Hi everyone, slowly inching my way through Broadchurch, rolling the S3:E5 recap after the break!

Laura Benson (Kelly Gough) ended last episode with the verbal equivalent of a dropped bomb: she was raped two years ago, and the MO is eerily similar to what happened to Trish Winterman (Julie Hesmondhalgh).

Detectives Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and Alec Hardy (David Tennant) ask questions as Laura tells her story; the attack happened almost two years ago, also on a Saturday night. She was walking home from a pub at 3:30 in the morning and was assaulted exactly the same way as Trish. She also remembered the smell of cheap spirits. The only good news is that Laura kept her clothes from that night! She washed them but she didn’t wear them again, there could be evidence!

I’m on record as suspecting that Axehampton homeowner. At the risk of oversharing, I will say that I was once assaulted walking home from the pub, only I was able to kick my way out and I tangentially knew the person. Walking home from pubs in the middle of the night is not to be taken lightly in this day and age, unfortunately. I know that the onus isn’t on women to assume that every place isn’t safe, it’s just very difficult to come back from once it hasn’t been safe.

She didn’t report because, well, the usual

After all, she had been drinking and was wearing a short skirt and makeup; how is a reasonable person supposed to understand that she didn’t want to be knocked down and violently assaulted?

She’s only reporting now because she feels responsible for what happened to Trish; I waited a whole beat for Ellie or Alec to chime in and say: no, only the rapist is responsible for what he did, but nothing. Get back to me, you lot.

Laura takes them to where it happened, it’s the field above, all wheatkings and the ugliness now shading this open field. They bring her home and thank her for being brave and stepping forward and assure her that they will investigate as robustly as a brand new case. Can they investigate all assaults, ever? Please?  Does she have any support? A husband of only six weeks, she’s worried about telling him.

Trish and her daughter Leah (Hannah Millward) are waiting at the beach for Jim Atwood (Mark Bazeley); Leah doesn’t like it and she wishes her mum wouldn’t. Jim and Trish have a tense conversation about telling Jim’s wife Cath (Sarah Parish), who’s also Trish’s best friend (we can assume that’s not EXACTLY true) that they slept together. So far they’re only owning up to once, but I sincerely doubt that’s the case.

There’s a much different vibe from Trish this morning than we’ve seen so far; she’s almost…insolent? Anyway, she wants to tell Cath, ignoring Jim’s advice to the contrary.

Cath does sound like a handful, that’s for sure. Plus she’s kind of an ahole.

DC Katie Harford (Georgina Chapman – seriously, she can start impressing me any time) has found a connection between creepy Aaron Mayford (Jim Howick) and BOTH victims, she very much wants to be in on that questioning, given that he did his level best to intimidate her last time.

Ellie and Katie go to the Mayford residence; Katie asking Aaron to come in for questioning. At his refusal, she arrests him forthwith. This was a bad look for Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong

Because it means she must be wrong.

Alec takes DNA from Aaron at the station (wouldn’t they have that when he became a registered sex offender?); he laments the laziness of the police arresting the local rapist for a rape that happened locally. Barring fancy twisty TV shows, aren’t most crimes that straightforward?

Now it’s time for formal questioning and the dismantling of Aaron’s alibi. There is no CCTV footage of his car on the route he swears he took that night, let’s get to the rest of it.

I think we’ll find he’s cheating on his poor doormat of a wife, I just don’t buy him as a sneak rapist. He gets off on control and people KNOWING they’re at his mercy.

They lead him carefully down the path, Aaron gradually gets less smug and more careful in his answers as they connect the dots between Aaron, the town Laura was in and the farm shop. It looks bad for Aaron but I can smell the scarlet herring from here, maybe it’s the dozen mackerel he swears he took out of the sea that night.

Cath is over stocking up Trish’s cupboards on Ed’s behalf, it’s truth time! Trish doesn’t waste much time, getting right into her and Jim having sex. Cath takes a moment to process.

Then the insults fly fast and thick; “Christ, his standards have slipped”, references made to Trish’s place smelling like mildew, and so on and so forth. Cath is exactly perfect as a frustrated spouse dealing with a betrayal on two fronts, she doesn’t care that Trish was trying to prevent her finding out from the police, because they’re mates. Coldness drips “oh no no no, love, we aren’t mates. We just know each other.”

Cath spends most of her venom on attacking Trish where she’s the most vulnerable, bringing up the party, and perpetuating the myth that rape is about who’s the most attractive. Like it’s an honour or accomplishment to be chosen.

I told you Cath was an ahole. Trish’s had enough and kicks her out.

Cath calls Jim, who’s not to come home that night. You know what Jim’s weakness is? He’s stupid but thinks he’s smart. Cath can set fire to his life whenever she wants.

I never understand why deeply unhappy women stay married to men who are scumbags.

Beth Lattimer’s (Jodie Whittaker) supervisor is at her house for a checkin; Beth’s struggling a bit with the details of how Trish was attacked. Sahana (Sunetra Sarker) listens and I know before she says anything that she’s heard this before. Or at least recognises the MO.

Ellie, Katie and Alec are reviewing the evidence from Aaron’s house, lotsa porn but not a single mackerel, they never eat it. So why would he lie about something they could check?

Katie pouts. For real! She POUTED!

Sahana and Beth are at the police station; there was indeed a woman who received care but didn’t report to the police. Sahana will ask if she will talk now, that there are other victims and the chances of prosecution are better.

This new victim clears Aaron Mayford, which greatly disappoints Ellie and Katie. Alec gets it, he does! But there isn’t enough evidence to hold him and the timing is completely off for the third woman.

I will say; you know who hangs around after parties and pubs? Cab drivers. Some of them even have trophy drawers!

Ian’s (Charlie Higson) new relationship isn’t going well; Sarah’s kicked him out and he’d like to rent one of Ed’s (Lenny Henry) caravans out back. Ed takes a minute to laugh at Ian’s fall from grace and then denies him a caravan. Screw you, Ian! You messed about Ed’s beloved Trish and he wouldn’t be surprised if Ian raped her, either!

Beth went stumping for Reverend Coates (Arthur Darvill) to Trish, this is the single most distressed vicar I’ve ever seen. He’s super upset Trish won’t see him, but he compliments Beth on her turning around the horrible death of her son Danny into this ability to help people. HE ENVIES HER. I mean.

She goes feral when he suggests she try to reign in her estranged husband Mark (Andy Buchan); she’s not responsible for his choices! She can’t talk him out of it anyway and she’s DONE! “You can’t rescue someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”

Maggie (Carolyn Pickles) has brought Mark over a bunch of letters for Danny, are those from Joe Miller? Damn. She asks a LOT of questions about the trip he’s clearly packing for, jeez Maggie, at least TRY to be subtle.

He finishes packing after she leaves, and come on! Don’t bring one of your own tools as a weapon! Do you not watch excellent English dramas set in the north? For the love of. I hope he drives a recognisable work van too, oh good.

Ellie and Alec are questioning Danielle Lawrence (Ines De Clercq) about hers and boyfriend Leo Humphries’ whereabouts on the night in question. She’s obviously been prepped, so they get nowhere, I love Ellie’s little addendum about Danielle coming in to sign a statement.

That smile!

Hey there’s our cabbie! Clive Lucas (Sebastian Armesto) is heading out, not eating with his family. Michael (Deon Lee-Williams) snorts in a Very Angry Teenage Boy way, but Lindsay’s (Becky Brunning) is just disappointed. He saw her cooking! But no, he hasn’t seen her, not for a long time. That was COLD. He leaves.

Alec gets home to find Chloe Lattimer (Charlotte Beaumont) sitting with his daughter Daisy (Hannah Rae). She leaves and Alec finally finds out why those young men were coming around to see her. Someone went through her phone and sent a (presumably sexy) photo around to everyone at school. The boys won’t leave her alone and I can just guess what the girls are doing. She wants to leave Broadchurch; her dad has been even LESS available than usual and that wasn’t supposed to be the plan.

Danielle calls Leo (Chris Mason) to get her pat on the head for lying for him, that’s three favours she’s done for him now. She’ll meet him Thursday, it’ll be something expensive. Then he jumps in Clive’s taxi because Clive knows where to go.

Cath’s having a bit of a crisis; she asks Ed if he’d like to sleep with her if he didn’t know her? I’d say yes, until she opened her mouth. Ahole. Anyway, sorry, she’s feeling low because of Jim and Trish shagging, which she tells Ed.

Oh man

That wasn’t a good choice, Cath. Not for Trish OR Jim. He’s proper aghast, what was Trish THINKING? He’s the worst consoler ever. Cath’s so hurt by all this, why can’t people just fall in love and stay that way forever?  I can answer that, Cath! People change over time, nobody stays the same, and if you don’t have enough in common, you can’t change and grow with someone. Plus, I’m pretty sure she hates her husband.

Jim’s had a breakdown on the side of the road so he calls the ONE taxi in town, hey Clive! After making fun of the town tow truck needing a tow, he pumps Jim for information about Trish’s rape and hey, he saw Jim and Trish having “an intense chat” at the party. Jim’s had enough of this sparkling innuendo; pull over, mate. He chokes Clive with his own seatlbelt while threatening his family and pets (PETS?). Keep in out of the papers, Clive. If you know what’s good for you.

Hey, maybe Cath and Jim are a good match after all!

Mark’s found Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle), who is working as a guard at a prison, it looks like. That really startled me, until I realised that technically: he got off. He was acquitted of Danny Lattimer’s murder, even know everyone knew he did it.

That’s another piece of information they’ll be able to tie you to this, Mark, having that private detective get you Joe’s location.

Ellie and Alec are looking over a map at his place; what if the attacks aren’t geographically linked, but rather related by date? As in a seasonal worker OR A PERSON WHO OWNS A SUMMER AXEHAMPTON HOUSE THAT HE LETS PERIODICALLY.

Oh look who’s on the phone! Arthur Tamworth (Richard Hope) of Axehampton House. His dog has found something.

I may be being led down the garden path with my Arthur suspicion, he just seemed far too forthcoming the first time he was interviewing, not that Katie noticed. *sniff*

Ed sits ad broods and sits and broods until suddenly, he snatches up his keys and is off. $5 says he’s going to see Trish or Jim. Woot! It’s Jim, gimme five bucks! Ed doesn’t waste any time beating the shite out of him with nary a single word spoken.

Arthur’s dog found an old sock, that’s useful! Hey, guess who uses socks exactly like that? Leo Humphries and his entire football team! Brilliant! We’re out to watching Ian break into Trish’s house, he REALLY wants that computer for a couple of hours, doesn’t he?

So. We’ve got more and less suspects; I’m not sure what the point of those football socks are; how would that tie into seasonal months? Perhaps young Leo was at school and then home for summers? We could probably make that work

Jim is once again falling into that trap that people do with rape; his defense is: why would I rape Trish? I could have sex with her whenever I wanted to! But this rape isn’t about sex; lots of rapists have loads of sex (Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka come to mind, of course); its about power and creating fear and control and taking something elemental from people, in this case: women. Anyone can have sex, if they try hard or pay enough. Rape is something else entirely.

I knew Aaron was a wrong ‘un, but also not our man; I’m not as certain about Clive. They showed us his trophy drawer early on, which means it can’t symbolise what we think it does. Jim was a non-starter for me, I think everything shared about him has been about his and Cath’s marriage. Cath is a right piece of work; I tried really hard to sympathise, but she’s just such an ahole.

Ian…I don’t know about Ian. I sincerely doubt it, to be honest, even with the surgical scrub on his clothing from the party. Until next time, you guys, cheers.