Line of Duty Thread 9, no spoilers! Watch along as we find out (?) wtf is going on!

[TedisnotH]

Reporting in, fellas. Let's fill up Thread 8 first though, ok?

So was Jed showing how idiots or people who act dumb can get promoted up through the ranks?

From my experience of the police it's certainly true that the ones who kick up a stink about conduct of others, quality of investigation etc don't tend to rise through the ranks.

I think I'm actually just disappointed it was boring Buckells that was the reveal, whatever the purpose of it. There was more "ooh" in Davidson's interview last week.

I was expecting someone more interesting and, to be honest, more believable as being anything other than a low-level pawn. Buckells is no Dot Cottan character. Beige Buckells.

AC12 stopped the van. Arrested the driver and the prison officer in the back and got Jo out. Then Steve drove the fan with one corrupt officer beside him who I assume they help them with Kate in the back

Exactly-which is why someone said arrest her and put her in the car with her mate, who was already in the car having been arrested when they first stopped the van

@Janus I think the point that it was trying to make - especially with Ted's speech at the end - was that often this type of corruption isn't clever and is fairly obvious but people choose not to see it for all sorts of reasons.

Well that was shite.

He was consistently overlooked because everyone over estimated the "smarts" a bent copper had to have

This is literally what I’ve been saying since he resurfaced in S4. It was obvious there was a reason he kept being brought back especially when he turned up again this season.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t mind the ending so much as I’ve expected it for years!

I thought it was brilliant. After appearing to jump the shark last week, the end reflected the dismal reality that corruption reigns supreme. Osborne's untouchable, Carmichael can see the whole picture but is pragmatic and Ted's brand of honesty and decency is outmoded. I reckon the twist was that there was no scooby doo ending cos reality is darker.

@maxiflump1.thanks, I think I dozed off for the most important minute of the show!

*Series 1 finale - Hunter is arrested and shocking ending as gates walks into traffic

Series 2 finale - big reveal through flashbacks as to what Lindsey Denton actually did. Cottan, who we now know is the caddy, is recruited to ac 12

Series 3 finale - that episode!! Arnott arrested but Cottan finally outed. An armed raid of ac12 to save him. Kate running after cars all over the city and Cottan's dying declaration!!

Series 4 finale - the brilliant interview of Roz Huntley where she turns to tables and arrests her own solicitor during her ac 12 interview and outs lakewell

Series 5 finale - 90 mins of tension - Hastings interview with Carmichael, the reveal of fill biggeloe, the attempt on her life in the bogs afterwards proper gripping.*

Exactly! And why most fans are gutted.

I feel like I’ve used a mackerel to catch a sprat 😤

At least we know how to spell ‘definitely’. Shame it took the series to ram it home.

Definately a political statement, incompetence is rife in many institutions.

Seriously though, what top amazing series thats been massively hyped has ever had a good final episode?

Im struggling to think of one. They all end up jumping the shark. I agree the point LoD did that was the Cottan morse code.

This series has been a stream of Hastings one liners, virtually no Reg 15s served and the joke about how Chloe has done all the work cos Steve and Kate are so shit now following their breakdowns/burnouts. Plus there's only so many BAME female characters you can kill off before it starts looking more than a bit careless and unfortunate.

We were clearly supposed to feel sorry for poor Jo in a way we weren't about Bigglelow. Why? Jo has been dead behind the eyes since the word go. Completely soulless and cold. Deliberately dumping various individuals in it and prepared to lead Kate to her death. And she's the only one who had any all series!

Agree you definitely expected Christmas music to start playing as she wandered off into the sunset with 'available in stores' to appear on screen with full branding. She was punching well above her weight with that gf too!

40k disappointing comments on twitter.
Shame as wanted to see ratings keep rising next series... past the peak obv.
Maybe the writer just needs to start a fresh series we can get our teeth sucked into?
Dare I say the dialogue became repetitive very quickly at times this series.

But he was the one sending l the messages including the one about killing Kate. If he's been that close to the OCG for so long he will have been close to loads of killings. It's implied that he was giving orders to the OCG in series 5 so why would Banks say 'that's what happens to a rat'. Surely Buckells is more senior than Banks?

He’s just passing on orders. And he’s just a greedy idiot - if he opens his mouth, he’ll be killed. Whoever is in charge (clearly Osborne) would happily dispatch of Buckells if he started talking, and no doubt would have made sure the murder happened in front of him.

@tecatea

The people who were disappointed what ending did you expect?

We could have at least seen those two corrupt prison officers getting shanked in their cells, the bitches!

They SCALDED Lyndsay!

@Fairyliz
Because he isn't dead, I reckon. Huge cover up staged in that raiding of the house in Spain. He is just being planted there ready for the next series. I got the feeling that Buckells is not the big man.

.... and fed her shit.

@Frazzled2207

I’ve spent the last month re-watching the lot from the very beginning to try and make sure I could keep up for the “big finale” and what a colossal waste of time that was.

Same. I usually rewatch the whole series again. Instead I’ve deleted the lot. That in itself shows how pissed off I am.

Imo there was no twist. How on earth is having buckles as the 4th caddy a twist? A twist would have been one of the main 3. Or even Chloe. Not Buckles.

The Prisoner Cell Block H prison officers always make me smile.

Series 2 Lindsay Denton was by far my favourite series.

@tecatea

So was Jed showing how idiots or people who act dumb can get promoted up through the ranks?

From my experience of the police it's certainly true that the ones who kick up a stink about conduct of others, quality of investigation etc don't tend to rise through the ranks.

Not just police.

Re Buckells: How would he have known Carmichael was about to take over from Hastings? That information was confidential and only a handful of people knew it. It wasn't public knowledge. And certainly someone in prison is likely to have been out of the loop.

For me it wasn’t even the reveal - it would have been fine for it to be Buckells if it had been done well but it just fell flat.
The whole episode felt rushed, off pace and the acting wasn’t great either.
Lots of random scenes felt shoehorned in like the Kate and Steve beer. Lots of things that were built up had no pay off. Which is fine, as that’s what tv series do but you need pay off for some things!

It almost felt like they’d shot a different ending where it was Ted then bottled it and decided to go with this one because it would be more unexpected and sends a political message.

The problem is every other season has been dramatic at the finale. There was no tension or chemistry in this episode whatsoever

Hmmmmm

@tecatea

IMHO Ted fessed up at the end so that he would add to the ‘institutionalized corruption’ line he has been trying to prove. He implicated himself so that Carmichael could not continue to ignore it. At risk to his own career ...

That's what I thought, he told her to make her complicit. If she acts she damages the top line about no corruption & potentially opens everything up since it goes to the top is AC 12, if she doesn't &
later it comes out proves corruption.

That’s what I thought, he was using his own owning up to put Carmichael on the spot. Will she , won’t she do something with that information? Them coming down like superheroes in the lift was cringe.

I suppose the upside is that now all the H business is over the series has the option to reboot with a fresh storyline that isn't so bogged down with backstory. No more having to search your brain to recall something that happened in series 4 episode 3 to understand a plot development.