About Line of Duty (Good Tedium)

Post 1949:

Seems one has to go poking around, turning over rocks to find something to watch these days. So be it. I need a break from writing, and the more complicated and less elegant art form of TV and film can be a great outlet, even inspiring.

I found one. Line of Duty, a British cop show that hasn’t been on for a bit. Yeah, I’m surprised. The way they do criminal justice is a bit odd from an American perspective, but it doesn’t bother me here. This has a few seasons that are better than others, but it really pays attention to the details. There’s just enough character work with the main detectives to keep you on their side, but mainly it sticks to the mysteries.

And the mysteries revolve around crooked cops. Or as they say, bent coppers. Actually their bent sounds more like bint, all part of that toothy English charm.

I find the painstaking detail-oriented writing to be refreshing. Arresting people is harder than it looks, if this show has any resemblance to reality. Arresting corrupt or evil cops is even tougher.

In America, shows tend to portray Internal Affairs as the rat squad. Rarely are they the protagonists, with a few notable exceptions. Line of Duty does a good job of showing the damage corruption can cause. Frigging get it together, the UK. Our criminal justice system is flawless and without a sniff of nasty business. The Wire and the daily news have taught me that. Get on board with perfection, Redcoats!

And give your regular cops guns. Enough with the not having guns. If I have to see another detective chase an armed suspect with just his mitts, I’m gonna have a thing. Guns are cool!

Guns are kinda cool, but I’m not making a civics argument here. But it does look better to have a gun. And makes more sense to Americans. And, like, isn’t that the point? I knew you’d agreeeee.

Check out Line of Duty if you want deliberate, subtle, plodding, excruciatingly slow entertainment that somehow entertains. For real. Cheers and see you after.