Trial & Retribution XI: Closure (2)

Roisin Connor makes a mess of things, and the show lets her. Her interest in Max Stanford stops being professional when she gets drunk and amorous, and Walker has to take her aside and warn her about her conduct, a scene Hayman plays without any lecture in it, which somehow makes it worse. She compounds the trouble by voicing doubts about a former colleague who investigated the original murders, and Walker is displeased about that too. Questioning an old boy's work goes down badly; getting drunk on a case gets you a talking-to. The priorities tell you something about the world she works in.

Then comes the attack that rearranges everything: a female officer is viciously assaulted, and Roisin has to face up to some truths she has been avoiding. The question that has been sitting quietly under the hour all along finally stands up and asks itself — is Max Stanford actually who he claims to be? Michael Brandon has spent two nights being breezily credible, which is exactly what makes the doubt land.

Vince Leigh joins as DS Sam Palmer, with Lisa Dwyer Hogg as Valerie Marlow, Crissy Rock as Sylvia Ryan, Claire-Louise Cordwell as Barbara and Sian Webber as Moira Fuller around the regulars of Hayman, Smurfit, Lough and Ozeke, all of them on steady form.

It's to La Plante's credit that Connor's lapse isn't played as simple scandal. She's tired, the case is going nowhere, and the man paying her attention happens to be charming and central to it. Edward Hall directs the second night tighter than the first, and the ending delivers what the title promises, though closure here is a colder thing than comfort.

A solid finish to a strong two-parter, and one of Smurfit's better hours; she carries the fall and the recovery both.