Wrong Place – As this episode of DI Ray begins, DI Rachita Ray (Parminder Nagra) works out on a treadmill. A nurse prepares to leave her shift. As the nurse walks outside, a car pulls up in front of her and an injured man falls from the door. The nurse, Megan Parks, tries to help the man before another car pulls up and gunfire erupts. Both drop dead as the car speeds away from the scene. DS Clive Bottomley (Steve Oram) calls DI Ray to tell her about the double shooting. At the scene, Clive tells her that one victim is a nurse from the hospital. The male victim’s name is Frank Chapman. DS Kwesi Edmund (Peter Bankole) tells her about the vehicle which is covered in blood. There’s no sign of a weapon, blood spatter, or gun residue.

There’s no damage to the exterior or interior of the vehicle. DI Ray wants to check security footage from nearby cameras. She learns the bodies are inside being prepped for the PM. DI Ray wants to take care of this before the Chapmans try to take matters into their own hands. Once they check the body, Clive calls Frank Chapman the Don himself. The medical examiner says the first shot would’ve been close, but no vital organs were hit. It wasn’t necessarily fatal. The second shot was more targeted and consistent with the drive-by. They question who’d want to go to war with the Chapman family. The culprit is shown burning the vehicle. Next, DCI Kerry Henderson (Gemma Whelan) asks DI Ray if she’s aware Carly has accepted a DS position in East Mids.

A new DC will be joining Ray as a result. She is introduced to DC Charlene Ellis (Witney White) seconds later. Henderson says the Chief Constable has organized recruitment events to support BAME and support female candidates perform at their best. She warns DI Ray that people will be watching her every move on the Chapman case. Beardsmore wants to pull forward her disciplinary review. Henderson tells Ray that she personally fought to get her back. Supt Ross Beardsmore (Ian Puleston-Davies) speaks to DI Ray to say the investigation into her relationship with DCI Martyn Hunter has concluded. Although she was cleared of any criminality, two other matters remain outstanding. Ross says it’s the allegation of bullying a junior colleague and her interpersonal issues with management.

Ross says they’re going to deal with the matter by offering words of advice. DI Ray is told to avoid close personal relationships which may result in conflicts of interest. DI Ray’s representative mentions racial profiling and stereotypes. Ross says he’s sorry she’s been feeling upset. He says her rise to DCI will be a swift one if she’s willing to work with them. After the meeting, DI Ray goes to the bathroom to listen to the recording she just made of the meeting. Then, she speaks to the team and suggests Megan Parks was caught in the crossfire. There’s a possible witness who was captured on CCTV. The Chapmans are loan sharks who operate multiple pawnbroker shops in the area. Clive says he’s Midlands’s very own Teflon Don. He’s been on the radar of Serious and Organized Crimes for years, but the charges have never stuck.

Ray wonders where the first shot occurred and how Frank managed to get in his car and drive away. The police raid Chapman’s residence. They find a phone and a picture of Dave and Suzie Chapman as kids. Clive says Suzie has been abroad for a few months in Spain somewhere. Ray notices a pamphlet that says, “the white population are a minority in Birmingham”. Clive says Dave sees the day-to-day running of the business. DI Ray finds blood splatter in the kitchen. They believe he was shot there, but there’s no blood trail elsewhere. They talk about the time it’d take to get to the hospital and alcohol nearby. Kwesi calls to say they found the witness, Michael Adoje, who is in the hospital. Michael claims he had a run-in with his family and doesn’t want to take it any further.

DI Ray says it’s too late because they already got to him. They visit Dave Chapman (Michael Socha) and his wife. Dave sends Joey away so they can talk about Frank’s murder. Dave claims not to know where his dad was between 9 p.m. and the time of the incident. He last saw his day from mid to late afternoon. Dave’s oldest, Amy, enters. Dave tells DI Ray that they were asleep in bed at the time. He is adamant his dad was clean. DI Ray mentions the nurse and the porter. Dave asks them to find out who murdered his dad. At the station, DI Ray says they need to dig deeper into the business to find out who Frank was dealing with before he died. Amara Dhawan with the West Central Council speaks about Megan Parks on television. She mentions the police’s past failures.

DI Ray speaks to Mr. and Mrs. Parks next. At home, DI Ray receives a message from her mom asking if she’s settled into her new place. She moves the recording of Breadsmore to her computer. DI Ray gets a message from her match, Jay, asking if she’s going to meet him in person. The next day, the police find the burned vehicle involved in the shooting. Liam finds out it was picked up in the Jewelry Quarter about 200 yards from a Chapman premises. Clive says the council screwed them turning the cameras off. He knows an ex-youth worker who might be able to help because he knows everything around that way. Dave’s sister arrives at his place while Kwesi and Charlene watch from nearby. Suzie (Lauren Drummond) brought a handbag from one of the girls. DI Ray and Clive talk about Beardsmore and how he’s been with her since her return.

They meet Hardeep in his shop to ask him about the shooting outside West Central Hospital. He doesn’t recognize the vehicle. Hardeep says Frank was always good at sorting things when people didn’t want to deal with the police. The price was always higher for non-whites though. DI Ray keeps pushing to try to get more information from him. Hardeep says there’s been talk about a family that came over from Leicester. They’re all in the same sort of trading and they’ve been crossing over into Chapman’s trade. Hardeep eventually says it’s the Mochanis. DI Ray tells Kerry Henderson she spoke to someone who had dealings with Ravinder Mochani who was done for possession of a firearm a few years ago. She believes this is the beginning of a turf war.

DI Ray wants to bring the Mochanis in for questioning. Kerry says they have to be so careful when they’re profiling. She’s okay with putting in for surveillance. Ray is introduced to her husband Nick and his brother Ethan. Ethan invites her out for drinks, but Ray claims she has plans. She’s had sex with Jay. Ray tries to get rid of him because she has work to do. Hardeep is attacked in his shop and told to keep quiet about the Mochanis. Clive and Ray watch Rav (Taha Rahim). She decides to approach him even though they haven’t been authorized to do so. They go inside and confront Rav and Sharan Mochani (Syreeta Kumar). DI Ray asks about the vehicle before telling them about the serious incident they’re investigating. Sharan asks for her full name. She finds it interesting that they sent DI Ray to speak to them.

Rav steps outside to take a call. At the station, DI Ray says there’s a good chance Frank’s murder was turf-related. DCI Liam Payne (Sam Baker-Jones) says the Mochani cars were parked at a restaurant called Kish at the time of the incident. Charlene speaks to one of Frank’s workers who says he was a good boss. She last saw him on Sunday when he came in for a meeting. The woman seems to be withholding something. She says she saw him having an argument with a fella as he was leaving. The woman remembers that the man was wearing a Sandwright’s uniform. DI Ray and Charlene go to the shop and learn that Karen, Jermaine, Lisa, Sohail, and others work there. DI Ray notices a man acting oddly behind her. They chase Aled out of the store.

Charlene reaches him first only to be knocked around. He doesn’t put up a fight against DI Ray. She arrests him for assaulting an officer and on suspicion of the murder of Frank Chapman. At the station, Aled is asked about arguing with Frank outside the pawn shop. Aled denies doing anything even though he has a lengthy record. Eventually, he blurts out that Frank Chapman is evil. He says all the Chapmans are. They kept upping his debt and making him do drops for them. Aled says he borrowed two grand. After the argument, he went to the pub and got drunk because he knew better than to take on the Chapmans. Liam talks about Charlene who says she’s a tough nut so she’s there anyway. Multiple people collaborated Aled’s statement about being at the pub around the time of the shooting.

Liam tells Ray there are some prints on the back-seat door handles of Frank’s car. None match anything in the database. The whiskey glasses in his kitchen match his DNA only. The other glass didn’t have DNA. Liam shows her CCTV footage from the restaurant showing Rav leaving around 2218. He doesn’t return. Sharan and Priya stayed at the restaurant until 1:45 a.m. ANPR picked up his vehicle half a mile away from West Central Hospital. Ray says Rav doesn’t have an alibi so she wants to look into his phone records and movements. She calls Kwesi to tell him to keep his eyes on Rav. When Ray meets Clive, they talk about her being able to use sign language. They see Lou Kirkby at the gathering. Clive last heard that he was doing twenty years. They see Tyler approach one of the men.

Ray says they know they’re being watched and this is all for show. Dave is told he should make a toast to his dad now. Kwesi sees a black van pull up in front of Rav’s shop and two masked guys go inside with a gun. They abduct Rav. Ray and Clive begin rushing to catch up with the vehicle. Dave tries to speak about his dad, but Suzie quickly takes over and calls her dad a legend. She says this has ripped the heart out of their family. Clive pleads with Ray to slow down as she chases the van. Suzie says they won’t rest until they have justice for Frank. DI Ray loses the van.

 

DI Ray Review

DI Ray is back for a second series with a new case. A double drive-by shooting could potentially lead to a turf war between the Chapman family and the Mochani family. DI Ray is tasked with identifying the killer of Frank Chapman and a possible innocent Good Samaritan, Megan Parks.

The opening episode established many possible suspects, including Frank’s kids Dave and Suzie. There’s also a rivalry with Rav Mochani and his family since the Mochani family recently moved to town and began competing with Frank. The opening episode left a lot to be desired.

Lots of things were going on although nothing was particularly set up well. The unoriginality of the writing is out of this world. DI Ray’s character has become the epitome of a detective in pretty much any British crime drama. She’s fighting against the system, she’s a loner, she’s struggling at home, she’s experimenting sexually, and she’s doing stupid things that put everyone around her in danger.

On the other side of the coin, the politics are identical to every other British crime drama. We can likely already guess the culprit based on what they look like and the actor or actress playing the character. In episode one, DI Ray and the gang were supposedly in a big hurry to resolve the case because failing to do so could lead to a gang war.

That didn’t stop them from delaying Ray at the station to discuss office politics for a lengthy period. Then, you had the predictable writing such as Hardeep being attacked in his shop and Michael being hospitalized. The chase and apprehension of Aled were pretty humorous though. He managed to sock Charlene Ellis, but DI Ray must’ve charmed him because he immediately gave up when she arrived.

The writing and performance are designed to make DI Ray appear meek and pitiful, especially with the lonely scenes at home. That’s doubling down on last season’s storylines instead of moving forward and making the character strong and independent. Again, we’ve seen it all before and we know exactly what’s coming.

The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of DI Ray can be found on Reel Mockery 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.