Culture

Line of Duty dials up the lesbian tension and queer fans can’t cope

Line of Duty's DI Kate Fleming and DCI Joanne Davidson.

DI Kate Fleming and DCI Joanne Davidson. (BBC/Steffan Hill)

Line of Duty continued this week with AC-12 prematurely showing its hand, the potential beginnings of a Jo Davidson-Farida Jatri-Kate Fleming love triangle, and the one line we’ve all been waiting for.

Preceded by a BBC announcer revealing last week’s premiere was its biggest drama launch in years (they’re pretty pleased with it, thank you very much), Line of Duty continued Sunday (28 March) with an episode that doled out two questions for every answer.

Why was journalist Gail Vella murdered? Something to do with a podcast and her getting too close to police corruption, it appears.

Is DCI Jo Davidson in league with organised crime? We’re still not sure, but a final scene saw her pick up a burner phone from a suspicious-looking man in a suspicious-looking car, just after her ex, PC Farida Jatri, was arrested for harbouring –you guessed it – a cache of burner phones.

When, oh when, would superintendent Ted Hastings give us the sweet release we’ve been waiting for? Thankfully, reader, we were all in luck.

Line of Duty season six, episode two took a much slower pace than last week’s whirlwind opener, which left fans reeling with its “s**t storm of lesbian drama”. 

The opener revealed this year’s possibly-bent cop, Davidson, had been in a relationship with Jatri, one of her subordinates, and that things hadn’t exactly ended well between them.

As Davidson packed up her things and moved out of the home they’d apparently shared together, Jatri accused her of cheating with Fleming, to which she sarcastically hit back: “Kate and I have been shagging on the sly for months, even though she’s straight and I never cheated on you. Now I see why you never made detective.”

But after Sunday’s episode, fans have been left wondering: is DI Kate Fleming is actually all that straight? After an aborted AC-12 raid that Fleming may or may not have tipped her unit off about, she and Davidson went for drinks in a dimly lit bar.

If last week’s foreshadowing didn’t hit you over the head hard enough, this was where we really saw sparks fly between the two. As two rent-a-straights tried to hit on the pair, Fleming announced that they weren’t really her type, dispelling the men with what appeared to be a “lesbian badge”.

Cue queer hysteria, and a brand new hashtag: #Flemson

Of course, we can’t take everything we see at face value here, can we?

As thrilling as it would be for Line of Duty to go all-in on a queer love triangle, many couldn’t help but shake the feeling that Fleming’s interest isn’t Davidson isn’t romantic (or at least, not completely), and that she’s working deep undercover.

Who’s Jo Davidson really working for? Is Kate Fleming family? And is there a chance we’ll make it though next week’s episode without having to google every returning face just to understand what’s going on? Tune in next week to find out.

Line of Duty continues Sundays at 9pm on BBC One.

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