A Test of Wills – As this episode of DI Ray begins, Ross Beardsmore (Ian Puleston-Davies) says Police Conduct has opened an investigation into yesterday’s events. Thanks to them, the IOPC is crawling all over the department. DCI Kerry Henderson (Gemma Whelan) insists the firearms operation followed protocol. Kerry and DI Rachita Ray (Parminder Nagra) will have to give the IOPC a statement about the operation. Beardsmore goes through everything DI Ray has done that’s questionable. He alleges she’s a danger to herself and others. Sharan (Syreeta Kumar) approaches DI Ray at the hospital to ask why she didn’t do anything. DI Ray speaks to Zehra Abidi (Viss Elliot Safavi) about the incident.

Zehra insists what she’s feeling is natural because survivor’s guilt is normal. DI Ray claims it should’ve been her. She mentions that she found a trafficked girl alone in a cupboard. The girl was so calm about it. Although a teammate has complained she’s being reckless, Ray doesn’t believe she is. Ray tells Zehra how she felt after everything that happened. Zehra asks if that’s why she keeps her relationships with men casual. Ray says it keeps her in control. She told the little girl that she didn’t need to be scared and she’s not alone. Ethan leaves Ray’s house after having sex with her. Ray finds out that Rav’s shooting has hit the media. Ethan tells her that Kerry is going for Detective Superintendent.

Next, Ray listens to a voicemail from Hiroka warning her that her job is on the line. Kerry introduces her to Amara and explains they’ve been talking about ways to deal with the rising gun crime. Ray mentions the lack of resources. Amara is running for mayor. Ray goes to her desk where she watches an interview with Sajna Agarwal (Aroop Shergill). When asked if she recognizes anyone from photos, Sajna points out Frank Chapman and Priya Mochani (Priyasha Kumari). She says Frank came to the door. Ray speaks to the team about that. DC Liam Payne (Sam Baker-Jones) has information about Sajna’s passport and the fact she was brought over on a tourist visa. It was meant to be temporary. Ray wants to be a pain for the NCA until they give them what they need.

DC Charlene Ellis (Witney White) says the test results are back and Sajna is not Rav’s child. Ray wonders what Rav meant when he said Frank wanted to go into business with him. DS Kwesi Edmund (Peter Bankole) points out that Dawn never mentioned she had met Frank Chapman. Rachita Ray wants to speak to Priya and Dawn. When Dawn is brought in, she says Frank wanted a photo of the kid. She’s asked if she ever told Rav and Priya about it. Kwesi asks Priya why Rav was protective of the girl. Clive Bottomley (Steve Oram) asks how the child knows her and what Dawn’s involvement in this is. They want to know why Sajna was brought into the country. Priya refuses to say anything. Next, Charlene says they’re still analyzing the data on Priya’s burner phone.

Kwesi says Frank has had a contract for council tax bailiff work for the last three years. It’s three million at the minimum and there was an option to extend the contract by two more years. It was prevented. Clive tells Ray that businesses have been graffitied with “Justice for Megan” on businesses owned by South Asians. Ray says this will keep getting worse until they prove Rav is innocent. Amara speaks to the press while people cause chaos at the Mochani business. Ray is told all the bullets match. Rav might’ve been the shooter of all three. Kerry wants to speak to the prosecutor so they can have Rav and Shiv charged as soon as Rav wakes up. Ray mentions the vintage gun that was used to shoot Frank in his home.

Kerry doesn’t think she should play hide-and-seek with weapons. Ray doesn’t believe Rav is responsible though. She wants people searching for the vintage firearm. Suzie conveniently uncovers hidden bullets in her home. Suzie (Lauren Drummond) calls someone to tell them the gun is missing. Clive reads about Lou Kirkby. He has Lisa Kirkby in his phone as a contact. A man meets Suzie to tell her there is no sign of the gun. One of the lads was driving Frank around and Frank was arranging a meeting with Mochani. He was tailing some woman he was in business with. Frank decided he was going to do it himself. Later, Ray sees Kerry tell Ethan that he needs to stop seeing her. Rachita goes home where she finds her mom waiting for her. Her mom tells her that she cannot hide in her work.

Deno (Shobu Kapoor) says she had to work harder than everyone else. Ray insists it’s still like that because she’s being blamed for the shooting of a suspect. She goes on to say she’s building evidence to develop a case against the force. Debo wanted to speak up a lot, but she had more responsibilities to worry about. She warns Rachita to think carefully before rocking the boat. At the station, Liam tells Kwesi he found something while looking at the Mochani’s dealings. They recently set up a company that would operate as a bailiff company. The company, Virtue Secure, is the name of the company that applied for the council bailiff contracts. That may have been why Frank and Rav were in contact. Liam wonders who the Mochanis have a hold over at the council to put them over the Chapmans.

Clive speaks to Lisa about Lou. He asks if she’s aware Lou is planning to leave the country. Clive wonders who he is running from. Lisa says Lou thinks it’s his fault, but she doesn’t say anything else about that. Ray speaks to Kerry who doesn’t say anything about visiting Ethan. Charlene has identified a number Priya has been in contact with over the past few weeks. It’s another burner so it’s not registered. It’s been used on a few streets and it’s a posh area. When Kerry leaves, Charlene tells Ray that the burner has also been logged near the police station. They agree to keep it secret because it could be a corrupt officer. Ray goes to her car to call the Force Intelligence Bureau. She wants to submit an application to intercept a phone number because she believes a corrupt officer may be communicating with a suspect.

Ray sees Clive speaking to Beardsmore nearby. Later in the car, Ray asks Clive what’s going on with him. She knows he’s been sleeping in his car and wearing the same clothes to work. Clive reveals that Sam kicked him out. Ray agrees to let him sleep on her sofa. Lou arrives moments later. They follow him inside to question him. Lou claims he was in The White Horse in Digbeth at the time of the murder. Lou went to Frank’s funeral to make sure he was properly dead. He says it’s a shame his toxic bit on the side isn’t. Ray calls the station to ask her team to look for anyone Frank dated. She worries the woman could be in danger because Lou hates her so much. Later that night, Clive shows Ray a picture of his woman, Sameena. Rachita asks if he told Beardsmore she met Martyn alone.

Clive insists they haven’t discussed her at all. While he’s in the bathroom, Ray checks his phone and reads his messages with Peter Lexmand, Martin Shanklin, and Trevor Calfripp. One of them mentions killing Pakis. They also talk about Rav going down and getting rid of Ray. Rachita snaps a picture of it with her phone. In the morning, she tells herself it’s no wonder Sam kicked him out. Ray visits Ethan to ask if something is going on between him and Kerry. She believes he was using her to get to Kerry. Suzie looks through stuff and finds photos of Rav with Dawn. She also finds a letter from the West Central County Council about not renewing the bailiff contract. At the station, the team tries to find out more about the toxic woman. Clive arrives late. A social arrives to talk about Sajna’s first interview.

She points out that Sajna started holding her stomach and chattering in Punjabi near the end of the interview. Sajna was saying she’s sick. Ray wonders if someone else told her to say that. She wants consent for more medical tests. DS Owen Brooks at the NCA calls Ray to say they have recordings for her. She listens to the recording. Suzie approaches Councilor Amara Dhawan with the letter. On the recording, Amara tells Priya that Frank is dead. She tells her to keep her mouth shut. Priya tells her to worry about her campaign.

 

DI Ray Review

The fourth episode of DI Ray was much of the same. The series has been very frustrating and far too long. Last season was four episodes and that was the perfect length. Rachita Ray continues to play the role of the perpetual victim who only makes things even worse for herself.

While she regularly blames racism for her problems, she’s constantly made the wrong decisions and has put people in harm’s way. This was also the case last season. So far, she’s put herself in harm’s way by approaching Rav alone. She chased the vehicle without waiting for backup. She met Martyn by herself against orders. There are only so many times we can see her pout by herself at night.

At some point, the character will need to become competent because it’s getting to the point of pathetic and unlikable. The investigation into the triple murder often takes a backseat to Ray’s decision to rebel against the force which will undoubtedly be successful enough to bring down Beardsmore.

The predictability of the show is amusing. By this point, we totally get it because we’ve seen it so many times before. When the series gets to the point where the boogeyman is obvious based on social agendas, the mystery is already gone. This is easily one of the worst culprits of the bunch since it just copies every other show and takes it to the extreme.

The decision to bring this back for a second series was unwise and to make it two extra episodes was catastrophic. This is drab. No one is likable and everything is ultimately about politics. The writing really leaves Parminder Nagra out to dry because the permanent pouty performance gets old quickly.

This 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 other viewers are saying about DI Ray here.