Love Knows – Episode 3 opens with Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin) and Shane Bradley (Frank Blake) still feeling giddy from the previous night’s encounter. The arrival of Grace Ellis (Sian Brooke) and Annie’s insistence on keeping the encounter hidden eludes to how she feels about the encounter. Although Shane agrees to keep it hidden, he doesn’t appear to think of it as a major deal.

Annie races to head off Grace in the living room only to find her disgusted with the state of the apartment. Annie immediately apologizes and promises to clean up before Grace lectures her about bringing strangers home. At nearly the same time, Shane emerges from the bedroom with news of Jim ‘Dixie’ Dixon’s (Chris Corrigan) shooting.

Officer Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) speaks with Paul about bringing in backup from every district and assures him the request has been authorized. DS Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood) gives her a quick rundown of the shooting which she relays to her boss who stresses the Chief’s concern about reprisals and public outrage. McNally learns she has even bigger problems when she finds David ‘Jonty’ Johnston (Jonathan Harden) waiting in her office.

Outside the station, DS Canning doesn’t hold back as he lays into Shane over showing up to work sweating bucket and reeking of alcohol. Before storming off, Canning is quick to remind Shane that it was him who brought him to the station in the first place. Shane attempts to assure Canning he can be relied on, but he doesn’t appear interested in hearing it.

Tommy Foster (Nathan Braniff) and Aisling (Dearbhaile McKinney) meet at a diner where he expresses his excitement about working with Canning and getting to view things from the other side. Aisling appears happy for him but insists that side of the job is far too messy for her.

Despite being alone in the locker room, Annie nearly flips out on Shane when he tries to help her adjust her tactical vest. Just as she points out that they are at work, Sandra Cliff (Andi Osho) interrupts to tell them about the mandatory 12-hour shifts. Seconds later, Sandra finds herself nearly speechless when she runs into Jonty and McNally in the hallway. He attempts to lighten the mood by mentioning the letter he sent, but that only makes things worse when Sandra claims he hasn’t even looked at it.

Tommy and Aisling’s date/meeting is brought to an abrupt end when Sandra calls him to return to the office to assist with the case. Aisling appears to take him by surprise when she mentions considering answering the volunteer requests at the Blackthorn Station. He surprises her when he not only encourages but jokes about her not being able to handle the work. Their meeting ends with a kiss.

Grace and Stevie Neil (Martin McCann) don’t receive the best response when they go door to door looking for witnesses to the shooting last night. At one house, they encounter a surly elderly lady, Eileen (Carol Moore), who has a doorbell camera but refuses to hand over the footage without a warrant. Shortly after radioing in the warrant request, they get called to a suspicious death.

Lee Thompson (Seamus O’Hara) and Craig McQuarrie (Craig McGinlay) meet with the Dubliners where Lee lays out his plans to take over the business under the guise of his taxi business. It is Tina McIntyre (Abigail McGibbon) who asks if he was responsible for the Dixie shooting. At nearly the same time, DS Canning proposes the same question to Davy Hamill (Tony Flynn) at the station. Davy admits to arguing with Dixie over having his son beaten up but denies responsibility for the death. Returning to the meeting, the Dubliners appear to be considering Lee’s offer but are apprehensive about  Lee not belonging to any faction and having the resources to handle their load. He assures them he only needs a few weeks. Tina hands him a duffle full of money and practically tells him to get started. The Dubliners then place a call to Davy’s solicitor who recuses himself.

Stevie and Grace respond to the suspicious death call where they find a cancer nurse Sally Kyle (Catriona Hinds) who suspects her patient’s husband, Chris Young (Chris Robinson), of an assisted suicide. As the story slowly unfolds, it becomes clear that Grace and Stevie have much different views on the case. Stevie appears to want to simply walk away, whereas Grace feels Chris needs to be charged.

Jonty and McNally meet outside the station to work on a strategy for policing the neighborhood where the shooting occurred without raising too much stink from the residents. Much to her surprise, Jonty proves more than useful and she responds by offering him the opportunity to be the spokesperson for the case.

Jen Robinson (Hannah McClean) appears to be taken completely by surprise when she meets with an RUC Special Branch officer, Robin Graham (Derek Thompson), and hears of his exploits while working with the unit. Robin only subtly offers bits and pieces due to previous threats of prison time from superiors. Despite the threats, Robin appears to be especially troubled by a chip shop bombing that he could have prevented but chose not to do so his source wouldn’t come under suspicion.

While McNally gathers her officers on the outskirts of the neighborhood and ensures they are aware of their assignments, Jonty meets with a group of the residents at what appears to be a public town meeting. It appears to be going pretty well until Lee Thompson shows up and raises a huge stink about the cops basically sitting on their hands until something big like this happens. Jonty eventually ends up being shamed out of the meeting, but not all the residents appear to be pleased with Lee’s intervention, especially Robert ‘Rab’ Mckendry (Dan Gordon), who encourages his young nephew not to look up to Lee. Much to Rab’s surprise, it is he who comes under suspicion when he is later stopped at one of the neighborhood checkpoints. Shane attempts to leverage him for information about the Dixie shooting but that only causes problems for the cops, the locals, and Rab’s young nephew.

While riding patrol with Tommy, Sandra notices a cab driver, Craig McQuarrie (Craig McGinlay), who purposely avoids them. This later leads to a stop and although the initial check comes back clean, she relegates to pursue matters further when she notices what appears to be a gang tattoo on his forearm. Although all they find is a duffle full of money and Craig claims to be on his way to the bank, they seize it.

Before the CID Officer (Conor O’Donnell) shows up at the suspicious death call to collect Michael’s body, Grace appears to regret pursuing the arrest after learning that Stevie had a wife who died of cancer. Stevie continues to bond with Chris as he is brought in and processed at the station. Chris appears to be taken by complete surprise when Stevie tells him to act confused and exhausted in hopes of giving the illusion that he simply got Michael’s dosage mixed up.

Jonty does not receive the response he expected when he meets with Margaret ‘Mags’ Thompson at the neighborhood bar. She not only denies his requests to speak with Lee, but she runs him off, claiming that he failed the entire neighborhood. Despite this, he leaves his card.

Jen shares her discovery about the bombing with Happy Kelly (Paddy Jenkins) who appears hesitant but hopeful that he might finally get some answers. John Desai (John Nayagam) is quick to remind him that the discovery might lead nowhere and even later jumps onto Jen for inspiring hope where there might not be any.

At the end of their shift, Annie and Shane have a somewhat heated debate about their policing tactics. She appears to be especially troubled by the way he treated Rab at the roadblock. His continued insistence that it was merely proactive policing sends her storming off. McNally and Jonty have a similar discussion with Rad Nicola Robinson (Andrea Irvine). Much to everyone’s surprise, Jonty receives a call from the front desk with news of Lee’s arrival.

Stevie’s advice to Chris appears to have cleared him of immediate suspicion as he leads him out of the station to be driven home by another officer. Grace’s abrupt arrival brings their discussion to an end. Much to Grace’s surprise, Stevie tells her that she was right when she said that it would be impossible for them to work together and be together. He shocks her even further when he mentions taking a different shift.

 

Blue Lights Review

Despite all the ping-ponging and long, drawn-out narratives, I enjoyed this particular episode. I was surprised at how poignant the entire Stevie and Chris debacle was. That also revealed a few things about Grace as well. Asling’s volunteering with Tommy’s district brings a whole new element to their relationship as does the Shane and Annie encounter. I am surprisingly interested to see where both these relationships go and the effects they have.

I am also intrigued by the paths Lee is taking. There is certainly more than meets the eye with him and he might actually end up being one of the most successfully formidable bosses in the area. The Happy storyline seems to be moving right along nicely as well. For this and other reasons, I’d give this episode a 6 out of 10.

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