The episode opens in a flashback with DI Liz Nyles (Siobhan Fenneran) getting into the car with DS Paul Brandice (Barry Ward). They grasp each other’s hands and agree to meet tonight at their usual place. He reaches over to kiss her. She pulls back for fear of losing her job. In the present, Liz assures DCI Hannah Wheatley (Katherine Kelly) that DS Raj Kholi (Chaneil Kular) is not a corrupt cop. Wheatley claims some of her colleagues believe Raj and/or Paul leaked the McLennan safe house location but she isn’t sold on the idea. Liz suggests Raj was set up. Wheatley believes she is the common denominator and hiding something. Liz asks if she making an allegation against her. Wheatley says not yet but vows to find out. Upon arriving at the police station, Liz hears a verbal disagreement inside DCI Arun Kapoor’s (Ace Bhatti) office. DCI Amanda Kelman ( Nadine Marshall) informs Liz that Kapoor is retiring and she will act as head of the Protected Persons Unit until a permanent replacement is appointed. Liz reluctantly accepts the promotion. Kapoor warns Liz that they are setting her up to fail and wishes her luck in finding the leak. Later, Liz addresses her team. DC Noel Taylor (Syrus Lowe) asks if the Protected Persons Unit will to be shuttered. Declining to comment, she urges them to focus on the witnesses who need their protection. After the meeting, Liz tells Kelman if Raj is not the leak, the threat is still ongoing. Kelman promises to look into Raj’s case. A short time later, Liz retrieves Raj’s case file from Kapoor’s office. DS Sue Beardsley (Akia Henry) sends a text warning of an issue and she is needed sooner rather than later.

Liz tells Sue she has been asked to step in for Kapoor who retired. She stresses keeping the safe house location between the two of them. Sue asks why she chose her. Liz says she had no knowledge of Amy McLennan’s (Tilly Kaye) interview location and Kelman’s investigation turned up nothing on her. She receives a call from DI Richard Bewley (Andrew Knott) saying there is no evidence linking John Gibson to Edward Crowther (Alec Newman). He tells her their informants have shut down completely. During a call, a stressed Sid Nyles (David Hayman) tells Liz he can’t find his medicine. She promises to be there soon. She visits a safe house but no one answers the door. Armed with a baseball bat, Soran Ahmadi (Waj Ali) threatens her. Frantic, she holds out her ID. He assures her that Crowther will come after him next. She warns that if he refuses to testify, he will be removed from the witness protection program. They agree to help each other. He claims Crowther reneged on his promise to relocate him and his family to the UK which is why he agreed to testify. She asks if he aided in Crowther’s heroin trafficking scheme. He denies knowing who handled the Turkish end. She asks if he knows a motorcyclist with red hair. He identifies the man as Jock Ferguson. She shows him photos of Raj and Paul. He denies knowing either of them. She suggests Crowther’s men shot Paul. Ahmadi says Paul visited him at his previous safe house six weeks ago and wanted to know about the Middle East heroin trafficking operation. He claims Paul identified himself as a police officer and asked him to not tell anyone that he was there. Paul told him that he would return but never.

In a flashback, Liz tells Paul her mother died and Sid was promoted to Major Crimes, leaving her to run the house. In the present, Liz leaves Noel a voicemail asking him to gather data on Paul. Freddie Howard (Nick Moss) approaches and scolds her for not informing him that Jasmine Nyles (Jodie Price) was at her house. She claims Jasmine said he approved it. He admits to spending the night with Becca because she was ill. She admonishes him for leaving Jasmine alone. He assures her that Jasmine can take care of herself for one night. Someone snaps pictures of Liz as she walks to her house. Jasmine congratulates Liz for her promotion. Sid said his friend working in the ACC’s office told him. He warns that she will have her hands full as the head of Major Crimes. She reminds him that she moved from Major Crimes to Protected Persons 12 years ago. He assures her that he knew it. Jasmine tells her that she filled Sid’s pill organizers and is no longer angry about Amy being in her room. A call from Bewley cuts their conversation short. Later at the hospital, Liz tells him that Paul breached witness protection protocols when he visited Ahmadi who identified the motorcyclist as Jock Ferguson. Bewley says Jock is on Wheatley’s list but he fled the country at the end of last year. A uniformed cop (Daniel J. Hickson) guarding Paul’s hospital room refuses Liz and Bewley access. Emerging from Paul’s room, Kelman says Paul is zonked on propofol and unable to answer any questions.

At the police station, Liz finds something concerning in Paul’s police personnel file. A short time later, she visits Kapoor and asks if he knew about Paul visiting Ahmadi. He says no. She accuses him of authorizing Paul’s transfer to Protection Persons without a proper investigation. Refusing to discuss it, he urges her to keep her head down and mouth shut before returning to the house. She receives a call from Bewley telling her that Jock applied for unemployment last month. Someone is watching and taking photos of Liz from a short distance away. Bewley says Jock gave 98 Pallison Street as his address. The flat is leased to Shari West (Alivia Brockenbrow). A short time later, Liz arrives at the flat to find two masked men threatening Shari with a knife. She identifies herself as the police. One of the masked men points his gun at her. She warns that it will earn him life in prison. Both men flee. While calling in the incident, Liz discovers an envelope addressed to Jock with “Hughes Tuesday early” handwritten in the bottom right-hand corner. She offers to help Shari if she tells her what she knows about Jock and Crowther. Shari claims Crowther let Jock go because he believed he was doing too much gear. After a short stent in Ireland, he returned. Liz asks what happened on Tuesday. Shari suggests Crowther gave him a “big job” last week. He left early Tuesday morning and never returned. She says he called her the day before yesterday and was concerned about someone seeing him on the job.

Liz arrives at the safe house to find Sue and Amy playing outside. She shows her a photo of Jock. Amy has a flashback of a masked man barging into the safe house and gunfire. She claims to have seen a masked man while hiding inside the laundry basket but he never saw her. She says he and another masked man argued about something they couldn’t find. The saw his face when he removed his mask. Amy voices concern about being killed. Liz vows to keep her safe before showing her a photo of Paul. Amy claims Paul first visited the safe house last weekend. She overheard him and Jimmy discussing insurance. Liz promises to return as soon as she can. Amy texts possibly Arlo Crowther (Reuven Walker) who asks where she is at. She refuses to tell him.

Crowther attends Rezan Crowther’s (Zora Bishop) event. His assistant (Graeme McKnight) tells him that “he” may be on the run. Crowther orders him to stop him now. His assistant makes a phone call. Sitting in her car, Liz talks to Kelman on the phone about Jock. Kelman suggests Jock may have been acting on his own initiative. Liz says it is possible Jock did it to get Crowther off his back. Someone takes photos of Liz as she enters the hospital. She arrives as a man dressed in scrubs is leaving Paul’s room. She enters the room to find unresponsive and yells for help. A medical team arrives and starts CPR. She stares in shock as they work on Paul. Kelman arrives a short time later. Liz tells her about the man leaving Paul’s room. She says they did something to shut him up and questions why the guard wasn’t on duty. Liz insists nothing has been resolved. Wheatley and DI Tommy Jardine (Tom Christian) order Liz to leave the hospital. Kelman asks him to show Liz some compassion. He reminds her that they are investigating a double homicide.

While getting dressed, Liz has flashbacks of Paul. Jasmine asks what is going on with Sid. Liz says he has dementia. Jasmine expresses her feelings for him and how much she has enjoyed the time they have spent together. Liz embraces her. Later, Gemma refuses to let Liz in and doesn’t want to see her again. Later at the jail, Liz informs Raj of Paul’s death. She suggests he was killed at the hospital. He tells her that he thought Paul would eventually confess and he would be released. She says the second leak couldn’t have been Paul, so they needed someone else to take the fall. He asks how they are going to prove it. She assures him that Wheatley will drag it out as long as they can. He considers giving Wheatley Paul’s burner phone. She warns that Wheatley will still charge him and she will be in there with him. She pleads for more time. He agrees to give her 24 hours before he tells Wheatley about the phone.

During a phone conversation, Bewley tells Liz the guard had car trouble. She questions if it was orchestrated. He says he has been transferred to Wheatley’s task force. A security guard (David Ayres) tells her that someone from Wheatley’s team already spoke to him about the hospital CCTV footage. The footage shows the security leaving and Liz entering the room. Liz says the man wearing scrubs is missing. He says no one accessed the CCTV footage over the last 24 hours except for Wheatley’s team and Jardine. Upon leaving the hospital, Liz leaves Kelman a voicemail requesting an urgent meeting. In a nearby car, Jardine snaps photos of Liz and follows her as she leaves the hospital. The episode ends.

 

Protection Review

Liz is no closer to finding who is responsible for leaking the interview location than the previous episode. Paul’s death stalls her investigation as Raj threatens to inform Wheatley of the burner phone. Liz has 24 hours to solve the leak.

Amy is possibly in contact with Arlo, Edward’s son. Liz learns Kapoor authorized Paul’s transfer to the Protected Persons Unit without a proper investigation. Jasmine doesn’t handle the news of Sid’s dementia very well. The episode deserves a 5.5 out of 10.

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