#now to be fair i made that post about another tv show that also hast a hostage episode

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Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2 Review: What is Kate’s Game?

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DCI Jo Davidson: D for Devious. C for Corrupt. I for I wonder what hold the OCG has over her. Because that flappy car tantrum was not the act of an ice-cool customer solely in it for the spondulicks. Jo’s a foe in woe. Why? We don’t know.

What we do know is that AC-12’s shade-ar now has a 100% detection rate. Every time it’s pointed at a potentially bent copper, it finds one. The moment Davidson picked up that burner phone from Beardy Blue Van Man, she lost all claim to innocence. Everything now points to her having 1) tipped off the OCG about Carl Banks running his mouth, 2) bought them enough time to kill him and the CHIS framed for Banks’ murder, and 3) used her keys to Farida’s to plant those burner phones and frame her as the leak.

What made Davidson do it, and whether AC-12 will be able to nail her are the questions. This series is still at the drawing-us-in phase, making steady progress by laying the ground and setting mysteries instead of bounding from one shock to the next.

Speaking of nailing Davidson: now that she’s dirtier than a street dog, is Kate about to lie down and catch fleas? DI Fleming was firmly on Team Jo this episode, thumbing her nose and rolling her eyes at AC-12 at every opportunity. When Steve tried to muster a sense of bonhomie in that piss-stinking underpass, Kate was having none of it. She betrayed him to get in Davidson’s good books, exposing Steve to a humiliating defeat when he and his troops stormed the Hill, his waistcoat puffed up with the fair winds of justice.

Was Kate and AC-12’s break-up really that bad, or – and a prize poppadom to everyone who got here earlier than me – is the lady protesting too much? It wouldn’t be the first time Fleming has gone undercover via a different anti-corruption team. The twist would be that, having exhausted all the Forster, Francis, Flynn surname variants in previous series, this time she’s gone undercover as herself, playing a disgruntled ex-anti-corruption officer who’s had it up to here with those pious tossers at anti-corruption. Hate those guys.

It’s one explanation for the cosy glass of wine, lingering hug and weekend invitation. Another equally plausible scenario is that Kelly Macdonald is a pre-Raphaelite beauty, even in her sensible trousers, and Kate’s recently single and ready to mingle. Who could blame her?

It is in the air, after all. John Corbett’s widow Steph let Steve know that he’d be welcome to visit her bungalow whenever the desire arose. Steve’s problem is that thanks to his injury and painkiller addiction, nothing of his has risen for well over a year. (Not strictly true. In a victory that couldn’t have been more bittersweet if it had come dipped in Green & Blacks Organic Dark 70%, Steve’s finally been promoted to DI – rewarded for his loyalty by a Super he’s planning to skip out on.)

Uncharacteristically, Steve wasn’t at Steph’s for yet another unwise sexual liaison, he was there to covertly suss out why she’d visited Ted at work. If I heard it right, Steph told Ted “You promised you’d call me back, it’s HMRC,” before he ushered her out of headquarters. Are people starting to get suspicious about that so-called life insurance sum (actually £50K of hooky cash Ted passed Steph to make up for the lack of police pay-out on John’s death)? Another mystery: are Ted’s buttocks the ones leaving a dent in Steph’s sofa in front of that big TV on match nights? 

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Line of Duty: Who is DC Chloe Bishop? Fan Theory Suggests Series 1 Link

By Louisa Mellor

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Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2: Ryan, Davidson & All Our Questions & Theories

By Louisa Mellor

Apologies there, for the blasphemous mention of Ted Hastings’ buttocks. Three Hail Marys and an act of contrition later, where were we?

That’s right, the return of Ryan Pilkington or The Caddy V2.0. The OCG’s newest inside man, Ryan’s history with AC-12 made for some awkward moments – whenever Steve showed up at The Hill, Ryan had to duck behind a tall plant lest Arnott remember that time he tried to amputate his fingers with a set of bolt cutters. Kate, now working alongside Pilkington, struggled to place him as the kid she’d once attempted to scare straight with threats of the sexual assault he’d face in juvenile custody. For Ryan to be Farida’s replacement on this case means there’s definitely somebody on high pulling the strings. Two to one odds it’s CC Osborne, whose conspiracy to cover up Steve’s botched Counter-Terrorism op in series one we were reminded of in that first Vella clip.

No thanks to Murder Squad, there was a breakthrough on the Vella investigation. Steve and Chloe (Ted was right, a great wee girl) have learned that Vella was poised to go public with her findings on police corruption, and so was likely killed for her silence.

The Vella case has been the force’s highest priority for over a year and has got nowhere. AC-12 poke it for five minutes and they’ve already uncovered a motive. It’s amazing how much police work can get done when the investigators aren’t being bribed to drop the evidence in puddles and misplace their pencil when it’s time to take down witness statements. “Working their bollocks off to find Gail Vella’s killer,” are they, ACC Wise? If Central Police are so desperate to solve Gail’s murder, why put Ian pigging Buckells in charge, an officer with only half of what it takes to be a useful idiot. 

It’s a clever trick, inserting Vella into the past investigations. Zoom out a little from every series we’ve watched and it’s easy to believe there she’s been, watching alongside us, raising eyebrows and keeping receipts. Vella’s a mouthpiece for series creator Jed Mercurio’s well-aired opinions on PR and optics-led politics and policing. (Literally a mouthpiece. He gave me her line questioning what corrupt police officers were getting out of their relationship with Jimmy Savile back in 2016.) Her case may also have been partly inspired by the still unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan in 1987 – as namechecked by Vella’s producer – a case with alleged connections to serious police corruption. 

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Wrapping Vella around the past series is a neat turn, but comes with the drawback of needing to keep those cases alive in viewers’ memories. That means more recap dialogue than we’re used to from a series that usually, flatteringly, speeds off without a backwards glance and expects us to keep up. “If your man pulled the trigger that means he’s a gun for hire, the order came from higher up,” said Ted this episode. “If organised crime ordered the murder of Gail Vella, they’re protecting Carl Banks and framing Terry Boyle,” said Steve. “Yeah, we get it”, says Kate, speaking for the viewer. Credit us with some grasp, Line of Duty. Loyalty works both ways.

The post Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2 Review: What is Kate’s Game? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[whataprettylilmess]

Well last night was the Pretty Little Liars episode we’ve all been waiting for; the ending. Considering the last two seasons we’ve suffered, I was content with the reveal of A.D as it became obvious it was only relevant to this season. Putting that into consideration, Alex was the perfect ending to someone avenging the death of Charlotte. Every other aspect of the show and episode and ending however, had me pretty disappointed.

I had unrealistically high hopes, to no fault but my own, which I am now very much regretting, but I was HOPING PLL would take a risk and shock us all, but considering another twin theory was expected by many, elements of shock were minor. I think my high hopes came from the promo and my own theories (Caleb, Ezra or Ali were my DREAM A’s), but also other TV show finales, such as the recent ending to ‘The Vampire Diaries’, which was perfect in every aspect and had me crying for hours like a little baby. And I was hoping for some form of content closure after 7 years of my life wrapped up in a mystery show with so many questions, not more questions and sentences without full stops

Of course there is positives, without a doubt. I’ve loved the programme and I don’t want to slate it to the ground when there are good (although minor) aspects. The acting within the show is incredible along with the directing etc. Troian Bellisario was outstandingly amazing, as was Janel Parrish, not to mention every other character on their usual standards. Just for me, since season 4 the show has been lacking a concentrated story line and full element of mystery, especially these past two seasons which have just been completely lost on me.

I’m so happy also with how Alex was revealed and what a character she was. A stone cold sociopath craving no sympathy, just thriving in her actions. Her mirroring reveal was SO much better than when Cece just turned around in a hoodie. This along with Troian’s acting made the episode somewhat worth it.

And then Mona. Oh my favourite, what a character. She won the game and that makes me so happy. ‘A’ really came round full circle in such a subtle but instinctive manner that did Mona so well. Her fake police man boyfriend and using everyone around her for her own motive gave me the vibes of when I loved the show when she owned the game, back when things made more sense.

So now we’re onto the ranting and the ramblings, as I can safely say my two paragraphs of happiness will be deeply outweighed by my never-ending questions and somewhat faults with this ending. Let’s start with the actual ending. Like please, can they just leave it with Mona doing us all proud winning the twisted life she created and NOT making it seem like Alison disappearing and causing it all was normal and trying take two with the IRRELEVANT Addison who nobody would even bat an eyelid at. I think everyone’s eyes rolled when they were just waiting for the “I think I heard her scream.”

There’s also the fact that the way it began holds no relevance whatsoever. Like in reality, this was a show about an iconic bitch who went missing. Alison then turned into a middle-aged housewife and A.D quite frankly had nothing to do with her and no care for her. Like ???? HOW. Alison was such a minor role in these seasons and they could have done it so much better. Too much from the early seasons has been forgotten, lost and unanswered and that’s the most annoying part. From the five-year time jump, PLL has basically been a completely different show with new motives and a new family focus of the Hastings.

Then there’s Wren. Shady Wren. Who has been done so dirty. I did not spend my years analysing this man’s shady behaviour for him to become a fake Spencer’s lap dog and then DIE. So many parts of his story and time on the show doesn’t make sense, he could have had a better link to the plot, along with Melissa, if the story had taken a partially different route they could have been done better. Wren has been a predicted A since the Charles reveal, and for him to just die barely even helping Alex just wasn’t enough for me.

I was also lost on the need for a one year time jump. Like why did Alex take a whole year off just to come back and try to be Spencer again? It made no sense to me whatsoever. Much like the fact that JENNA and a HORSE solved who A.D was. How have these girls spent seven seasons hiding from anonymous murdering stalkers to reveal one in half an hour with the help of their biggest enemy and a horse? Like come on. It was so rushed in that the finale spent an hour focusing on the romances, which although they’re cute and everyone got their happy ending, have always been a side plot, or supposedly, to what the show really is, a MYSTERY, a concept which the writers lost and upsets me a lot. So an hour on romance and then 40 mins on A.D? Just shows the lack of relevance to the entire thing really doesn’t it.

 I feel like I have so many more questions and annoyances about this ending, and I really didn’t want to feel this way about the end so I need to stop talking about it. In reality, this is the direction it took, and it’s over. I don’t want to sound entirely negative as I love the show and in consideration of how boring and lost I’ve found the last season and a half, the last five episodes were majorly good in comparison. I just wanted more. I feel like to introduce a new and complex character like Alex and expect it all to be over was a stretch and was bound to leave people with more questions, which isn’t really fair. Although her story and flashbacks made sense so much more than Charlotte’s which did make me very happy, I don’t feel like it’s over. The final scene of the girls made me cry (right up until they ruined it with Addison) so I feel like that’s a happy note of closure.

Overall it’s safe to say I’m glad it’s over and I don’t have to focus apparently more time and energy than the writers into theorising who A is, even though I will miss it, and I am planning on rewatching the whole thing just to piece it back together. Hope you’ve enjoyed this rambled mess of thoughts on the finale, please comment your own as I’d love to read them.

Hopefully I’m back to regular posts as it’s summer so.

Thanks for reading. Until next time.

  PLL GAME OVER: Reaction. Well last night was the Pretty Little Liars episode we've all been waiting for; the ending. Considering the last two seasons we've suffered, I was content with the reveal of A.D as it became obvious it was only relevant to this season.

[bluemoon21-blog]

SPOILERS: BBC’s Line Of Duty Series Four was Brilliant TV

BETTER TO WATCH IT, Than read this LONG REPORT!

Line Of Duty has a reputation for moments of jaw-dropping, hard-hitting, drama – like throwing Jessica Raine off a tower block and amputating Thandie Newton’s hand.

But its fourth series had something even more shocking: a happy ending. Or several to be precise …

After an uncharacteristically mad, messy, opening episode, the finale of the BBC’s police corruption thriller was still stunningly ruthless and relentless but unexpectedly, positive.

All of the baddies were brought to justice (in one form or another) and (amazingly) none of the good guys from AC-12 were forced to resign or suffered a tragic demise.

On the contrary, ‘Balaclava Man’ was shot down by Supt. Ted Hastings who also cleared his name, remaining the hero of the show.

By the time we saw the innocently-imprisoned Michael Farmer had been re-united with his Nan and DS Arnott was walking again, writer Jed Mercurio had turned Line Of Duty into a cross between The Sweeney and The Waltons.

He proved yet again that Duty was (easily) our best cop show and arguably the most intelligent, enthralling, drama on British television. Apart from Poldark obviously…

Where else would you find a case that revolved around a corrupt cop with an amputated hand and some fingertips she’d cut off with a chainsaw that proved to be her undoing?

Here are 30 highlights from Series Four’s brilliant finale.

1. DCI Roz Huntley and her children moved into a hotel after she had framed her husband for murder (a killing we suspected Roz had herself committed).

‘Why aren’t you helping him?!’ her daughter complained.

‘It’s complicated,’ the scheming DCI muttered.

You could say that yes…

2. Supt. Ted Hastings lamented Nick Huntley was close to being charged by the Murder Squad, with AC-12 having been stood down by ACC Hilton.

‘She’s done it again !’ Hastings cried. ‘We had that case in the palm of our hands. She’s thrown everybody off the scent.’

The way DS Arnott rolled his eyes suggested even he agreed this hadn’t been difficult given AC-12’s disastrous investigation.

3. To compound Hastings’ humiliation, DC Desford was also now lording it over him, having transferred to AC-9 when Hastings accused Desford of being the mole/rat, and repeatedly called him ‘James’ instead of ‘Jamie’.

‘Hastings didn’t appreciate my ability,’ Desford purred. ‘Hilton does.’

Ouch !

4. ‘I’m sorry to hear about your accident,’ DS Steve Arnott’s ex-girlfriend Murder Squad DS Sam Railston commiserated, provoking Kate Fleming to step in. ‘You dumped him at the first sign of trouble. It’s a bit late for apologies!’

(Steve + Kate ! Can we call them State?)

5. Thanks to Nick Huntley’s interview, AC-12 finally realise Roz had been covering up a cut on her arm and that it might have been infected during her fatal fight with Tim Ifield.

‘The MRSA lives in the carrier’s nose,’ a doctor tells Kate Fleming. Great news.

6. ACC Hilton implored DCI Huntley to resign.

‘I’m not bent sir !’ she protested (optimistically). ‘I’m a diligent, dedicated, loyal officer. Why aren’t you backing me?!’

She was probably regretting making an enemy of Hilton by not sleeping with him before she had her stump.

7. Roz’s ludicrous lackey DC Jodie Taylor passed on the information that James Lakewell had been Michael Farmer’s solicitor and so had been aware of Farmer’s conviction for rape.

‘What does that mean exactly?’ Jodie asked.

We knew we were confused but she was supposed to be the detective. Although she didn’t look like one…

8. DS Arnott was frantically scanning CCTV footage for sightings of Roz Huntley’s car on the night Tim Ifield was murdered.

‘How you getting on son?’ Hastings asked in classic style, referring to the scheming DCI as ‘the wicked witch.’

9. Unfortunately (deliberately) Roz Huntley had headed into a huge area of woodlands where there were no traffic cameras. But Arnott deduced that at 3am the area would have been so dark that Huntley must have known where to dispose of the evidence from the killing. Ted Hastings heart swelled with pride as he watched his officers return to their desks. As did ours.

10. ACC Hilton (and the dreaded Desford) turned up at the search and ordered Hastings to leave it to the Murder Squad. ‘Don’t expect the hearing to go well ‘H’,’ he snarled. Ted was either being set up or really was the head of the network of ruthless criminals and corrupt cops.

11. As a result of the search Roz Huntley was (finally) arrested, using Jodie to trick solicitor James Lakewell into representing her for the questioning.

‘You’re the only person I trust right now,’ the steely-eyed glamourpuss purred. Thandie Newton that is, not Jodie…

12. A classic AC-12 interrogation saw DS Kate Fleming, DS Arnott and Supt Hastings presenting all the evidence discovered in the woodlands: Ifield’s rucksack stuffed with the tracksuit stolen from his flat worn by the killer to escape and female clothing stained with his blood that (Ted Hastings mused) ‘has deposits matching an individual whose DNA profile is held on the police database’, Who could it be?!

‘No comment,’ said Roz.

13. The bag also contained Tim Ifield’s mobile phone and his fingertips, which had been cut off and used by the killer to text Hana Reznikova and stop her from interrupting the (extensive) clean-up operation. Gory but ingenious to be fair.

14. Keeping the fingernails proved Huntley’s undoing. As Hastings pointed out: ‘Tim Ifield’s dying act was to claw at the murderer’s hand to capture their DNA under his fingernails. So not only do we have the murderer’s DNA. We have the exact strain of bacteria that was grown in the wound that he inflicted on his killer.’

An expert forensic scientist, truly Tim was a dedicated professional to the last.

15. Finally Roz Huntley announced: ‘I confess to accidentally killing Tim Ifield. Our children will need a parent. My husband took no part. My witness testimony was false. The evidence was planted by me a few minutes after my husband’s arrest’ (thanks to Kate Fleming). Not exactly ‘doing the decent thing’ but still…

16. Roz described the fight in Ifield’s kitchen and how after she had been knocked unconsciousness Ifield had gone to buy a chainsaw.

‘Are you telling me that one of our most experienced Forensic Investigators didn’t know that you weren’t dead?!’ scoffed Ted. At least Jed Mercurio acknowledged it was unlikely !

17. Roz revealed she had been trying to wrestle the chainsaw off him when it nicked his neck. Like Ifield she had (improbably) decided against simply calling the police and report the accident.

‘I know how hard it is to prove self-defence,’ she justified. ‘I couldn’t save his life but I could try to save mine.’ Perhaps not as noble as she thought.

18. At this point James Lakewell declared ‘a conflict of interest.’ His client Nick Huntley had been charged with the murder Roz Huntley obviously committed. ‘Am I still a police officer?’ Roz asked Hastings before then reading her solicitor his rights. Certainly unusual for a murderer…

19. ‘I think I should leave,’ gulped Lakewell hurriedly.

‘I think you should sit down fella. Or I will handcuff you to that desk.’

Ted was back in the game !

20. Just as the murder of Tim Ifield had effectively been cracked by Nick Huntley it was Jodie Taylor whose policework showed who had attacked Steve Arnott. She had traced three ‘burner phones’ from The Wire showing that just before Arnott’s arrival, Nick Huntley had called his solicitor Lakewell who then phoned ACC Hilton. Hilton then deployed Balaclava Man. Jodie had nailed Hilton, Lakewell, and ‘Balaclava Man’ !

‘Jesus Christ !’ cried Jamie Desford upstairs, reaching for his own phone.

21. Hastings informed Lakewell he was under arrest for Perverting the Course of Justice – depriving Arnott of the chance to exact revenge on the smarmy solicitor for mocking him as ‘Ironside.’

22. Lakewell revealed there were in fact several Balaclava Men, who used the threat of incriminating body parts to manipulate corrupt police officers and men like him. Lakewell doubted ACC Hilton was the ‘Top Dog’ (‘H’) mentioned in The Caddy’s dying declaration.

If he is, how come he bricks it every time a new body’s found?’ he asked not unreasonably.

23. Armed police found ACC Hilton had fled. He had been tipped off by DC Desford who then tried to smuggle Lakewell out of AC-12’s clutches by claiming he was taking him to a safe house. This chaos escalated with the arrival of (you’ve guessed it) Balaclava Man !

24. Just when you thought Hastings couldn’t get any more heroic, in the ensuing shoot out he took out Balaclava Man.

‘You got him sir !’ cooed Steve adoringly.

‘I got one of them,’ Hastings corrected him laconically like Sheriff from a Western. When Arnott made the mistake of referring to ‘the real criminals’, Hastings teased: ‘are bent coppers not criminal enough for you son?’ Classic AC-12 banter.

25. In a series of post-scripts, Line Of Duty briefly went all Waltons as we saw Steve Arnott was walking again and Michael Farmer was escorted out of prison by his grandma.

26. The dead Balaclava Man was identified as a long-term associate of Tommy Hunter – the violent criminal/sex trafficker from Line Of Duty’s first series and the golfer who had groomed Cottan to be ‘The Caddy.’

27. DCI Roz Huntley was eventually jailed (for ten years), as was Lakewell who refused to co-operate for fear of reprisals from the ‘Top Dog.’

28. Supt. Hastings said he was “satisfied ACC Hilton was H” but we weren’t so sure. Hilton certainly wasn’t ‘H’ anymore. He was found dead, slumped over a shotgun having shot himself. At least it had been made to look that way.

29. Ted Hastings ordered his photo to be taken down from senior officers whose names began with ‘H.’

30. Rows of pictures linked all the great characters in Line of Duty’s four superb series: from DCI Tony Gates, Lindsay Denton and DI ‘Dot’ Cottan to Huntley and Hilton. Not categorically identifying ‘H’ had been the only failure of the night but even this was good news in a way.

‘This is beginning to feel like a life’s work,’ Supt. Ted Hastings muttered looking over the huge board of faces – confirming he and AC-12 should be around for a few more series yet in British television’s best cop show since The Sweeney.

The best cop on British television: Supt. Ted Hastings was going to be calling everyone ‘son’, ‘fella’, or (regrettably) ‘darlin’ for some time to come

Source: BBC’s Line Of Duty Series Four was brilliant television | DailyMailOnline

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