As dawn breaks, Shane and Annie awaken in bed, their embrace still warm from the night's passionate smooching. Their guns, carelessly abandoned next to a heap of clothes on the floor, stand as a stark reminder of the reality they've navigated. Annie's living with Grace now, and she's desperate to keep her surrogate big sister in the dark about their late-night escapades. But all her efforts to maintain the secrecy are swept aside when Shane descends the stairs with the devastating news that Dixie was shot last night.
At Blackthorn Station, Sgt. McNally is frantically calling in reinforcements from every corner, bracing herself for the inevitable backlash on the Mount Eden Estate. Davy Hamill, the rival gang leader who had been provoking Dixie following the march, is being questioned with a hushed intensity. Outside the station's backdoor, DS Murray Canning lays into Shane, his frustration palpable. "We've got a murder on our patch, and people are looking to me for answers, and I've got...nothing," he snarls, threatening to derail his promotion and leave him at Blackthorn if he doesn't step up his game.
Meanwhile, Jonty returns to the station to a frosty reception from Sandra. His poor judgment with Constable Hannah McClean, indirectly leading to Gerry's death, still weighs heavily on her mind. He's written her a letter, but it seems she hasn't yet read it.
At the roadside diner, Tommy reunites with Aislyn and shares his work with Canning and the paramilitary crime task force. She wryly observes that such endeavors always end up "messy," though her own amusement at Tommy's apparent leisurely pace while others work tirelessly for 12-hour shifts is beyond comprehension. Before they part ways, Aislyn reveals that her district has issued a call for volunteers, and she's considering coming to Belfast. Tommy is overjoyed by the news. It seems like everyone at Blackthorn is either shacking up or plotting their escape—except for Grace and Stevie, of course!
On the bustling street, Grace and Stevie embark on a door-to-door investigation, their progress stalling like a heavy fog. Yet, a glimmer of hope emerges when they stumble upon a doorbell camera footage that hints at a lead. This lead leads them to a tragic tale of a man's passing, his husband Chris accused of administering a lethal overdose of painkillers to ease his suffering. Stevie's heart wrenches at the thought, but Grace's resolve is unwavering; they have no choice but to report it as a suspicious death. In a poignant scene, Stevie, whose own wife met a similar fate, sits with Chris until the CID officers arrive, reluctantly arresting him with a weightiness that speaks volumes.
At the station, Stevie urges Chris to play the part of confusion and exhaustion in his interview, hoping to convince the investigators that it was an honest mistake with his partner's dosage. As Chris departs, Stevie realizes with a heavy heart that he must part ways with Grace; he cannot bear the thought of losing her and reliving the pain he endured when his wife passed away.
Meanwhile, Lee Thompson and Craig McQuarrie head to a meeting Tina McIntyre has arranged with the Dubliners. Lee's ambition to take over their entire supply is evident, but they make him an offer he can't refuse: more resources and a loan to boost his operation fast—but at a steep price: double the amount in a month.
At the station, Davy Hamill is denying any involvement in Dixie's death when his solicitor receives a call from 'T Mac,' the Dubliner eyeing Lee's operation. The event doesn't go unnoticed by Jonty, who watches as the solicitor returns to the interview room and abruptly walks out on a shocked Davy Hamill, saying, "I'm going to have to recuse myself."
Across the city, Hannan McClean receives a call from former RUC Special Branch officer Robin Graham, who hesitates to speak about his past due to a lawsuit against the government and the threat of imprisonment for violating the official secrets act. However, McClean knows that Graham is the one who redacted the files related to the chip shop bombing and probably knows who was behind it. Eventually, Graham relents and reveals that he had a source who informed him of an impending attack, but he did nothing. He explains that his source's associates suspected him, and if the police had stopped the attack, he would have been killed. "It was all about protecting the source," he says, adding that he ran that source for 20 years after that and "he saved lives, a lot of lives." He also reveals that his superiors knew about the expected bombing and did nothing.
Hannah shares this information with Happy, whose father and brother died in the bombing. However, her boss is not pleased with her for letting him believe she would get him answers as the government is in the process of closing cases looking into the past. "We've made the deadline, though," she replies. "This case could be one of the last of its kind." The police had not been doing anything about Dixie and Davy Hamill until now.
"Jim Dixon was nothing but a scumbag paramilitary," he says to his sister Mags, causing her great concern. "I've been paying him protection money for years and I know many others are in the same position," he continues. "You knew and you did nothing. Your coming here is an insult to this community!" he tells Jonty. "It's up to us to fix it. They don't stop paramilitaries, they work with them."
Meanwhile, with no leads on Dixie's murder, the squad lines up with a host of Armoured Response Vehicles and prepares to head through the Mount Eden Estate, checking cars. When they pull over Robert 'Rab' McKendry, we learn that he received a whole life-term for terror offences and was released under the terms of The Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Shane orders Annie to search the car and is determined to get some information out of Rab, who's grandson (Henry McKendry?!) is getting upset in the backseat. Later on, Annie is angry with Shane for pushing Rab and wonders, "Do you think we made it worse?"
As Sandra navigates the city's streets, she encounters Lee's former companion, Craig McQuarrie, and in the trunk of his car, discovers a bag brimming with cash—the elusive treasure of the Dubliners, we presume. This discovery is promptly confiscated, plunging Lee into a precarious predicament, only a day or two into his alliance with these newfound cohorts.
Later in the evening, Jonty pays a visit to Lee at The Loyal Pub. Mags is present, and her fury at Jonty's presence is palpable, hinting at a complex history between them. "We've lost Mount Eden—perhaps we've been losing it for a long while," Jonty muses to McNally at the station, moments before Lee Thompson's bold entrance, demanding his money back.
Sean, a seasoned TV critic and feature writer for publications like TV Times, What's On TV, and TV & Satellite Week, also contributes to whattowatch.com. With over 15 years of immersing himself in the world of television, Sean has had the privilege of interviewing luminaries such as Ian McKellen, Tom Hardy, and Kate Winslet. His television tastes lean towards the eccentric charm of 'I'm Alan Partridge', the intricate web of 'The Wire', the historical grandeur of 'Wolf Hall', and the cutting-edge drama of 'Succession'. In his downtime, Sean indulges in the comforting rituals of sipping tea, solving crossword puzzles, and cheering on his favorite football team.
