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!

Was Ryan planned ? Little kid in s 1

Grown up in s5 and joined police

S6 dodgy and now dead

Shame they killed him

@CaffeineAndCrochet

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.

Same here.

I liked the tension in the last episode, but it seemed that so many viewers found it tedious,

I think Jo's interesting and a bit of an enigma. I don't want the Twins of Evil prison guards to do anything to her.

I think I’ve found this season a bit over-reliant on exposition and off-screen characters. Most of the developments in the big question of who/what Gail Vella was investigating and who orchestrated her murder has been dealt with ‘off screen’ - there’s been a lot of Chloe turning up and explaining stuff.

I think KM has played Jo well but I’ve found her character and motivations hasn’t actually developed that much over the 6 episodes.

Still enjoyed it but my least-favourite season I think. Maybe it’s an inevitable part of having so many loose ends.

Just checking in fellas, brought my wee donkey

I have like Ryan’s role though - and he’s had a lot more agency than Jo who has been quite a passive protagonist in many ways.

Don't think Ryan was "planned", apparently the young actor couldn't believe his luck when he was asked to return years later.

I see this series more of a Season 7 part 1. This is the problem with only having 6 (or 7) episodes per season - if you’re trying to tell a complex larger story it’s not much time. So instead of dealing with all this in say 3-4 episodes of a longer series they’ve had to stretch it over 7 episodes to fill a whole series, to end up where they want to be to start the next series.

It must be so hard to write a series like this though. Hats off to Jed, who must be some kind of weird genius. I've read quite a lot of his stuff and particularly enjoyed Bodies (the book and the programme).

He must be doing something right if he's pulling in as many viewers as he is.

I think we're in for a nasty turn in Jo's character. So far she seems pretty mild-mannered but we've already seen her turn on Farida.

My suspicion is that Kate is working for AC-9 because she had doubts about Ted and wants to get back to normal policing so was recruited by Carmichael and that's why she let her off after the shooting and the car chase.

After Sunday, which I think will be the end of LoD, I'd quite like to see a spin off featuring Steve and/or Kate in some way.

The production values have definately changed over the series. They clearly have a bigger budget now!

@CheekyWeeShite

I don’t think a longterm plan was in place from S1 - I think it was written as a one-off series but then extended as it was such a hit. There weren’t loads of characters whose surnames became with H - only Hastings and Hilton. I’m pretty certain the (totally ridiculous) four dots business wasn’t planned much before it was shown either.

The four dots was a jump-the-shark moment. Totally nonsensical.

The first three series were brilliant and focused and while it's still a great show, it's got too bogged down in the whole H business.

I'd rather the last series was focused around John Corbett like Gates in the first series. Instead he was quickly killed off and then the rest of the series was the pantomime search for H and Hastings acting like a lunatic.

🚨New Random Thought Alert Mother of God!

What do we know about Kate? Her family background? We know she was married with a son - but they've long since been written out of the series...
Does she have parents?

Or...

Could she be a Dot? 🤯🤯 another child failed by the system and raised in a childrens home?

IF she could be...that could turn the whole thing on it's head and set us up nicely for another series.

@BoreOfWhabylon

Poor Noble Ted despairing in the the lift reminded me of Aslan, bound and tormented on the Stone Table. Evil Jadis thought she had destroyed him but HE ROSE AGAIN and vanquished her.

And so will Ted rise again to triumph, in this series or the next.

Except Aslan's magnificent mane was shorn by the White Witch, and Ted's mane was still looking pretty full and bouncy despite his despair!

And so will Ted rise again to triumph, in this series or the next.

Next, IMO. I think Carmichael will be revealed as corrupt next episode (but not as H/fourth man), leaving Ted ending the series unretired and still on the trail of bent coppers.
Steve may be suspended because of his addiction/not replying to Occ Health, so Ted will beg Kate to come back to AC-12.

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. Me too. Dot Cotton was so obviously bent (along with with Neil Morrissey - they were the police officer equivalent of the OCG prison guards). Interesting that both Dot Cotton and Jo both tried to hit on Kate. Has anything been made of the Fort Knox type arrangement on the inside of Jo's front door? Is that a clue that she really didn't have any sense of being protected by the OCG while Dot Cotton, in his very ordinary, no particular locks worth mentioning flat, did? I think the reason they both fled the scene after shooting Ryan was because they didn't know who they might now come under attack from - the OCG having learned that surveillance had been withdrawn or bent coppers - knowing they had withdrawn the surveillance. That's what Kate meant when she said: "We're being framed". And it's the reason why she didn't simply arrest Jo herself having shot Ryan. If James Nesbitt is H it will be a lazy, last minute twist and if it's Osbourne it will be too predictable. I'm becoming more and more convinced by Hastings constant "Who is the 4th MAN?" demands that the 4th man will turn out to be a woman.

@User135644 - are you Osborne? Complaining about LoD being bogged down in finding out who H is!

Corbett was killed by the OCG in episode 4 of 6 of series 5 so not exactly quickly killed off. The series did focus on him. Now series 3 was a completely different kettle of fish.

Jo said the OCG had split into different factions who are fighting for supremacy - it's not one homogeneous OCG anymore. There's got to be more about that to come.

I agree with the PP that s1, 2 and 3 were superior to the following series (although I think s6 will prove, in hindsight, to be a cracker as well).

The "four dots" was just silly. And I agree absolutely about Corbett. He could've been a great character if he'd been developed a bit more into something more nuanced. The stuff with Ted was daft too - all that (apparently) completely pointless running around. And then the ridiculousness of Tranter stabbing Biggeloe at the end - why, just why?

I think the problem Jed has had is that, in switching from BBC2 to BBC1 he is having to write for a different audience. I didn't see S1 at all and only saw S2 by accident and was completely blown away by it (particularly the part where Denton returned to work following the ambush). It was so unexpected and so clever.

I've found the whole "H" thing tedious and as for the four dots! Just daft.

I'm not up for a big reveal really - I think LOD is not just about big baddies but how seemingly ordinary coppers can be compromised. So there's degrees of badness but it still means that the thin blue line of duty is crossed. And that is what makes the show such a great watch - it's the sublety, the second-guessing and the coverings-up that make the show for me, not to mention some fabulous acting from the likes of Gates, Denton, Dryden and Dot.

Rewatched E6 last night. Really noticed the bit where Steve witholds info from the interview with Jo from Kate. Seems like trust is really breaking down between them all.

I agree that the 4th "man" will be a woman. But who? Carmichael was very obvious in closing lines of questionning but not convinced she is H. Think she is protecting Osborne. Wonder if both C & O will be undone in final episode. Still thinking about "ambition nails patricia". I think they are both about ambition. Osborne obviously bent too but for his own gain rather than OCG. Which brings me back to Steph..... did she marry Corbett as a way in to the police? Still think she has more to bring to the story.

I did also notice that when Jo says how the OCG have broken down into smaller factions Ted responds, not the police though, and refers to the netwok of bent coppers with someone at the top. I wondered is this was a way of moving away from OCG and returning the focus to the police which clearly implies that we should be after someone senior within the police. Who is above Osborne? Got to be someone we know well. Lakewell referred to decisions being made way up the chain even at ministerial level - is it all going to come back to Boris, hence the sudden inclusion of the wee donkey!

I think LOD is not just about big baddies but how seemingly ordinary coppers can be compromised. So there's degrees of badness but it still means that the thin blue line of duty is crossed. And that is what makes the show such a great watch - it's the sublety, the second-guessing and the coverings-up that make the show for me, not to mention some fabulous acting from the likes of Gates, Denton, Dryden and Dot.

This is exactly it!

What, as in Dominic the Donkey?

I don't understand how they keep going on about a "fourth man", when we're on bent copper number 576 - there aren't only three so far!

Lomax is definitely dodgy isn't he?

And I thought Chloe was too good to be true earlier in the series but now I think she's just shit hot at her job and being lined up as a regular / return character if JM does do another series and / or a spin off...

@CheshireSplat

I think the final episode won't have any twists to be honest. I think it'll be fairly straightforward; Osborne will be H which will tie neatly back to S1E1 where Steve was forced out of his glamorous role to join AC12 because of Osborne's cover-up of the shooting. After being set up as "H", breaking his back, his pain now and painkiller addiction, he'll be vindicated at last. Was it worth it though...?

The only "twist" will be that Steve won't dob in Ted for telling Lee Banks about the rat and giving the proceeds of crime money to Chicken Licken, so they will both end up being less than truthful, verging on corrupt (but we like them so that's alright... does that make us corrupt too...?).

The tension will come with knowing the clock is ticking on Steve's suspension (I think perhaps Ted's retirement doesn't fit into the timescales of this episode but may be covered in the flash forwards that the series always end with).

That really only leaves Thurwell's involvement. I think over the whole story arc, it doesn't matter if Jo lives or dies.

I think the recent watchers will be disappointed by the lack of action but it'll reward those who've watched over the last 9(?) years.

I've probably forgotten something crucial and there will be fireworks.

Also conscious I've ignored Kate mate, but from this hypothesis, the story is all about Steve vs Osborne.

Totally agree. We've been led to this point from the very first minute of S1 E1, it would be the perfect ending. There will be a few surprises in the final episode I'm sure but i really don't want anything mad that makes me wonder what programme I've been watching over the last 9 years.

There’s an extra mini episode of Obsessed with line of duty podcast on Thursday with Jed being interviewed
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