Yahoo News Broadchurch: 8 questions and theories after episode 5
Well, that was a nasty, nasty episode. Last night's Broadchurch featured some truly appalling behaviour from some of the town's residents – and more than a dash of violence – as Miller (Olivia Colman) and Hardy (David Tennant) found their net widening once more.
Laura Benson's recollections of her attack two years ago made for a grim and unsettling listen, with Kelly Gough delivering one of the most memorable and affecting performances of the series so far, while Jim Howick was deeply disturbing as fishy Aaron Mayford.
Alongside these two fascinating and compelling performances, the episode also delivered a ton of intrigue and a whole heap of questions.
1. Were Laura and Trish attacked by a young man?
Laura described her attacker as smelling like "cheap spirits" and this chimes with Trish's memory of smelling vodka during her own attack. This still rules out shopkeeper Burnett (Lenny Henry), unless he's drinking on the sly, but perhaps this points, again, to a more youthful attacker. We all know teens love cheap booze, right?
2. Why are the Atwoods just so insensitive and horrible to Trish?
First of all, Jim offers no sympathy or words of comfort to Trish (Julie Hesmondhalgh). Weren't they supposed to be friends (not to mention lovers)?
And if that weren't enough, Jim's wife Cath (Sarah Parish) manages to gazump her hubby's rudeness with a couple of horrifyingly awful comments to her one-time friend, including the excruciatingly nasty, "Of all the women at that party, why would somebody rape you?"
Speaking of Cath...
3. What does Cath have on Jim?
In a lovely chat with her equally lovely husband, Cath seems to indicate she has some juicy goss on Jim. "I could set fire to your life whenever I choose," she spits. Well, that's unsettling.
4. Is Aaron Mayford telling the truth about Laura?
Well, technically we think so. When the convicted rapist is asked if he's ever met Laura Benson, who worked at a company Mayford had dealings with, Aaron says no; he's never met Laura Benson. That's because Laura wasn't married until recently and so would have had a different surname. And we're betting Aaron is fully aware of this. The slimy devil.
5. Why is Ian breaking into his wife's house in the middle of the night?
Simple one this: he's going to get his laptop. A few episodes back, Ian (Charlie Higson) contacted his daughter requesting to get it back. We also know there's something on that laptop he wants deleted (with a little help from his detestable mate, Leo Humphries).
But surely we can't be the only people to be thinking Ian's midnight visit is mightily ill-advised?
6. Will Mark Latimer kill Joe Miller?
Finally, the original villain of Broadchurch returns! Mark (Andrew Buchan) has found the man who killed his son, Danny. The bereaved father takes the long journey north to Liverpool, tooled up and ready to exact revenge. Well, let's hope so anyway.
7. Tamworth's dog found a sock, but the police didn't?
Arthur Tamworth's dog seems to have found a vital piece of evidence on the grounds of his Axehampton House. As revealed by other victims, a sock was used during the attack. But how come the police didn't uncover this during their search?
Speaking of that sock…
8. Leo looks a bit guilty, doesn't he?
As the denouement revealed, Leo Humphries not only wears a very similar (if not the same) sock to the one found at Axehampton House but he has access to many, many pairs of them due to his football antics.
He also has his girlfriend covering up his whereabouts at the time of Trish's attack. But to quote DI Hardy, just because he's an arsehole, that doesn't mean he's a rapist.
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