Line of Duty (Season 5, 2019) - BBC One

Line of Duty (Season 5, 2019) - BBC One

Directed by John Strickland and Sue Tully

Written by Jed Mercurio

Starring Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar, Stephen Graham and Rochenda Sandall.

SPOILER WARNING

So, I LOVE Line of Duty, like I am genuinely a little bit obsessed with it. Therefore, I had to do a review of Season Five.

I have broken down the review by episodes. Originally I had planned to try and write a review of each episode week by week, but I knew that was asking too much of my very disorganised self.

Episode One

I know every season starts out super intense but this was by far the most tense opening since season two.

A great opening to the season, setting everything up for a great plot, along with reminding the audience of what happened in previous seasons that will affect the characters in this season. Some examples of this are Detective Steve Arnott’s injury from last season which nearly left him wheelchair bound and looks like it will cause him a lot of difficulty this season. Or if the mysterious H could actually be Superintendent Hastings.

There were also some great twists and unexpected moments, such as finding out that the undercover policeman is actually Stephen Graham's character. Another was the murder of Maneet, I don’t think it was necessarily the fact she got murdered but the way they killed her that shocked everyone.  

It’s a bit difficult to fully critique the plot just yet because there has only been one episode, which was spent setting everything up and so the plot still needs time to develop. But, it has hooked the audience in and looks to be a very promising season.

Overall, a great start to the season and I’m excited to see where it goes.  

Episode Two

Okay, the plot development in this episode was just fantastic. It has left me with so many questions about what’s going to happen:

Is it Hasting’s picture she recognised during the interrogation? Does that mean Hastings could be H?

I really don’t want Hastings to be H, because he is such a loved character, also it’s quite an obvious plot line (especially with the laptop in his hotel room with what looked like the same chatroom used by the gangs boss). However, it would also make such a good storyline.

At what point is Steve going to tell Kate he’s working with John (Stephen Graham)?

Originally it was always obvious who the corrupt policeman was, now it isn’t. It makes the audience question if we can trust Stephen Graham’s character and if it will backfire on Steve.

Episode Three

WHAT THE ACTUAL F*** WAS THAT EPISODE?

I actually felt a bit sick - however, that could of been the fact that I ate way too much junk food.

I was sat on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the episode.

I cannot actually describe/review anything because I’m still in complete shock… I have so many questions, some of which are:

Is Hargreaves really H?

Why did Hastings throw away his laptop?

Why did Hastings fail to answer his walkie talkie?

Had Corbett gone rogue?

Could it have really been Dot who approached Jane? - he’s been dead for three years!

Overall, a brilliant episode - I was so invested in the plot that I completely forgot to focus on any of the technical stuff. Hopefully next week I will be able to give a more constructed review.

Episode Four

Yeah… that constructed writing style I was hoping for… not happening.

This episode started off so calmly, given the circumstances, you know what with Hasting’s soon to be ex wife in hospital after being tortured by John Corbett (Stephen Graham).

Originally as I was watching the episode, I was thinking about how great the plot was developing, all the dots were beginning to connect, everything was lining up. All arrows pointed in the direction of Hastings being H.

AND THEN JED “I’M GOING TO FREAK OUT MY ENTIRE AUDIENCE” MERCURIO, KILLS OFF JOHN CORBETT!

The whole episode is just so dark and disturbing it makes episode three look like a damn ray of sunshine.

I honestly thought the worst part would be the human trafficking deal, which just made me feel so sick. Especially, when John is about to open the door - because we don’t know what we’re about to witness.

AND THEN they slit John Corbett's throat. I felt actually physically numb after watching episode four. I’ve seen on twitter that some people have watched the episode twice, I don’t think I could bring myself to do it…

I’m terrified yet so excited for episode five…   

Episode Five

I’m so torn because part of me thinks Ted is H and then part of me things he’s being framed like he claims.

Then my mum suggested maybe it's all part of some bigger elaborate plot that we don’t know about yet. Which may be possible but I don’t think so...

I mean Steve got framed and he turned out okay-ish if you don’t consider all the trouble he went through in the next season what with getting beaten up and all that.

And is wouldn’t be surprising if they repeated a theme/storyline, they’ve done it before with Daniel Mayes and Stephen Graham, both killed off before the end of the series and were the suspected bent copper.

It was a very character focused episode this week, which I really enjoyed, considering the last two episodes had been very gun heavy and violent.

I don’t know what to think, its all getting incredibly tense and dark. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the finale...

Episode Six

Not the series finale we were expecting, but the series finale that we deserved…

It was so clever how they can create such a tense atmosphere without the use of really violent scenes. And then all that tension lead to the moment in the toilets, where Tina tries to murder Gill. I really hated that moment when the knife went through Gill’s hand. That moment honestly made me feel sick.

  

Speaking of Gill; I had always been suspicious of her and, earlier on in the episode my mum had predicted that she was bent. But, you have to admit that when she called out that mistake during Hasting’s investigation, that was one of the best moments of the episode.

I don’t know if I’m a little bit disappointed that H isn't a person but four people. Mainly because I’ve been speculating and trying to work out who H is for WEEKS.

Me trying to figure out who H is.

Writing wise however, it was an excellent plot twist to throw in, because the audience are still going to speculate who the final corrupt policeman or policewoman is…

Is there still a chance that it is Hastings?

Something that I didn’t realise until I went on twitter after the episode was that Ryan a member the OCG, who got into the police training academy, was the 13 year old boy who helped torture Steve Arnott in Season 1. My mind was a little blown after that.

You have to admire Jed Mercurio's writing skills and his ability to create amazing details that connects everything together.

However, now that Ryan is on his way to becoming a policeman, this means he is most likely going to have a bigger role next season. But he can’t be the 4th corrupt police officer, but he could know who it is.

To summarise, I really enjoyed this season of Line of Duty. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as previous seasons, but I don’t know if that's because I binged the first four seasons back to back. So there was no need to wait a week between episodes. Also, there was far more action scenes in the previous seasons, which was my only issues with this season.

However overall, I really enjoyed this season of Line of Duty, and hopefully everything will get answered in Season 6.

Feel free to leave a comment below your thoughts on the film. You can also contact me via twitter (@niamhcrawley_), instagram (@crawley.filmandtv), facebook or, you can email me at crawley.filmandtv2000@gmail.com.