‘Line of Duty’ Season 6 Episode 3 Recap: New Chief Suspect?

In Line of Duty Season 6 Episode 3, directed by Gareth Byrne, AC-12 turns to a new murder suspect Ian.

At the beginning of the episode, Kate and Jo watch Chris interview Deborah Devereux through a computer screen. On October 26th, She was at the Red Lion pub when she witnessed the argument between Alistair and “Ross.” Chris shows Deborah a photo of Carl and asks if he was the man with Alistair. She said no, that it was a man with learning disabilities.

Terry arrives at the station for an interview. Jo tells him that a witness identified him as” Ross.” When Kate asks Terry if he told Allistair that he was involved in Gail’s murder, he says,” not me.” Jo quickly puts an end to the interview when Terry starts talking about another man at the pub. He implied that the other man was involved in the murder.

Kate questions Jo about stopping the interrogation when Terry was about to give important testimony. Jo shuts Kate up by implying that she was not knowledgeable enough about civilian interrogations.

Meanwhile, DCI Lisa Patel drives Terry back to the police-approved premises where he is living. Ryan is in the back with the suspect. Ryan gives her new directions to Terry’s housing for the “suspect’s protection.”

Kate is suspicious after the interview with Terry, so she follows the patrol car.

As Lisa drives down a dark road, Kate loses track of the car briefly because of traffic lights.

Lisa rolls down Ryan’s window for him as the patrol car drives down a street next to a lake. Ryan forces the patrol car into the water. The minute the vehicle is submerged, Ryan swims to the shore.

Lisa’s head pops up onto the surface. Ryan drowns his fellow constable.

Kate speeds down the road when she spots the police car in the water from a distance. She is too far to see Ryan killing his partner. After Lisa dies, Terry swims up to the surface. Kate’s vehicle pulls up right before Ryan can kill him.

Kate yells that she has called backup. She runs into the water. Both Kate and Ryan bring Terry to the shore. Terry is too distressed to say anything.

Jo, Chris, and fellow officers come to their aid. Jo is skeptical that Kate just happened to drive by the lake. Jo watches Kate call Steve from a distance.

Steve and Kate march into the AC-12 offices to speak with Ted about the attempted murder of Terry. At first, Ted doesn’t trust Kate’s motives but warms when she says she came to help preserve life. Kate and Steve figure out that Ryan is the young juvenile delinquent who popped up during the Tony Gates’case. Since Ryan was a child, there were no criminal records flagged during his police background check.

Steve finds it strange that Jo recruited Ryan right out of training to escort Terry during a mysterious drowning incident. Kate is troubled by all the evidence against Jo. Later, Kate interviews Ryan about the patrol car incident. All of his previous statements don’t stand up to scrutiny. Ryan plays dumb under questioning. Chloe finds Terry’s fridge in a salvage yard.

When Chloe reports back to him, Ted is shocked that Operation Lighthouse did not look for the appliance. Chloe explains Jo thought Terry had sold the fridge for drugs. Steve hypotheses that Terry was a victim of organized crime who took advantage of his hospitality. They stored drugs like cocaine in his home, explaining why there were traces of it in his flat. Steve plans to interview Farida about Jo’s possible connections to organized crime.

A correctional officer purposefully breaks Farida’s wrist on the way to AC-12. Farida is sent to the prison infirmary and refuses to speak with Steve or Chloe. Further proof of widespread police corruption.

When Steve barges into Jo’s office, she refuses to answer Steve’s questions about missing case files or allow him access to Terry.

Steve decides to expand the warrant to search Farida’s home to look for Jo’s DNA or fingerprints to connect her to organized crime.

Kate orders Chris to do a background check on Deborah since nobody can verify her story.

Jo and Kate go out for drinks. Kate tells her about how Farida says they were romantically involved. Jo denies dating Farida or even being a Lesbian. Kate doesn’t believe her.

Ian announces to Operation Lighthouse that he is putting Ryan up for accommodation before the team can adequately mourn Lisa. He gets a photo op with Ryan. Nobody claps thinking the photo op is in poor taste.

Kate and Jo bond over thinking Ian is a “twat.” Kate tells Jo that she hopes Ian gives her credit for bringing Ryan into the operation. Jo corrects her saying that Ian recruited Ryan for their team. Later in the day, Jo notices that a forensic team is searching Farida’s home. Chris tells her that it must be AC-12. Chloe reports to Steve and Ted that the forensics team matched some blood in the fridge to Jackie Laverty. Deceased Jackie was a property owner who dated DCI Tony Gates and was a criminal associate of Tommy Hunter. Organized crime hid her body in Terry’s appliance for years before the police found her.

Kate brings Jo evidence that Ian dropped criminal charges against Deborah a few years back. She owes Ian quite the favor. Jo says she brought Kate in to prove that Ian was “bent.” She trusted Kate because she is ex-AC-12. The two women arrest Ian for suspicion of perverting justice and even found the missing case files in his car trunk. Ted thanks Kate for finding the leak. That night Jo messages somebody saying, “it’s done.” Jo has framed Ian because of his laziness and to get AC-12 off her back. Will she succeed?

Watch Line of Duty Season 6 on BritBox!