Episode #6.1

A good start to the series after a poor series 5.

Kate has left ac-12 where a new case seems to be arising.

Typically of any drama in the past 10 years, there is a need for same sex inter-racial relationships but if does seem to be the fuel for Steve's new enquiry.

A good start but things do seem a bit tired despite the hype in the media surrounding the series.

By Jed Mercurio's standards, this was a subdued opening episode of series 6.

I am sure I was not the only one who thought Kate Fleming was working undercover, investigating DI Jo Davidson (Kelly Macdonald.)

In fact Kate has left AC-12. She and Jo are looking at the murder of a dead journalist Grace Vella.

On the way to arrest a suspect, Davidson spots an armed robbery in progress. A source tips DI Steve Arnott of her concerns about this.

Arnott is also looking to move away from Internal Affairs. The set up though looks like a likely reunion of the classic line up.

There were no shocks are surprises in the opener. There were some familiar characters that have woven in and out of the previous series.

Such as Terry, the man with Down's syndrome whose freezer was used in series 1 to hide the body of Jackie Laverty.

AC12 receive a tip off that something is wrong with a raid dealt with by a Murder Investigation Team.

There are a good number of interactions that show the dynamic between new characters and establish the situations of familiar faces. The personal involvement between two characters puts a interesting spin on the start of this investigation, as the uncertainty about motives being pure or possibly tainted by bitterness and jealousy is intriguing.

It is not quite as explosive as previous series' first episodes, which is fine with me as the dramatic opener was starting to feel a bit clichéd. I think the writer reveals just enough information to keep a level of intrigue about how events will unfold. As in previous episodes it links well to the overarching narrative of the show by bringing certain characters who were on periphery into main focus.

All actors are on good form with very few having huge challenges quite yet, aside from Anneika Rose who has the strongest emotions to convey and does a great job.

For me it's a 7.5/10, but I round upwards.

Who'd have thought there were still acronyms the writers hadn't thrown at us yet!

Much CHIS was had throughout the show.

This might be my first and last review as I find it hard to express myself in English, but I want to give it a try.

First of all I don't want to spoil anything about this episode and I will only mention briefly some points from the first five seasons. But for a better understanding let me tell you where I come from (and probably most others who watch this series).

I started this series at the beginning of December 2023, so I still have memories about the first five seasons and while especially season 5 was a mixed bag in reviews ranging from a low ranking to superb ranking, I probably was still one of the people who still liked season five as I never ranked an episode below 8 points, up until now.

So it saddens me to do this but with the start of season 6 I have to give the pilot episode six points. Yeah the characters are all still there, there is still a connection to the overall case, but this feels rather lame executed, as they ran out of ideas.

The core structure of this series seems to have changed once again, after Kate Flemming stood above Steve Arnott which already has been a long stretch, as they never really cleared or mentioned it more than a few sentences, so that everybody had to accept this. So the team I have come to accept these past few seasons has once again changed.

Main actors felt like they were used as supporting actors. Actors who were a main part in AC12 season 5 (for example Tatleen Sohota) are nowhere to be seen and no explanation was made why. Sadly it also seems that Steve's accident in season 4 still affects him to this day. Maybe the script was telling him to be lacklustre because of this and because working for AC12 doesn't seem to satisfy him anymore, because this I could accept as an excuse for his monotone acting in here. Even Hastings, who only gets round about what feels like five minutes screen time, felt like hanging in the air not knowing what to do.

There were one or two minor surprises, which I didn't see coming, but they were so small, that I don't think they play a major role in the plot. It also feels to me, that they used "Kelly Macdonald" just for the sake of name dropping a known and probably successful actress, so the show gets the attention it needs after changing the channel, because this episode left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Just to let you know I don't watch many British series, so if the other actors are also big names outside of Line Of Duty I apologise for not recognising them.

Don't get me wrong I don't expect a drama series to 100 % realistic, which also seemed to be one negative point people dropped in season 5, but at least make it interesting. I know this can be done as the writer / director showed us in the first four seasons how to entertain and surprise the viewer. Maybe it was just a slow start as the next episodes seem to have a better rating as the first episode, so I try to believe next episode might grab my attention once again.

Overall I really hope they conclude the ongoing story, which started in season 1 with the caddy and masked underground clans, because if this goes on I am not ready for another season and that is coming from someone who enjoyed the early seasons extraordinary and compared this series to the excellence story telling of The Wire.