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?

Everyone probably already knows this but I've only just realised tonight that Chris Lomax was Vicky McClures horrible husband in I Am Nicola!

As you were...

@EvilOnion

But more importantly.

If Buckles really was the 4th man they were looking for the whole time does that mean he really did sext about his helmet and trunshon???

oh god I'd forgotten about that!!

toe curl and double shudders....

All those armed guards... I could have marched Buckles in, in 6 inch heels holding a water pistol. If he tried to leg it, a swift slap would have had him in tears.

@LadyEloise, that's what I thought.
When does "bending the rules a bit" become corruption?
The 3 heroes weren't above bending the rules themselves when they needed to to suit their own needs - albeit they weren't getting any financial rewards as a result of their bending.
Steve's drug use, Kate's leaving the scene of the shooting and conspiring with Jo to achieve an outcome to suit them both, Ted's breach of confidentiality and a bit of money laundering (?) on the side.
I felt that Carmichael knew everything and has all the answers but also knows there's bugger all she can do about it so just carries on doing whatever asked of her by her seniors in order to maintain her sanity.
Hence the suit of armour demeanour.

Enough now, Jed.
Write something new and exciting without all the constraints of the long convoluted back story.

@PeskyRooksRGT

Everyone probably already knows this but I've only just realised tonight that Chris Lomax was Vicky McClures horrible husband in I Am Nicola!

As you were...

And he was the brilliant Flip in This Is England.

I like the fact that Jo's ending was a bit cheesy. At last witness protection served someone who deserved it. Maybe there is hope for the system after all. Whereas Gill and Lisa, in witness protection, after causing so much pain to others, ended up in a dump, Jo got the dream house in the country, her fairytale ending after a miserable life being forced to do awful things.

And Terry

And nesbitt really did just get a grainy photo and a rotting corpse. Good on you JM

OK I get it the ending was probably more believable but after years of "urgent exit required" finales I cant help feel a bit deflated.

I think I would have preferred - A balaclava clad sniper getting a "Fahrenheit target 1" message on a burner phone then Osbourne would be taken out during his news conference.

Then at the prison the security cameras would all go down and you would see Lee Banks getting a "Fahrenheit target 2" message on a burner phone. Then see him entering Buckells cell.

Then back to Jo in her lovely witness protection cottage destroying a phone and sim card, smiling then walking into the sunset with her golden retriever and new girlfriend.

The whole 'Steve is addicted to painkillers and is being hassled by occupational health' storyline might have had a more satisfying dramatic arc if the placid occupational health therapist had been corrupt and taking Steve off firearms duty had some kind of OCG aim. It would have had the effect of an innocuous subplot providing the dramatic twist we were all desperate for.

Yeah didn’t see the point of that storyline at all

@SunburstsOrMarbleHalls

OK I get it the ending was probably more believable but after years of "urgent exit required" finales I cant help feel a bit deflated.

I think I would have preferred - A balaclava clad sniper getting a "Fahrenheit target 1" message on a burner phone then Osbourne would be taken out during his news conference.

Then at the prison the security cameras would all go down and you would see Lee Banks getting a "Fahrenheit target 2" message on a burner phone. Then see him entering Buckells cell.

Then back to Jo in her lovely witness protection cottage destroying a phone and sim card, smiling then walking into the sunset with her golden retriever and new girlfriend.

Yes I love this ending

And in Buckells interview I was thinking any minute now there's going to be an 'urgent exit required'.

The reality was somewhat disappointing...

I'm not against it being buckles but he didn't seem that senior and everything they achieved and was able to do was from a fairly low standing ( in comparison to their achievements) I also thought the reveal was great up until the interview itself which fell flat he was all no comment then like yeah fuck it?

I would have liked a big run through of the inner workings of the last series.

@BeaLola your ending is fab!

There was also a lot of stuff that didn't need to be there like Steve's fire arm being taken.

I liked the ending. I hadn’t expected Buckells but it made sense to be him. I thought Jo’s ending unlikely but nice to see someone have a happy ending. I don’t, however, think it is finished. Normally there would be a Ted/Kate/Steve summary at the end, there was not. I think it was a deliberately flat ending and the social media teasing about it ending was planned. They will let us know when it is the final series and probably make it more definite - kill off a character or something.

@Frazzled2207 we actually got an extra half an hour as there were meant to only be 6 episodes with the last one being 90 but it was extended and we got 7 hour episodes instead

Well I’ve woken up & am even more pissed off this morning. I don’t want a lesson on police corruption. I pay my licence fee for entertainment & this wasn’t it.

@SpeckledFrogsLog I think that's the joke between Jed and Jimmy N. Jimmy had been asking for ages to be in it so finally was- even if only in a picture and as a corpse 🤣

Well we lost a shilling and found a penny with that, didn't we fellas?

How disappointing.

I watched it last night and husband just watched it this morning. He's not hardcore LoD but even he was disappointed.
First time ever that there wasn't a summary at the end for the three so I sincerely hope there will be a S7.

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
I agree with this. If Buckells had turned out to be a really smart guy who had been faking incompetence all along while pulling the strings, but no he was actually that useless and just passing on messages.

I love the ideas that Jo could have been shown to be orchestrating it all along. Or they could have done something similar with Osborne or whoever else sending a text at the end, to show that Buckells was just a stooge. But it was disappointing.

I also agree that there was too much exposition in this series, couldn't get invested in the Gail or Lawrence murders as we had never met those characters.

Message for Mr. Jed Mercurio - before you start writing the next series, please read the MN LOD threads. Particularly, threads 8 & 9 of series 6 discussion as it'll be an excellent resource of ideas. Also, can you please tie up some of the series 6 unfinished loose ends in series 7. Thank you.

Do you think the smirk from Bucknell's as he got locked in his prison cell was down to the police not finding his secret stash of jazz mags? At least he has plenty of time now to learn the trumpet and learn about the other sort of jazz.

@GillBiggeloesHair

Well none of the three died so I suppose that's something to be grateful for.

Also, I just saw in the Sunderland Echo from a few days ago that Laura Elphinstone ( Poundland Kate) was in the cast list for tonight's ep.

WTF?

"The last episode in the latest series of Line of Duty will welcome back a Sunderland actor as her character makes a fresh appearance in the hit drama."

I saw her name come up in the end credits and I’ve been wracking my brains trying to recall her in the episode.

I think she was maybe in the footage of Ted’s interview from last series.

The smirk occurred at the same time as the caption about public interest immunity. I thought it was a suggestion he knew he would never face trial.

Thinking about the end (as I feel a bit similar to everyone else, but not as strongly). I think Jed has sort of been backed into a corner where some people like the twists, the Tedisms and the car chases and some of us want it to be more reflective of real life (there probably are police officers who are corrupt, but not exactly some criminal mastermind, or at least want to come across that way). He was never going to please everyone, but in trying to had put together a bit of a mashed up finale that didn't make much sense. They did say that the show wasn't even finished when it started to air, so it did feel rushed. The trouble is when you spread yourself thinly as a writer or director it will be.

I thought that aside from ep 1 and 7, series 6 was fairly solid. I will still watch it if there is an series 7 as the good stuff is by far more superior than other shows, but there does need to be a bit more time spent refining it all in the next series. We also need the old Ted back, not the random drunk dude who makes unwanted speeches at weddings.