Mother of God: Line of Duty thread 5 - **MNHQ edit**; "We are obliged to warn you that any spoilers will be taken down and used against you. No spoilers, even upcoming characters, please, in the name of the wee man. (aka Steve Arnott)

[IstandwithJackieWeaver]

Hope no one minds me starting a new thread as 4 was filled on one episode.

Ted has been the police so long that they won't necessarily have his DNA on file from him joining. He was arrested and interviewed last series so his DNA may be on the nominal database from then.

Jo's dob on police records is 1979, but her screen username is Jo1976

So did she, as some point in her late teens lose 3 years, and what was she doing? How did she get hooky documents in her new age sufficient to match police joining checks? Which in late 90s would have been largely paper based, so little/no cross checking.

That would make her the right age to be Carly's mother (and she was born at the right time for the potential missing years). But, wrong sex to be the DNA match. And unlikely to provoke such a strong response from Ted.

Carl is also the right age, but would have been on the database as police, so also not possible,

The only one of these I can see getting that reaction from Ted is Terry Boyle. It’s also the only one I can see making sense with the blackmail plot. But in other ways it makes no sense.

Terry Boyle works for me too.

Like I said on the other thread it can explain a lot of things like her anger at her mother (presuming photo woman is her mother). She feels obliged to protect him, but is detached from him emotionally because she doesn't know him. (The way she reacted when he was bought out the flat, the look at the monitor etc)

His DNA is on the database too. Not totally convinced the DNA needed to have been on the system before 1999 from Steve's comment, but it's a sticking point for Terry if it is a fact.

This is all I got so I'm sticking with it so I don't drve myself mad before Sunday!!

@MysteriousAffairAtStyles

I have a horrible feeling it’s going to be a woman and possibly also a bent copper... at least if it’s anything like that cliffhanger in S5 which was rage inducing.

Steve definitely said ‘he’ though.

Exactly. Definitely sounds like he did. Subtitler definitely thought so. I just wouldn’t put it past them to have something massively misleading in that last couple of scenes, and I’ll be pissed off if they do.

The only one that makes sense in terms of the blackmail angle and the reactions from the three AC-12 staff is Terry Boyle, but Jo’s reactions to him would suggest not.

Or it’s someone we don’t know, which will be equally irritating and a cop out. If Jed can pull a rabbit out of the hat here and find someone who does meet the “rules” laid out in ep 4 but where all the various interactions make sense in hindsight, I’ll be very surprised. I can’t see it happening though!

I think the only definite we have is whoever it is is a nominal; and they are male (presuming "he" was heard correctly. ).

The being on the register when Jo joined is an interpretation so not a "rule".

@MysteriousAffairAtStyles

One of the theories that came up on Shrine of Duty was Danny Waldron as the match.

Not sure how that would pan out, but I like the idea. I’m fascinated by Danny, and it’s a shame he didn’t get more screen time. Plus it would circle back to ‘the list’ (though I can’t recall if Jimmy Lakewell was previously alluded to have much of a connection to ‘the list’ - I guess it’s possible he’d been retained by one or more of the listees so might have kill-worthy knowledge in that respect)

Doh! Just realised that that theory cannot hold as Danny would be in the system as a police officer, not a nominal! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m really struggling to think of a male non-police-officer who would have been on the system for a while and who is known to Steve and Ted (but seemingly not to Chloe). I’ve got a sinking feeling they’re going to parachute in a character we’ve never seen before

@BloodyInternetFood

Danny Waldron doesn't have any sort of record does he?

No, I’ve just realised that theory doesn’t hold water as he wouldn’t be classed as a nominal.

I felt the same after listening to Shrine of Duty, though it waa a good theory. But it just doesn't work with the one definite does it!!

You know the problem with all this theorising and convoluted ideas is? When the actual thing come out we are all disappointed it's not as complex!!

You know the problem with all this theorising and convoluted ideas is? When the actual thing come out we are all disappointed it's not as complex!!

Indeed! I’m prepared to be all ‘Oh, that guy ’

I have a sinking feeling generally. If there were multiple possibilities for characters we know of, and we could look at the previous plot / interactions and see multiple viable suspects it would be very interesting.

As it stands there’s no way for it to be anyone we know and have it all make sense. Whoever it is, something doesn’t fit. So either they’re going with a randomer or those scenes / previous scenes were misleading and don’t parse.

You’re on thin ice with me, Jed. Wafer thin ice.

Yes, I get that. It's like a lot of things though - often the simplest explanation for something is the right one. However with strings being pulled in the background it's not always the case.

We've had bent coppers and the OCG tampering with evidence, including DNA in LoD.

@CheekyWeeShite

I have a sinking feeling generally. If there were multiple possibilities for characters we know of, and we could look at the previous plot / interactions and see multiple viable suspects it would be very interesting.

As it stands there’s no way for it to be anyone we know and have it all make sense. Whoever it is, something doesn’t fit. So either they’re going with a randomer or those scenes / previous scenes were misleading and don’t parse.

You’re on thin ice with me, Jed. Wafer thin ice.

I’ve thinning rapidly here too. I keep thinking back to Knox’s golden rules of detective fiction and the rule that the reader should have all the information needed to solve the crime themselves - you can’t just introduce a random character at a late stage and say ‘yep, it was them what did it’.

So to build a huge cliffhanger around a brand new character would be very shabby indeed.

I was disappointed enough by the dk

Urgh! Accidentally posted too soon! Was going to say I was disappointed enough by that cliffhanger when we were supposed to think that Kate was recruiting bent coppers, but then it was just Dot all along

Ice thinning rapidly here too, that should say. My phone hates me today

@MysteriousAffairAtStyles

You know the problem with all this theorising and convoluted ideas is? When the actual thing come out we are all disappointed it's not as complex!!

Indeed! I’m prepared to be all ‘Oh, that guy ’

Same :o so many theories on here that it’ll likely not feel like a twist at all.

Same thing happened with Unforgotten this season as I was on the threads for that. Although I did feel proud of my fellow MNers for predicting certain things that I hadn’t. :o

@MysteriousAffairAtStyles

Urgh! Accidentally posted too soon! Was going to say I was disappointed enough by that cliffhanger when we were supposed to think that Kate was recruiting bent coppers, but then it was just Dot all along

That was a tad ridiculous wasn’t it. I suppose it was a big deal because it made AC12 look much worse, but still, not cool Jed!

I’ll be ‘happy’ if the link is Tommy Hunter - anyone else we know is too contrived, and for it to be someone we don’t know is poor form by JM.

Tommy Hunter would add to what we the viewer already suspect but that AC-12 currently don’t - that Jo has some connection with OGC and is being coerced by them to do their bidding, in a way that has some connection with her family.

So I don’t think it’s hugely important that it’s Tommy Hunter (he’s dead after all) but it is an ‘a-ha!’ moment for AC-12 who would now see that Jo has OGC links (and that they probably had the right person from day 1, despite being diverted onto Fareeda and Buckells), and for the viewer another piece of the jigsaw into what’s behind Jo’s reluctant OGC involvement.

It looks like Tommy Hunter is the DNA match. Says me who really hasn't a clue. But he's Scottish and Jo is Scottish....

@MysteriousAffairAtStyles

Urgh! Accidentally posted too soon! Was going to say I was disappointed enough by that cliffhanger when we were supposed to think that Kate was recruiting bent coppers, but then it was just Dot all along

The bloody Cafferty photo ID one. So obviously meant to be Ted but just Dot so surprising to precisely no one.

But it’s not a who done it. We know who killed the journalist. It’s why they did and who helped them cover it up.

The reveal on who Jo might be related to is only going to give a piece of the puzzle about why Jo has been turned, if she has. But Jo clearly isn’t H and she doesn’t run the OCG. There is something that sets her aside from the other minor characters who are turned because they made a mistake.

The relationship will show her in a new light. But it won’t be the whole truth either.

Hunter would make more sense than other options but I don’t see how it would relate to Jo being blackmailed by the OCG - she certainly doesn’t seem to be a wiling participant, and I don’t think being related to Hunter is enough of a blackmail card TBH.

Still, can it be as bad as the morse code? And yet here we still are.

I would hope it’ll be something more complex than just being blackmailed because of the relationship. Something revengey hopefully :o

Agree with you @LemonTT - it wouldn’t be the whole picture, just a piece of the jigsaw.

And I don’t think the threat of exposing that she is related to Tommy H would be enough to be blackmailing her, but could indicate that she is at risk of being targeted by OGC, the details of which still need to be worked out - there’s still 3 episodes to go after all!

But would the OCG target a relative of Tommy Hunter’s and why? It doesn’t make much sense to me, I don’t see how it would move the plot along or mean anything but we shall see.

I’m curious about what Jo meant when she said “job done”. It came after the forensics team were packing up at Farida’s house, which immediately followed the armed robbery boy being interviewed about the guns.

So if it’s to do with the DNA, is she being made to make sure AC-12 find out she’s related to the nominal, and if so why and how would it help them?

Very curious about what job she’s referring to!

But would the OCG target a relative of Tommy Hunter’s and why

Of course, jo is a senior officer working the case, she’s perverting the course of justice on behalf of someone, clearly so they don’t find out who has commited the crime and why they did so. Ie what the story was.

Presumably the OCG supplied the contract killer, and who held the gun is less important than who paid the OCG to do it