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!

@BoreOfWhabylon

Still think it's Nige.

Homage to The Usual Suspects? Keyser Soze.

Kate and Steve having keys to each others homes is a bit deus ex machina.

I don’t think Carmichael is bent- just a jobs worth!
Jo clearly thought Thurwell was her father.
Kind of want Jo to turn again and truely be dodgy in some way

No Comment

I thought the idea that James Nesbitt was heading up an OCG but they could still trace his IP address to Spain was a bit far fetched. Surely he’d be using a VPN or something.

Thanks for the new thread, mate.

Signing in

I'm absolutely baffled by Kate's actions - presumably jo told her something we don't see?

I suspect Jo has turned from OCG to deep UCO.

When she asked for Kate's gun, she already had Ryan's gun (she gives it up after the car chase), so she's not asking for it because she wants to prove to Kate that she won't shoot her. She could have shot Kate already with the gun she took from Ryan.

I think Jo's mum went "missing" to encourage her to join the OCG in the first place. Suicide doesn't make sense.

I suspect Jo found out her mum is in Spain with Thurwell (who she had assumed was her father). And her mum was in on the plan to convert Jo to OCG.

So she's turned UCO to bring in the entire ring.

Now she's exposed as OCG she can't continue to investigate (I.e. get the evidence to bring in the OCG) So she's told Kate abs taken the fall for Ryan so the Kate can take over evidence gathering.

I think Carmichael is her handler. She was disrupting the interview to stop Jo caving and revealing information. So Jo won't (yet) be killed in prison by the OCG, as she hasn't revealed details of any living OCG members.

Hence Carmichael's "I'm pragmatic" comment to Kate. To let Kate know that she's aware of the truth and what Kate's aiming to do.

I also suspect some kind of redemption for Buckells. He's been in the background all the time. I wonder if he's been part of deep UCO for AC for a long time. Pretending to be totally dim so the OCG don't see him as a threat.

Jo hurling something at her mum's photo means she blames her for something major, I guess.

@Comeinoutoftherain that's a great theory.

I also suspect Osbourne isn't going to be H and it's either Wise or Sindwhani.

The Lawrence murder is going to be what made Osbourne realise OCG police corruption vis thurwell and he's been riding through the ranks to try to get high enough to be able to stamp it out.

They don't trust Ted because he took the money (and stole half of it). I wonder if they set that up to test whether Ted was trustworthy, and he proved he wasn't. So they can't bring him into the fold, despite him actually figuring out a lot of the corrupt police involvement.

@Devoncreamy

I love Anna Maxwell Martin in this. I keep trying to picture her as the frazzled mum from Motherland and yet can’t, which I suppose is the mark of a great actor.

I keep hoping AMM will get her roles mixed up, frazzled mum in LOD and Carmichael in Motherland.

If Osborne is bent and is trying to disrupt AC-12, Carmichael must also be bent/controlled by the OCG because the only other explanation for her behaviour is that she is a jobsworth. But the last thing a bent chief covering up corruption wants is a jobsworth anti-corruption officer doing their job well. We’re supposed to think that Carmichael has specialised in anti corruption throughout her career, right?
Or is the suggestion that she is a straight police officer who finds it hard to believe that senior police could be crooked? In which case A-C work is not for her (and where has she been for 7 series?!).

I’m confused because her shutting down lines of enquiry is so blatant and literally the opposite of her job description. It’s too obvious for her to be bent.

Is it maybe that she is supposed to think that a police force needs to show it has an A-C unit to tick a box, but she thinks it is a waste of money because most police are good, lovely people? So she does the job to tick the box but limits resources to save money?

@Comeinoutoftherain agree, that would be a great theory if Carmichael is Jo's handler. Would explain both Jo looking shifty around Carmichael and not commenting and also Carmichael's pragmatic comment to Jo and shutting down Ted in the interview.

Kate's very forgiving of the woman who lured her to be murdered, isn't she??

Kate's very forgiving of the woman who lured her to be murdered, isn't she??

The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that maybe ?

I think Kate would be forgiving if she knew jo had no real choice and there was bigger fish to fry.

The only way Carmichael is a good guy is if she knows another team is investigating it and Steve and teds questioning could jeapordise it, or she’s genuinely scared.

She’s clearly putting a stop to the questioning, but she’s hardly doing it like her heart is in it.

@HaveringWavering

If Osborne is bent and is trying to disrupt AC-12, Carmichael must also be bent/controlled by the OCG because the only other explanation for her behaviour is that she is a jobsworth. But the last thing a bent chief covering up corruption wants is a jobsworth anti-corruption officer doing their job well. We’re supposed to think that Carmichael has specialised in anti corruption throughout her career, right? Or is the suggestion that she is a straight police officer who finds it hard to believe that senior police could be crooked? In which case A-C work is not for her (and where has she been for 7 series?!).

I’m confused because her shutting down lines of enquiry is so blatant and literally the opposite of her job description. It’s too obvious for her to be bent.

Is it maybe that she is supposed to think that a police force needs to show it has an A-C unit to tick a box, but she thinks it is a waste of money because most police are good, lovely people? So she does the job to tick the box but limits resources to save money?

Cynical careerist? Not downright corrupt but doing what the CC says to climb the ladder without thinking too much about it?

There was a bit too much suspension of disbelief needed in that episode for my liking.

What on earth was the whole Thelma and Louise act about?

Why did Jo have to take Kate on a sightseeing tour past Vella’s house and Kingsgate printers? Couldn’t she just have tilde her that stuff?

OK we’re supposed to believe that Carmichael is willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that Kate obviously shot Ryan (why Kate couldn’t just have admitted it I don’t know but there you go). But no-one is the least bit interested in Kate evading the police in a big car chase?

Carmichael is apparently not interested in the big fish in Jo’s interview, but the next thing we know she’s helped set up an international police effort to raid Thurwell’s house. What’s the evidence against Thurwell even? Just a bit of circumstantial suspicion around the fact he was involved in the Lawrence Christopher case and lives in Spain?

@Chrysanthemum5

Thank you! Still quite confused by tonight but liking the theory that jo Kate and Steve have something planned

I did like it right at the end when they more or less said "Right, enough messing around, let's get this sorted". When Kate and Steve together decide to sort something, it gets sorted.

@Comeinoutoftherain

I suspect Jo has turned from OCG to deep UCO.

When she asked for Kate's gun, she already had Ryan's gun (she gives it up after the car chase), so she's not asking for it because she wants to prove to Kate that she won't shoot her. She could have shot Kate already with the gun she took from Ryan.

I think Jo's mum went "missing" to encourage her to join the OCG in the first place. Suicide doesn't make sense.

I suspect Jo found out her mum is in Spain with Thurwell (who she had assumed was her father). And her mum was in on the plan to convert Jo to OCG.

So she's turned UCO to bring in the entire ring.

Now she's exposed as OCG she can't continue to investigate (I.e. get the evidence to bring in the OCG) So she's told Kate abs taken the fall for Ryan so the Kate can take over evidence gathering.

I think Carmichael is her handler. She was disrupting the interview to stop Jo caving and revealing information. So Jo won't (yet) be killed in prison by the OCG, as she hasn't revealed details of any living OCG members.

Hence Carmichael's "I'm pragmatic" comment to Kate. To let Kate know that she's aware of the truth and what Kate's aiming to do.

I also suspect some kind of redemption for Buckells. He's been in the background all the time. I wonder if he's been part of deep UCO for AC for a long time. Pretending to be totally dim so the OCG don't see him as a threat.

That all sounds like a great plot !

When she asked for Kate's gun, she already had Ryan's gun (she gives it up after the car chase), so she's not asking for it because she wants to prove to Kate that she won't shoot her. She could have shot Kate already with the gun she took from Ryan

She asked for Kate’s gun so she could put her prints on it and take the blame, not to prove that she wouldn’t shoot her.

I'm really struggling to see why anyone would want to be a ladder-scaling senior police commissioner, bent or otherwise. It looks massively stressful.

AMM said 'I'm not gullible but I'm pragmatic' so it felt like a nod to Kate to continue her investigation

I thought it was just a recognition that she would never get charging Kate past the CPS, given that the only witness to the shooting was Jo, Jo said she did it and her fingerprints were on the gun.

@Comeinoutoftherain

I suspect Jo has turned from OCG to deep UCO.

When she asked for Kate's gun, she already had Ryan's gun (she gives it up after the car chase), so she's not asking for it because she wants to prove to Kate that she won't shoot her. She could have shot Kate already with the gun she took from Ryan.

I think Jo's mum went "missing" to encourage her to join the OCG in the first place. Suicide doesn't make sense.

I suspect Jo found out her mum is in Spain with Thurwell (who she had assumed was her father). And her mum was in on the plan to convert Jo to OCG.

So she's turned UCO to bring in the entire ring.

Now she's exposed as OCG she can't continue to investigate (I.e. get the evidence to bring in the OCG) So she's told Kate abs taken the fall for Ryan so the Kate can take over evidence gathering.

I think Carmichael is her handler. She was disrupting the interview to stop Jo caving and revealing information. So Jo won't (yet) be killed in prison by the OCG, as she hasn't revealed details of any living OCG members.

Hence Carmichael's "I'm pragmatic" comment to Kate. To let Kate know that she's aware of the truth and what Kate's aiming to do.

I also suspect some kind of redemption for Buckells. He's been in the background all the time. I wonder if he's been part of deep UCO for AC for a long time. Pretending to be totally dim so the OCG don't see him as a threat.

Oh my god this might be right and if it is you're a genius. Mother of god.

You're interested in one thing and one thing only, and that's catching bent coppers being excellent at theories.