No Broadchurch series two hasn't really moved on geographically, or in any other sense.
Judging by the opener, it's largely shaping up as an extension of series one -- less of a whodunnit and more of a whyhedunnit and possibly a whohelpedhimdunnit.
The first big surprise of episode one, after the cryptic but undoubtedly clue-ridden opening titles, was Danny's confessed killer, Joe Miller -- husband of long-suffering Detective Ellie Miller -- alarming everyone by pleading not guilty.
So it looks like the upcoming seven episodes won't be spending quite so much time on the beach but in a courtroom drama with the show's new biggish name stars, Charlotte Rampling and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Queen's Counsels with bad blood between them.
In their few scenes, they sure made their presence felt as they respectively took on the respective roles of prosecutor and defence.
But scenes where various characters tried to persuade Rampling's retired Joceyln Knight to take the case against the Miller felt a questionable contrivance -- would the prosecution in high-profile child murder case with police connections need a recruitment drive? And one involving the victim's parents?
This first episode did some worryingly soap opera things too. Like have the Aussie hotel owner Becca Fisher, whose fling with the dead boy's dad Mark Latimer gave him an alibi in series one, show how she's moved on -- by snogging vicar Paul Coates outside the courthouse.
That was after she attended Miller's dock appearance where her presence wasn't appreciated by the brittle, grieving and now heavily pregnant Beth Latimer.
But if Coro-by-sea briefly threatened, this episode still compelled with the elements that made the first season so gripping.
That's whether it was the raw emotions conjured in various character confrontations; the permanent chill in the air (helped by the music of Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds); the ability to spring surprises (the scene showing just why Mark Latimer wasn't picking up his phone was quietly devastating) and, most entertaining of all, the messy partnership of detectives Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman).
Somehow, she's still a copper despite her hubby being banged up for the murder she was investigating, though she is on traffic duty in the next county.
Somehow, he's still one too despite suffering a medical condition -- the words "positive" and "procedure" popped out of a hospital letter -- which seems to have rendered him sounding more Scottish than he was in season one and medically unfit to drive.
It's Hardy's pre-Broadchurch history that has generated the new season's fresh storyline.
His failed "Sandbrook" case, alluded to in season one, has left him trying to protect Claire Ripley (Eve Myles from Torchwood) who testified against her acquitted husband Lee. He is now stalking Hardy and his ex-missus who has been holed up in Broadchurch.
No, Ellie isn't happy that Hardy wants help to look after Claire with the implication they could be a two-woman support group for wives of child killers.
It wasn't the only scene tonight, where, as Ellie, Olivia Colman expressed her unhappiness with her lot in life. And it wasn't the only scene that reminded, plot developments aside, a major reason to keep watching Broadchurch is to see Colman continue her brilliant, affecting portrayal of a woman caught in a neverending nightmare, by the seaside.
