S03.E08: Episode 8

[formerlyfreedom]

Season Finale -

Kimara advises Dustin to inform the police about the crime that took place in the webcam house, which leads to an unforeseen outcome. Meanwhile, detectives open up a troubling investigation into Clair and Nicholas, who maintain their innocence and contend that Gabrielle is the guilty party. Jeanette must confront and consider the costs and sacrifices of social change.

 

[Armchair Critic]

I figured Jeanette was going to try to get back with her husband, now she will have to toe the line even more now. She has to swallow her pride and stick up for the family's business even though she knew they were wrong.

What a relief that Gabrielle's son got the letters and came for her. I am shocked that Clair wanted to admit the abuse, her husband is such an asshole trying to cover it up. I was worried Gabrielle's son was going to leave her angry, glad that he stood by her.

 So Kimara is going to use the extra money that is earmarked for her job to actually use on IVF? Well I can see how you can turn cynical. Sadly it just seems so futile, the people who run the operations are smart enough to move on before they get caught and some kid like Dustin takes the fall for it.

[Christina]

Hated this episode and found had so many issues with this season and the third and final season of Broadchurch and I'm beginning to wonder if I have expected too much of my favorite shows and the letdown is all my issue.

1 minute ago, Armchair Critic said:

What a relief that Gabrielle's son got the letters and came for her. I am shocked that Clair wanted to admit the abuse, her husband is such an asshole trying to cover it up.

That is exactly the opposite of what I think is the true response in real life, so wonder if I should respect the show for taking it in a different path, or if my disappointment is warranted. Up until that point, I thought the Gabrielle storyline was kept true to life, at least as it relates to friends I had in college that came as au pairs and were taught how to report abuse to the organization, so that they could decide if it required a criminal report, because some things are just a matter of culture and not considered abusive and for those, they wanted to create a safe place for a mediation. Taking of a passport was considered a no-no and taught as such. I thought it was clear all season that the abuse was from Claire not self-inflicted, but some comments here made me think that I needed to give some benefit of the doubt to the storyline.

[mtlchick]

(Oprah like) "YOU get a court date! YOU get a court date! EVERYBODY GETS A COURT DATE!!!!!"

There should have been an explanation WHY Clair did what she did.  At the same time, why Nick felt some strange need to "save" her instead of facing her fate.

I had already tuned out of Jeanette and Kimara's tales last week so for me, this simply wasn't as good as last season.  At least last season I had a sense of anger and disgust and overall felt SOMETHING at the end.  This left me cold. 

[mrsbagnet]

The dynamic in the Hesby family is quite fucked up. The family business is so all-consuming that they must all be of one mind and one action. Laurie Ann is the queen, and they must all do her bidding. When Carson said he'd have to ask Laurie Ann if Jeanette could come back, and I was like "Waah??" Their marriage has nothing to do with Laurie Ann. Except it does. I thought Carson's money was his own, but apparently everything belongs to the family. I wish Jeanette could stand on her own. Honestly, I don't think she would have gotten much in a divorce because Laurie Ann would have prevented it somehow.

Interesting that none of the Hesby's have kids. Why not just sell the business at this point? They are struggling as it is. There are no family members to take it over when Laurie Ann is ready to retire. Carson and JD can't run it.

[Primetimer]

ABC's topical drama ends its third season with some harsh lessons about how tough it is to do anything good ever.

View the full article

[Glade]

That was devastating.  I was really hoping that Kimora was wearing a wire when she was talking to that shelter woman--that maybe she somehow worked out a deal where if she turned her in, Dustin would go free (wishful thinking...)  But no, she was serious about getting more expensive IVF treatments.  I once thought we were going to get a lifetime movie-esque conclusion where Kimora would adopt Shea's baby, but that obviously wasn't in the cards.

I was kind of hoping Claire and her toxic marriage wouldn't appear at all, but as it turns out, Claire's behavior was even worse then we saw.  Her husband was despicable, but then again Claire will do stuff like this to people so I think they were a lot alike really; two abusers getting together to tear up each other and anyone within a three mile radius.

I can't fucking believe Dustin is facing charges, when he was held hostage after the murder took place and was incredibly afraid to talk even days afterwards since who knows if that guy killed the rest of the kids in the house... A traumatic year in juvi/prison and then being released out onto the streets will probably do him in for good. 

I thought the courtroom scene was really powerful in the end, and I though I was hoping for more of Connor Jessup's story, it's nice that he had a clean-shaven cameo in front of that sad, sad speech.  I hope Jeanette's neices don't get caught up in this abusive family farm system someday.

I loved this season, it really touched me in a powerful, personal way. 

Edited May 1, 2017 by Glade

[kjackson106]

Hated this episode and found had so many issues with this season and the third and final season of Broadchurch and I'm beginning to wonder if I have expected too much of my favorite shows and the letdown is all my issue.

  3 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

What a relief that Gabrielle's son got the letters and came for her. I am shocked that Clair wanted to admit the abuse, her husband is such an asshole trying to cover it up.

That is exactly the opposite of what I think is the true response in real life, so wonder if I should respect the show for taking it in a different path, or if my disappointment is warranted. Up until that point, I thought the Gabrielle storyline was kept true to life, at least as it relates to friends I had in college that came as au pairs and were taught how to report abuse to the organization, so that they could decide if it required a criminal report, because some things are just a matter of culture and not considered abusive and for those, they wanted to create a safe place for a mediation. Taking of a passport was considered a no-no and taught as such. I thought it was clear all season that the abuse was from Claire not self-inflicted, but some comments here made me think that I needed to give some benefit of the doubt to the storyline.

I was dense. It never occurred to me it wasn't self-inflicted.

[fountain]

I work with clients in agriculture and for some farms that cannot be easily separated like a dairy barn, the run of the operation is much like the farm on this show.  There is no option to get bought out (because the financing would be hard to get and the loan payments would strain cash flow) the whole farm would have to be sold so if you forced that you would be disowned.  There is no money other than farm money so if you want to give a spouse money you need farm approval.  I help with setting up agreements that help the situation not be so one-sided and fairer so the farm stuff mgt stuff was all too familiar. 

It would have been nice if there was more explanation if the Claire situation.  While I could see what was going on, I never really understood why.  Even on the husbands cold relationship with Nicky, I had been assuming maybe he wasn't Nick's biological son but he was wasn't he?

I was disappointed in Jeannette's sister, all of that and she uses again.

I thought the cases started out interesting this season but finished kind of blah.  Past seasons I was really upset about how crime affected so many people but this season I didn't feel that.

[sugarbaker design]

10 hours ago, mrsbagnet said:

Interesting that none of the Hesby's have kids.

Mother Nature at her best.  

1 hour ago, fountain said:

It would have been nice if there was more explanation if the Claire situation.

Seriously, and not a facial movement at all from the husband after Clare confesses to pouring scalding water on the nanny.  No look of distaste or revulsion?

[tennisgurl]

I feel bad about saying this, because there was a lot of great and memorable moments this season, but this season really pales in comparison to the last two seasons. I think the season was hurt by both the shorter season, and the lack of focus in the storylines. Most of them were totally unconnected, and the ones I was most invested in, the accountant trying to find his son among the Mexican migrants, and Shea and the trafficked kids, were ended pretty early and abruptly. I didn't really care about Kimora getting pregnant, nor about Jeanette trying to find a life outside of her marriage. They were well acted, and I liked when the characters tied into the main stories and how they ended, more or less, but the stories were the least interesting to me, but were the only ones we really had throughout the whole season.

I think the story with Clair, Nick, and Gabbi could have been a lot better if I understood why Clair was doing what she did. Its implied that she was abusing Gabbi because she was unhappy with her husband, but its a pretty big leap between "my husband is a jerk" to "I'm gaslighting and burning the skin off of my nanny for shits and giggles", and I would have liked to have more context. Then she seemed to feel bad at the end? I just didn't get it. That's a big issue I had with the season, I think. It had so many plots and characters, and had such a short season, I feel like we didn't really get to know anyone very well, so the season, while certainly moving, didn't really have that emotional punch that the last few seasons had.

Its just such bullshit that Dustin is going to get sent to jail. The poor kid tried to do the right thing, and he gets totally screwed over for it. Its clear that the prosecutors knew they couldn't find the pimp who was actually at fault, or the girl who did it (as she's disappeared with the rest of the trafficked kids) so they just decided to throw the one person they had under the bus to say that they did something, even if it was some poor abused kid who was clearly scared and isolated, and had nothing to do with the death of Shea. I hope the judge realizes that, but even then, what would happen to him next? Where else would he go? They've established how hard it is to get into shelters, especially for boys, so even if he doesn't go to jail, he might just end up in the same situation as before, or worse, or killed for talking. How depressing. I guess we should hold onto Gabbi going free and getting some justice. Thank God they finally found someone who spoke French, and they got that information to some cops who actually believed her and looked into her story. I did enjoy seeing the increasingly horrified expression on Clair's face as the cop poked holes in her story, and then when Nick saw them pulling Gabbis passport out of the safe.

I don't think the season was bad or anything, and there are just SO MANY tragic stories to be told when it comes to the many forms of human trafficking in the US, and I think its an extremely important and overlooked topic, I just wish this season had been more focused. Its like they had too many stories, they wanted to tell all of them, and in doing so, they half assed them.

[mrsbagnet]

11 hours ago, fountain said:

Even on the husbands cold relationship with Nicky, I had been assuming maybe he wasn't Nick's biological son but he was wasn't he?

No, he wasn't. Clair used a sperm donor.

[Medicine Crow]

Totally agree with all of your post @tennisgurl.  You stated it so well!!!

[tennisgurl]

Oh @Medicine Crow your making me blush :)

[nutty1]

I am actually in the minority here. I thought the last episode was done so well. Better than all the other episodes from this season  put together. I thought quite a few loose ends got tied up, more than past seasons. Felicity Huffman and Regina King figured if you can't fight 'em, join them and use them to your advantage. Gabrielle got to be with her son and Lily Thomas actually admitted her guilt. I only felt sorry for Dustin. I love the courtroom scenes at the end and the deceased cast being shown. 

I wish Connor Jessup could have been in the episode. 

[Madding crowd]

I agree that this last episode did a good job especially with the ending of the various characters appearing in court. Overall though, I think this is the weakest season. The stories were never tied together in a cohesive way for me and rather than representing the normal in each case, they too often went to exceptional cases. Gabrielle was meant to represent the au pair/nannies who come to the country and are mistreated. Yet, only a psychotic person would actually pour boiling water on a human being. The real situation would far more likely be yelling, withholding food or pay, holding the person's passport etc. Of course Psychotic people exist in the world-but most of us are not likely to be the victim of one and probably can't anticipate that a loving wife and mother has a hobby of torture on the side. 

The story with Jeanette was another one. If they wanted to show the effects of divorce on a woman who hasn't worked for 20 plus years, they should have chosen a blue collar or middle class couple. I don't believe for a minute that Jeanette could not have found a lawyer to get her awarded a sizable sum of money to live the rest of her life and take care of her nieces. Even if they considered it hush money. I understand the farm was family business, but I don't believe the brothers would let their sister own their houses and every penny of their money-just not realistic. And having to ask the sister in law if you are allowed to stay married to her brother? Certainly not a normal thing whatsoever. If they wanted to be realistic they should have shown a couple where the man doesn't make enough to support two households, there are children to support and the mom can't get a decent paying job. 

Other cases where I thought the message was muddled: Shea was perhaps forced into prostitution, but she was also given a place in a shelter and made the decision to leave it for the sex house. Of course, her story was a tragedy, but it was not without the element of some person choice. Jeanette's sister who went to jail: she made the choice to take the drugs. I don't agree with drug testing necessarily, but she still made a choice which jeopardized her children. And lastly: Adding the talented actor Connor Jessop to the cast didn't make much sense to me. We know so little about his character and  it seems very unlikely he would be working as a migrant picker, and his story just kind of ended. 

In the end, even Regina King's character was jaded and nothing really was learned. It was good that Clair was arrested, but now her son is with a ragaholic who hates him. Of course the first two seasons were very bleak, but the storylines felt less scattered and I felt we knew the characters better.

[HeyThere83]

I enjoyed the finale. It's really too bad that not that many people watch this show, especially this season.

Kudos to the actors for some stellar work.

[NorthstarATL]

The show giveth and the show taketh away. I was elated when FINALLY it looked as if Claire would face justice and when Kimora realized that Cassie=Shea! And then they go and arrest the kid who revealed the murder??? Geez! Way to show that no good deed goes unpunished! (Wasn't the kid a minor, though? A minor is not held to the same standards as an adult, though I am sure this show would give him a public defender who was hooked on Oxy or something.) And then Claire blames her behavior on her husband??? I hope someone realizes how lucky her son is that he wasn't alone with her 24/7, or she'd be taking her problems out on him. Horrible people. No love for the season from me.

[nutty1]

I am still hoping.....

http://www.ibtimes.com/american-crime-be-renewed-season-4-after-impressive-season-3-finale-ratings-2533144

[ErinV]

On 4/30/2017 at 11:18 PM, mtlchick said:

(Oprah like) "YOU get a court date! YOU get a court date! EVERYBODY GETS A COURT DATE!!!!!"

There should have been an explanation WHY Clair did what she did.  At the same time, why Nick felt some strange need to "save" her instead of facing her fate.

I had already tuned out of Jeanette and Kimara's tales last week so for me, this simply wasn't as good as last season.  At least last season I had a sense of anger and disgust and overall felt SOMETHING at the end.  This left me cold. 

I think Clair was just taking out her anger on Gabrielle, simple as that.  It was implied that these abuse situations tended to happen after she got in an arguemtn with her husband. 

And, I think her husband wasn't so much trying to save her as save HIS reputation.  He made some comment like "do you know how much damage this will cause".

On 5/1/2017 at 10:43 AM, sugarbaker design said:

Mother Nature at her best.  

 

hahahaa!  yes.

[ErinV]

Ugh I was NOT prepared for that bodybag scene.

Jeannette...you had no kids to take care of.  What did you do for 20+ years if you didn't work?

UO but I do not think Connor Jessup is a good actor.  I think he overacts, and uses all the same facial expressions, etc that he did in Season 2. 

[roughing it]

Clair was desperate to have her husband show some fatherly interest in "her" son.  So I believe her motivation to abusing Gabrielle was exactly as it panned out - that she would go to jail and Nick would be forced to care for Nicky. 

25 minutes ago, ErinV said:

Jeannette...you had no kids to take care of.  What did you do for 20+ years if you didn't work?

Cooked, cleaned, got groceries, laundry...you know, those things that working folk have to cram into their weekends.

[gunderda]

At the end where they showed the deceased... The one was the farm hand that was shot, then Shay, then who was the other guy? 

I think it ended rather abruptly but I think that's their purpose with this show.  Nothing is ever wrapped in a neat little bow but in real life most things never are. 

[PQuinn]

That was Teo - Luis's son and the body we saw in the opening shot of the season.

[gunderda]

7 minutes ago, PQuinn said:

That was Teo - Luis's son and the body we saw in the opening shot of the season.

ahhh thank you!

[roughing it]

All three were left floating in the river.

[Neurochick]

4 hours ago, roughing it said:

All three were left floating in the river.

You are correct.  And that was the very first shot of this season, a body floating in the river.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Neurochick

[Glade]

21 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

 

Shea was perhaps forced into prostitution, but she was also given a place in a shelter and made the decision to leave it for the sex house. Of course, her story was a tragedy, but it was not without the element of some person choice. Jeanette's sister who went to jail: she made the choice to take the drugs. I don't agree with drug testing necessarily, but she still made a choice which jeopardized her children. And lastly: Adding the talented actor Connor Jessop to the cast didn't make much sense to me. We know so little about his character and  it seems very unlikely he would be working as a migrant picker, and his story just kind of ended. 

Shea and the other trafficked kids (we can include Connor Jessup's character in that pool) came from backgrounds of extreme abuse that landed them on the streets and prey to trafficking.  The shelter that Shea was in was pretty shit (not to mention the corruption going on)--forcing her into religious services, not letting her have a phone and periodically lecturing her about how undeserving she was of even having a bed there; she had to fight to even get an abortion when she wanted it.  The fate of the boy who came forward about the murder in the cam-house also says a lot about whether she should have had faith in the system.  So yeah, given how fucked up and underfunded the system was, she was lured into another trafficking situation.  I blame that on the system, there should be something better in place then crowded shelters that alienate and exclude people in need even if they are accepted.  Housing is a human right, it's not a charity, especially when we're talking about kids who have been exploited and abused.  Abused and traumatized kids who aren't being helped and can't trust the system can't be expected to make "good choices" all the time.  Personally, I don't need people to be 'pristine' in order to empathize and hate how they're being treated. 

As for Jeanette's sister, I'm fine with her losing her kids, but drug addiction is a medical problem, it should not be treated criminally, neither does prison time cure drug addiction, so I really don't think she should be sent to jail for it.  The war on drugs has given the U.S. the largest prison population in the world, and it's something that needs to change regardless of whether you personally like every drug user in the country.  Young homeless drug addicts like Connor Jessup's character are likely to wind up in all sorts of messed up/abusive situations, so I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, we saw how the farmhand who hired him was under pressure from Lori to recruit any workers he could find, so he made a decision that many around him thought odd. 

[Madding crowd]

I never said anything about people being pristine or having any kind of faith in the system. My post was entirely about how the information was presented on the show. I don't need a lecture on social responsibility. I still don't believe Shea's story is one of sex trafficking but rather one of having limited choices. The shelter may have been crappy but she still made the choice to leave it and was not enslaved by sex traffickers until she chose the web cam house to make money.I know several people including myself who were homeless as teens/ young adults and I understand it is hard to find a way out.

[mrsbagnet]

6 hours ago, roughing it said:

All three were left floating in the river.

Isaac was dumped in the river, too? I didn't remember that. I thought Luis just left him dead where he shot him.

Quote

Ugh I was NOT prepared for that bodybag scene.

That was shockingly realistic, or at least appeared to be.

Edited May 3, 2017 by mrsbagnet

[TheRabbi]

I let the whole season build up on my recorder and then plowed through it over the past week. That was a lot of depression to go through so quickly. Maybe once a week is better.

I thought this season was ok, but just very uneven. Maybe it needed a central 'hook' like s1's murder or s2's rape allegation, but everything seemed to be going it's own direction. I never really cared much for Felicity Huffman's storyline, and that dominated the second half of the season. I would have rather stayed with Benito Martinez's story and the young drug addict who got beaten up on the farm. But I suppose maybe you can only take that story in so many directions. The lack of focus is even more perplexing since it was a shorter season than the others.

The performances as usual were amazing. All of the regulars, plus the girl who played Shay were fantastic. And contrary to many, I LOVE this show's directing style of close-ups and long single shots where the speaker may even be off-screen. Its just so different than most of the schlock you'll see on tv, especially network tv, that it's engaging, fascinating, and almost it's own character.

If there's another season (unlikely I know), I'd rather it get back to telling a more singular story.

Edited May 10, 2017 by TheRabbi

[TerryH821]

On 5/1/2017 at 4:18 PM, tennisgurl said:

I feel bad about saying this, because there was a lot of great and memorable moments this season, but this season really pales in comparison to the last two seasons. I think the season was hurt by both the shorter season, and the lack of focus in the storylines. Most of them were totally unconnected, and the ones I was most invested in, the accountant trying to find his son among the Mexican migrants, and Shea and the trafficked kids, were ended pretty early and abruptly. I didn't really care about Kimora getting pregnant, nor about Jeanette trying to find a life outside of her marriage. They were well acted, and I liked when the characters tied into the main stories and how they ended, more or less, but the stories were the least interesting to me, but were the only ones we really had throughout the whole season.

I think the story with Clair, Nick, and Gabbi could have been a lot better if I understood why Clair was doing what she did. Its implied that she was abusing Gabbi because she was unhappy with her husband, but its a pretty big leap between "my husband is a jerk" to "I'm gaslighting and burning the skin off of my nanny for shits and giggles", and I would have liked to have more context. Then she seemed to feel bad at the end? I just didn't get it. That's a big issue I had with the season, I think. It had so many plots and characters, and had such a short season, I feel like we didn't really get to know anyone very well, so the season, while certainly moving, didn't really have that emotional punch that the last few seasons had.

Its just such bullshit that Dustin is going to get sent to jail. The poor kid tried to do the right thing, and he gets totally screwed over for it. Its clear that the prosecutors knew they couldn't find the pimp who was actually at fault, or the girl who did it (as she's disappeared with the rest of the trafficked kids) so they just decided to throw the one person they had under the bus to say that they did something, even if it was some poor abused kid who was clearly scared and isolated, and had nothing to do with the death of Shea. I hope the judge realizes that, but even then, what would happen to him next? Where else would he go? They've established how hard it is to get into shelters, especially for boys, so even if he doesn't go to jail, he might just end up in the same situation as before, or worse, or killed for talking. How depressing. I guess we should hold onto Gabbi going free and getting some justice. Thank God they finally found someone who spoke French, and they got that information to some cops who actually believed her and looked into her story. I did enjoy seeing the increasingly horrified expression on Clair's face as the cop poked holes in her story, and then when Nick saw them pulling Gabbis passport out of the safe.

I don't think the season was bad or anything, and there are just SO MANY tragic stories to be told when it comes to the many forms of human trafficking in the US, and I think its an extremely important and overlooked topic, I just wish this season had been more focused. Its like they had too many stories, they wanted to tell all of them, and in doing so, they half assed them.

Wow!!  You said everything I was thinking.  I couldn't agree more!!