MovieChat Forums > Gracepoint (2014) Discussion > 'How Could You NOT have known?'

'How Could You NOT have known?'

posted 9 years ago by tj19
10 replies | jump to latest

I was FUMING when Beth said that to Ellie. Umm how could YOU not have known Beth?! Your child was secretly rendezvousing with an adult behind your back. Great parenting Beth. A grown man like Joe going off doing his own thing is so much more undetectable than a 12 year old just going around doing whatever he wants. As having a 12 year old kid, you need to do a better job of knowing where he is and what he is doing. Nobody is perfect, but Beth and Marc are somewhat responsible for Danny's death.
I'm defending Ellie by the way, not Joe.

[–] McDogger 9 years ago

That appeared to be displaced guilt to me.

Beth has been feeling guilty and stupid for weeks because she didn't know what her two kids were doing and she didn't know her husband was cheating on her. It's not uncommon for people to avoid blaming themselves by finding someone else to blame, and Ellie was a convenient target.

Made you look!

[–] inyoface415 9 years ago

The entire last half-hour was a disaster. The acting, the dialogue, just painful. I don't understand why they would take an amazing show, and change everything that made it great. This show basically turned a potential pedophile who had an inappropriate relationship with a kid, into kind of a hero for protecting his son.

Then they end a miniseries on a cliffhanger. I loved every character on Broadchurch. All well acted and written. I hated almost every character on Gracepoint. The only things I enjoyed about this show were Carver and Gemma Fisher.

[–] dawnwarkentin 9 years ago

The reference to "how could you not know" reflects back to when detective was talking to Vince's mother after she was let out of questioning about her husband being a pedophile?"How did you not know ...it was happening in your house, right under your nose". I think it was supposed to be ironic

[–] McDogger 9 years ago

It was ironic, but the circumstances were a little different.

For Susan, the molestation happened in her home over a long period of time. For Ellie, it was a brief time and Joe kept it out of the home. For Beth, everything was out of the home, but she didn't know what her husband or any of her children were up to.

Made you look!

[–] lauriellen 9 years ago

I think the point is that these things happen and people *don't* know. They believe in their spouses/significant others and they can't imagine they would do something so shockingly bad.

"How could you not have known?" IMO was worse to say to Susan, after having her life virtually destroyed by the actions of her husband years earlier. That was such a sad story.

Having it said to her shows Ellie the error in her thinking with Susan.

[–] tsegal-1 9 years ago

That's a constant running throughout Gracepoint (and Broadchurch too): what we know, what we think we know--and how often what we don't know about our friends, our neighbors, our spouses, our children.
That, and the thread of child abuse/neglect/betrayal. You realize how almost every character is accused of it, or some variation of it, at some point? And the supreme irony is that the David Tennant character, who's so publicly accused of "letting that poor little girl down" by blowing the case against her killer, is actually innocent. In fact, he's one of the few people who's actually protecting a child--his daughter (remember, he took the blame so she wouldn't know her mother/his wife lost crucial evidence while committing adultery).

[–] robble-1 9 years ago

I don't think Joe taking the blame for Danny's death makes him a hero. He's so creepy with his insistence on loving Danny and how he would never harm him because pedophiles don't see their actions as harm.

Just because he cares about his son and insists he's a good man, doesn't mean the audience has to agree with that. It just means he has nuance.

That sickness in him reminds me so much of some of the pedophile episodes of Law and Order SVU when your blood just runs cold at those people walking around, free as birds, waiting to pounce on some child. ugh. His calmness and inability to see how sick he is gave me chills.

There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.-The Doctor

[–] magnus166 9 years ago

Child molesters. And even then some do know what they did is wrong, they just couldn't control themselves.

Most pedophiles never act on their feelings because they do know it's wrong and harmful to.

[–] marspeach 9 years ago

I totally saw the foreshadowing with the "How could you not know?" Ellie asked to Susan Wright. However, I just thought it would be about Tom- I never suspected Joe for a minute. Tom, on the other hand, acted shady from the first episode. I never saw the original Broadchurch (watching it now) because I didn't want to be spoiled.

However, I agree that it was stupid and hypocritical for Beth of all people to accuse Ellie like that. Seriously? After all the stuff that EVERYONE (other than her mother) in her family was secretly doing that she had no clue about?? Mark's affair, Chloe's relationship/drug thingy, Danny and Joe...

Read my reviews at my blog- http://marspeach.wordpress.com

[–] jakkfrost 9 years ago

Came here to post the same question, now I don't have to. :)

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