MOTHER OF GOD THE LINE OF DUTY FINALE

[Ohdobequiet]

I don’t apologise for the caps lock. I’m so disappointed.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey, what the hell was that ending?!

@Neonprint

I've been having a few days where I feel like the world is full of thick people. The reactions to this aren't helping this feeling. Did everyone just want guns go big bang bang? And a daft plot twist of an ending?

The reactions to this really show why our political culture is so crap. People are looking for simple explanations of a bad guy when that's not how things are. I thought the ending was really good.

Also no wonder so much TV is so shit if people are just looking for the type of ending you're all up in arms about not getting. Just go and watch the Da vinci code or any number of ITV dramas for that shit.

So anyone who thought the ending was a damp squib is one of those "thick people" is that what you're saying??

The reactions to this really show why our political culture is so crap. People are looking for simple explanations of a bad guy when that's not how things are.

what a load of pretentious twaddle

Neonprint we want to be entertained if we wanted a lesson on police corruption we would watch the numerous episodes on Panorama about political and police corruption

LOD has always been dramatic, over the top exciting drama with a bit of politics thrown in it’s not a show about realism

@picklemewalnuts

The more I think about it, the better it gets!

I agree. I am so glad they resisted the temptation to kill one of the three off or have a big reveal of a criminal mastermind in charge.

I’ve been disappointed by a lot of dramas before because of the last two episodes throwing twist after unbelievable twist at the audience (thinking of London Spy, the Capture, the Bodyguard!). Seeing people’s reaction to this leads me to think we’re going to get a whole lot more of that kind of crap in future.

Without RTFT, I liked it.
I wanted it to be Buckells and I thought it was quite realistic in that even if he isn't top dog there are always the ones who get away and the ones who are willing to take the rap for financial gain or whatever.
I wasn't disappointed, but was also not expecting fireworks so 🤷‍♀️

I’ve no issue that it is was Buckles just make the rest of it follow through.

Neonprint, I’m with you!

[quote Neonprint]@IcedPurple so the alternative is I'm not clever and get nothing ok fair enough. My degrees in creative subjects with extensive cultural criticism have taught me nothing also fine

But then that places you into the one who thinks they are clever and better, who gets it. Also fine.

Me well an truly told I'm so embarrassed.[/quote]
It's television, get a grip. What a misery guts!

@SirPhillipsgroupie

Neonprint, I’m with you!

How embarrassing for you.

Like game of thrones I think the fans theories are more complex and gripping that what panned out on the shows

@rookiemere

I can't remember Hastings being such a bloody awful interviewer in the previous episodes. Adds nothing helpful, just gets riled up like the grumpy old man he is and stomps off in disgust. I began thinking it's absolutely right he was being forced to retire if that's how he conducts himself.

Anyone else sometimes wonder if thats Anna Maxwell Martins actual job from Motherland - it would be brilliant if they did a merge of the two. Anyway I'm warming to her in LOD - crisp, efficient and unemotional, but oh no volatile Ted's our hero apparently.

Liz from Motherland would be a good copper too, she'd get to the bottom of it! 😂

Actually @picklemewalnuts you have explained it really well and given me good for thought thanks.
But still annoyed at; interviewing Fairbanks again pointlessly when they know he's got dementia or is pretending to have, the 'matalan advert ' of Jo in Witness Protection, Kate and Steve going for a drink mate mate mate mate and Chloe really doing all the work!

Food for thought

I don't really watch the series but have seen the odd one from time to time.....thus most of it makes no sense, but the plot twists are good.

Watched the finale last night....quite frankly, there was little else of note on TV (unless you're into snooker in a big way!) and assumed that the greater part of the UK population must be ready and waiting for this much hyped last episode.

Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be not up to much, such a damp squib and banal. Well, really. All the lead up, TV discussion and baited breath....for that? Will stick with Countryfile in future....!

Steve Ted and Kate all showed their flaws.
Steve's pain killers, sleeping with Steph and rejecting Occy health.
Kate's blind eye to Jo and warning her about an op against her.
Ted's 50k to a poor widow with two wee girls, to make up for a mistake he'd made.
Each is the crevice that lets corruption get a toehold.
Good summary picklemywalnuts (great name).

I think it feels anticlimactic because it's been made clear from the first episode in the first series that Osborne is corrupt and at the top of the pile.

Certainly he would have been aware of the coverup in the Lawrence Christopher inquiry.

Ted being forced into retirement wasn't orchestrated by Buckells, nor the forged and dodgy transfer order for Jo. It doesn't work.

Absolutely appalling! Terrible series all round though. Hard pushed to ever beat the last series which was absolutely brilliant from start to finish, probably because Stephen Graham stole the show. This series was flat and the finale was beyond disappointing. Buckells, really?!

I agree with the comment about liking it more as time goes by.

I heard JM on the radio late last night and he said they made it Buckells because he was there from the beginning. Basically, I think that whole team (with Dot etc.) was infiltrated and as people have said he is last man standing. That would make Osborne ripe for corruption. I think if there is a S7 it will be about Carmichael fighting principles about whether to rise above her positioning for inaction and bite the hand who's fed her, essentially.

The subtitles specifically mentioned a new AC setup 'with senior roles going to close friends of the Chief Constable' or something similar. I think she was trying to shut things down last week because that was her brief; we want to wind up AC12 and make them a nothing outfit - quash rumours, ignore historic corruption. I really liked how she was sticking to that line throughout the episode and how Hastings 'gave up' his secret to test her and really hammer home what he stood for.

I loved Buckells' acting when it became clear that all those things he had cockily requested would not be able to happen - he looked properly shit scared. I agree he was no 'mastermind' just the last go-between left of a bad bunch of policemen. He's always been incompetent and, like he said, has just been swept along by these disparate OCGs being made to enable increasingly larger and larger crimes.

I think S7 is set up really nicely for busting out the OCGs now, and bringing down Osborne. It's his doing that AC12 'have never been weaker'.

In summary, I think it's hilarious that the whole 4th man storyline hinged on poor spelling, and I still don't get where biscuits and a fruit and veg warehouse give any hint as to the content of S6. Unless it's because they frequently get brought out in therapy sessions.

I loved it, I thought it was sophisticated and smart. Some excellent points made about whether there’s much difference between actual corruption and political manoeuvring within public institutions, and whether it even matters. Does the public even care?

Also some very good Johnson avatars in parts of Buckells, Carmichael and Osborne.

And I liked how Ted ensnared/challenged Carmichael right there at the end. She’s well and truly snookered now, whatever she does.

I feel like it wraps things up enough that there’s a conclusion, but there’s also enough open-ended stuff that you could easily run to a seventh series.

The lesbian nirvana wrap-up was a tad cheesy, I suppose. But I’m glad Jo didn’t get killed off like 80% of the other investigated officers. And I’m glad Farida got her hat back.

@ChristmasAlone

This is on par with GoT for disappointment

That and Dexter. Awful.

I liked some of the ideas- that while we’re busy looking for a big bogeyman to hunt, often corruption slips in slowly through personal chinks in our armour... like avenging an attack on your wife, or slipping slowly into a painkiller addiction that you have ended up with through no fault of your own, etc- that they were all too scared or proud to be honest and thus at risk of becoming the very things they despise- bent coppers.

JM has been railing against corruption in the world in general for a long time now on social media. I think he saw LOD as his platform to comment on that to a wider world, and I don’t necessarily have a problem with that either.

But. I do think at some point he changed direction from his original “let’s make a cop drama” to “let’s make a point” and I think the drama suffered for it. Too many sub plots poorly explained, too many characters not fleshed out and whilst I can understand how both those things fit his “corruption is everywhere” narrative... I don’t think it made for a good drama. And certainly not for a good direction change in a multi season drama that had been one thing very well, before being dragged in another direction.

In my opinion he should have used his platform to write another drama addressing those issues in that way- something more subtle, multi layered, complex, thought provoking. I’d watch that, and I still think he’s a very clever writer, but that’s not what LOD was crafted to be.

So, yeah. Attempts at cleverness and social commentary, whilst valid, in this instance making for a bit of a damp squib ending to a drama that previously has played primarily on high octane drama and personal relationships. Apologies if that makes me thick ;)

It should have been Nige, he was never shown as being in the pocket of an OCG but he was definitely not a good copper. He was faking his limp for extra money, he was happy to cover for Gates in the the first series, he was a total dickhead to Kate. It would have also been a fun twist that all along he was pulling Dots strings without him knowing. He also seems clever enough to pull off being a “big baddie” and Neil Morrissey would have acted the shit out of the interrogation tank.

That was a great dog at the end though wasn’t it?

On the contrary @Alternista I think you have summarised the disconnect excellently.

I didn't put it in my post, but I was a bit 'Oh.' when the scenes we've come to expect from the drama that LOD is, didn't materialise.

My thoughts are...

1- I wish H had been somebody with more charisma and intelligence, Buckells was indeed a disappointment.

2- Why was nothing wrapped up with Osbourne, who seemed so suspicious throughout.

3 - Ghastly smug Carmichael is left in charge - feel like we need to know more about her, what is the deal with her being so cold and unhelpful.

4 - Why did Kate and Jo flee the scene of the Ryan shooting when they were acting in self defence? Weird.

5 - Would have liked to see AC-12 get some actual recognition for what they achieved, instead of Hastings getting booted off into forced retirement and the future left unknown.

6 - Real life doesn't always have happy endings, we all experience this every day and see it every day when we read the papers and the bad guys get away with stuff, so actually as twee as maybe it sounds it does us all good to escape into a world where all of the bad guys get exactly what they deserve and the good guys have their blaze of glory, and I didn't feel like we got that. But I feel like it would have been much more satisfying if we did. We got Ted, Kate and Steve limping off into the sunset and cold, sneery Carmichael left in charge while Osbourne still holds his position of power, and damp squib Buckells as H.

I hope they do a series 7 - and bring in Jason Isaacs as a baddie, he would be great!!

The PCC - is he bent or actually on Ted’s side? Seems to have just been forgotten about. He’s been hanging round for years trying to discredit AC12 and then nothing.

So who DID forge Kate's signature on the papers to move Jo Davidson?