Staying On Top – As this episode of DI Ray begins, Supt Ross Beardsmore (Ian Puleston-Davies) tells Di Rachita Ray (Parminder Nagra) that they’re going to charge Rav with all three murders. Beardsmore is going to name Rav as the only suspect unless she can put someone else in the frame soon. DCI Kerry Henderson (Gemma Whelan) tells Ray in private that the surveillance on Amara Dhawan’s home and vehicles is in place. Kerry thinks they should talk about the IOPC investigation into the police shooting of Rav Mochani. She says they need to have each other’s backs because they’ll want someone to take the fall. They talk about Rav and whether he was on the verge of surrendering his weapon.

DI Patrick Holden (Patrick Baladi) speaks to DI Ray moments later. He thinks they should meet up and debrief. Rachita agrees before speaking to the team about Amara’s movements and conversations with Priya. She believes it’s all connected to Frank and Megan’s murders, but they still need to find out how. Clive Bottomley (Steve Oram) says Lou hasn’t resurfaced since they approached him at the snooker hall. The team watches a video feed of Amara’s movements. Clive looks for Frank’s girlfriend while DI Ray goes through the racist chat log. She finds a number that yields no results. Clive tells her about a woman named Claire Doyle who runs a swimming academy. He thinks she might be the woman Lou was talking about. Clive has a picture of her from Frank’s wake. Rachita agrees they should pay her a visit.

In the car, Clive asks if he did something to upset her the other night. Ray doesn’t tell him the truth. Claire tells them it was a Council pool that was going to close until Frank bought it from them. They were together for a while, but that was a long time ago. Claire explains they came to a mutual agreement to end the relationship. Ray asks about the missing photos on the wall only to be told they’re in a box somewhere. Clive asks why Frank helped with the pool. Claire reveals that Frank came from nothing and he used the council pool so he didn’t want it taken away from them. Although she remembers Lou, she claims not to know anything about his falling out with Frank. Claire tells them she was at a competition on the night of Frank’s death.

As they leave, they talk about the decanter Claire had in her cabinet. Ray tells Clive to keep digging and try to find the missing photos. Protestors scream at them as they approach the station. During an interview with the IOPC, DI Ray is informed that Rav died in the hospital a short time ago. She tells them she knew the Firearms Unit was there, but she thought they were much further back. Ray and Kerry agreed they weren’t to be active. Ray is asked about the complaint against her. Rachita insists Rav was about to surrender his weapon before he was shot. After the interview, Hiroka McGregor (Naomi Yang) tells DI Ray that Kerry and Beardsmore want her to take the fall. The police shot an Asian man. They want to avoid a race argument by making an Asian officer responsible. Hiroka calls it racial scapegoating.

Ray approaches Kerry to ask her about it. She accuses her of just trying to get a promotion. Ray curses her before leaving. Clive shows her the missing photos. Frank is in some of the photos. Clive still needs to find out who the girls are. Suzie looks at photos of DI Rachita Ray. Lucy (Tamla Kari) asks if she knew she’d get the business if anything happened to Dave. Suzie insists they’ll take care of things and she’s going to start by cleaning up. Suzie (Lauren Drummond) says she’s going to see Amy. When Suzie is alone, she frantically searches for the gun. One daughter interrupts to ask what she’s doing. Suzie finds a bracelet with blood on it. Liam Payne (Sam Baker-Jones) and Charlene Ellis (Witney White) keep track of Amara’s car and notice it’s been to Granger Lane which is where Mochani’s shop is.

Rachita enters and learns that her car is moving to Greenhills Hospital which is an NHS specialist center. Liam points out that there was a parking ticket at the hospital in Rav’s name. Ray is going to meet Kwesi there until she learns Amara has already left. She wants to meet him at the Council Chambers instead. Ray is pushed against her car and told to stop investigating the murders. Rachita can’t stop thinking about the encounter. DS Kwesi Edmund (Peter Bankole) checks on her before they speak to Amara. Ray asks if she’s ever met or spoken to the Chapman or Mochani families concerning anything. Amara admits to dropping by the jewelry shop earlier to offer her condolences. Kwesi questions why she thought anyone would be there. Amara claims they had claimed the shop for the day.

Later, Ray meets Holden for dinner. She tells him about the encounter. Rachita hasn’t told her team since one of them filed a complaint against her saying she’s reckless. She tells him about the chat logs she found on Clive’s phone. The person with the unknown number is always the worst. When Liam calls, Ray says she has to go. She goes to the station where she hears Amara speaking to Priya. They listen as Priya reminds her that her deal was with Rav. She also denies that Rav did it. They mention the girl. Clive interrupts because he’s found out Lou Kirkby has agreed to meet. Kwesi is asked to visit Suzie and ask her about the bailiff contract. Later, Liam asks Charlene if she thinks DI Ray is okay. She invites him out for a drink. That night, a woman approaches Rachita because she thinks she’s her dentist. Ray seems to be followed by someone in a mask.

The next day, Rachita learns Amara is going to the hospital again. Amara speaks to Jasmin about doing something she doesn’t want to do before crying. Liam returns with the medical tests Ray ordered on Sajna. They came back clear. They talk about the hospital which specializes in obs, renal, orthopedics, and more. Ray believes Jasmin is the sick child. She confronts Amara about it. Amara says they waited three years for a kidney and she won’t wait any longer. Ray arrests her on suspicion of conspiring to traffic a child for the purpose of organ harvesting. Priya comforts her mother, Sharan (Syreeta Kumar), who tells her she might get six years for trafficking if Amara goes down. Sharan believes it would’ve been different if Priya had come to her. She admits she was always the stupid one.

Suzie is busy burning papers and other stuff. Kwesi arrives to speak to her about the family business and other things. Suzie reveals she’s given everyone two weeks’ leave. She wants to do a full inventory because her dad wasn’t good at bookkeeping. Kwesi asks about the bailiff contract and Frank having to reapply. She isn’t sure that matters now that Rav and the others are dead. Kwesi says Sharan isn’t and the contract is worth over three million a year. Suzie claims money doesn’t interest her in the way it did Frank and Dave. He goes outside and finds the burned stuff. Ray tells him to get a search warrant for the rest of the contents and for Pawn Haven. Clive checks his phone while waiting at the pub. He decides to call Sam, but she doesn’t answer his call. Clive asks for a drink. During their search, Charlene finds a piece of a gun. She calls DI Ray to tell her and says it came from a Taurus.

Rachita is shocked to find Clive outside her door. Once he comes inside, he tries to find out what’s going on with it. Rachita tells him about the Midland Chiefs group. Clive reminds her that there’s nothing from him. He didn’t join the group. He was added, but Clive insists you don’t leave a group like that. He says Sam didn’t understand either and that’s why she kicked him out. Clive reported them to Beardsmore who isn’t going to do anything about it. Clive believes he’s one of them. He can’t report Beardsmore to anyone else because he’ll be watching him like a hawk. Rachita says she’s going to bring him down and Clive is going to help her.

 

DI Ray Review

The tropes continue rolling in as DI Ray inches closer to the finale. Ultimately, this was pretty much exactly what you’d expect from the story. Rav is going to be proven innocent of the murders, Beardsmore is going to be punished, and the Chapman family will be involved in the murders somehow.

The big revelation will come out of left field and make everything else feel like it was pointless because that’s exactly how these shows always end. We knew Clive wasn’t going to be crooked from the moment we learned more about his girlfriend. The funny thing is that DI Ray has been skeptical of everyone at work until she met Patrick Holden at a restaurant one night and spilled the entire bag of beans.

We can see where that’s going as well because they’ll end up in the bedroom together at some point. We also had the customary scenes where Rachita’s life had to be put in danger. Where exactly is this going and what’s the message it’s trying to tell? Is it about Frank’s murder, racism in the force, human trafficking, corrupt officials, Rachita’s love life?

With no one left to cheer for, any message this tries to deliver is going to fall on deaf ears and the series will be forgotten ten minutes after the credits roll. This episode scores a 4.5 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.

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