I'm enjoying the show but I am starting to see why it only lasted six season/series, without reading any of the books. I was a bit put off by the ending of season two, but not so much that I wouldn't carry on for at least one more season. While the show is thankfully delaying a return to the status quo longer than I expected, Lynley seems to have reversed his attitude from the previous episode.
The season opener has Tommy being very short with a demoted Havers; throwing chain of command in her face at every encounter and undoing all the comradery they had built up over eight episodes. Granted, Havers defied him at pretty much every turn but it was still incredibly out of character for him, and for writing an ongoing police procedural. Here, things seemed practically back to normal and rank didn't appear to matter to him because he didn't like the DS on the case. Also, he finally revealed to Barbara that her demotion was in lieu of being fired (a tidbit that was kept from her for no logical reason), yet nobody has mentioned that her actions saved his life as well as her neighbors'.
This episode in particular was actually quite good, albeit fairly predictable. There were interesting twists and turns, allowing the evidence to guide their inquiries, along with the notion of a coverup. One thing that stood out to me however is Lynley kept counting down the days for Havers' resignation, despite him taking letter back within minutes of her handing it to the Superintendent, who didn't even open it in the first place (though he did suspect what it was). If his goal was to convince her to stay on, reminding her of how many days she had left probably wasn't the best way to do that, especially after the Super died since he was the one holding up her reinstatement anyway.
The season opener has Tommy being very short with a demoted Havers; throwing chain of command in her face at every encounter and undoing all the comradery they had built up over eight episodes. Granted, Havers defied him at pretty much every turn but it was still incredibly out of character for him, and for writing an ongoing police procedural. Here, things seemed practically back to normal and rank didn't appear to matter to him because he didn't like the DS on the case. Also, he finally revealed to Barbara that her demotion was in lieu of being fired (a tidbit that was kept from her for no logical reason), yet nobody has mentioned that her actions saved his life as well as her neighbors'.
This episode in particular was actually quite good, albeit fairly predictable. There were interesting twists and turns, allowing the evidence to guide their inquiries, along with the notion of a coverup. One thing that stood out to me however is Lynley kept counting down the days for Havers' resignation, despite him taking letter back within minutes of her handing it to the Superintendent, who didn't even open it in the first place (though he did suspect what it was). If his goal was to convince her to stay on, reminding her of how many days she had left probably wasn't the best way to do that, especially after the Super died since he was the one holding up her reinstatement anyway.