How 'bout that for some brilliant, if outrageously frustrating, telly?
The follow-up to last week's explosive Line of Duty opener saw John Corbett (Stephen Graham) go to new extremes to out-manoeuvre a suspicious party and keep up his cover, while Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) struck a dangerous bargain.
As for Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar)... well, we're not quite sure what the Mother of God's going on there.
Join us again as we pore over all the evidence gathered so far and dig into the big questions that the second episode of series five left hanging.
1. Is Ted Hastings a bent copper?
This episode is having fun with us from the off: when Kate (Vicky McClure) still believes that murdered colleague Maneet was involved with the OCG, she laments, "You work right beside someone…" – cue Hastings entering the room!
But this week, Line of Duty adds more fuel to the 'Ted is H' fire than just knowing nods and shifty glances: having abducted Steve at gunpoint, Corbett outright accuses AC-12's gaffer of being involved in a conspiracy to cover up the links between high-ranking police officials and organised crime.
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Corbett reminds Steve that Ted shot dead one of the 'Balaclava Men' who'd invaded AC-12's headquarters. "A dozen AFOs [authorised firearms officers] had weapons on 'im... you seriously telling me they couldn't have brought him in for questioning?" asks Corbett (giving voice to a question asked by many fans, back when series four's finale first aired).
It's also suggested that Ted "forced [Maneet] out" of AC-12 to cover his own back – certainly, if Hastings is H, exposing Maneet's guilt would help to divert suspicion away from him and towards the late ACC Hilton.
Then there's Ted's ongoing financial difficulties – he lost a bundle via a bad property investment and appears to be willing to get into bed with not-entirely-trustworthy ex-copper Mark Moffatt (Patrick FitzSymons) in order to recoup his losses.
So we have an accusation, and we have motive, but that's not all: Hastings' laptop appears to use the same messaging service as was used by as a high-ranking member of the OCG, possibly even H himself, to communicate with John Corbett.
Then there's this week's nail-biting finish, as hijack survivor Jane Cafferty (Sian Reese-Williams) – who, it transpires, was bent all along – identifies the corrupt officer who originally brought her into the fold.
We don't see who she accuses (damn you, Line of Duty!), but it's important to note that Kate doesn't just present Cafferty with photographs torn down from AC-12's Wall of Bent Coppers – images of Hilton, 'Dot' Cottan et al – but also picks another photograph from a nearby filing cabinet.
Remember how Ted once ordered Kate to take his own picture down from the wall of H suspects?
The implication here is clear: Hastings' image is one of the faces being presented to Cafferty. Not only that, given the emphasis thrown on Ted as he warily eyes Kate's actions from his office, it's obvious we're also meant to suspect that his face is the one Cafferty's finger will land on.
This don't look good for Hastings. (In fact, it looks so damning that we now suspect the whole thing's actually a massive redirect and Ted's not H, after all.)
2. Can John Corbett be trusted?
Following last week's reveal, the specifics of Corbett's undercover op – Operation Pear Tree – are revealed here: his old life scrubbed from the record, he took on the alias of criminal forger "John Clayton" a little under a year ago, with the objective of infiltrating an OCG and exposing the "highest echelon of corrupt officers".
The real John is a loving husband and father who weeps at the sound of his two daughters sleeping. His 'criminal' activities were just "stunts", he insists, to "get attention" and, eventually, "access to to the top man".
He didn't tip the police off to the actions of corrupt admin officer Vihan Malhotra for fear it'd blow his own cover, and while he's not contacted his superiors in "nearly 3 months", that's only because of concerns that corruption at the highest levels was compromising his mission.
So, all good then, right? Not quite. Corbett's clearly got tunnel vision when it comes to H and is willing to go to any lengths, including cold-blooded killing, to bring bent coppers to 'justice'. "They're vermin, the lot of 'em," he tells Steve.
He'd never kill an 'innocent' – hence why he spared the officers transporting that cache of automatic rifles – but was more than happy to execute Cafferty and her corrupt squad. Is it really a good idea for Steve to be working with this unhinged vigilante?
3. Why doesn't Steve confide in Kate?
Held at gunpoint, handcuffed, bundled into the back of a car and faced with accusations that AC-12's boss might be corrupt, Steve for some reason decides to share none of this with his friend and colleague Kate.
Look, we get that she's his superior now she's been promoted to DI, but surely Steve's trust in Kate is utterly unshakeable, even with all this talk of corruption at the highest levels?
If partnering with Corbett was a bad decision, Steve's failure to inform Kate of what he's up to is a catastrophic one. Might Arnott, like Corbett, end up compromised by an honest desire to catch bent coppers?
4. Is Alison Powell corrupt?
Corbett explains that his frustrations with Operation Pear Tree stem from what he sees as Det. Supt. Powell's deliberate acts of sabotage. "She’s so scared about what I'll find out she just wants me chasing small-fry," he tells Arnott.
But is Corbett right? Was Powell deliberately steering him away from H? John's former COM (Covert Ops Manager) backs his story, saying that Powell kept pushing the operation in the direction of "low-level targets".
How dirty, then, is Powell? Is she just wary of scandal, or is she actively involved with organised crime? Has DCC Andrea Wise (Elizabeth Rider) kept her nose clean? What about PCC Sindwhani (Ace Bhatti)? Can even Ted's old flame Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker) – now Sindwhani's senior legal counsel – be trusted?
5. Is Lisa a career criminal or a soft touch?
Two episodes down and Lisa McQueen (Rochenda Sandall) remains this series of Line of Duty's biggest enigma.
Last week, it appeared John was her superior, yet now the balance of power looks to have shifted. He's been involved with the OCG "less than a year", while she's 'earned her place' – implying a longer criminal career. She also has knowledge of paedophile mobster Tommy Hunter, the OCG's original boss, though it's not clear if she actually knew him.
But if Lisa's such a seasoned criminal, why did she seem so troubled by John ordering Maneet's execution? And why did she spare Cafferty? (Yes, Cafferty was bent and working with the gang, but so were her colleagues and they ended up dead.)
6. Why was Maneet's body dumped on familiar ground?
Maneet's lifeless form is identified by Steve and Kate at the same spot where ACC Hilton's body was once discovered, a 'coincidence' that they both notice.
Given that Hilton's death was (presumably) staged to look like suicide, why would the OCG kill Maneet in the same spot? Unless they expect the authorities to believe that she slit her own throat, it's clear that PC Bindra was murdered, which in turn will raise questions over Hilton's own death.
In Line of Duty's second series, social worker Oliver Stephens-Lloyd was also found dead in the same spot, prior to Hilton's demise, again having apparently taken his own life. Again, it's safe to assume he was actually murdered, with the OCG staging a suicide.
But why keep dumping bodies in the same spot? Surely that's bound to arouse suspicion?
7. Is H now confirmed as male?
As mentioned, this episode sees Corbett converse via an instant messaging service with the OCG's top boss, presumably the elusive H.
Corbett pitches his plan to rain the Eastfield depot "where all the police forces in the region store seized contraband", but H signs off without giving him the go-ahead.
"Guess he’s going to have a think about it," says Lisa. "He"? Is that our first official confirmation that H is definitely male? Presuming that Lisa isn't just guessing / assuming, of course.
We know that H is a senior officer above the rank of Inspector and before Hilton was exposed as criminal, the full list of suspects was as follows:
- DCI Michael Hill
- Supt. Susan Hyde-Albert
- DCI Paul Haleton
- DCI Raymond Hall
- Det Sept. Michelle Harris
- ACC Derek Hilton
- Det. Ch. Supt. Lester Hargreaves
- DCI Roseanne 'Roz' Huntley
- Supt. Edward 'Ted' Hastings
This latest reveal appears to rule out Susan Hyde-Albert, Michelle Harris and Roz Huntley (no big surprise on that last one).
Given that, of the men listed, only Hilton, Hargreaves and Hastings have featured as major characters in Line of Duty, surely H *has* to be one of them. Our money's on Hargreaves, with Steve's old flame Sam Railston (Aiysha Hart) playing a role in exposing her boss.
Line of Duty continues next Sunday (April 14) at 9pm on BBC One.
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