thomas

crowley: delivery room three

Hardy never had a relationship with Claire and he never had sex with Claire. Definitively. End of story.

Chibnalldangles the possibility that Alec and Claire had been sexual partners to implythat he is Lee’s rival for Claire’s love. This invites comparison between Lee and Alec as lovers. Lee is violent, sexual, possessive,inconstant, selfish; Alec is selfless, supportive, doting, patient, respectful,undemanding. The hints, of course, come to nothing, and it is clear Hardy had noromantic interest in Claire whatsoever. All Hardy’s love and care is wrapped up in Miller.

The implication that Claire and Hardy were lovers serves another point. A big question people ask is - why did Claire stay with Hardy when she really was involved with the murders? Why stay so close to the detective? The answer is because she could manipulate him. Hardy’s Achilles heel is his self-sacrificing nature and his willingness to do anything to protect the innocent. All Claire has to do is play the damsel in distress and Hardy cannot help but drop everything to protect her. Watch the way Claire talks to him in early S2. She uses the phrase “I needed you” a lot because she just knows Hardy won’t be able to resist that siren song. Someone needs him? Someone requires his protection? Of course he’s going to drop everything to help.

Ellie Miller is the person who breaks this spell. S2 starts with Hardy ignoring Claire’s calls because he wants to stay focused on Ellie and Joe’s case. So she comes and finds him and bats her eyes and says she’s in danger. Later on, Ellie meets Claire. She can see something’s not right almost straight away, and she tells Hardy. Very slowly, the veil is lifted.

What I love about this is Hardy knows his weakness. He knows he’s too close to the situation. In S1 he always told Ellie to look at things objectively, to look at things from the outside. With Sandbrook and everything he went through with Pippa and Claire and Daisy, he’s aware that he’s too emotionally invested to solve this case, which is why he turns to Ellie. He takes his own advice and recognises his own faults. He says: “I can’t do it on my own.” “I sort of need your help.” “I need Miller.” There’s no macho bullshit about needing to do it alone, or not trusting Miller’s judgement, or being unable to accept his shortcomings. He’s very frank and honest, and he accepts that, hey, I’m too close to this situation. I need someone to look at it objectively. I want Miller to help me because I trust her and she’s the best person for the job.

Even Ricky believes he can manipulate Hardy into believing his innocence. Hardy empathises with Ricky as the father of a murdered girl the same age as Daisy. He thinks he can convince Hardy that Lee, the predatory outsider, is to blame. And what does Hardy say to him? “You really want to help? Talk to Miller here.” Ellie interviews Ricky and Hardy sits out completely because he knows his input would be a liability at this stage.

(I could go on for HOURS about how powerful that is as a feminist narrative and how much it’s a fuck you to traditional detective tropes. How often does our broody loner detective man quite freely admit “I can’t do this, I need help, specifically the help of this woman whom I trust absolutely and adore”? Alec Hardy: feminist. But that’s for another time.)

Bit by bit, Ellie’s investigation helps Hardy break free of Claire’s grip. As they walk through the forest near the river, Hardy complains that Claire and Ashworth and the Gillespies are constantly screwing around with him. Ellie says, “well, the stress the put you under, do it to them. Start with Claire.”

Hardy calls Claire. He says abruptly, “It’s me. I think we’re done. I was protecting you from Lee, you don’t want that anymore. You keep changing your story about what happened. This isn’t working, Claire, I need you to move out.” Claire’s immediate response is, “Alec, where are you? Let’s talk about this face to face.”

Just like in S02E01 she knows that she can manipulate him if she speaks to him face to face. But Hardy refuses. He has Ellie’s backing. With Ellie, he can be sure he’d doing the right thing. Claire is bewildered. She’s had him so tightly wrapped around her finger she genuinely can’t believe Hardy would kick her out.

“It’s over, Claire.” The camera pans around, showing Miller standing behind him.

He looks at her for support. She nods, telling him he did the right thing. Cut back to Claire, and she’s in shock. If Hardy’s not in her control it means she’s in danger. She mutters, ‘shit. Shit.’ She turns over all the furniture and screams. 

Hardy kicking Claire out is definitely scripted to sound like a break-up, but as we see all the hints about a relationship between them amount to the secret that Hardy was her emotional support when she had an abortion. What this tells us is that Claire was manipulating and controlling Hardy, but not with sex. She gave him what he really needed: someone to look after. A chance to play the knight in shining armour. With wife and daughter gone, the only person who needed him was Claire Ripley, and boy did she know how to use that to her advantage.