‘Line of Duty’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 2’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Often times, television shows tend to go pretty low key when it comes to season premieres. Simply because they serve as a wonderful opportunity to reset the story and set up the events of the season to follow. Plus, taking a relaxed approach in telling the story, really does allow for the audience to ease their way back into this universe and prepare their minds for a fascinating journey. But some shows, well they simply love to go big when it comes to their season premieres, and they provide the audience with a tour de force storytelling wise. One that puts the audience on the edge of their seat and blows their minds before taking the time to slow things down and that’s precisely what Line of Duty has done thus far in its second season.
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Because the premiere wasted no time in plunging us into the investigation of an unsettling crime, one that appeared to involve an officer of the law named Lindsay Denton, before stunning us with an epic finale where a new character lost their life, largely due to Denton’s actions. Which is the kind of opening chapter that takes an audience off guard and leaves them wondering as to what the next episode of the story is going to provide them with, and as mentioned a moment ago, ‘Episode 2’ was the one that made a great effort to slow things down. In order to give the audience time to process everything they just learned and to allow our heroes to lick their wounds and grieve and this was a genius decision storytelling wise. Because it gave DC Trotman’s death meaning and gravity, since both Hastings and Arnott were visibly shaken by her loss, despite the fact that they knew they had a duty to attend to.  

But they tried their best to get back on track, since bringing Trotman’s murderer to death would provide them with closure. And while Hastings was able to accomplish such a feat quickly, Steve still struggled to make peace with it all and found himself in a vulnerable place. One that allowed for him to become intimate with the nurse that allowed for the assassin to kill the witness, simply because it was obvious to the both of them that a romantic distraction would help more than hinder. As for Kate, well she knew she had to get something out of Denton and went above and beyond in getting close to her, basically using the playbook she saw success with, in the Gates case, with mixed results. Because Denton did everything and anything to keep Kate at bay, even going so far as to straight up, beat the tar out of DC Fleming when given the opportunity, simply because Kate and all of AC-12 underestimated this officer.

Because dear Denton was handling her own side investigation while she worked the missing person’s case, one that took a good long look at Kate, Steve and Hastings and their lives. For Denton knew that the walls were closing in upon her, and if she didn’t have something to fight back with quickly, this would end badly for her. Which brought forth quite the stunning moment when AC-12 called her back in for interrogation, since she straight up embarrassed our trio of heroes by airing their dirty laundry out, on the record. All in an effort to demonstrate that no one was above her, and of course to get them in trouble as well, and this was simply an incredible sequence to watch unfold. Because it really speaks to how much Denton believes people underestimate her and how ready she is to show the world to never do so and what’s fascinating about this sequence; is that it may be grounded in vengeance and hubris over a desperate attempt to prove one’s innocence.

Because Lindsay may in fact be innocent after all. For despite being arrested and put behind bars for the events of that evening, there is new evidence that dropped into AC-12’s lap. For the Witness Protection information was brought to the office mere moments before she was dragged away and Steve’s reaction to learning the witness’ true identity leaves the audience wondering why he was so rattled and frustrated at putting DI Denton behind bars, since he is as honest as they come. But that will have to wait for next week’s episode since this one ends before we can dive into such matters and while we wait, we can bask in the wonder of one quality tale. For this one really did a fine job of exploring our characters like never before and our potential villain for that matter as well and that’s always wonderful to see in a crime drama. Plus, despite slowing everything down, it still kept us on the edge of our seats and well, things are likely going to get more intense from here, now that AC-12 has an idea of what exactly they are up against. Until next time.    

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