The episode opens with DS Paul Brandice (Barry Ward) waiting in a parking garage for DI Liz Nyles (Siobhan Finneran). He thanks her for riding shotgun with him. She asks why he transferred from MET MIT in London. He says his wife, Gemma Brandice’s (Nichola Burley) family lives there and he felt it was time to put his family first. In the present, DCI Hannah Wheatley (Katherine Kelly) asks DI Tommy Jardine (Tom Christian) how Paul’s car wasn’t found when it was near the crime scene all along. He tells her the vehicle is registered to a cover company. Liz says it is witness protection protocol. Wheatley says her department chose to not tell them. Liz assures her that they are doing their best and after learning Paul’s car hadn’t been located, she wanted to help. Wheatley receives notification of Paul’s emergency surgery. A crime scene technician hands her Liz’s photos collected from Paul’s car. Wheatley requests to meet with Liz in the morning before she speaks with Amy McLennan (Tilly Kaye). After Liz leaves, Wheatley shows the photos to DCI Amanda Kelman (Nadine Marshall). A short time later, Liz parks in a remote area and deletes her and Paul’s text messages from Paul’s phone. She recalls Paul warning her to not trust anyone. She emerges from the vehicle when an incoming call from JG pops up on Paul’s phone. She answers it and says hello. The line goes dead.

Liz watches security footage outside the safe house. At 9:31am, Jimmy McLennan (Kris Hitchen) takes out the trash. Amy follows him with her dog. After they return to the house, Paul arrives and knocks on the door. Jimmy greets him as “mate” and lets him in. DCI Arun Kapoor (Ace Bhatti) tells Liz that Wheatley is going over Edward Crowther’s (Alec Newman) court documents. He says the only protected witness is being relocated. She suggests Jimmy and Paul knew each other and questions if Paul was there on official business. He denies any knowledge of it. DS Sue Beardsley (Akiya Henry) is upset when she leaves her meeting with Wheatley. DS Raj Kholi (Channell Kular) sees Liz enter Wheatley’s office. Wheatley shows Liz the photos found in Paul’s car. Liz claims to have never seen them before but believes they were taken outside the McLennan safe house. Wheatley suggests Paul had her under surveillance for three weeks. Liz says he is one of them and there is no proof that he took the photos. Knowing Liz spoke with Paul last night at the hospital, Wheatley asks about their relationship. Liz describes him as a “first-class police officer.” Wheatley has evidence of Paul visiting Sid Nyles’ (David Hayman) house on several occasions. Liz suggests he followed her when she went there to prepare it for Sid who is recovering from a stroke. Wheatley asks if she will agree that Paul leaked the safe house location. Liz says Crowther ordered the attack and until he is linked to Paul, it is all speculation. Kelman questions why Paul declined a transfer to MIT and transferred to the witness protection unit there instead. Liz admits to having made the same move because it is easier for children.

Liz rushes to the restroom to vomit. Elsewhere, DI Richard Bewley (Andrew Knott) asks Crowther who would want Jimmy dead besides him. Crowther’s attorney (George Georgiou) reminds him that there is no evidence connecting his client to the murder. Crowther swears he would never harm Jimmy who was like a brother to him. Bewley says Jimmy claimed he ran a large-scale heroin trafficking operation. Crowther hired Jimmy as his accountant and has no idea why he turned on him. Bewley tells him that a source said he ordered the attack. Laughing, Crowther calls him a “bad liar.” Bewley vows to get him eventually. Looking at the spy window, Crowther asks if Amy is safe. Liz is watching from the other side. Bewley says she is none of his concern. A short time later, he assures Liz that Crowther is guilty. She questions Wheatley’s theory about Paul working for Crowther. He asks her to convince Soran Ahmadi to testify against Crowther. She says Ahmadi is off-limit to her because he is not her case. He warns that Crowther will walk without Ahmadi’s testimony. Later, Liz finds Amy holding a photo of her and Helen McLennan. Amy says Helen had lots of them on her phone. Liz says the investigators want to question her about what happened. Amy denies seeing anything. While getting dressed, Amy discovers a tablet. She starts to use it but puts it away.

Liz and Amy arrive at Park Grove Police Station where they meet Irene Kim (Naomi Yang) and Alice. Liz requests to sit in on the meeting. Wheatley refuses. Irene urges her to reconsider for Amy’s sake. She orders Liz to go in, not speak. During the meeting, Amy says after hearing a commotion downstairs, she hid in a laundry basket. Irene asks if she went downstairs to check out the commotion. Amy shakes her head. Liz asks if she saw anything before getting inside the basket. Amy tells them that she heard what sounded like gunshots, it frightened her, and she wanted to hide. Irene asks if she saw anything. Amy shakes her head. Utilizing a communication device, Wheatley prompts Irene to asks Amy about Paul. Irene asks if she saw another man who may have been shot. Amy shakes her head. Irene shows her a photo of Paul. Amy denies ever seeing him. Later, Amy gets in the car. Wheatley approaches and asks Liz if she believes Amy is holding something back. Liz assures her that Amy is too afraid to lie. It appears as if someone is watching them. Liz enters the highway. A motorcycle is behind her. She compliments Amy and tells her that she can talk to her any time. A car merges onto the highway in front of the motorcycle. Amy and Liz look back as the motorcycle speeds past the car. Liz quickly veers to the right. The motorcycle speeds on down the road but reappears. She calls Raj and asks him to meet her at the Glasbrook Shopping Centre and call backup. A semi pulls in behind Liz. The motorcycle is forced to stop. Liz and Amy rush into the mall with the motorcyclist in pursuit. They ascend the stairs to the second floor and enter an arcade. Liz mistakenly charges Raj. He escorts them to his vehicle. She tells him to take Amy and she will meet them there.

At the police station, Liz tells Kelman and Kapoor that the interview location was leaked. She shows them a list of police officers, most of which are with major crime. Kapoor points out that some are part of Wheatley’s team. Kelman questions why someone would want Amy dead if she didn’t see anything. Liz agrees with her. Kelman compliments her on how she handled the situation and saved Amy’s life. She orders Amy to be placed with another witness protection unit. Liz tells her that she and Raj are all she has left. Kelman reluctantly agrees to let Amy remain under Liz’s protection but no one else will have access to her. Kapoor voices concern about the unit’s future. Liz says her main concern is finding the police officer who leaked Amy’s location. In the parking garage, Kelman tells Liz that Paul conspired with Crowther or he is innocent. She asks if Paul and Kapoor are close. Liz assures her that Kapoor operates a highly professional unit. Kelman urges her to not be blinded by loyalty.

Liz tells Bewley that the interview location was picked an hour in advance. He suggests Crowther used someone from his own crew. He says there is no evidence linking Paul to Crowther. He urges her to discuss it with Wheatley. She says only officers from her unit and Wheatley’s team knew the interview location. In a flashback, Liz tells Paul that their affair needs to stop. He says Gemma doesn’t deserve it. Liz wants the affair to continue. Back in the present, Gemma tells Liz that Wheatley believes Paul is corrupt. Gemma and Paul served in Special Forces together. He was discharged after suffering an injury. Gemma claims Paul transferred to witness protection because it was safer. She claims Paul insisted on transferring there. Liz asks if her family lives nearby. Gemma says they are in Yorkshire. Later, Liz is blocked out of Paul’s phone. Plagued by flashbacks of being with Paul, she angrily strips the bed. Upon returning home, Liz asks Raj if his brother can unlock Paul’s phone. He asks why she never turned it over to Wheatley. She says the leak may be someone on Wheatley’s team and if Paul has an accomplice, their number may be stored in the phone. He reluctantly takes the phone. Utilizing the tablet, Amy signs into her account to find two messages, one about her parents. She hears a knock at the door and hurriedly puts the tablet away. Liz enters the room and urges her to talk about what she saw. Amy claims to have already told her everything and asks to be left alone. Liz leaves the room.

Sid demands Liz tell him what is going on. She says an incident happened earlier today. He asks if there was an attempt on Amy’s life. She nods her head. Later, Liz meets Raj in a remote area to get Paul’s phone. She calls JG and a man answers. She tells him that she is Paul’s colleague. He asks if Paul is all right. She says he is in the ICU. Shocked, he asks what happened. He tells him that Paul was shot and his number was stored in his phone. The man identifies himself as John Gibson (Jonathan Cake) who served with Paul in the Army. Later, Liz and John meet to discuss Paul. He claims to work in banking and didn’t know Paul’s line of work. He says Paul called him from the phone which wasn’t his original number. Paul told him that he developed feelings for another woman. John rushes off to a meeting. Liz calls Bewley to ask him to run a background check on John Gibson. He informs her that the judge declared a mistrial and Crowther is due to be released any moment. At the police station, Liz tells Kapoor about the mistrial. He assures her that Ahmadi is in a safe location. She says there is no evidence of Paul being affiliated with Crowther. Jardine arrests Raj on conspiracy to murder. Wheatley  tells Kapoor an encrypted messaging app was found on Raj’s computer and phone. She says a message was sent to a burner account sharing the location of the McLennan safe house. Kapoor asks if Raj and Paul are in cahoots with Crowther.

At the jail, Liz suggests Raj was set up. He asks if she believes he is innocent. She says yes and promises to sort it out. Later, Liz requests Amy moved to another location. Kapoor tells her that Kelman is monitoring his operational decisions. She fears they are being railroaded. He says it is no longer up to him. Liz arrives home to find Jasmine Nyles (Jodie Price) upset about Amy being in her room. She tells Amy to pack her belongings because she is going to be relocated. Once alone, Amy sends a message – “Not ok. No one’s looking after me.” Arlo Crowther (Reuven Walker) sends her a message saying he misses her. Rezan Crowther (Zora Bishop) tells him that his father is home. He watches Rezan and Eddie embrace before joining them in a group hug. During a call, Eddie stresses the need to resolve something. As Amy and Liz are leaving, she receives a message via the tablet. A man tells Eddie to consider it done as the episode ends.

 

Protection Review

The story is lacking due to poor editing, character development, and pacing. It is all over the place. Instead of pitting the cops against each other, it would’ve been more effective to have them working together to take Crowther and his crew down.

The intrigue is there but the oomph is missing. The episode deserves a 5.5 out of 10.

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