Line of Duty season 5 episode 3 review: Is Hargreaves H?
Last week, we knew that there were some within AC-12 who were willing to work with John — including Steve, who felt rather tantalized by the idea of Corbett being able to expose a corrupt official high up on the food chain. Was this person H? That was obviously the hope, and that this would lead to a larger spiral of information — and some of the larger corruption within the force starting to get out.
Through most of the episode, what we were waiting for was simply this: A raid at the Eastfield depot. This was your opportunity to break open what was going on with the OCG, and at the same time, also figure out the larger police leaker at the same time. AC-12 as a whole found themselves in a tremendous predicament — how much did they want to support Corbett, and how far do they want to stick their neck out? After Steve paid Ted a visit, Ted agreed with his direction … but his hesitancy certainly is doing a lot to fuel all of the conversation that perhaps Ted is H — it’s been the easy convenient theory for some time now. The moment we saw Ted seemingly trying to dispose of the laptop, we started to think that this was our worst fears realized.
We eventually found ourselves at the point of the Eastfield operation, and with that, we saw the face-off between the OCG and the police — this was one that was marred with confusion, especially since it was so hard in order to properly determine who to trust but also how police could really keep themselves under wraps. Also, there was another issue — making sure a mass lost of life was prevented at the depot.
Right when AC-12 was moving closer to getting some answers, that’s when they realized the mole was handing down information on the trackers to the OCG. Then, the OCG decided that their mole was, perhaps, not a good enough mole, and they were gunned down. We waited for a good while to learn who was under the mask, only for it to be revealed to be … Hargreaves! Is he H? He was apparently able to tip off the OCG about the police beforehand and that helped them escape with valuable goods.
Did Hargreaves survive?
As it turns out, no — and we don’t have to tell you how bad of news that is. For starters, that means that AC-12 cannot get any further information out of him. They’re left with what could be a dead end unless they can get more intel out of their associates.
After the news about Hargreaves was presented to the unit, we then had a chance to touch back on the story of Ted, a man who is still clearly scrambling and trying to find something in the way of answers. He’s still coming across as shifty. Unfortunately for Ted’s wife, she may be the next casualty on this show judging from what we saw at the end of the episode.
Meanwhile, Steve and Corbett had a confrontation at the end of the episode, one where Corbett was left in a position where he had to defend himself for what happened. He claimed that he aimed low and he didn’t meant to kill Hargreaves … but now that he has, he’s crossed a line. He’s reached a point of no return. Maybe Corbett didn’t start off being one of the bad guys but now, he’s a little bit closer to it.
CarterMatt Verdict
Let’s start here by getting our primary critique for this episode out of the way: Line of Duty spent a lot of time tonight, perhaps so much more than they should, being ambiguous and telling a story in the midst of darkness.
This episode, otherwise, proved to be every bit as painful and intense as you could possibly expect. We’ve lost Hargreaves, Corbett is now in the wind, and AC-12 finds themselves utterly screwed. There are still so many questions without answers and we’re already halfway through this arc. For the record, we don’t quite think Hargreaves is H — it feels too easy after all we’ve been through.
What did you think about Line of Duty season 5 episode 3 as a whole? Be sure to sound off now in the comments, and remember to check back soon for even more updates regarding the series. (Photo: BBC.)