This Blue Lights season 2 episode 5 recap contains spoilers... Shane Bradley finally does the right thing and takes a stand against DS Canning, yet this episode is all about Jen Robinson and her mum, in a powerful scene where she outlines her dark past in Special Branch.
Annie races back to Blackthorn Station to confront Canning over what happened to Tommy and he turns to Shane and tells him he needs to “put a muzzle on her”. She smashes him in the face, which seems fair but might land her in a bit of trouble. “You punched a senior officer!” says McNally, who’s both deeply furious and deeply sympathetic.
Chief Nicola Robinson is very pleased with the intelligence Canning has provided and wonders whether to try and take Lee Thompson down or simply contain him. “He could be better than what’s come before,” Canning explains.
At The Loyal Pub, Lee Thompson hears about how Davy Hamill has been extorting the locals with his loan-sharking and cancels their debts. “I want things to go back to the way they were,” he says.
Grace and Shane (who she’s pretty furious with) are on patrol and are called to a disturbance at Brendan’s house. “It’s a mental health case,” says Shane. “I’ve been there before.” He offers Brendan a cigarette like last time, but this time the big man goes for him. While he’s being battered he begs Grace to use the spray, but she hesitates.
If it seems like the cops in Blue Lights deal with a lot of mental health cases, then it’s simply a realistic reflection of life on the beat for officers all over Britain and something the writers should be lauded for.
At the station, Tommy tells Sandra the name of the man who attacked him in the club was Keith Wiley, but he also wants to see the video of Gerry’s death again…
Meanwhile at Factory Faithful, Craig tells Lee the police must be on to them because there was an officer in the club last night. “It was only a matter of time,” he replies, before hinting he has something in mind for Wiley - and we don’t think it’s something he’ll enjoy.
He and Craig bring Henry round to see Keith where he lays into him, while laying bare the mind-bending stupidity of those who claim to be British patriots, while also doing Nazi salutes. “What does that make him?” Lee asks Henry, before Henry tells him he has to leave forever. “You are the past and we are the future.”
However while he’s waiting at the bus stop to leave town, Sandra and Aisling spot him and arrest him for the attack on Tommy. “That’s what you get for being a racist prick!” shouts an old woman after Sandra kicks him in the balls after he attacks her. Lovely stuff.
'The truth is too much for everyone...'
Meanwhile Robin Graham is being charged under the official secrets act for “dissemination of stolen documents”. When he’s brought into Blackthorn Police Station, Jen Robinson comes down to see him and reveals that she used the documents to contact some of his old colleagues, who must have reported it. “It’s fine,” he says. “I’m exactly where I want to be!”
During his interview, Robin admits to taking the documents as evidence of wrongdoing carried out by his colleagues. “I was involved in the running of agents who had foreknowledge of acts of violence, that on occasion I did nothing about!” he says, before his interviewer stops the tape.
During a break in the interview, Jen’s mum Chief Robinson — whom we’re becoming less and less keen on by the minute btw — pulls her aside and tells her the case must stop. She then digs up memories of the part she played in Gerry's death. Mum of the year or what!
It seems Happy Kelly has been offered a ‘substantial settlement’ and if he takes it Robin Graham will be released without charge. “You get your win and we all move on,” says Supt Robinson. However Jen then realises that her mum is more than just a bystander in the case. “Here you are trying to save your own skin!” says Jen.
Then we get to the truth of Chief Robinson's past...
It seems she was transferred into Special Branch around the time Jen was born and tasked with downsizing agent running operations. “I reviewed every case, read every file, stood down assets and paid others off,” she reveals. “The decisions we made back then were dreadful, but in the end we stopped a civil war… The truth is too much for everyone! Don’t let this destroy your future.” It’s powerful stuff from both actors and feels like one of the defining scenes of the series.
'I like peace and quiet..'
Elsewhere, while Annie is seriously considering her future in the force, Grace and Stevie urge Shane to step up and report what Canning said to her before she thumped him. “I know you’re passing through, but when you hurt people in this section that’s a problem,” says Stevie.
This puts Shane in a difficult situation, yet Canning couldn’t care less and tells him he wants to “reach out” to Lee Thomson, whatever that means. The two of them then wander into The Loyal Pub asking for Lee, which is a bold move.
When Lee arrives, Canning asks him what the plan is, which seems a tad unrealistic if you ask us, but hey ho. “I like peace and quiet,” says Canning. “Personally I’m against the war on drugs, it’s like pushing a boulder up a hill.” Anyone who’s seen the third season of The Wire, where the police initiate a ‘Hamsterdam’ in Baltimore will be familiar with what he’s trying to achieve here. Although when they shake hands, Shane walks out. “I take it he’s an idealist,” says Lee.
When they return to Blackthorn, McNally calls Canning into her office and confronts him with what he said to Annie before she hit him, saying he’ll be referred to professional standards if he proceeds. "You were finished anyway, but now you’re really fucked,” Canning tells Shane as he walks out.
After viewing the video of Gerry’s death again, Tommy says he recognises one of the people on the scene that day from the club. “If they’re working with Lee Thompson this is far worse than we thought,” says Jonty when he sees the video.
Jonty then sets Tommy the task of looking at all their contacts with Lee Thompson over the last few weeks, before logging him into a more classified area of the police database. Nice.
Meanwhile, the doorbell footage Stevie requested a few weeks back is ready to be accessed and after several cups of tea and no end of mediocre cakes, they manage to get it from the elderly lady and leave. After all those calories, let’s hope that footage is good! However the lady’s loneliness leads Grace to reflect on her own life with no little melancholy.
Meanwhile across town, Henry manages to access his uncle’s safe and pulls the gun out. While messing about he fires a shot that smashes through the back window of Grace and Stevie’s car, which slowly comes to a stop by the curb. Oh no!
