Warning: this piece contains spoilers.
In the end, Jed Mercurio provided the biggest twist of all; none. And you could only applaud his nerve.
The Line of Duty creator’s latest public offering took off in a way even he probably didn’t expect. His previous work – including the groundbreaking Cardiac Arrest, the horrifying Bodies and of course the enthralling, pitiless examination of police corruption in the aforementioned Line of Duty – has been rightly lauded and loved but never quite garnered the attention or the mass popularity it deserved and that Bodyguard, whose sixth part concluded on Sunday night, at last did.
The tale of David Budd (Richard Madden), a former soldier and now secretly PTSD-raddled protection officer, and his new client, home secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) – who he is assigned to after thwarting a train suicide bomber, Nadia – has been a ratings hit.
It pulverised the competition – an adaptation of Vanity Fair stuffed to the costumed gills with big names – with over twice as many viewers as Thackeray could muster on their shared opening night and gave the BBC its biggest drama debut for over a decade.
And the buzz kept growing; especially when halfway through the series, Mercurio literally put a bomb under the proceedings and killed off his female lead. OR DID HE?
From the fecund soil of social media a million conspiracy theories sprang. Julia faked her death to draw out her enemies! No, the Met did it to shore up their own position! No, it was the aide Julia fired! No, her boyfriend, seen at the Veterans’ Peace Group meeting where Budd met his old Iraq buddy, Andy, who reminded him of their pledge to kill anyone they ever met – like, say, a home secretary – who voted in favour of the war and helped send them there.
So it was David! Especially after he tried to buy a sniper rifle in the penultimate episode! Maybe he did it all in a fugue state, like when he tried to throttle her during a night terror (did I mention they were having sex by episode two because a) he had just saved her life after Andy tried to assassinate her, and b) they looked like Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes?).
Or maybe it was her sinuous ex-husband and chief whip who suspected an imminent leadership bid? Or the security services, who had given her a tablet full of kompromat that could facilitate a coup? What about the ex-wife’s unseen new boyfriend? And are we all just forgetting about Nadia?
In the end – and Bodyguard also gave rise to a big discussion about the distribution and flagging of spoilers, so consider a large red pennant to be waving madly in your face NOW – it was a little bit of everything and, perhaps, not quite enough of anything.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
