Strike – The finale begins with Senior Constable Zilficar ‘Zil’ Ahmed’s (Akshay Khanna) fellow officers learning that they have been called as witnesses in Dalia Tun’s (Zoe Boe) suit against the department. It is Constable Rory Hooper (Aidan Gillett) who breaks the news to the task force. With the lack of success in their latest phone warrants, this only adds to their list of problems. Lucky for them, Inspector Ivy Tsuma (Zindzi Okenyo) is there to offer a few words of encouragement while simultaneously reminding them not to talk about the Ahmed incident or go anywhere near Dalia. Later that day, Ahmed arrives at the station with Kane Kerr (Sean Hall) where he signs an agreement that not only downgrades him to Constable but cuts off his pay until the legal matter is settled.

After her confrontation with Ty Egan (Hunter Page-Lochard), Dalia doesn’t appear to be in the best condition. Despite this and Yvonne Kaczmarek’s (Emily Martino) encouragement to seek help, Dalia already has a cover story to explain her condition. Yvonne does give her Kasim Ahmed (Akkshey Caplash) and tells her that people can help. When Ty later visits her at the group home, their conversation gives the impression that she wants to return to selling and he appears to be open to it.

Hayden Broadis (Jai Waetford) isn’t in much better condition, but his situation becomes immensely worse when Detective Graham McKeown (Richard Sydenham) and Senior Constable Sandra Ali (Roxie Mohebbi) pay him a surprise visit. They practically promise him the moon to turn on his suppliers but he isn’t interested any accepting any deals at the moment.

Ahmed receives a surprise visit of his own when shows up to return her key to the house. Their discussion is not only dignified but equally beneficial. She encourages him to transfer departments while he tells her about following Hayden to the bakery on Kingsley Avenue.

Yvonne and Dalia’s relationship begins to sour when Yvonne learns of her plans to continue selling for Ty. After running into Hayden at the bakery, Ali is inspired to continue researching the business. This eventually not only leads to her learning that the business is in Ruby Samuels’s (Maia Thomas) name, but according to police records, Senior Constable Greg Hall (Jackson Heywood) has had previous documented contact with her.

While Hall promises Ali to look further into Ruby, Ty tells Hayden and Dalia they are temporarily closing up the drug side of the bakery. Dalia isn’t at all happy with the news, although he assures her that it isn’t just her problems that have resulted in these actions. Hall very briefly visits Ruby but is forced to make a quick exit thanks to Theo Leon’s (Richard Brancatisano) arrival. Surprisingly enough, this turns out to be beneficial because it gives him Theo’s plate number. Although the plates come back clear, Hall receives a call from the State Crime Division after running the search. After sharing this with Sandra, they learn that Theo is married into the known crime family, El Maza.

Ahmed has a horrible experience when trying to use departmental resources to get mental health assistance. Dalia has an equally bad experience when she returns to the group home to discover that Christian (CJ Bloomfield) has taken it upon himself to have her relocated. It’s not clear where she’ll be going but it promised a new life, new school, and friends. She is not at all happy but doesn’t put up much of a resistance at the moment.

When Tsuma shares the task force’s discovery about the crime family with Superintendent Trevor Latt (Erik Thomson) and Detective Sergeant Edith Barcelos (Simone Kessell), it becomes clear that they have much different views on how to proceed. Tsuma and Trevor want the glory while Edith thinks is prudent to immediately share the news with the state. Although it appears that they all agree to sit on the bakery and hope something turns up, Trevor apparently doesn’t trust Edith to stay quiet. He eventually tells Tsuma to begin preparing for a raid.

Ahmed drops in on Zahra Khan (Rina Mousavi) and Rezana Ahmed (Esmee Blocking) at the park in hopes of repairing his relationship with Kasim. Despite Rezana’s joy over seeing him, Zahra wants nothing to do with him and tells him as much. Dalia is equally upset with Hayden and it certainly doesn’t help when he tells her about seeing Ali at the bakery. She accuses him of being a rat at one point, but after a bit of brief debating, he gets her to agree to leave town. After making plans to leave on the evening bus, she tells Ty everything. He very hastily closes up the bakery, begins bagging up his drugs and money, and calls Theo. Their discussion is brief but suggests that Ty is going to sell the drug in one huge while also making sure Hayden can’t talk. Ty ends up giving Dalia two of the bags to hold onto for safekeeping. This turns out to be a major mistake because Dalia not only tells Hayden to run without her but calls Kasmin to help arrange a meeting with Ahmed the following day at Wild Waters car park. Ahmed tries to get Kasim to come with him to the meeting but he says he isn’t ready.

The following day, Ty gives Dalia a gun before they leave for the deal. At the same time, the police gear up for the raid, and Ahmed arrives at the car park. It soon becomes clear that Dalia has led Ahmed to the meet. He uses his phone to take photos of the whole thing and sends them to Sandra. Although she does call him shortly after, they don’t have a good connection. With the deal complete, Ahmed has no choice but to step in and stop Ty from leaving. Noting the absence of backup, Ty pulls his weapon and orders Dalia to get in the trunk.

Dalia plays along but ends up attacking Ty from behind. When Ahmed steps in, the gun goes off, suggesting that Ahmed may have sustained a head wound. Despite the poor connection, Sandra overhears the shot and immediately dispatches the team to the car park. At the same time, Dalia has managed to procure Ty’s gun but only manages to hold him briefly at bay. Dalia eventually takes off on foot and Ty does briefly pursue her in the car but appears to abandon the chase when she diverts to the woods.

It is only sometime later when Sandra and Trevor share the news of Ahmed’s death with Kasim that they learn about the meeting. Once the news is shared with the Blacktown Station, it doesn’t take long to assemble a massive manhunt. During the hasty planning, it is revealed that the buyer was arrested but both Ty and Theo have escaped. Theo managed to simply leave on a commuter flight because Trevor and Tsuma kept the raid under wraps. As Yvonne learns about the incident through the TV news, Dalia shows up at her front door. After some brief apologizing and debating, Dalia decides to turn herself in with the assistance of Shanika.

The finale ends with Dalia being interviewed by Edith and Tsuma. She tells them what little she knows about Ty, Theo, and their operation. Dalia also suggests that there might be moles amongst the ranks of the officers.

 

Critical Incident Review

I would have to say that I’m fairly ‘in the air about the finale.’ I didn’t think it was awful but I certainly cannot say with confidence that it was great. I was surprised that Ahmed was killed off, although I began to suspect a possible suicide death about halfway through. I found it strange how Trevor and Tsuma’s lapse was downplayed, although this likely won’t be the case if there is another season. The ending suggests to me that it was created with the intent of another. All in all, not a complete train wreck of a series but it was far, far from great. I’d give the final a 5.7 out of 10.

Get more Critical Incident recaps here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying here.