This Blue Lights season 2 episode 4 recap contains spoilers... Tommy is deeply concerned when his partner, Shane really pushes the boundaries while questioning a suspect, as the malign influence of DS Murray Canning at Blackthorn Station continues to grow.
Lee Thompson is in the police station trying to get his £30,000 back, claiming the cash was raised by people in the area for a local community centre. Of course it was Lee. He has some official paperwork to support his claim, but Jonty and McNally still don’t believe him. “It looks pretty bad, seizing money that belongs from the community,” he says. “Not exactly winning back hearts and minds.”
Out on the street, Grace and Annie are cruising the neighbourhood when a picture pops up on Annie’s phone of her and Shane in bed. It seems he’s shared it on a WhatsApp group, yet despite Grace urging her young colleague to report him, Annie says she won’t.
They’re soon called to a domestic disturbance, where a man is burning his partner's clothes, claiming she’s left him. However his wife Marolyn then walks back in and tells them he’s been on a drinking binge. When Annie suggests she leave him, she tells her she “doesn’t have a clue”.
However as they drive away, Grace changes her mind and goes back to urge Marolyn to make a statement so they can arrest her husband. “Someday someone’s going to get seriously hurt,” she says. A shell shocked Marolyn agrees.
Back at the station, while Stevie and Sandra are waiting to book a suspect into custody, she asks him about his late partner Sarah, but he can’t bring himself to talk about it. It’s a heartbreaking moment between two people who know the agony of losing the most precious person in the world, but they both agree the time they spent with their beloved was worth all the pain and they'd do it all again.
At the end of the day, Stevie and Grace share a farewell that’s bursting with unspoken emotion. You could literally cut the chemistry with a knife. Please let these two get together soon!
'That was taking the gloves off...'
Meanwhile, Shane is on patrol with Tommy when he gets a call from Murray Canning, who tells him about Lee Thompson’s arrival on the scene. He wants Shane to “put the squeeze” on a mid-level dealer called Sandy to find out more. Tommy’s not happy about being sent off on intel work as they’re response officers, but it seems he has little choice.
When they get to Sandy's address, Shane barges in and starts rooting around, telling the woman inside he doesn’t need a warrant, which is deeply concerning for Tommy. However upstairs he discovers a bag of drugs under the bed. “This isn’t admissible as evidence,” says Tommy. “No, it’s leverage,” comes the reply.
When they eventually find Sandy, Shane breaks into his flat and gives him a right going over, before letting Tommy in the front door. Shane then proceeds to lock Sandy’s companion under the stairs, before putting the heat on him to find out who he’s buying drugs from. “The Factory Faithful Nightclub,” he says. “It’s a nightclub.”
As they leave, Tommy is shocked by his colleague’s behaviour. “That was taking the gloves off,” he replies. “We’ve just got hold of the first piece of decent intelligence in months.”
Later on Canning congratulates them and asks McNally to sanction the pair for overtime, but she refuses unless he explains what they’ll be up to. It’s the first sign of the pair’s simmering antipathy bubbling over, as a by-the-book copper comes up against a man who’s quite happy to break the rules to get results.
'Wait and see what I do with this place..'
Constable Aisling Byrne arrives at Blackthorn Station ready to go, but McNally wants her to complete her online safety course before she heads out on the street. Yet soon afterwards Jonty walks in and asks her to verify one of Lee’s letters. “That woman loves an online safety course,” he says of McNally.
Jonty then sets off to see Rab to talk to him about the letter he wrote promising that Lee’s money was for the community centre. However Rab tells him about the incident where Shane stopped him and Henry and tells him where to go. It seems Shane’s making quite the impression on the Mount Eden Estate.
At The Loyal Pub, Davy Hamill tells Lee Thompson that Tina McIntyre’s cut him off. He pleads to be allowed to stay in Mount Eden, but Lee tells him he doesn’t deserve anything after what he’s done to this community and that if he doesn’t leave he’ll go the same way as Dixie.
If Lee’s acting like a man who’s got a private army behind him, that’s because he has, as Aisling discovers when she does a bit of digging and discovers that all the cabbies in his firm are ex-military.
After briefing his men, Craig tells Lee he’s not comfortable using the same set up that Dixie used. However when Mags hears that Lee has banished Davy Hamill from the estate, she’s furious. “What and see what I do with this place,” he tells her. “It’s going to be better, it’s going to be cleaner, it’s going to be safer.”
Meanwhile Jen Robinson pays Robin Graham a visit. He tells her he took documents with him when he left the RUC Special Branch, as he might need something to bargain with. “You can take notes, but the documents stay here,” he says.
Across town, the dealers arrive at the Factory Faithful, while Canning tells Tommy and Shane to do a walk through at the nightclub to see what’s going on. “It’s okay I’ve cleared it,” he tells Tommy, although we know that’s not true. Aisling, who’s waiting with Tommy, isn’t keen, especially after Stevie told her exactly what he thought of Canning earlier that day.
At the club, the Dubliner - who has the worst haircut we’ve ever seen btw - asks Lee why he’s only buying half the product he should be. “It’s the difference between tactics and strategy,” says Lee, explaining that by turning down the supply, they get the police off their backs and start looking at other markets and start moving outside Belfast. “Are you a drug dealer or a CEO?” says the Dubliner.
Outside, Canning sends Tommy into the club for a drink, while back at the station Annie tells McNally what the trio are up to. However while drug dealers depart at the back of the building in a string of taxis, at the bar Tommy is recognised by the chap he arrested a few days before and given a terrible beating.
When Annie and McNally arrive on the scene, blue lights blaring, Canning abandons Tommy despite Shane’s protestations, while inside the young Constable lies unconscious on the floor. Is he alive?
