Episode 3

A new witness comes forward claiming to have important evidence in Gail Vella's murder, and Jo Davidson brings Terry Boyle back in for questioning on the strength of it. The case shifts under everyone's feet. Kate Fleming is torn between her loyalty to Jo and her duty to AC-12, and the tension increases when Kate encounters a face from her past with links to organised crime. The witness's claim is the kind that either cracks the case or poisons it, and the episode keeps both options open. Terry Boyle is back in the frame, and the frame is suddenly very crowded.

The episode puts Kate in the hardest position she has been in for a while. Her friendship with Jo is a real thing, and the investigation is turning it into a liability. But the reappearance of someone from her past with OCG connections is the kind of complication that does not stay in the background for long. Meanwhile the questioning of Boyle keeps the Vella case moving, and the pressure on everyone involved keeps climbing. The two halves of Kate's life are starting to pull her apart. The past has a long reach in this show, and Kate's past has been waiting for its moment.

Jed Mercurio wrote it, Gareth Bryn directed. Vicky McClure carries the episode's emotional weight, with Kelly Macdonald's Jo providing the quiet counterweight. Martin Compston's Arnott, Perry Fitzpatrick's Lomax, Adrian Dunbar's Hastings, Gregory Piper's Pilkington, Tommy Jessop's Boyle, Kerri McLean's Devereux, Sara Dylan's solicitor and Tara Divina's Patel complete the cast. The cast is well chosen, and the episode gives the quieter players room to register.

The episode is about the cost of divided loyalty, and it shows the cost in small, precise ways. Kate is doing her job and hating parts of it. Jo is doing hers and hiding the rest. The two things cannot stay compatible for much longer, and the show knows it. But the needle being threaded here is about to snap. The loyalty between Kate and Jo is the most human thing on screen, and it is also the most dangerous.