The Hunt For Rav – As this episode of DI Ray begins, DI Patrick Holden (Patrick Baladi) and others storm into the building where they find DI Rachita Ray (Parminder Nagra). Holden scolds her for coming in on her own. DI Ray calls it in to let them know that David Chapman is dead. She goes on to say Ravinder “Rav” Mochani (Taha Rahim) is the prime suspect in Dave’s murder. Rav walks through a dark alley with a gun in his hand. He’s wearing a black leather jacket seconds later. Ray and Holden discuss the situation before Clive Bottomley (Steve Oram) arrives with a uniform for Ray. They agree they won’t be the only ones looking for Rav. At the station, the team talks about the recent shooting. Clive questions who owned the gun.

Ray explains that Holden has eyes on the Mochanis and the Chapmans. She asks where the girl fits into all of this. Clive still thinks it’s trafficking. Ray wonders why Rav only brought in Sajna. Charlene Ellis (Witney White) suggests she might be Rav’s. Holden interrupts to show DI Ray CCTV footage of Rav who still has the gun. She believes she missed him by moments. Degsy is shown fleeing from the abandoned gym in more footage. Ethan visits Rachita at home. He’d like to talk since they didn’t last time although he’s not complaining. Ray says Kerry warned her off of him because he’s casual in his attitude towards women. Rachita admits casual is all she really wants. Ethan says Kerry is no angel before leaving. At the station, DC Liam Payne (Sam Baker-Jones) tells Ray that they didn’t get anything from Dave’s phone.

Rav’s phone was turned off at the time of Frank’s murder. It last pinged after Rav left the restaurant Kish. Ray wants to make sure they keep watching Dawn’s place. The old gym was called Jake’s. The guy outside the wake is wearing a hat for the gym. Holden tells Ray that a passenger may have spotted Rav waiting for the 242 bus. The bus is stopped but Rav is not on it. DCI Kerry Henderson (Gemma Whelan) brings Ray into her office to say the Governor at HMP Marchbank has been on to them. One of his inmates may have crucial information about Frank Chapman’s murder. The inmate is Martyn Hunter (Jamie Bamber) and he’ll only speak to DI Ray. It’s up to Rachita if she wants to speak to him. Kerry reveals that Rav’s name has leaked. It’s got out that he was paroled early from prison. Megan’s family has filed a complaint.

Rachita suggests speaking to Sajna again. Kerry says Rav’s early parole is being viewed as a “woke” policy. Beardsmore is being forced to hold a press conference. Rachita agrees to let her know. When Suzie Chapman (Lauren Drummond) is dropped off, she notices a car following her. She goes inside and identifies her brother’s body. As she leaves, she knows she’s being followed. Tyler (Sam Pote) picks her up. Degsy is questioned by Suzie moments later. He says it was after Tyler left. Degsy goes on to say it was after Stevo left. The boss said he wanted to speak to Mochani alone. Degsy heard them talking and Rav never gave a straight answer about anything. Rav only wanted to say it wasn’t him who shot Mr. Chapman. Then, he heard the boss tell Mochani that he knows he didn’t do it. Rav goes to a house where he watches Beardsmore’s press conference on television.

Shiv arrives and says he’s just happy to see Rav alive. Shiv promises not to tell anyone where he is. Beardsmore is asked if he thinks Rav killed Megan and Frank. Ray will only say that he’s a person of interest in the death of Dave Chapman. They’re asked if their woke police policies have caused the deaths of three innocent people. They also ask why Dave didn’t have protection and whether it’s linked to the eruption of race-related violence in the city. The press keeps grilling Ray until Kerry speaks up. Later that night, Kerry finds Ray still at the office. Rachita agrees to see Martyn. Clive goes with Rachita Ray to see Martyn at the prison. Martyn forces Clive to leave so he can speak to Ray alone. He claims he only wanted to see her because it’s the only way to make sure she gets this information.

Martyn asks if she can handle the pressure of the case. He’s been hearing a name a lot since Frank died. He says Rav is innocent. Martyn says she needs to be looking at Lou Kirkby who was one of the originals in the Chapman outfit. Frank and Lou were tighter than brothers although Frank never mentioned him. They had a bit falling out before Kirkby started his prison sentence. It went nuclear and Kirkby has been stewing on it ever since. Martyn was hoping to put things right between them. She suspects he wants a reduced sentence because he won’t survive in there. Martyn begins talking about their relationship and trying to break through her shell. Rachita tells him that she was embarrassed by being engaged to him. Martyn suspects it would hurt her if the people upstairs found out about it. Ray threatens to tell Lou that Martyn mentioned his name.

Clive speaks to someone on the phone and says he doesn’t know how much longer he can do this because people are asking questions. Ray joins him and they leave. When Rav gets up, he sees Shiv speaking to a cop at the door. Shiv returns and says they’re not after him. Rav is going to leave the country, but he wants Shiv to retrieve a bag for him first. Shiv drops him off somewhere before leaving to get the bag. At the station, Rachita Ray tells the others about Martyn’s claims. They check Lou’s criminal record. He received 20 years for GBH but served 15 before being released a month ago. They don’t know where he’s been since. Kerry is told Degsy is the man who fled the gym. No one has seen him since the night of the murder. Officers have lost sight of Suzie.

Charlene sees Shiv while she’s watching Dawn’s place. She calls the homicide unit to tell them about the suspicious activity. Liam is taken to Degsy who is dead outside Jake’s. Although it looks like a suspected overdose, Liam admits it doesn’t feel right. Clive joins Charlene just in time to see Shiv leaving Dawn’s flat. He is quickly apprehended by law enforcement. Shiv is questioned by DI Ray at the station. He doesn’t want to tell them anything about Rav. The team watches CCTV footage that shows a rendezvous. It shows Rav with the gun after being left by his ride. Ray is given a burner phone belonging to Shiv who says the van was supposed to take Rav to the Liverpool Docks. Kerry speaks to DI Ray and says she needed a result.

The burner phone receives a message that could help. The team discusses whether they should pretend to be Shiv. DI Ray says they’re wasting time before responding to the message. She introduces herself and tells Rav that they have Shiv in custody. Rav calls the phone. He wants to meet DI Ray in private and just her. Kerry doesn’t want that to happen, but Rachita thinks she should do it. She goes to the meeting point. Rav tells her that Dave Chapman was self-defense. He claims to be innocent because he didn’t kill Frank or the nurse. Ray asks who set him up before he approaches her with the gun. She asks for the gun. He’s on the verge of putting the gun down before armed police storm the building. Rav is shot.

 

DI Ray Review

The third episode of DI Ray’s second series was pretty much more of the same. More tropes and rehashed story twists we’ve seen a blue million times by now. The writing is so typical it feels like a bunch of ideas were gathered from other shows and they were crammed into one to create DI Ray. It’s like AI was a big part of the process.

Every twist is predictable so viewers should’ve expected much of this in the first ten minutes of episode one. We already knew that Rav was innocent and DI Ray would meet him alone. We knew other cops would storm in and Rav would be fatally shot. After all, it’s made it clear that someone on the team is crooked and social agendas will be more important than anything else in the long run.

If even the minimal amount of effort was made to make this something original, the story could’ve been so much better. What’s the point in making this different by casting a British-Indian actress as the lead if you’re going to make the story as bland and unoriginal as possible? The lack of originality in British television is astounding and this is a perfect example of that.

To deliver the same timeless message, this didn’t need to be six episodes. The only clear way to put it is that this is infuriatingly awful. The episode scores a 3.5 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.

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