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?

@DinosaurDiana

Do you think Steve would have taken his waistcoat off if filming in Spain ? 🤣

How very dare you!

I don’t think there is a season 7, the actors all wrote wrapping up/farewell to the cast/crew tweets yesterday

I really enjoyed how underwhelming it was, it was a perfect ending. It’s exactly how life is and exactly what we were not led to expect, which is what we came to expect from this show - the unexpected. It’s just a fact that incredibly mediocre and lazy and incompetent white men rise to the top of publicly funded sectors especially while brilliantly talented women and people of colour are under appreciated etc and of course the lines (Ted etc) being so difficult to draw. It was all so thoughtfully and sensitively done even if it did feel a bit structurally wang in places.

I'm in the minority obviously but I think the ending was spot on.

LOD was always supposed to have a level of social commentary and was never going to have everything tied up with a big bow.

If you want that then you have James Bond or Mission Impossible!!

I think it was done to make people consider corruption in many public institutions otherwise it would have been in very poor taste to link so closely to real life crimes which have led to public enquiries, such as Stephen Lawrence. Supposedly these enquiries have led to changes in the police and government but over the last few years you can see that the problems are very much still with us (racism particularly). I'm not criticising the police per se, and I think by and large most police officers are doing a good job under exceptionally tough circumstances. It's the government who have starved public services of money and manpower whilst feathering their own nests. Also the idea that incompetence rises - I mean, we have one of the most incompetent leaders in living memory and yet it seems he will be there for sometime.

I think Jed Mercurio is reaching many more people by putting his views out in a drama, than he would simply by writing a polemic in the Guardian.

Sorry to bring real life into it cause I know plenty just want escapism but in my experience Jed Mercurio's style is based on reality and all the inequalities and self-serving idiots who end up in positions of power with seemingly little accountability.

Ted is our conscience and we need him!!
Wonder if we can vote for Ted on 6th May??

We know that life is underwhelming much of the time

That’s why we enjoy watching highly dramatised tv/films such as LOD has always been from the very first episode

If you want that then you have James Bond or Mission Impossible!!

Kate hanging off the back of a moving lorry wasn’t Mission Imposdible? 😄

I did love Carmichael's line "well what do you expect me to do with that" when Ted confessed to his part in Corbett's murder. I think she could be great if there is a series 7.

@DialDownTheIanPaisley

Loving Bill Gigolo

I was really glad James Nesbitt wasn’t the big reveal!

My main question - could they not have done more to tone down Lakewell’s tan? He looked like he’d been on the sunbeds - is that an OCG prison perk?

@DialDownTheIanPaisley Patrick Baladi is of half Syrian and half English ancestry so his tan is his natural skin colour. His dad was a Syrian doctor and his mum was an English midwife. Maybe they could have used some makeup to tone down his natural tan. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Baladi

Hmm disappointed to say the least. The prison van scene could have been made a lot more dramatic. All over very quickly. It doesn't really make sense for Buckell's to be the fourth man as he is incompetent and lazy, no one can pull that fascade for so long. The quaking in the cell when Lakewell was murdered, all an act? Seems a bit of last minute writing just to round things up nicely.

Although I never thought Buckells would be the fourth man, i never understood why he was in Lakewell’s cell. Lee didn’t need him to be there in order to kill Lakewell.

So I think maybe it was Jed giving us a clue. Lakewell didn’t say ‘who are you?’, I think he said something along the lines of ‘why are you here ‘, and we know Lakewell knew who ‘H’ was and he refused to tell Steve.

I guess I would have to rewatch previous seasons to see if Lakewell ever saw Buckells in a police station.

I felt distinctly underwhelmed. I wasn’t expecting fireworks but I’d hoped for a bit more. I understand the whole white male raising through the ranks but I suppose I shows for their drama. I’d be surprised if there was another series.

@DinosaurDiana

Do you think Steve would have taken his waistcoat off if filming in Spain ? 🤣

He’d have swapped it for a nice lightweight linen one

@DinosaurDiana

Do you think Steve would have taken his waistcoat off if filming in Spain ? 🤣

covers children's eyes

@Weeedonkey

If you want that then you have James Bond or Mission Impossible!!

Kate hanging off the back of a moving lorry wasn’t Mission Imposdible? 😄

Kate hanging off the back of a moving lorry wasn’t Mission Impossible?

Not to mention the ‘urgent exit’ mass shootouts, or the convoy ambushes.

I’m not convinced verisimilitude and oblique state-of-the-nation commentary was the aim in such instances.

@Piggywaspushed

Loving all the damp squids flopping about the place

Yes, lots of The IT Crowd fans in these parts seemingly

Will Jed ever work again?

@Milkywaystars yes but if you compare him with Series 4 he looks like he’s been on holiday. It’s not a major point he just looked very healthy for someone in prison.

Jo had a really nice flat which made you think she was getting money from the OCG - if not then how did she pay for it?

Damp squid 😂 oh god that’s really tickled me hard 🤣

In 2035, this will seem like a powerful, 'bigger picture' end to the story arc, and completely satisfying.

Right now, after the last 12 months, being reminded that dodgy people do dodgy things and get away with it, thanks to other dodgy/incompetent/lazy people, feels a bit... less satisfying.

@GlassBoxSpectacular - fair point!!

I have to admit I'm one of those wimps who has a cushion to hand for many of the high octane scenes so am probably not representative of many viewers (DH ansmd DD included).

I totally understand that lots of people watch for the nail biting drama and huge exposee moments whilst I prefer the philosophical ponderings. I should probably stick to Miss Marple

I enjoyed the bit where the Chief Constable was saying the public isn't interested in institutionalised police corruption and doesn't want them to spend time investigating it and dealing with it. It's so exactly what Johnson and his mates always say to try to avoid awkward questions about their own corruption.

When the end of series 3 was first shown, it got loads of criticism for turning Line of Duty into a action movie over the tense procedure-based final episodes of the past!

Re Dot’s dying declaration, we have seen three versions of it. The first time, Kate whips out her voice recorder and the shot pans out so we can clearly see no one else there to film it. The second time the dialogue from Kate has changed to include a reference to someone with a body cam, so that was retconned when they realised they would need footage for the blinking bit. The third version then included twitching fingers.

We enjoyed this and we had in our house predicted that the only way to have a series 7 would be to reach the point where Ted, Steve and Kate would be working against the establishment rather than within it. The fact that we only ever saw Osborne re press conferences on screen was IMO symbolic of the fact that they never got near him. Series 7, if it happens, is the attempt to bring down corruption from the top (although Jed has rather undermined that by suggesting that can’t be done, but we’ll see!).

I loved the IT Crowd 😁

If you want that then you have James Bond or Mission Impossible!!

Are we forgetting that 3 weeks ago Steve made headlines and a campaign for him to be the next James Bond after making a completely inconceivable shot from an over turned van killing a highly skilled sniper?? Was all about the drama then, now it's back to reality with a thump!

I think part of the problem is (and Jed has said this) that they couldn't get a 90 minute slot with the change in schedule for Call the Midwife etc so they had to stretch it to 2 hours which meant a lot of filler.

In context with Ep6 Jo's confession and Buckell's discovery would have been pretty big but the filler and anticipation brought it down.

Will Jed ever work again?

See as disapointed I was with themissed opportunities and disjointed, jumbled end to this series he's still sucked me into his next project....

Although I never thought Buckells would be the fourth man, i never understood why he was in Lakewell’s cell. Lee didn’t need him to be there in order to kill Lakewell.

I suspect the OCG felt the need to remind him of what would happen should he feel like ratting on them to save his own skin.