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.

@Bluntness100

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.

This doesn’t add up either. They can’t blackmail her with the thing they want to blackmail her to do.

The blackmail or threat needs to have existed before she started to act for them. Being related to Hunter is bit of explaining, which she is good at, not a reason to go over the dockside.

I think the DNA relationship tells us that she isn’t Jo Davidson and never could be.

@LemonTT

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.

No, I understand that this is not crime fiction in the strict sense, but it would still be very poor plotting if JM contrived a huge cliff-hanger that had the entire viewership on tenterhooks for an entire week, only to dramatically reveal that it’s …. someone you’ve never heard of.

That’s my point: not that this is a murder mystery, but that building major plot points around details of which the viewer has no existing knowledge is ‘cheating’.

Perhaps I'd have been better alluding to Chekov's gun rather than Knox's golden rules of crime writing:

'If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there. '

I ignore the outlandish theories on here, to be honest. LoD isn't a let down to me at all.

Of course it isn’t a let down. It’s not going to follow C20 literary rules because it’s a long. Running tv drama in C21. Social media means the writers interact and play with the audience. They also need to subvert rules and expectations to keep it fresh and shocking.

LOD is it’s own beast and it will not deliver what you expect. That’s its joy and fun.

I think the DNA relationship tells us that she isn’t Jo Davidson and never could be.

Aaaah! This makes the most sense to me. She’s related to someone that the person that they know as Jo Davidson never could be. That would be fascinating, and takes away all the limitations of the details we have of Jo, because they’re not hers?

@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.
Maybe it’s a he who identifies as a she-😂

@LemonTT - it makes a lot of sense if she isn't actually Jo Davidson. The DoB password or username for example would mean she was actually born in 1976. It would also make the character the same age as Kelly McDonald. This goes back to my theory of her being offered information about her parentage/background in return for helping the OCG.

@LemonTT

Of course it isn’t a let down. It’s not going to follow C20 literary rules because it’s a long. Running tv drama in C21. Social media means the writers interact and play with the audience. They also need to subvert rules and expectations to keep it fresh and shocking.

LOD is it’s own beast and it will not deliver what you expect. That’s its joy and fun.

Yes. This is what I didn't type!

It is odd when you think about it. Why would a random prisoner being murdered by the OCG upset her so much or appear so unexpected (when OCG members get killed very often), unless she knew someone in there close to her (or maybe she thought it was Buckells). It sort of implies that she might know Lakewell closely.

I’m not sure if she was upset about it being Lakewell specifically. Maybe she was asking who it was as she thought it was Buckells? Not that she cared about him but guilt at setting him up and was worried it had gone too far (that even though he was a dodgy muppet he didn’t deserve to die).

The idea of Jo not being Jo - that’s really interesting and not something they’ve done on LOD before I think? Not sure the username is relevant though, did someone say it was on the dodgy computer chat thing? I saw in series 5 someone on the chat had four digits starting with 2 so I just thought it was random. I didn’t see the Jo on jo’s one though I’m just going off what was said in previous threads

Didn’t word that first bit well 🤦🏽‍♀️ I meant that I agree she probably thought it was buckells when she asked

I've decided to namechange in honour of LoD - I am the OP of this thread. Of course, all the best names were taken, but this one seems quite appropriate for this series.

Awkward - hers was Jo1976 I think

Thanks for clarifying Rat - starting her username with Jo is a bit odd isn’t it?! Is it meant to be the same dodgy system as in s5? I think it looked different but I assumed it was the same sort of idea

How is it only Thursday? Mother of God. 🤬

It definitely won't be someone we don't know. It might be someone less exciting than we're theorising, but it will be someone we've already encountered.

The only plot point in LoD that has ever let me down was the Morse code thing. I wouldn't have minded if it had clearly be planned from the beginning but it so obviously wasn't and that was annoying.

How would the link to another person mean she couldn’t be Jo Davidson though?

The DNA collected in Farida’s house matches Jo’s in the police database - so she would have been concealing her identity since joining the force?

@BeingARat

I've decided to namechange in honour of LoD - I am the OP of this thread. Of course, all the best names were taken, but this one seems quite appropriate for this series.

Careful! Being a rat is a known cause of death!

Everyone's taken all the good name changes!

The username is just ‘user1976’ - no forenames included

So perhaps the 'missing' 3 years and the unspecified name were chosen as her user name to remind her every time she communicates that way what it is the OCG has on her.

Perhaps that does all link back to Anne Marie - a name that would mean something to Steve and a great deal to Ted, who perhaps knows about another child?

Typed that, pressed post and immediately thought 'bollocks - not a 'he' and no reason to be in the DNA database in the first place!

I've decided to change my name too

And me 😁

Love all these names. Already thinking of new ideas for series seven 😂

Though, still pondering, Corbett was born in 1979, and we've tended to rule out partial match to him, because there were only a couple of months difference in age. He'll be in non-police part of the database, because his police record will have been suppressed when he went deep undercover, and indeed one could have been created to match a cover story criminal record.

If Jo's dob is not accurate, then it all becomes possible again. Anne-Marie could have had an older daughter born 1976. AC-12 will know her background must be fake because her 'official' dob is biologically impossible. Ted might know something of an older child - and info on Anne-Marie has mainly come from him.

But when and why, and how, did she change?

@sorryboss

Everyone's taken all the good name changes!

Haven't they just. This was my billionth attempt. I really wanted MotherOfGodFella but someone else has got it!