Line of Duty Series 6, episode 2: Is Kate deep undercover?

Reuben Pinder

It’s all heating up now.

The first rule of cops going undercover is usually to use a fake name. Otherwise, you’re not really undercover, you’re just working as a police officer.

Kate Fleming has done this several times throughout Line of Duty’s previous five seasons, using her charm to get close to corrupt officers AC-12 are investigating, but this season is different.

Episode 1 revealed Kate was working for another unit, under her own name, having given up the anti-corruption work. However, some viewers believe this could actually be her deepest undercover mission yet, with only Superintendent Hastings in the know. Here’s why.

First of all, thinking outside the storylines, this is a show about anti-corruption police officers and to split the main three characters up in the final series without some possibility of them reuniting or working together feels unlikely. She hasn’t just gone for no reason.

But the main reason viewers are jumping at the the idea of Kate being deep undercover is her suspicion of Ryan, the child used in the OCG in early series, who has just joined the police force.

Kate recognises him, but isn’t immediately sure where from. It’s been a while, after all. But some eagle-eyed viewers spotted Kate looking at Ryan’s profile on her computer during a scene, indicating that she’s onto him and will stop at nothing to find out who is pulling the strings.

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Rewind to episode 1 briefly. Steve gave Kate a heads-up that AC-12 would need to investigate DCI Davidson and Operation Lighthouse. He did this as a courtesy to a friend who would already have had suspicions cast upon her as a former AC-12 officer.

“Damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” was how Kate described that situation.

Then in episode 2, DCI Davidson somehow knew AC-12 would be rocking up at her station, undermining the whole surprise element of their investigation. She could only have known this through Kate, so the question is: did Kate tell her out of loyalty to Davidson and to protect herself from accusations of still working closely with AC-12, or did she tell Davidson in order to gain her trust, as part of a longer, deeper mission?

The fact Hastings was able to hit back on the counter immediately and still get access to all the records they needed is rather convenient, but puts Kate in the clear in the eyes of Davidson.

Add all this to the quite obvious sparks flying between the two, and the fact that Kate has not yet interacted with Ted Hastings in this series, with Ted batting off Steve’s concerns about putting Kate in a difficult position with “she’s made her bed” rhetoric.

Could it be that Ted has Kate working deep, deep, deep undercover, even keeping Steve in the dark about it?

Knowing the twists that show creator Jed Mercurio likes to throw up, it wouldn’t be the maddest thing.

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