Internal Investigation

_****½

Sam struggles to investigate the death of a man under police custody as Gene and the rest of the team work to cover up evidence.

The review for "Broken the Land That Needs Heroes" can be read here.

Since his arrival, Sam (John Simm) has made it no secret that he's disgusted by the department's procedures and their inability to follow the letter of the law. There have been a few instances where he has greatly influenced how Gene (Philip Glenister) runs his team, and a number of times where Sam has relented and allowed himself to take the easy way out in some situations. Butting heads with one another, Sam is no stranger to being on the outs with his peers, but this is the first time that he finds himself in a fight against absolutely everyone at once.

Chris (Marshall Lancaster) is perhaps the most influenced of all the officers by Sam's presence, having come to value his opinions and advice both on and off duty. The major break in the case comes when Sam learns that Chris had used a tape recorder during Kemble's (Kevin Knapman) final interview, revealing exactly what had happened that night. Chris has come to emulate Sam so much that he no longer recognizes these procedures as foreign and doesn't hesitate to do as Sam would do. It's nice to see that, even though Chris remains mostly opposed to Sam's actions during this story, that he continues to support the ideals Sam has instilled in him.

There is a moment between Sam and Annie (Liz White) wherein she pleads with him to look the other way, stating that she and the others are real people with lives and not a fabrication of his subconscious mind. Annie very desperately wants Sam to understand that he could destroy her career should he follow through with his actions, and while Sam truly feels for her situation, his need to do the right thing forces him to act against his friend here. While they both are on opposing sides of their fight, Sam asks, in the closing moments, that Annie not abandon him, and while Annie remains angry at what he did, and what the ramifications might have been, she tells him that she never would.

Having been through a number of situations with Sam already, Annie is already well-aware of his devotion to the law and his need to follow through on procedure. For her to be genuinely angry that Sam is investigating her and the rest of the team is somewhat understandable, but when she states that he needs to stop trying to get information from her because "friendship and trust go both ways," she crosses a line. Annie has never been presented as a bent cop, as much of the rest of the department is, and her using their friendship to get her way, effectively presenting an ultimatum, seems slightly out of character. Had she explained to him in simple terms how she felt about this without threatening him with abandonment, things might have gone more smoothly between the two, but Annie tries to pull at his heart-strings, saying that she must mean very little to Sam if he could risk destroying her life in that way, regardless of whether or not it's the right thing to do.

On a narrative level I can understand having Superintendent Rathbone (William Hoyland) destroy the tape so as to allow Sam to realize how corrupt the policing in this town truly is, but it seems as though it was done in an effort to keep Sam from destroying the department and retain the possibility of working with his peers once more. Rathbone states that Ray's (Dean Andrews) crime was dealt with internally and that anyone could have made a hoax tape, quickly ushering Sam out of his office. Afterwards Gene reveals that he knew Rathbone wouldn't have done anything and he allowed Sam to make a spectacle of himself, alienating himself from the rest of the department so as to teach him a lesson. While Gene agrees that Ray needed to be dealt with, he also states that Ray brings in more criminals than anyone else in the department, and that his punishment should be less severe, though why he would expect Sam to accept this logic is beyond me, especially since he can't justify his decision beyond that reasoning.

The actors all do a very good job in this episode, Andrews being able to display the quiet rage of his character very well, and Lancaster providing a very convincing example of Chris' inner conflict. The stand out performance of this episode is most definitely White who flutters through a range of emotions as Sam tells Annie that Kemble's death is not her fault. White's performance here absolutely makes the episode, and the story would have had far less of an impact were she not such a capable actress.

Director S. J. Clarkson adds many small moments into the narrative in an effort to show how Gene and Sam have influenced each other, but the funniest is at the top of the episode when Sam slides across the hood of a car and Gene, trying to emulate him, bounces off looking angry and disappointed. The hints that the story might all be playing out in Sam's head are greater here than in the previous episodes, having Sam hear the doctors on the radio and allowing the audience to hear the song that Gene is hearing instead, calling into question Sam's sanity. As the case comes to a close, the major players sit in a room together listening to Chris' tape, everyone remaining perfectly silent as the camera settles on each one in turn as they consider the ramifications of their actions; this scene is beautifully framed and is incredibly effective in showcasing where each of these people are personally after what they've done.

Writer Chris Chibnall spends a good portion of his script focusing on Gene's determination to protect his people, thinking that Sam's investigation will only destroy camaraderie, effectively causing everyone to cut Sam out entirely. As the story progresses, Gene reveals that he, too, would like an investigation, but couldn't have been the one to perform it, so he set up Sam to look into his team as Sam's the only one that's expendable from a social perspective. Gene states that "these lads think they were made in [Gene's] image, but they never learned where [he drew] the line, and it scares the shit out of [him]," because he trained them to act this way, he was the example each of them followed, and through his actions, both past and present, he feels he is the one that brought this on the department. In the end, Gene demotes Ray very publicly in order to prove to his team that they can't act as he does, to show them that they need to be better than he is to get the job done.

With Sam's flashes coming faster and more frequently, along with his recurring dream about the women in red running in the woods, it appears that the series is aiming to answer some of his questions about his situation. The writers are also setting up a choice for Sam in regards to his feelings for Annie, and whether or not he'll be able to go back to his real life, never to see her again.

The review for "Take a Look at the Lawmen" can be read here.