LINE OF DUTY: cop-on-cop action TV procedural that demands analysis

Amazing, thanks James Morrison! I think that's NickB's theory confirmed.

i'm sticking by my scoobydoo theory: it is someone in a rubber mask, with a balaclava over the top of thE mask AND ANOTHER ONE BENEATH IT

― mark s, Sunday, April 9, 2017 11:17 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what's on Ted's computer? Theories please

Also who's this guy

Who is this guy?! #LineOfDuty 🧐🤔 pic.twitter.com/ZmVUAU8Ynr

— Lauren (@laurenproffitt_) April 14, 2019

what's on Ted's computer? Theories please

When he was packaging the computer in bubble wrap, I was thinking "he's concealing the evidence!!!!"

And then: "you know that seems like a sensible way to wrap up a computer if you don't have a bag"

i: he is addicted to on-line poker hence his having no money and his wife left him
ii: he is addicted to fortnite
iii: some computer sex thing i don't want to think abt probably involving balaclavas and furries
iv: he is ilx's frederick b
v: he watches gamer youtubes
vi: he records gamer youtubes

What’s so bad that he’d need to conceal the shape of his laptop from detection and that he’d need to get the whole thing destroyed?

iv

:D

if it's a gambling addiction* then the destruction is bcz he needs to go cold turkey and the concealment is bcz it's NAGL to be seen destroying a computer in the context of his job and this story (hence AGL in the context of the shuwrunners who keep zooming in on his not-actually-guilty guilty looks)

*or anyway something depserate quick-buck related

You forgot vii: evidence of his other life as a Mr Blobby fetish site operator

But surely he needs a laptop anyway? I could 100% buy gambling problem but he’s got a phone and he’s presumably passing bookies all the time. Concealment I agree with you, but it struck me as off and it’s ptobablt going to play out tragically.

xp no shame to that, fella

I thought Hargreaves was Hastings at first when Kate took his balaclava off

And let me tell you fellas I was mighty relieved to see him walking around in the next scene

i mean i've read this a dozen times now -- including here i think -- but the over-egging of hastings' coming doom, the blizzard of possibly false hints that he's a wrong un too, has kind of become a black box they can get anything out of and we won't be surprised (which means we'll be a bit disappointed either way)

hurrah re the cop-on-cop interview where they basically just accused him, teased him with the idea they thought he was innocent, then broke him -- w/o him even getting a say so (let alone his representative pushing back at all).

"let's undermine our usual tropes!"
"in a clever way?"
"no!"

the bit of evidence they were missing there was checking whether or not there was any oil on the car tyres

have to say their paperwork is always superbly in order in the powerpoint displays

Bent cop oil man could surely say he,d touched his car tires while crouching in hiding

the powerpoint is always at the right aspect ratio on the monitors and everything

Have we skidded off the road into implausibility here? Why did anybody take the bold scouse upstart seriously when he demanded that H attend the robbery in person? Why did poor Les go and elaborately collect all the hidden trackers instead of just phoning the crew about them?

Does Hastings tell each of his teams "yer my best team" when they're alone together?

(a) yes
(b) plot reasons
(c) see (b)
(d) see (a)

Thank you.

Does anyone else have the fantasy that when Hastings gets caught and he's sat the other side of the big table, his line is "I've always conducted myself to the letter of the law, son. The letter..... and that letter is H!"

It's another convenient bit of writing that, when Dot is shot and he has to dyingly declare the name of the big baddie, that name is just a single letter long

When he was packaging the computer in bubble wrap, I was thinking "he's concealing the evidence!!!!"

And then: "you know that seems like a sensible way to wrap up a computer if you don't have a bag"

― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, April 14, 2019 11:36 PM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Heh, I've actually done that with my tablet before I had a proper cover for it - stuck it in a padded envelope when I was carrying it around.

xp iirc he just died before he could spell out any other letters

The OCG members have been calling him H.

*dying* *faint*
"it was h — "
*fainter still, listeners leans in"
"— to the izzle"
*dies*

It's true that everything is initialed now, making it easy for dying coppers to maximize their last breaths.

*DS John Corbett grabs mic*
from the AFOs to the DCC
you haven't heard a declaration till you heard it from me
i'm the UCO in the OCG
i'm the CHIS with the biz in the CID
now i'll tell you H's real identity
*dies*

I've started watching Bodies but not sure my nerves can take it

definately
argh

was really looking forward to a Corbett interview scene too

good ep

any variation of Hastings = Corbett's Dad / Hastings killed Corbett's Dad would be a stupid twist imo
If McQueen is undercover police then she's way further over the line than Corbett was so that's kind of interesting

yeah I'll be disappointed if that's the case

why did they need JC's fingerprints to get his birth cert? I think I missed something there?

something about all the normal ways of looking things up being scrubbed when he went undercover I think?

blimey that was grim :(

xp oh yeah maybe. perhaps they couldn't 100% confirm his identity without it

what was John's actual plan at the end there, that was worth blowing his cover and everything else for? I mean not knowing what Lisa had planned obv

That was predictable that Corbett was gonna get done, right? Was also looking forward to the interview...

This is good but it feels a bit like they’ve plotted themselves in a corner. For the ending to work we need a) an plausibly innocent solution for what ted’s been doing, and b) an equally surprising solution to who H is, and both seem unlikely.

in conclusion, that's actually just how jed mercurio spells definitely

Ooft! A grim finish indeed.

I've got a couple of (probably daft) questions:

If Ted is indeed H or somehow involved with the OCG then why would he need Steve to tell him where the meeting between H and the OCG will be? Surely he'd already know?

Why did the OCG bother with the fake rape at the end to get Corbett out of the room? Did they know that he wouldn't be able to put up with that and step in?

1) To break Arnott and teach him who's boss, I guess? Unless of course Ted isn't H
2) They knew Corbett was a rat already, so I guess they were just "keeping their enemy closer" until Corbett tipped his hand. But also, plot reasons

Possible theory: Lisa is undercover and Ted is her "off book" handler. The computer never connected to "H" but to Hastings. Corbett hates Ted because of Belfast plat coincidences. Peartree/Corbett was blowing Lisa's cover, which is why Ted wanted him removed.

yes to all^^^ this

everyone else is also undercover, no one who isn't a cop has been on our screens even momentarily for this whole series

(the little kids? also cops)

Even YOU'RE a cop. Don't deny it, fella.

I like Chuck_Tatum's idea re. Lisa and Ted too. I wonder if Ted could potentially have personal connections to Corbett's Northern Irish past and even the death of his parents.

One thing I'm really missing in this series are the interviews, as we haven't had a decent one yet. Do you think we'll get an epic table-turning interview of Hastings as H suspect?

that epic scene (feat.table being turned)

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Chuck, that's a highly plausible Fake H theory! It accounts for why Hastings is so Hapless, and why he was telephoning Lisa in ep 1.

Why would it be such a secret though? Because anyone might be bent, even the Best Team?

why would he need Steve to tell him where the meeting between H and the OCG will be?
That held up: H needed to know what Corbett had told Steve, which might have been anything. And then when he knew, it gave him an excuse to surveil the meet.

Why did the OCG bother with the fake rape at the end
I guess it let Corbett incriminate himself in front of the whole OCG so there wouldn't be any doubters, that's one thing.

no one who isn't a cop has been on our screens
Moreover, everything we've seen anyone do is because they're being blackmailed into doing it, with a frozen condom dangled over their head.