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?

What was the morse code? I must have missed that bit!

@SophieB100

There was no H as such. Hastings said this last night - previously, mistakenly, they thought it was one person, then they changed this following Dot's morse code: 4 caddies or men. The final one to be brought down was Buckles.

Although that was wrong too because there was also Jo, so 5.

@Gordongrumpy

OCGs, plural. Like Balaclava Men, not Balaclava Man.

I think it was good, and entirely in keeping with the show. If you want soap opera or action film, those exist. This was perfect.

I didn't want nor expect soap opera or action film (how patronising are you?), I wanted and expected a coherent, well written, well acted, sharp and edgy series, with a clever finale that made sense. This series failed on all fronts, the finale fell flatter than a pancake.

"I think everyone gets that"

They really don't. I've seen countless posts from people complaining because he's too stupid to be head cheese of the OCG. Which of course, he's not.

It was very underwhelming but I think that was the point. Corruption is not about criminal masterminds and explosions and high speed car chases. It's about the ordinary people that are the collateral damage. Criminals aren't generally evil geniuses; they're lucky.
Agree with this and similar sentiments expressed here.
The powerfully depressing and frustrating point is about the banality of evil.
Buckells was a bit cleverer than we the viewer thought he was, but a bit less clever than he himself had become accustomed to believing. So, clever enough to liaise for the OCG but too slow to see that the interview was boxing him into a corner.
He was promoted above his ability because of his vulnerability to being corrupted for the promise of money and perks. I think that's probably how most corruption works.

One of the great things about LoD has always been how boringly procedural it is; how people are tripped up by not filling in the right form, and how scrupulously protocols must be followed; how much time is spent in a dull office in front of screens. The ending mirrored and amplified that.

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
I think this is an excellent point. This stuff is so 'live' and so widespread, a sober approach seems more fitting than a sensational one.
I think there'll be a Series 7, otherwise why would Ted come in to tell Carmichael he's lodged an appeal? And Kate and Steve talk about coming back to AC-12.

Right, I've just googled it. Well that makes no sense to me either as if you were on death's door, would you really think about morse code?! And there's more than 4 anyway. What about Ryan? And Jo?

@VioletCharlotte

Right, I've just googled it. Well that makes no sense to me either as if you were on death's door, would you really think about morse code?! And there's more than 4 anyway. What about Ryan? And Jo?

Ryan wasn't police then.

Jo should be one. But arguable Gill shouldn't as she was civilian, not Police.

what was the point of the Thewell storyline - there wasn't one.

I think the point was that Thurwell was running the VPN network (apologies if this was apparent).

Once they found him (albeit dead) and his computers, they could track the computers that were on the secret OCG network, which is how they found Buckells' secret house and the laptop with his DNA. His role was pretty crucial to the plot.

I can’t really make sense of the whole Buckells thing.

There was scant evidence of Buckells actually doing anything directly dodgy in his day job, it all seemed to be directed via the messages on the laptops.

So we had Jo working for Buckells and then receiving instructions from him via the laptop. And she’s supposed to have known all along that Buckells was H? Why did they need all the stealthy communication via laptop then? They could just have talked to each other!

If Jo was so terrified of the OCG that she was prepared to kill Kate, why did she feel confident enough to frame Buckells? Why did she even need to frame him, couldn’t she have provided evidence he was actually H?

Also as Buckells seemed to be nothing more than a go-between and not actually directing any decisions, why was he needed at all? Couldn’t OCG have communicated directly with Jo?

What was the point of Thurwell ?

The later series were filmed in Belfast.
I read somewhere that James Nesbitt, a Northern Irish actor ( so a local) had apparently joked with Jed Mercurio that he wanted a part.

So Jed gave him a part.

I love that he gets such high profile actors to be photos, or die suddenly. It makes things genuinely unpredictable.

I'm struggling with the Thurwell storyline too. Although my understanding is that it wasn't Thurwell managing the VPN but Buckells himself, setting things up to look as though Thurwell was involved thus framing him as H.

When Thurwell was killed (at the instigation of Buckells, one assumes) then he's out of the frame as H because he (Thurwell)was already dead when the final message was sent. So H had to be someone other than Thurwell.

What if Thurwell had been left alive though? What would have happened then?

The bit I liked in the Buckells interview was when they pointed out to him 'note the misspelling of the word definitely' - and he looked at the word as though oh I thought that was how you spelled it!

Did we ever find out why Ted hurriedly got rid of his laptop? (I mean apart from the 'porn' reason he gave)

Also finding it odd, like a PP, that if Jo knew Buckells was H, why all the communication via laptop?

I'm annoyed that if we're supposed to believe that Buckells was only the messenger and passing the OCG's messages on via the fake MSN, how/where was he getting his instructions? Surely there would have been incoming message to him found giving him the intel and direction to take on the laptops found?

Other than that I get that not everything is perfect and not every criminal or dodgy copper gets caught - and there are plenty of loose ends left to carry on if series 7 is commissioned...

I don't think Jo knew "H" it who she was speaking to was Buckles, did she? I think she knew it was OCG. And that Fairbanks was big in the OCG back in the day, but then once the OCGs had something on her, then the coordinator (Buckles) just had to tell the OCG wanting Jo's help that the other OCG had something. He was, as someone else said, just a keyboard warrior. He coordinated, like a computer game, and got rich. I doubt he ever got involved. He just knew who was who. He's not a big bad, he was just a chancer.

He got found out due to Chloe's awesome detective work, not exciting chases, or raids, but by looking at writing.

@FantasticButtocks no, I don't think we did. But I think we have to accept the porn explanation now as the only other reason he'd have been getting rid is if it was him communicating with the OCG. Now we know it wasn't.

@Buggerthebotox

I'm struggling with the Thurwell storyline too. Although my understanding is that it wasn't Thurwell managing the VPN but Buckells himself, setting things up to look as though Thurwell was involved thus framing him as H.

When Thurwell was killed (at the instigation of Buckells, one assumes) then he's out of the frame as H because he (Thurwell)was already dead when the final message was sent. So H had to be someone other than Thurwell.

What if Thurwell had been left alive though? What would have happened then?

I think this is where it falls down, someone who was competent enough to do all these things would not be a totally incompetent police officer scared to make a decision. It just doesn’t work. H was someone very smart,very competent. At no stage was buckells every portrayed as such, even at the end ted was going on about him being promoted above his ability level.

Maybe Ted was on the dark web considering taking a hit on Corbett in revenge? But he decided to do what he did instead. But wanted to hide his searches?

I don't buy the porn. He's a prude.

@CoteFolie

Charlotte Moore, BBC's chief content officer said: "Addictive event television, Line of Duty has kept the nation guessing for the last seven weeks, so it's no surprise that last night's jaw dropping finale set a ratings record. "Jed Mercurio is a master of his craft, and I would like to congratulate him and the entire cast and crew for delivering such an incredible drama series. I'm looking forward to having a conversation with the team about where we go next and what the future of the series might be."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56945425

I now really want a S7 to make amends for that episode.

Where does the consensus that it was the show's finale come from anyway?

All the stuff about it being one of the worst ending's to a show. I haven't seen anyone involved in the show say it was the last series.

I just assumed they'd make another one, particularly as the credits rolled at the end last night. Sometimes shows just end as another series doesn't end up happening, but that sixth series wasn't made as the last.

H was someone very smart,very competent.

Why? All Buckells did was pass on info (like when Nick Huntley called Lakewell about Arnott - Lakewell called Hilton who called a balaclava man.

There’s no need for Buckells to be smart, he’s not involved in any planning. He’s a go between.

Dot was smart and more actively involved in covering stuff up, or making moves. Buckells evidently wasn’t. It’s why he was terrified when Lakewell was killed.

I’m sort of surprised by how many people seem to misunderstand what role Buckells played / what the fourth man was.

I think the confusion comes from the initial dying declaration when Kate was asking Dot “who’s Top Dog”, then went into the alphabet.

Steve somehow knew once he saw the finger tapping that “four Dots” literally meant “four people equivalent to Dot”.

@Buggerthebotox

Also finding it odd, like a PP, that if Jo knew Buckells was H, why all the communication via laptop?

I'm not sure it's demonstrated that she did know who Buckles was.

Certainly Corbett and Lisa didn't actually know the identity of who they were communicating with on the laptop so perhaps Jo didn't either.

Also very feasible that Jo was unaware she was talking to Buckells just like Baines didn’t know he was talking to Dot. The less you know, the less you can tell.

Simply everyone thought h would be someone powerful, clever, significant. That they were cracking something major. Instead it’s a small inept character who looks like he’d struggle to make his own cup of coffee in the morning.

Was Jed just trying too hard with the twist. Going all Usual Suspects and trying to shock with the big reveal being the bad guy all along was some weak and weedy fool who nobody took seriously.