The Fear

A paramilitary-style assault lands on the books, and for Grace Ellis it's a case with a name on it. She's determined to bring the McIntyres to their knees, and the episode lets that determination sit next to everything it costs her. The job is the job. But the rage underneath it is personal, and Grace has never been good at hiding the difference. The title names two kinds of fear: the kind the paramilitaries trade in, and the kind the job hands back to the people doing it.

The other half of the hour belongs to Angela. Gordy pulls away from her, and her desperation grows with every scene, a quiet counterweight to all the noise of the investigation. It's the kind of subplot that could feel like filler. Instead it keeps reminding you that the case has a human ledger neither side can balance, and that the people closest to the violence are the ones the paperwork forgets.

Fran Harris wrote it, Gilles Bannier directed, and it aired in April 2023. The familiar ranks are all out: Siân Brooke's Grace, Katherine Devlin's Annie, Nathan Braniff's Tommy and Richard Dormer's Gerry Cliff, with Dearbháile McKinney's Aisling Byrne, Martin McCann's Stevie Neil, Jonathan Harden's Jonty Johnson and Andrea Irvine's Nicola Robinson filling out the station. Joanne Crawford's Helen McNally and Andi Osho's Sandra Cliff round out a working police force under visible strain. The assault case takes most of the screen time. Angela's story gets less of it, which is its own kind of honesty.

The episode's real subject is the gap between professional determination and private collapse. Grace stays focused, Angela falls apart, and the show trusts you to notice that the same system serves them very differently. Nobody gets a neat answer here, least of all the people who need one.