Broadchurch

An extract from a Danish gem in eight parts putting its money on melodrama instead of Scandi raw and rainy stylization. Which, in view of the theme, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad, but here we get those soundless, slow-motion shots with pretentiously touching/dramatic music or shooting against the setting sun so often that it gets tedious. The greatest difficulty is the concept itself; since they bet everything on the down-to-earth, psychological aspect which, instead of crime and its investigation (which is good, because you can deduce “who and why" beyond all doubt very early on and in fact the crime aspect of the series simply doesn’t work), focuses on the impact on the family of the bereaved and their surroundings and the consequences of the tragedy and coming to terms with it within the community, it is essential to have excellently written, three-dimensional characters who can stand up to being put under the microscope. And it has to be excellently cast. And although a few characters fit the bill, not all of them do by a long chalk. And those who come out of this the best remain merely characters; not one of them is a “alive" as the Birk Larsens in the Danish original mentioned above. The strongest aspect of the series is the genius loci of the village of Broadchurch. (22/05/2013)

Barely average as a crime series, excellent as a psychological drama. I was struck by how incredibly tense the atmosphere was, built on the perfectly portrayed psychology of the characters. Plus, the investigative tandem was an interesting choice of actors. Especially David Tennant gives a convincing performance. For the most part, the series doesn’t play on the viewers’ emotions, only at the very end do things slightly get out of hand. At one point I worried that Sauron had decided to attack Minas Tirith again. I was pleasantly surprised by the second season. I was expecting more murders to be solved to compete with Midsomer Murders. Instead, the story is split into two plotlines. The first one deals with the trial of Danny's killer and the second finally explains what happened at Sandbrook. The second season seems to be handled better than the first. Plus, the character of Ellie Miller gets more screen time, which is definitely not a bad thing. (21/10/2016)

As a detective story it’s a little fail, because it uses a typical "cowardly candlestick model", it piles up distracting motifs, and you will only guess the killer if you involve experiences with a similar genre tactic in the game. Which I didn't really want to do, as I had hoped that this maneuver would be avoided by the creators. The construction of the figures, the level of episodic storylines and the concept of the main characters is at a higher level, and so is the elaboration, which uses rich color and light contrasts, gloomy half-details for the characters in the bleak landscape, and asymmetrical framing. Yes, Wallander and the Nordic detective story come to mind thanks to the model of the detective plot and the hidden motive. Broadchurch is at its best through its own unique aspects - a well-drawn community, a turbulent level of overly peaceful lives, ambiguous work with an incest motif and, above all, excellent detectives who honor the Nordic antisocial model, but also translate it interestingly into somewhat more sentimental island notes. Tennant's rat face is an exact match, as is the run-of-the-mill face of Olivia Colman. In the end, I get the irrefutable impression that Broadchurch works as a drama a little better than The Killing (above all, it is not looking for its own identity as much and offers more interesting perspectives on the psychological and the social level - media, community), but as a detective story it managed to assume its shortcomings in eight parts. The evasion is unfortunate, even if it is clearly defined by the format. Even so, I’ve moved into that town emotionally up to my ears. [85%] (26/01/2014)