If you were thinking that series five of Line Of Duty hadn’t thus far been living up to previous ones, those doubts must have been allayed during Sunday night’s heart-stopping instalment.
Episode three of the BBC’s anti-corruption police drama proved to be a turning point in the story, as the organised crime group carried out a heist that exposed a corrupt high-ranking officer.
But the hunt for ‘H’ is still very much on as Superintendent Ted Hastings’ suspicious behaviour continued, while the writing also looked to be on the wall for DS Arnott (again).
Here’s all the burning questions and theories we’re mulling over this week...
Was Cottan the one who genuinely recruited Cafferty?
As some fans predicted, bent PC Caffterty revealed she was recruited to work as an informant for the OCG by former corrupt AC-12 officer, Matthew ‘Dot’ Cottan, aka The Caddy.
But there were some doubts cast over her admission, as Flemming suspected she may have identified him so she could use the fact he was corrupt to undermine AC-12, thus – as Flemming put it – ”use him as a stick to beat them with”. Was she telling the truth?
Is Moffatt in on it?
OK, we’ll get straight to the point – we are very, very wary of the former officer who now claims to be working for the Kettle Bell Complex. He is trying a little too hard to get Hastings to accept compensation for his investment in the dodgy property scheme, but as one fan pointed out earlier in the week, could this be because he is trying to fit Hastings up?
The theory – shared by @VeryTepid on Twitter – states that Hastings will end up getting a huge deposit in his account just before he is arrested on suspicion of being ‘H’, and then when he tries to explain the Kettle Bell complex, it will turn out it doesn’t exist. Sounds pretty plausible to us.
Is McQueen onto Corbett?
We still can’t decide quite what to make of McQueen, as her suspicious actions during episode one are still playing on our mind. However, she now seems to be growing increasingly wary of Corbett, especially after he cleared the print shop shortly before the police raid.
Is she on to the fact he might not be who he claims to be? And if so, is this because she is also an undercover officer? Which brings us to...
Is Hastings messaging McQueen as part of a side investigation?
More shots of Hastings with this laptop (not to mention him later having it destroyed) heavily suggested he was the one messaging McQueen and Corbett.
But rather than him actually being ‘H’, could he have his own side investigation going on that Arnott and Flemming don’t know about, using McQueen as an undercover operative? After all, it is always McQueen who has ‘H’ on the laptop ready to speak to Corbett.
Even if McQueen isn’t a UCO, could Hastings still just be posing as ‘H’ to get closer to the OCG?
While we’re not 100% sure on either of those possibilities, we guess they should be considered, right?
Who was the unidentified male going into the OCG house?
There was an unidentified man who entered the OCG house, whose appearance seemed to rattle Hastings during a team debrief – could it have been him?
After all, the young girl who was found at the house later identified the man as the same one McQueen spoke with, and noted he had a strong regional accent – just like Hastings…
Was Hargreaves really H?
With DS Railston’s old boss Hargreaves in collusion with the OCG, turning up at the depot during the heist, it could be assumed he was actually ‘H’. But Flemming certainly didn’t seem to believe this was the case, and we have to say, neither do we.
Why did Hastings want Arnott and Flemming to go to the police ambush?
Was he aware Hargreaves was about to turn up and didn’t want his team to find out, or did he genuinely believe the staged ambush was real and there was a need to preserve life?
What is Bigelow really up to?
One minute it looked like she wanted to finish Hastings professionally, then the next it seemed like she wanted to jump his bones. With them later heading back to his hotel room, it looked like the latter was definitely on the cards, but could there be another explanation as to why Bigelow wanted to be in his personal space?
Has Corbett been bent all along?
After killing Hargreaves during the heist believing AC-12 had set him up, Corbett had a tense meeting with Arnott. During their showdown, Corbett told Arnott that there was now no way back for him having killed a man, and promised to make Arnott pay. It later turned out that his plan was to seemingly kill Hastings’ wife and fit Arnott up for it.
However, you will remember earlier in the episode – when he was supposed to be cooperating with Arnott – Corbett was seen doctoring AC-12 identity badges. So had it been his plan all along to double cross Arnott, meaning he’s actually as bent as everyone first thought?
Will Corbett actually kill Hastings’ wife?
Seeing as he didn’t even blink before shooting Hargreaves and was also responsible for Maneet’s death, we’d say it wasn’t looking great for Mrs Hastings right now...
When is Arnott going to catch a break?
He had his hand put in a vice in series one, was set up by Lindsay Denton in series two, was fitted up as The Caddy in series three, was pushed down some stairs and left in a wheelchair in series four, and now it looks like he’s also being set up for murder. We’re beginning to think writer Jed Mercurio really doesn’t like this poor bloke.
Line Of Duty continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.