What’s Worth Watching: Emotional Disorder in the Broadchurch Court

Broadchurch, “Episode 6,” Wednesday, April 8, 10/9c, BBC America

The temperature is rising in the Broadchurch courtroom as this emotionally devastating mystery drama nears the end of its second season (only two episodes to go until the April 22 finish). Seems every time someone takes the witness stand, someone else’s life begins to unravel. The stakes are especially high when Tom (Adam Wilson), the young son of Detective Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman), offers to give testimony in his father Joe’s (Matthew Gravelle) murder trial. The boy’s agenda will have a mighty impact on his own family situation with his estranged mother, while also threatening to shatter the fragile bonds holding together the still-grieving Latimer family.

When it’s time for Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) to tell his side of things, wife Beth (Jodie Whittaker) is unprepared for the fallout, and it’s up to Ellie to comfort her: “We won’t let [Joe] win,” she insists. But as ruthless defense attorney Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) continues to hammer away at a “fundamentally flawed investigation littered with errors,” viewers are forgiven if they harbor reasonable doubt that this season will get a happy ending with justice for all.