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

Filming of series 6 suspended.

boooooo

Le fuck

Just finished watching season 5. Great obv, but:

- 'definately' was not satisfyingly explained. I caught it early on thinking it would be a major clue to H's identity. It was first used by someone pretending to be H. (we think), then when Hastings went rogue(ish) and started chatting with H. But Charmichael's "OK Hastings so you studied H. so well you started typing like him/her/it?" Q - which could only be answered with a t/n anyway - was just... not good. (Hastings also swiftly brushed aside the forensic orthography and clearly thought it was pish)

- neither was Hastings' 'ditched my laptop bcz porn lol'. "Perfectly legal" porn is no reason to ditch a laptop ffs.

Unless it's all to be explained in season 6? Not that everything needs to be explained, mind, but the above just stood out as being handled poorly imo. But then I've not read all of the posts up here. I did read those with an 'H' in it though.

- neither was Hastings' 'ditched my laptop bcz porn lol'. "Perfectly legal" porn is no reason to ditch a laptop ffs.

Oh come on lol. Who ditches a laptop for having watched legal pornography? (he stressed it was legal, if it had been bestiality then... yeah, but it doesn't make sense as a plot point) That's a lot of laptops on the scrap!

There’s a lot of ground that’s both “legal” and incredibly embarrassing/disgusting, what have you, I’ve probably said this upthread. And especially given Ted is a Catholic man of a certain age...

He likes his steak with NO SAUCE, remember

Lol. Ok, but even then, does he not know how to erase his history or delete a file? Just struck me as a very weak resolve: ‘lets just use porn as his excuse’.

Funny, we just binged this entire show and I was thinking of bumping the thread. Pretty addictive, though S5 was definately my least favorite. the conclusion just wasn't as satisfying as other seasons. I don't think Hastings's actions will get explained in more detail. I agree they seemed pretty out-of-character for him, and likely just for the purpose of misleading viewers

Me and my Dutchness didn’t buy it. I’m willing to accept the ‘catholic shame’ angle, it’s just so random

This is back tonight at 9!

is series 5 going to spoiler series 3 and 4? (which i haven't seen yet)

wait, this is series 6?

The answer is yes anyway

yesssss
suddenly realised I remember zilch about s5, apart from some utterly retro-handwavey reimagined stuff about 4 dots that I am choosing to ignore and hoping s6 does too.
but trying to squeeze in a rewatch of the last ep or 2 of s5 to remind me...

kinder at 2:02 12 Mar 19
I'm also considering a re-watch of all of LoD before s5 starts...

Here's a spoilery recap of the series so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43qt3FrZh4s

this show is so dependably bananas

Tense! Fun! But a slightly boring first episode cliffhanger, given its previous form in that respect.

On the whole this episode wasn’t very revealing, and scenes like “I’ll throw a glass against a framed photograph to show that I’m angry” suggest that this once-great-show could still uncover new layers of dumbness, but on the whole that felt like an improvement on last season.

I guess the very obvious jokes should be left to Twitter (or not) but I did lol at “jizz handler”.

On the whole this episode wasn’t very revealing,

But... but the marks on the floor from the large appliance, such as a FRIDGE OR FREEZER.

Those who haven't seen s1 might want to watch it (it's only 5 eps) (and then remind me if certain things are still in certain appliances? Thought they were moved?)

The finale of s5 was a good recap of that whole series, so that was a good one to watch. I'd forgotten about Ted's wife and Corbett's mum.
Going off to remind myself what bit Buckells was in before and if he was corrupt or just crap...

Watched the series premiere tonight. (It's on Hulu in the US now, no longer on Netflix if it ever was.)

xxp I KNOW

Certain things were in certain appliances as recently as last season xp

Also so far Buckells has just been crap rather than corrupt

Missed this but apparently there was a scannable QR code in the trailer which takes you here (and elsewhere):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s4n96qRc2Y3-Xs8TgfWQndtaSR1pFsy6/edit

Hastings did not say "bent coppers" once!

it was low-key but when hastings approved the investigation i punched the air

He did call someone with downs syndrome "the local oddball" so there is that

mother of god!

he did tell Steve to whisht

steve on pills in his flat w his empty fruitbowl = peak bachelor

not v exciting granted but lots of setup so i guess we’ll just wait & see who falls off a balcony or jumps out a window i guess

the fkn fort knox lock system on herself’s condo has me VERY intrigued

Agree with everyone so far - not exciting, but could be some ok groundwork laid for later developments. Was the acting and a lot of the writing always this bad though? Did I just ignore it in earlier seasons because I was hooked on the overall storytelling and twists etc? Some scenes here were just dire and laughably wooden.

I was musing on the ludicrous door lock system as well - I guess it was another (possible/likely red herring?) wee signpost to make us think she's dodgy, needing such a security system to keep whatever dubious people she consorts with at bay.

Also, are we avoiding saying too much here for now, or is this a 'don't read if you're not keeping up to date' kind of a thread? I assumed it was the latter, but will try to hold my whisht more if not.

Locks for her phalanxes of jilted lovers surely

Yeah I think we need to be able to speak freely here - no one would have a case if they got spoiled by reading a thread about a show that’s on right now that they haven’t watched the most recent episode of

In terms of acting, I feel like each season is designed as a showcase for the 'guest suspect', and none of the other performances really matter or are given much room to breathe. Dunbar is the only one of the three long running leads who is maybe more than an occasionally adequate actor, and I he seems to be taking the piss a lot of the time.

The main appeal of the show has always been plot, plot, plot. Doesn't need much else to be supremely entertaining.

yeah it’s extremely “TV show” that way which is one of the reasons i love it

Adrian Dunbar is ridiculously hammy in some scenes and I love it. He’s everyone’s favourite for a reason.

xp that too Tracer! Handy for keeping out one's leather jacket slicing ex-partners as well as shadowy crime bosses & their balaclava wearing henchmen.

Maybe I just have a rose-tinted memory of the Lennie James and Keeley Hawes focused earlier days.

The guest stars are generally pretty good!

Though I didn't entirely buy Kelly Macdonald as a high ranking cop.

I love Kelly Mac a lot and her whole brittle vibe worked really well I thought.

I think she's a good actress but she didn't quite have the hard nosed authority for it or something? Not compared to eg Thandie Newton.

I'm glad Kate is no longer doing undercover, she was so shit at it. "Alright boss, fancy going down the pub later and planning some corruption?"

"Well up for a bit of corruption, don't know if there's any going on round here."

I'm glad Kate is no longer doing undercover, she was so shit at it.

Sounded like she will end up being effectively undercover there by next episode though.

i can't help thinking that KMac has been assuming she's been undercover the entire time

I think there've been some good secondary performances, Craig Parkinson obv, but also the likes of Gina McKee, George Costigan, Jonas Armstrong, even Neil Morrissey was okay.

It tends to be the smaller supporting roles that are the weakest. Case in point the fella playing the CHIS handler in last Sunday's episode, he was dreadful.