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It took roughly 48 hours from when Netflix put up the second season of the British small-town crime drama Broadchurch for TSLF and I to run straight through the long (for the UK) eight-episode arc.
That isn't to say that I didn't go into Season Two without trepidation. Following the breathtaking, sob-inducing finale of the first season--BOTH ARE ON NETFLIX SO WATCH THEM ALREADY--hearing that a second run was coming was a complete shock. As often happens with British shows, they go for a season or two and cease to be a thing because the story has run its course. If there was a show that seemed to have come to a natural end, it was Broadchurch after its first season. If you haven't watched it yet, stop reading this right now, quit your job (or at least leave sick), and park your ass in front of the TV.
As the second season rolled out, it didn't take long to discover that there was much more story to tell. This surprise was delightful, or at least as delightful as a series with such an ability to devastate the viewer can be. There was never any question as to how good David Tennant and Olivia Colman were going to be. They were fantastic the first time around and could be relied upon for another strong second run.
The big question mark was where could the narrative possibly go that could compare to the first season with anything less than disappointment coloring the run? Chris Chibnall went back to the well and pulled up another bucket of what worked the first time around. Of course what worked the first time around was not just the serialized investigation of a murder in a small town but was more how the crime tore through the community. The second season digs in deeper, and it's really quite spectacular.
As further discussion likely hinges upon plot points, I'll stop here, but if you haven't done so, watch Broadchurch. You won't be disappointed.
If you haven't watched but still want something to talk about, what thing that you can remember struck you as something that shouldn't have been made when you first heard of it only to completely surprise you when you saw the finished product.