Line of Duty Thread 8: All aboard the wee donkey for the final episode - no spoilers, the wee donkey bites!

[Furries]

Hope you all don’t mind, getting near the end of thread 7, so thought I’d trot this one out!

It was so stressful when they didn’t immediately order Farida’s release, how could they leave her there for even a minute longer?

Kelly MacDonald on BBC breakfast this morning
(dont worry, no spoilers!!)
twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1386590007587127298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1386590007587127298%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-36391179561865287785.ampproject.net%2F2104081613001%2Fframe.html

So Farida, Roz Huntley and Jo all banged up together at Brentiss.

Farida's not going to speak though, is she, while she's in there? Too scared.

Can't wait for Sunday. Mother of God it's ages away.

I assumed the reason Jo and Kate ran was that they couldn't be sure the OCG/corrupt police weren't lurking. The OCG have already demonstrated that they take it amiss when one of theirs gets killed.

Steve told Kate the surveillance had been dropped, but she didn't have time to get away before Jo and Ryan arrived. I presume she then thought there was something amiss and thought someone in the police was bent/in cahoots with the OCG and she had been set up to shoot a police officer. I think Kate finds Jo plausible and because she's been working with her, mistrusts Ted, etc and wants to get away from anti-corruption back to normal policing has mistakenly backed the wrong horse.

@RevolvingPivot

Poor Freida I wonder how many injuries she's had since 😬

Maybe she’s buried at the gun shop

Watching again.
Jo looked terrified at the end of the car chase - she was shaking. Scared of Carmichael?
It didn’t make sense that Kate thought Steve had played her.

Also why is Carmichael so focused on getting Buckells off ??

I missed loads of Carmichael nastiness - hate her even more now!!

why did Jo say I'm sorry to Steve at the end of the interview?
I don't think her mum killed herself either.

@PomLikeTheBattle

If Buckells was involved in the Christopher Lawrence cover up with Osborne, then it kind of makes sense that he's going to be pulling Carmichael's strings to get him off. I suppose while Buckells is in prison then the spotilight is going to be also shining on Osborne as well (although he wasn't in charge then was he? It was Thurwell in charge as far as I can remember as he was the most senior).

We now think that Osborne is the one who has ensured that Buckells has climbed the ranks whilst appearing to be inept (unless Thurwell has been behind it all and pulling everyone's strings).

Ergo - keeping Buckells in prison suggests Osborne is also bent.

Not sure that's making sense.

What's happened to Farida now?… I think she has a story or two to tell - particularly about "what jo is capable of" so we need to hear it, don't we

Yes, at the time she said that as though it was very significant, but it seems to have gone away and now we have Jo being shown as a victim. I'm sure Jo is more involved and knows more about the OCG than she's let on. I agree with the pp who says Jo killed her own mother and it was passed off as suicide.

Carmichael is not the fourth man IMO but is a jobsworth who's happy to be corrupt, or at least protect the big cheese corrupt figures, if it means promotions and other benefits.

It makes sense but makes me think Carmichael must also be bent, couldn't think she'd put herself at risk/vulnerable if just trying to be in favour with Osbourne.
But then I'm not a hard nosed bitch (hopefully !)

@Blondeshavemorefun

Ffs daughter not donkey

Totally thought it was a deliberate swap 😂

Does anyone else find Jo a boring antagonist? I’m rewatching her interrogations earlier in the series and they’re just anticlimactic.

The antagonists from other seasons (Ros, dot, Lindsay etc) had better comebacks, twisted it around on AC12, were generally more manipulative and intelligent. Jo just sits there with an exasperated face.

I mean, she’s essentially the female version of Dot so presumably she should have been better than all that came before her. She’s been imbedded in the OCG/police as a bent copper for quite a while but just comes across as a small fish. I would have thought she’d have the same influence as dot.

I guess she could have had the same influence as Dot if she had been inclined to. Plus Tommy's death after becoming potential rat will have won her no fans in the OCG, tainted by association.

Totally disagree. Maybe it's just Kelly McDonald's performance but I'm really invested in Jo's character. More than any of the other antagonists we've had.

I like the jo killing mother theory but I’m not sure that would be the reason Farida said you don’t know what she’s capable of - she had been told Jo had no family. There’s no way she can know about that if it happened.

I can’t think what else she means though. If most of Jo’s previous corrupt actions were more about diverting attention away from OCG, would that count? I’m sad they haven’t gone into more detail about their relationship and why it broke down. Maybe Farida will be back in episode 7 now Jo has admitted to planting the phones? So we can find out more from her.

I felt KM was very good in episode 6 - coveted her turmoil well. I liked her whereas previously was very meh.

It was a very emotive performance, KM’s done an incredible job overall of showing how controlled Jo has to be keeping her shit together at work and as if the police career stuff isn’t stressful enough there’s her role in the OCG and fucked up lovelife etc. I really felt her pain when the whole incestuous origins came up in the interview. Imagine acting that you’re acting and conveying all that so well. It’s saving LOD from being a bit of a pantomime this season imho.

I feel that Jo’s story hasn’t really developed over the series.

I’ve rewatched S1 recently and the way that Tony Gates’ life unravelled over the course of the series was fantastic drama.

Whereas with Jo there’s just been a gradual confirmation of what was strongly hinted at in E1, nothing has really changed. From E1 Jo was presented as apparently undermining the case she was working on, living in fear (of the OGC?) for a reason apparently connected to her family. 6 episodes in there’s a bit more flesh on the bones but that’s it - there haven’t really been any dramatic twists.

She has become increasingly isolated by throwing other people under the bus to save herself hence why she is willing to trust Kate. She has nobody else. Kate knows this and is using it as a means to an end.

I also felt KM was a bit meh, up to this point. The last episode showed what has been under her facade, it made her a much more interesting character.

I'm going to flesh out my Jo killed her own mother theory: I think she either drunkenly confessed to Farida because she does have a conscience or talked in her sleep, something along those lines. It was when she was being really horrible to Farida as she collected the rest of her belongings from the house that she said, "I told you I don't have any family" or something like that and it looked as though Farida might be jealous or controlling, but actually she isn't and Jo was having to back track over what she had revealed to Farida.

This then tallies with, "You don't know what she's capable of" that she wasn't going to tell Steve over the phone by the fire exit of the cop shop. She never got the opportunity in her AC-12 interview to tell Ted and Steve because she'd been framed and was in shock

I was so disappointed in this episode and I cannot see how they can tie up all the loose ends in a 1 hour show.

I really don't think I can watch a Season 7 if they leave us hanging as to who is corrupt and who is not at the close of this one. I mean if, at the end of Sunday, I still wonder the following

Is Carmichael acting for Osborne and trying to stop the investigation because she is bent and part of the OCG team or because she does not know what is going on?
Is Jo really bent and very clever or is she in too deep and desperate to get out?
Is JN dead in Spain (I don't actually care, I just hope he is)?
Is the DS Chris Lomax secretly part of the OCG?
Is Ted bent?
Is Steve bent?
Is Kate losing her mind?

If they all remain unsolved, then it will be hard to tune in for another series.

And through it all, from Series 1 on, I have wondered if the show intentionally presents the police as a bit dim (they don't seem to see the clues the rest of us see and they rarely seem to solve crimes - but perhaps it is because we are all so used to US TV shows with improbable plot lines where the cops always solve the crime).

@AwkwardArnottDentonFumble

I like the jo killing mother theory but I’m not sure that would be the reason Farida said you don’t know what she’s capable of - she had been told Jo had no family. There’s no way she can know about that if it happened.

I can’t think what else she means though. If most of Jo’s previous corrupt actions were more about diverting attention away from OCG, would that count? I’m sad they haven’t gone into more detail about their relationship and why it broke down. Maybe Farida will be back in episode 7 now Jo has admitted to planting the phones? So we can find out more from her.

This is the only time we have seen Jo influencing an investigation but she’s obviously manipulated other cases during her time in the police as that’s the whole point her being there, so maybe she’s confused in Farida some of the things she’s done? I don’t know if she was with Farida before she got moved to Hillside to work on the Vella case, has it been mentioned how long they were together? Farida maybe worked under her before at another station