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March 28, 2024, 08:55:00 AM

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Sixth series of Line Of Duty on BBC 21st March

Started by Fambo Number Mive, February 27, 2021, 10:19:18 PM

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BlodwynPig


Fambo Number Mive


kitsofan34

What happened to the Kate-Jo romance they'd been teasing all series?

SpiderChrist

I wasn't going to bother with this series, after what happened at the end of Series 5, but Mrs SC wanted to watch it so I joined in.

Let's just say I absolutely definitely won't be bothering with Series 7, if there is one. Fucking AWFUL

Non Stop Dancer

Quote from: kitsofan34 on May 06, 2021, 10:37:20 AM
What happened to the Kate-Jo romance they'd been teasing all series?
Separate mini series on Pornhub.

phantom_power

It is funny to see how mad people are getting about the finale. I think it was fine, certainly no worse than the rest of the series. I think Buckles being The Fourth Man makes sense. Why would it be a criminal mastermind rather than some useful idiot who does what he is told and doesn't get ideas above his station.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: phantom_power on May 06, 2021, 01:34:40 PM
It is funny to see how mad people are getting about the finale. I think it was fine, certainly no worse than the rest of the series. I think Buckles being The Fourth Man makes sense. Why would it be a criminal mastermind rather than some useful idiot who does what he is told and doesn't get ideas above his station.

That's not the point. It was pathetically crafted and badly delivered.

BeardFaceMan

Indeed. And also it's not that The Fourth Man not being a criminal mastermind that's a problem, it's that it's Buckells, something that was seemingly only decided on this series, so retroactively it doesn't make much sense either.

Rev+

And with it you lose all faith in the thing.  I don't think anyone thought 'H' was anything more than a can being kicked down the road in earlier series, without much of an idea of who it could be from the writer.  Something to sort out later.  That was the great liberty the story had:  it doesn't matter who it is, because it's a story about deep-rooted corruption.  That kind of corruption is mediocre, when it comes down to it.  The actual character makes sense, and it was a reasonably audacious middle-finger to our current government.

It could have been great, but Jed Mercurio's clearly into the Steven Moffatt phase of having too many projects on the go at the same time, so they all get a bit wounded.

Waking Life

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on May 06, 2021, 07:56:56 PM
Indeed. And also it's not that The Fourth Man not being a criminal mastermind that's a problem, it's that it's Buckells, something that was seemingly only decided on this series, so retroactively it doesn't make much sense either.

I don't disagree that it wasn't much cop (heh), but I don't think it's any big secret that he's been writing it all series by series. H being Osborne, Hastings or anyone for that matter would have been just as retrofitted. Buckells probably fits more than any of the other suspects, as he was clearly a shade of corrupt back in the first series (letting Dot speak to Tommy Hunter in the van being a particularly odd thing) and has been a minor part of the narrative for half the run. If they kept him in every series and seeding him with wry set up lines, the 'mystery' would have long since been uncovered. Although I think that'd have been a good thing...

My biggest issue is that the Scooby Doo elements took over the show. I suppose it stirs up the hype, but police corruption is an interesting enough avenue for a series that the mystery shouldn't be the defining characteristic. Maybe it always was with the Dot reveal (also not that convincing narratively, even back is S1), but the fuss over H bored me.

Anecdotal evidence, but my social media feeds seem to just be pissed off that H was Buckells (comparing him to Chief Wiggum) and being annoyed that he was not some mastermind. But yeah, my particular issue was just that the episode - well, actually the last two series - were poorly crafted stories to fit into some wider H narrative.

phantom_power

I have always found it a bit crap and hilarious so the ending, and this series in general, hasn't been much of a step down for me. They had an armed assault to extract someone from an interrogation inside AC12 in an earlier series for Cliff's sake.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


BlodwynPig

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on May 07, 2021, 08:16:31 AM
Yeah, but at least it was never boring.

The season was very boring. Drudgery. Any hint of excitement watered down as piss in the rain. The car chase? nah. The ambush? wasted opportunity. Ryan scenes. hate him.

Stick some men in balaclavas and have them do things - rubbish, lacked any menace when it could have been so much more.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: BlodwynPig on May 07, 2021, 08:25:40 AM
The season was very boring. Drudgery. Any hint of excitement watered down as piss in the rain. The car chase? nah. The ambush? wasted opportunity. Ryan scenes. hate him.

Stick some men in balaclavas and have them do things - rubbish, lacked any menace when it could have been so much more.

That's exactly what I meant. phantom-power opined that LoD has always been a load of old nonsense, so this season wasn't much of a stepdown. I disagree, it was significantly worse in that there was no sense of forward momentum. It just existed for the sake of existing, repeating the same old tropes and treading water. Dull, dull, dull. In previous series, no matter how stupid it got, at least it was entertaining.

phantom_power

I found amusement in how much they leant into the tropes. The stares, the "mate"s, the Hastingsisms. That all may be not what was intended but I don't really care. It is entertainingly ridiculous in different ways than before.

studpuppet

My own personal view is that they should have drafted John Finnemore in to help - the last couple of episodes of Cabin Pressure are totally ret-conned, full of callbacks to earlier shows, lots of moments where the odd behaviour of the characters finally leads to the resolution of the plot rather than as a device to hinder it, and it all works without being completely unbelievable.

jaydee81

Quote from: BlodwynPig on May 07, 2021, 08:25:40 AM
The season was very boring. Drudgery. Any hint of excitement watered down as piss in the rain. The car chase? nah. The ambush? wasted opportunity. Ryan scenes. hate him.

Stick some men in balaclavas and have them do things - rubbish, lacked any menace when it could have been so much more.

I think the thing for me about the last episode was it seemed a bit scattergun. One minute they were going to an old folks home to confront the man from So Haunt Me, and then all of a sudden Chloe cracked the case because Buckells couldn't spell definately.

Blinder Data

unfortunately the finale was as shit as I expected

it felt like the last, didn't it? are they really going to stretch to one or two more series? I saw somewhere that we still don't know who forged Kate's signature on the prisoner transfer papers (Buckells was in custody) so there's a loose end to explore

this series was easily the worst one. I just don't understand the public's obsession with LoD. it's been totally overhyped - at its best it's exciting twisty turny comic book nonsense

chveik

Quote from: Blinder Data on May 07, 2021, 01:13:35 PM
I just don't understand the public's obsession with LoD. it's been totally overhyped - at its best it's exciting twisty turny comic book nonsense

it's meme-able and somewhat topical, it fills the void of the current lack of properly engaging/original tv dramas.

after the LOST/GOT finale debacles you'd have thought screenwriters were a bit more careful and didn't create mysteries just for the hell of it/to keep people watching.

DrGreggles

Quote from: Blinder Data on May 07, 2021, 01:13:35 PM
I just don't understand the public's obsession with LoD. it's been totally overhyped - at its best it's exciting twisty turny comic book nonsense

Is it because early LoD was significantly less shit than other British TV?
Less shit soon became "BESTTELLYEVER" due to a lack of alternatives.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: Blinder Data on May 07, 2021, 01:13:35 PM
this series was easily the worst one. I just don't understand the public's obsession with LoD. it's been totally overhyped - at its best it's exciting twisty turny comic book nonsense

Have you seen the type of films that make billions of dollars lately?

phantom_power

The "definately" thing is funny because it must be one of the most mis-spelt words, but it is also exactly the sort of word a dolt like Buckles would spell incorrectly

neveragain

Am I the only one who finds Adrian Dunbar a bit hammy? Not all the time but just enough to be annoying.

DrGreggles

Quote from: phantom_power on May 07, 2021, 09:37:39 PM
The "definately" thing is funny because it must be one of the most mis-spelt words, but it is also exactly the sort of word a dolt like Buckles would spell incorrectly

The fact that it's one of the most commonly mis-spelt words is another reason why it was such a flimsy "GOTCHA!" moment.

Utter Shit

Weird coincidence - today is the birthday of Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and
Spoiler alert
H from Steps
[close]
.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Utter Shit on May 08, 2021, 01:33:51 PM
Weird coincidence - today is the birthday of Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and
Spoiler alert
H from Steps
[close]
.

and the Fucking Huge Moth!