Line of Duty season 5 episode 2 review: Is Ted Hastings H?
At the center of everything with the investigation of Peartree is Corbett, who seems to have gone so deep into his cover as “John Clayton” where there are serious questions as to where he even lies anymore. AC-12 (with some help) were left to try and pick up the pieces — starting with who picked up Maneet? We saw the group trying to find a way to understand better who Corbett was and where he was coming from, which led to them speaking with his wife … which led to his wife reaching out to him. That was one of the first times we felt fairly comfortable that Corbett was actually still good and had not fully turned; he was just keeping most of his cards close to the vest.
Following that, we saw AC-12 have a conversation with Corbett’s communications manager, arguing with her over what happened months before. She blamed Powell for the breakdown of communications, saying that their priorities were too low. Corbett wanted to dive deep into his mission to expose the lengths between OCGs and high-level corruption within the police and eventually, he determined that the only way in which to do that was to cut himself off.
What was the zenith of this episode? If you’re talking in terms of violence, we don’t know how you say anything other than what we saw within the dead of night with the gunfire rolling alongside all of the sirens. If you’re talking about the plotting, maybe it was Corbett informing a mystery party about a raid on a storage location for police gear and so much more. Then, we had a real, proper conversation between Corbett and AC-12 where he vented some of his frustration over how he wasn’t being used properly and how he couldn’t come back in. He understood that his actions cost some cops their lives, but he was fighting for something bigger — even if Powell didn’t want to listen.
Another struggle for AC-12 tonight was just seeing how closely the investigation into organized crime was attached to the larger sense of corruption that they have been dealing with from the very beginning with this season. Maybe some of this can be traced back to the larger H mystery, but once again, we don’t think that this is a mystery that was ever really meant to be solved tonight.
Bad news for Ted
As it turns out, his estranged wife has met someone else and is ready to move forward. He’s at a point now where he needs to start moving forward himself, even if that’s not the easiest thing in the world for him to handle. This is a guy who is living in a hotel … and we do still wonder if the show intentionally makes us as sympathetic towards him as possible to mask the fact that he is really the most corrupt cop in all the land.
The Culmination
You couldn’t have an episode of Line of Duty without some sort of shocking raid at the end of a given episode, but this is what we had near the end of the episode — a crazy attempt to get answers that we’re not quite sure amounted in anything substantial. Did they really need all of this to bring in Jane? She was interrogated by AC-12 as to whether or not she was contacted by an OCG over an extramarital affair. She found herself the subject of blackmail as a result of that, and when the dust settles, it appears as though she is the primary person you can blame for some of what transpired with the transport.
In the closing minutes of tonight’s episode, we saw Jane point to the photo of a corrupt officer … but we don’t know just who that is just yet!
Meanwhile, Corbett continued his efforts to try and turn others to his side (including Steve), otherwise known as him recognizing that he didn’t have a whole lot of additional options at his disposal.
CarterMatt Verdict
Our primary concern within the Line of Duty season 5 premiere was that it was perhaps too crazy and Jed Mercurio spent too much time trying to balance everything out. This time around, things were a little more focused. The show is desperate to both make us like Ted and make us think that he is H at the same time, just as they are also pumping the search for corruption and links to the OCG to new heights.
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