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!

I’ve just got intrusive surveillance signed off, so I’m keeping an eye on the new thread - thanks!

Yes, regarding chicken licken Steph, I want to know what Steve intends to do with the info that a) Hastings gave her the £50k, and b) it was guilt money as he deffo did visit Lee Banks in prison and spill the beans on John's UC status, leading to his murder. Steve knows this now, and has also told Kate - about the money, but not necessarily about what Lee Banks said, can't remember now.

Maybe Steve will tell Steph and she will take her revenge somehow. She's got to be in this series for a reason and it doesn't seem like it's to become Steve's new girlfriend. I feel like Hastings will be made to pay for being the architect of John's murder.

What's buried beneath the floor of the OCG place? I think it will be bodies. Maybe of children in the sex trafficking ring from S3 and Danny's list. Maybe Carly Kirk will be there - she escaped but was caught again?

I'm finding all the Spain connections boring and too far fetched. The stuff with Thurlwell doesn't really grip because he never existed as a character before so I feel it's an unnecessary added strand.

the meanie prison officers, who made us all burst out laughing last night with their OTT scowls
They reminded me of this

@BentBastard no, they were tracking it, and she says they suspected AC12 so presumably had warrants to track the cars on some basis - I replied to you upthread!

But presumably Carmichael was told on the phone that Kate had been found in a tracked car but not at that point that it was Steve's.

As I said. She tells Steve she's just found out it's his car AFTER they are brought in. If she was tracking Steve's personal vehicle she would have already know it was Steve's car as they would have been tracking it.

Perhaps it was a writing/editing error but what was shown in the programme does not support the conclusion that Steve's personal vehicle was being tracked.

Something does not add up with the car tracking. Are they continuing to track everyone having told them they were?

But presumably Carmichael was told on the phone that Kate had been found in a tracked car but not at that point that it was Steve's.

This makes no sense. If they don't trust AC12, It is of enormous significance that she is in Steve's car and would be astonishingly negligent to omit that detail (and to allow him along to intervene).

was it a service vehicle or his personal veh? I think the latter.

@WeeGobshiteBentBastard

was it a service vehicle or his personal veh? I think the latter.

It was his personal vehicle. It was a little sporty thing and Kate joked it was time he got a grown up car.

Perhaps it was a writing/editing error but what was shown in the programme does not support the conclusion that Steve's personal vehicle was being tracked.

Didn’t the interview feature a map showing the route along which the vehicle had been tracked? (Past Gail Vella’s gaff to the Kingsgate Printers).

She's got to be in this series for a reason and it doesn't seem like it's to become Steve's new girlfriend.

She was in it for a reason: without her being in it, Steve would never have found/traced the origins of the bundle of cash, which, combined with what Lee Banks told him, prompted him to be suspicious of Ted and confide in Kate. Subsequently, Kate no longer trusts Ted, setting a load of other plot wheels in motion.

Aside from that, she served the purpose of showing that Steve is lonely, suffering ED, and has nothing in his life besides work just now, which makes the ticking bomb of Occ Health more of a concern.

@HaveringWavering

Perhaps it was a writing/editing error but what was shown in the programme does not support the conclusion that Steve's personal vehicle was being tracked.

Didn’t the interview feature a map showing the route along which the vehicle had been tracked? (Past Gail Vella’s gaff to the Kingsgate Printers).

It did, yes.

It Must be crap writing. To be tracking a car but have no idea whose it is when then allow said person (who is presumable suspected of being an accomplice) to have private conversations with the suspect prior to arrest makes no sense.

@HaveringWavering

Perhaps it was a writing/editing error but what was shown in the programme does not support the conclusion that Steve's personal vehicle was being tracked.

Didn’t the interview feature a map showing the route along which the vehicle had been tracked? (Past Gail Vella’s gaff to the Kingsgate Printers).

Yes, and it MUST have been tracked as that's how they found Kate and Jo. It's entirely possible she was called and told that one of the tracked vehicles had been identified as having Kate and Jo in it (although no idea how - following them and identifying on sight presumably) but not which one it was.

Given how few AC12 staff we see, we can't know how many cars they could potentially have had trackers on - it could be tens of them.

Oh yeas I forgot about the looming problem of Steve's health check... will it be the end for him?

I quite liked the Thelma and Louise bit! Maybe it wasn’t 100% logical for Kate to go off like that but I feel like all through the series she has been a bit taken with Jo. They had a friendship (and a flirtation?) and Kate was so reluctant to admit Jo could be bent. Not sure, maybe there is a bigger meaning to it, but I quite liked to have a bit of relationship and not just rationality/constant suspicion of everyone. Of course it gives an opportunity for Jo to reveal stuff to Kate/for deals to be made too.

I also loved that Kate and Steve provide back up for each other in case of emergency. I have missed them together this series and at the beginning it looked like they had not even spoken in ages. It is uplifting that ultimately they have each other’s backs.

Sorry, I am a complete wuss and Kate will probably turn out to be bent next week!

I thought Steve left the emergency stash of car keys (& burner phone? what was the 2nd item she picked up?) in the locker at Kate's request just for this emergency, as opposed to any general emergency. Am I wrong??

So my theory changes after every episode and have been wrong every time lol.

Based on last night I wonder if Jo thinks Fairbank was her dad - Thurwell and Osborne were both younger than her mum so I’m thinking it was someone older who was already in the police when Jo was born. Maybe Tommy was pimping his sister out - he maybe didn’t even know he was the dad and thought it was Fairbank - forced her to go through with the pregnancy and go back to Glasgow so he would have some hols over Fairbank in the future - as this would be before the boys home abuse started. Then used Fairbank to help her into the police. She would no doubt recognise Thurwell’s name if he was associated with Fairbank.

I really don't understand what the issue is with tracking the cars and Kate being in Steve's car is for some of you. I've worked somewhere we had trackers on vehicles for safety for lone workers and you logged in online and could see where they all were on a map realtime using GPS. Now if AC-12 were all in the office, apart from Kate and Kate's car was being tracked AC-9 would know where it was. When Kate switched cars at Steve's flat car park they'll have seen Kate's car stopped moving, but Steve's car toured the OCG related places and was then pursued by the police. Steve told Carmichael he and Kate had a plan if needed and could access each other's cars.

Even if they weren't tracking Kate as she was ostensibly in the MIT, they'll have seen Steve's car moving when he was in the office.

Is it something else people mean or are querying?

The query I have (although I now think it's just poor writing) is that Carmichael said she didn't know it was Steve's car until after the event.

It's crazy to think they didn't know which car was which or that they wouldn't think to mention to Carmichael it was Steve's car.

Even if they didn't know which tracked car was which, they would know Kates car was last seen at Steve's apartment and a tracked AC12 car left Steve's apartment.

Even Buckles would be able to work out it was Steve's car!

I'm imagining this call to Carmichael when Steve's car started moving:

"Ma'am, one of the tracked cars is on the move. It left Arbotts apartment and headed to Kingsgate printers. Haven't a scooby whose car it is, sorry"

The issue with Carmichael saying she had just found out it was Steve's car was presumably because she was told one of the tracked vehicles was on the move after Ryan's body was found, but was told Kate was actually driving Steve's car afterwards when Kate and Jo had been stopped. I don't see what about any of this makes it 'crap writing', etc. Carmichael speaking to Steve about Kate driving his car was to see what his answer was surely? He'd either say "we had a back up plan" or "Kate nicked my car" or some such.

@MotherOfGodWeeFella

The issue with Carmichael saying she had just found out it was Steve's car was presumably because she was told one of the tracked vehicles was on the move after Ryan's body was found, but was told Kate was actually driving Steve's car afterwards when Kate and Jo had been stopped. I don't see what about any of this makes it 'crap writing', etc. Carmichael speaking to Steve about Kate driving his car was to see what his answer was surely? He'd either say "we had a back up plan" or "Kate nicked my car" or some such.

Yep, the people feeding back that a tracked car had Kate in it would just have been concentrating on finding Kate - they were probably the police equivalent of call centre staff. They don't need to care which car she's in, just find her. The rest of it comes later.

It was just a device for Carmichael to query why Kate was in Steve's car or maybe she didn't ask whose car it was when it was being tracked because she's a bit shit and didn't think to?

Those 2 dodgy police officers in the prison took me right back to when I used to watch Prisoner Cell Block H 🤣

Is the issue not that it was Steve’s own car not his AC-12 car that Kate was in - I think people are wondering why they were tracking his own car

@WingingItSince1973

Those 2 dodgy police officers in the prison took me right back to when I used to watch Prisoner Cell Block H 🤣

I missed not getting the classic "answering only yes or no" over and over again.