tom's laptop implicated Joe/Tom too but the emails from Danny's phone were on Tom's laptop. I'm guessing that once the police techies saw Danny's secret email address in Tom's email, they could then go find all Danny's sent mail and read the stuff between him and Joe.  

 

There were viewers of Broadchurch that said the same thing-- there were not enough clues that it was Joe-- and I saw the other day there are web sites that list out the clues.  If you're interested.  

 

Though honestly I think they wrote it more as a short story than a whodunnit, and didn't want people to solve it, really.  If you know the killer, there's no punch to the ending of "how could you not know".  

 

Still pretty bad adaptation, though.  

[SFoster21]

This is a false assumption. pedophilia and sexuality are not linked. Th preference for pre-pubescent kids might differ completely from the preference for sexual encounters with adults

If you say so. News to me; maybe it would be news to the character Ellie as well. I was agreeing with you, if you recall. It seems to me that that would further your thesis, but it's no biggie either way.

[Guest]

My memory may be fuzzy on this, but I seem to recall from Broadchurch that British law states that a body can't be released until the murderer is found, hence the police holding Danny Latimer's body until the finale. I could well have misunderstood/misremembered this, but somehow that's what has stuck in my memory banks. Anyone with a better memory and/or actual British citizens want to clarify?

I think that brits in the old TWOP thread balked at that just as badly as the American viewers did, so I'm guessing it's not a practice at all and was just used for dramatic purposes here.  Though why, I don't know.  The fire ceremony was touching enough, I didn't think the funeral scene added anything necessary.

[mjc570]

The terrible acting on the part of the Solanos really diminished the impact of the conclusion. 

[queenanne]

Thanks for the explanations, that sounds like a very irritating and unsatisfactory (transposition based) process for the writers - make a quarter of a single change, and a whole plot point/logic is shot to hell and loses all its impact/makes no sense, etc.

[Maelstrom]

I think that brits in the old TWOP thread balked at that just as badly as the American viewers did, so I'm guessing it's not a practice at all and was just used for dramatic purposes here.

I suspected as much, since it makes no sense, but thanks for mentioning it! I wish the old TWOP threads were still around for the perusing.

[secnarf]

No to Broadchurch season 2 as well? Did you not like either show?

 

Did anyone catch watch Mark shouted at Joe in that scene. There's one line where I have absolutely no idea what he said. He looked super mad though!

I had to re-watch it about five times, but I think it was something along the lines of "He wasn't yours to take care of" or "He wasn't yours to care for".

[MaryPatShelby]

I had to re-watch it about five times, but I think it was something along the lines of "He wasn't yours to take care of" or "He wasn't yours to care for".

I also rewatched it a few times, then turned on the subtitles (we really shouldn't have to do that for one line, should we?  lol), and you're right.  Joe said something like "I really cared for Danny", and Mark yelled the above line.

[Eozostrodon]

I did like Broadchurch but I feel let down by the writers/creators by this adaptation so I'd just prefer to be done with Chibnall.  I like a novel (as in new) murder mystery but I hate that every successful show has to get turned into 7 seasons and re-done ad nauseum.  

 

Make new shows!  I love the mini-series format!  I mean, how many times can we see Bones and Brennan solve a crime, or Castle and Beckett or Jane and Lisbon or Ellie and Alec?  I'm fine with once!  lol

If it helps any Broadchurch was conceived as a trilogy right from the start (ie like 10 years ago), and won't go beyond 3 seasons. It's a continuation, not another body being found.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Eozostrodon

[Guest]

I guess I don't care enough about the characters to see more of them, without a murder mystery.  

[staveDarsky]

I was able to watch some key scenes from the Gracepoint finale simultaneously with the same ones in Broadchurch. In the Gracepoint scenes, while the same words were often delivered, the pacing was different and the American characters didn't have as much reaction time as the Brits did. That is, the Brits were able to delve a little more emotionally into their parts with almost every line. It was really noticeable with Anna Gunn versus Olivia Colman.  

 

They also cut a BC scene where Mark (Latimer) went to the beach and yelled out to sea -- spewing out his anger and hurt -- before heading to the jail to confront Joe. It was little cuts like these that made me disconnect from the Solanos where I'd been emotionally gutted for the Latimers. It's hard to know if it was the actors' choices in how they delivered the scene or if the writing, direction and editing did the trimming, but overall this is why Gracepoint didn't draw me in to the extent Broadchurch did.

 

In the end, I took to the novelty of comparing the two as the draw for staying with Gracepoint throughout.

[Llywela]

So, are all those victims from Jack the Ripper still frozen in the morgue?

 

I think that brits in the old TWOP thread balked at that just as badly as the American viewers did, so I'm guessing it's not a practice at all and was just used for dramatic purposes here.  Though why, I don't know.  The fire ceremony was touching enough, I didn't think the funeral scene added anything necessary.

There have been plenty of real life murder cases where the body is not released for burial while the investigation remains open and active. It doesn't mean that the body is never released for burial if the murder is not solved, however - if it drags on indefinitely without hope of resolution or if the case is closed unsolved, dispensation for release of the corpse can and will be granted.

[LisaM]

Now that Broadchurch is available on Netflix, I binge watched it over the last two days - right after finishing Gracepoint. (Having not seen Broadchurch first, I actually liked Gracepoint but though it moved too slowly.)

 

IMO, Broadchurch was superior in every way: since it was only 8 episodes instead of 10, it was more concise, moved quicker and didn't veer off into as many red herrings (Tom running away, the priest lusting after Beth). The actors playing Mark and Beth were far better than those in Gracepoint - I really felt their despair and grief in BC whereas they did nothing for me in GP. In particular, Mark's scene at the jail with Joe and crying out at the ocean were very well done. The reporter was more human and less of an asshat in BC. We saw a bit more of Olly as reporter in BC, etc... The priest in Gracepoint came across as smarmy and odd but I didn't get that sense from the priest in BC.

 

My main storyline complaint was the same in both shows: I felt that Joe being a pedophile came out of nowhere and knowing the killer's identity from Gracepoint,  I watched Broadchurch from the beginning with an eye towards seeing if I could find clues about Joe. Nope - nothing.

 

I don't usually watch British crime dramas but Broadchurch drew me in and wouldn't let go. Looking forward to season 2.