The Trust of Justice

Alan Cade gambles with his own life here, and the show lets the gamble fail. Investigating a smuggling ring that feeds the local drug trade, he allows a police informant to orchestrate a dangerous deal, hoping to corner the people behind it. It is a classic maverick move, the kind that cuts corners and takes risks, and for a while it looks as though the risk will pay. His aim was to dismantle the local drug barons, and he wanted it done quickly. Then the deal spirals. What begins as an investigative manoeuvre turns into a fatal encounter, and Eastland loses its chief constable before the hour is out.

The aftermath falls to Karen Archer's ACC Anne Stewart and Stuart McGugan's Det. Chief Supt. Sean McCloud, who manage the fallout of a strategy their boss set in motion alone. Around them move David Hunt's David Kendal, Michael Carter's Thomas Setter, Arturo Venegas's Ernesto Santos, David Collings's David Anson, Michael Eaves's Landry, Sean Cranitch's Cahill and Lawrence Mullin's Det. Sgt. Gallagher. Nobody gets a hero's death; the show gives Cade something harder, an investigation he cannot finish. The force is left to carry on, which is what forces do.

Ray Jenkins, Jeffrey Caine and Peter Jukes wrote it, A.J. Quinn directed.

The Trust of Justice is a bleak title, and the hour earns it. Cade's intentions were honest, but the machinery proved more unpredictable than any officer could anticipate, and the episode is not interested in letting him off. It is the sort of ending that would feel cruel if the show had not been building toward it. For a series that usually keeps its chief constable safe in the office, this is a stark reminder that the office is no protection. Killing off your lead is a bold choice for any drama, and The Chief makes it quietly, with no fanfare at all. Trust, here, is a commodity the force hands out sparingly, and the informant is the one who spends it.