Bad Batch – The episode opens with JP Junior (Isaac Heslip) repeating his ballistics test. Giggling, instructor McCloskey (Neil Keery) claims to have never witnessed such a bad shot. Tommy looks downtrodden.
Gordy Mackle (Dane Whyte O’Hara) drops a package off at a house. Annie Conton (Katherine Devlin) checks underneath her vehicle before starting her vehicle. Following a game of lacrosse, an opponent (Carla Bryson) asks which of her teammates is a police officer. Annie claims she is dealing with an injury. Monica (Maria Quinn) is disappointed can’t make Saturday’s game due to work.
Inspector David “Jonty” Johnston (Jonathan Harden) confronts PC Grace Ellis (Sian Brooke) about taking Angela Mackle (Valene Kane) home. Grace suggests Angela should have been given a psychiatric referral. He reminds her of the Carrick View apartment complex is under police surveillance (OOB – Out of Bound). She starts to challenge him when Stevie Neil (Martin McCann) pulls her away. Before leaving, she asks how he knew. He says none of her business.
PC Gerard “Gerry” Cliff (Richard Dormer) is shocked Tommy doesn’t know Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. Tommy admits to listening to podcasts when they’re dispatched to Woodgrove for a shoplifter. When Barney (Frankie McCafferty) says “proceed with caution,” Gerry sarcastically asks if the suspect is wielding a chainsaw.
Stevie scolds Grace for driving her personal vehicle to Carrick View. She says nowhere does it say an individual is OOB. He refuses to explain.
When Gerry and Tommy arrive on scene, a physical altercation is taking place. The security guard (Callum Carragher) says they will press charges. Gerry warns the suspect, Alan “Happy” Kelly (Paddy Jenkins) can file an excessive force claim based on the CCTV footage. The security guard orders the suspect to stay away from their store. An anti-Police Service of Northern Ireland “PSNI” poster grabs Tommy’s attention. Happy admits to wanting the police to arrest him to avoid spending his anniversary alone. Giving him some cash for food, Gerry assures him that it will pass. When Tommy tries to document the incident, Gerry warns no one likes a “notebook wanker.”
Angela apologizes to Gordy for the police incident yesterday. Holding out a roll of cash, he says it’s from James. She claims his father earned it for working with the organization. He tells her to take it like always when Mo McIntyre (Michael Shea) rings the doorbell.
Tommy tells Gerry about his parent’s academic careers. Gerry questions why he chose to be a police officer. Tommy says after a criminology course, he wanted to see if the academics apply to traditional policing. Barney dispatches them to 9 Fitzimon Road for a noise complaint. Grace and Stevie are dispatched to Cavehill View for an unconscious male. Gerry and Tommy enter the house to find Pregabalin, an anticonvulsant, scattered on a table and two unconscious men upstairs. Gerry suggests they overdosed before ordering Tommy to perform CPR. Grace and Stevie discover an unconscious male outside and unconscious female outside. Pregabalin is scattered on a table. Grace discovers two young girls upstairs. Gerry and Tommy continue CPR when the ambulance arrives.
The paramedic (Keith Lynch) assesses the girls. Ellie (Ariella Neilly-Large) and her younger sister deny touching the medicine. Aunty Laura (Vicky Allen) arrives to stay with the girls. Tommy and Gerry discover one of their victims didn’t make it.
Mo informs James McIntyre (John Lunch) that some of the tainted drugs turned up outside their area at Malone Road in South Belfast and near the university. James warns the police will be onto them by teatime. He suggests getting Aodhan McAllister (Matthew Forsythe) involved. Gordy assures him that they can get some of it back before admitting to documenting their sales in code. James orders them to warn the dealers and do a buyback.
Stevie describes his job as a “bucket man.”
Jonty informs Annie that someone made a personal threat against her. PS Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) tells her that it happens. Annie asks if someone threatened to kill her. He claims the specifics aren’t available before suggesting taking special precautions. He says if the threat were more specific, she would be moved to a safe location.
Gerry complements PS Sandra Cliff’s (Andi Osho) breasts. She calls him a “dirty old bastard.” Tommy asks if Sandra could file a sexual allegation claim against him. Gerry says it isn’t likely. Tommy tells him about his failed ballistics test. He needs a 40 or above the pass the next test.
McNally tells the officers that a bad batch of drugs has shown. She says three are unconscious and one dead so far. Gerry describes the powder inside the blue capsules is darker than normal. Jen Robinson (Hannah McClean) asks if she can work on the Brennan file. McNally asks if she wants to sit on her butt while the department is short-staffed.
When Mo and Gordy ask JP about the drugs, he claims to have sold them but doesn’t remember who to. Slapping him around, Mow warns he’s in a lot of trouble.
McNally assures Annie that everything will be okay. Annie says it’s her mum that she’s concerned about. McNally suggests moving to a less conspicuous location. Someone made a threat against her six years ago. She and her husband, Declan left because he couldn’t deal with her overtime. Annie asks if she ever thought about leaving the force. McNally says no.
Mo orders Gordy to dump the tainted drugs in the landfill near Lennox’s farm. He says they can start distributing the new batch when it arrives at 7pm. He claims James has a plan to keep the cops busy. They’re getting in the car when Annie and Jen pull up. Jen asks them to vacate the vehicle. Mo says her bodycam isn’t on when Barney alerts the officers of multiple ODs. Jen takes the call. Mo celebrates his luck. Jen threatens to leave negative feedback on her 360-degree appraisal if she tells anyone about what just happened.
Happy admits to having a difficult week. Gerry arrests him for public intoxication even though he hasn’t been drinking. He promises to request a psychological evaluation. Sandra escorts Happy to his cell. Happy thanks her. After calling Gerry a big softie, she suggests Happy get proper help. Tommy tells him that the OOBs are in the neighborhoods where the McIntyre gang lives. Gerry says when Happy was eight, he and his friend stayed in a car while his father and brother when into a restaurant. A vehicle explosion took out the restaurant. Happy’s father and brother died. Gerry was Happy’s mate.
James asks Tina McIntyre (Abigail McGibbon) for a favor. Gordy burns the tainted drugs.
Stevie and Grace find McAllister with Martin Corrigan (Michael Patrick) and Ciara Corrigan (Louise Parker) when they arrive. Martin assures them that he and Clara accidentally overdosed on prescription medication. Stevie asks if they’re prescribed the same medicine that they accidentally overdosed on. McAllister says he will request Laura return the children to their parents. Grace informs them of their case being referred to child protection services. She says the outcome is based on her opinion. When McAllister issues her a warning, Ciara orders him to shut up. Grace suggests their opioid addiction is harming their children. She recommends random drug testing and treatment. Ciara and Martin agree to do it.
Gerry teaches Tommy how to shoot. McCloskey and Quinny (Shane McCaffrey) can be heard laughing in the background. McCloskey suggests Tommy isn’t police officer material. Gerry admits to not being much better as a recruit before assuring them that he’ll get there. Tommy’s next shot is better.
As the dealers load the drugs into their vehicles, Mo assures them that it’s top quality. After receiving a discreet message from James, Tina walks outside her home. A vehicle pulls up and a gun is unloaded into the house. She calls the police. McNally, Annie, Grace, and Stevie work the scene. Stevie suggests the McIntyre gang staged the shooting as a distraction. DS Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood) is questioning Tina who can’t give a description of the incident because it happened so quickly.
Mo distributes drugs while the police are tied up at Tina’s house. The episode comes to an end.
Blue Lights Review
Gerry helps Tommy prepare for his ballistics test. Annie comes under threat but has no idea who’s responsible. Jonty guarantees protection if the threats become more specific. Four overdoses, including one fatality, put police on high alert. Jen is supposed to search Mo’s car but fails to activate her bodycam. She threatens to give Annie negative feedback on her probationary assessment if she breathes a word of it.
The McIntyre gang received a bad batch of drugs. Gordy and Mo set out to get as much of the drugs back as possible. A new shipment is scheduled to arrive at 7pm. James stages a shooting at Tina’s house to distract the police while the gang delivers the new batch to the dealers.
Grace and Stevie work an overdose involving the parents of two young girls. James sends in McAllister to represent the couple. Grace refers the case to children’s protection services and recommends a treatment program for the parents.
Gerry’s long-time friend, Happy is involved in a dispute at a local shop. When Happy was eight, his brother and father were killed when a bomb exploded inside a car. It’s the anniversary of their death. Instead of spending it alone, he was hoping to get arrested. Gerry charges him with public intoxication to get him a psych evaluation inside.
Gerry works with Tommy to improve his shooting skills.
Sadly, the episode takes a turn for the worse. The show portrays male cops as weak, sexist, and uncaring, and the female recruits as daring and dedicated. A police officer is viewed as a lowly job, even a gangster career would be more acceptable. The majority of the public detests cops without explanation.
Threats are basically ignored, leaving cops to fend for themselves. Grace is supposed to be a likable character that viewers can look up to. Unfortunately, she is quite the opposite. She is belligerent, forceful, and annoying.
The episode deserves a 5.5. Get more Blue Lights recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by clicking the link. Our onsite advertising builds brand awareness.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
This episode was better than the first since they are all done introducing characters and can get in with some story development. I think Gerry is by far my favorite. He had a real Iain Glen vibe. A lot of chaos in this show. That makes it better for me because I really like that aspect of the show.
The game they were playing was hurling. Very similar to field hockey or lacrosse in most respects but they use a specialized club. It’s an Irish thing.
Also James didn’t text Tina. He “liked” a picture on Facebook. This is because the police are always constantly eavesdropping on their phone calls, texts and emails. It’s was a prearranged signal.
I’m on the slow train for this one… watching as BBC releases to the broadcast viewers in rhe UK.
Agree about Gerry. I always liked Richard Dormer. He is kinda of a mix between Iain Glen and Jerome Flynn lol. I’ll say Blue Lights seem to be a hit right now with everyone watching and mostly positive reviews. I’ve seen it compared to Happy Valley and The Responder so that says something.