Coercion

_****

Sam grows progressively ill during his investigation into the abduction of a mother and daughter, leading him to believe that he's suffering from an overdose in 2006. With Sam taken out of action, Annie and the rest of the team are forced to finish the investigation without him.

The review for "Falling in Love is Against the Rules" can be read here.

Part of what makes Sam (John Simm) so determined to finish every case in 1973 is his belief that, in living up to his duty, even in what he believes is a coma, he will find the trigger to what's keeping him from waking up and be able to regain his life. Forced out of an investigation has never before stopped him from continuing his pursuit of justice, but here he may have to leave things in the hands of those he's come to call his friends, but their ignorance to his plight may be his ultimate undoing.

In his growing frustration in regards to the case, Sam notes that everyone is growing tired, missing details and making mistakes, saying that someone needs to take a step back from what they're doing and look at everything, describing everyone as being "on their own island" when they should be working as a unit. It's Sam's ability to see things outside the box, to take in the whole of the picture rather than just the pieces, that makes him so good at his job and such a great leader, and his determination to have himself heard is one of the driving reasons why the department closes so many cases successfully. Even through his illness Sam is able to pull himself together to do what's necessary, and this characteristic is what makes his chances of getting back to his life feel so genuine and believable.

Director Andrew Gunn uses Sam's illness as a chance to show scenes not involving Sam, and while Sam as a character has been required to drive every scene in the series thus far, in order to maintain the mystery of whether or not everything is taking place in his mind, the scenes without him are a breath of fresh air. As Gene (Philip Glenister) describes his previous investigation, we see it through Sam's imagination, picturing what had happened without needing to have been there, and we see also a vision of what Annie (Liz White) might have been doing when Sam tries to think of how she would react in a certain situation. Simm's acting is great, and he's the driving force behind this shows success, but there can be too much of a good thing, and seeing these characters get by without him, however briefly, really displays how much they've changed both personally and professionally since Sam has come into their lives.

Despite being bed-ridden and incapable of coherent thought, Sam is brought in because he's expected to act as the voice of reason within the department; were he simply on vacation, or on a day off, this would be understandable, but he can barely piece together his thoughts and it feels as though, no matter how desperately needed he was, the department likely would have been putting his life in danger to put him under this stress and strain during a situation such as this. Sam proves that he's capable of calming Chris (Marshall Lancaster) down long enough to remember who had given him the name of Graham Bathhurst (Adam Beresford,) and later, in trying to do the same for Simon Lamb (Reese Dinsdale,) Sam receives what appears to be a false confession in order to save his family. What's frustrating about this series of events is that Sam is presented as being perfectly capable despite his physical ailments, as though he's nearly flawless in his work, and his only failure here is considered the false confession he works out of Simon which, at the close of the story, is revealed to have been real, though no call back to earlier in the episode is made, making the reveal feel somewhat tacked on and lacking in justification.

The ultimate reveal of Don Witham (Jonty Stephens) as the kidnapper feels disingenuous given the circumstances; it's difficult to believe that a man who had lost his daughter in a similar scenario would lash out and brutalize another young girl in the same way. His anger is justified, and his belief that someone else was to blame for his daughter's death is realistic, but his actions here are beyond what he seems capable of.

Dinsdale gives a great performance as his character very quickly breaks down throughout the story, a journey that, in hindsight, is all the more incredible. Beresford also does quite a spectacular job in playing the same scene from both Gene and Annie's points of view, showcasing how much the tone of his speech can change the mood of the scene despite the exact same dialogue.

Gunn opens the episode with puppetry, creating a scene where a marionette of Gene beats a suspect as the puppet version of Sam watches on in dismay, transitioning from there to Sam watching Chris and Ray (Dean Andrews) on the television as they speak to him through his phone, playing on the confusion of Sam's mental state and creating a very memorable scene. As Sam races toward the station he overhears, over the radio, his doctor telling him that he was in clinical danger after an accidental overdose, while Annie later learns that he had been drugged at a club a few nights back, giving him two viable causes for his illness that justify the reality of either of his lives. The interrogation of Graham Bathurst, as seen by Annie, is far different from that described by Gene even though the events and dialogue sync up perfectly; intonation makes all the difference here, and Gunn displays the vast differences two people can perceive through the same event quite well. After ODing in the future, Sam is forced to watch the rest of the investigation play out on his television, trapped in a coma within his coma, and the technique is used very effectively, breathing a new life into the series while maintaining the mythology that has been set up so far.

Written by Matthew Graham, this story has many insights into the characters, creating a very well-drawn person of Simon throughout despite this being his only appearance within the series. Simon cries that Sam and Gene are "meant to be the experts," hoping that they will talk him out of his impending suicide attempt, only to instead be told that "sometimes the experts [...] let you down," convincing him to leap from the table and hang himself. While Simon's actions are all very understandable on the first viewing, it's only in retrospect that they gain secondary motives, with Simon's confession to killing Charley (Georgia Foote) having been genuine, and his claims that the kidnapping of his own wife and daughter being his own fault also a case of the truth being overlooked. Gene, who often keeps himself removed from cases, is shown to have grown close to Charley's family, having watched home movies of her, feeling genuine remorse over what happened and showing why this investigation means so much to him given how connected he had become to it. Annie offering a different perspective of things, seeing a confused young boy where Gene instead sees an evasive criminal, goes to show how much Sam has influenced her in his time there, and as Sam later watches the investigation close without him it becomes evident how much more efficient and capable they've all become with the techniques that Sam has taught them.

A good day can make all the difference, and here Sam finally works up the nerve to ask Annie out on a date, a relationship that will prove difficult to give up in his fight to get back home. The department also displays how much Sam's presence has changed their work, and while they may not revert to their old ways in Sam's eventual absence, I imagine it would be a big blow to their effectiveness as a team.

The review for "Drugs on the Street" can be read here.