Mid-way through the series and the darkness is closing in. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill investigation into disappearing girls turns rapidly into a nest of vipers starring Mack and a slimy old pal from Hendon - Ralph Jarvis - one of those characters who's so sure of his invulnerability that he can piss in the wind without getting wet.

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Sadly for Jarvis, his protection depends on one man. A man with an increasingly heavy conscience. SuperMack. And after Gene and Alex wire up his office and discover the connection between them, that he's using Jarvis's house as an emporium for the investments he's made to hide his hush money, and that he's sat by and let Jarvis get away quite literally with murder, Gene is able to load even more weight on that conscience until it drags Mack to the ground. With no other way out, he kills Jarvis and turns his gun on himself.

But like peeling off the layers of an onion, as he's dying Mack breathes out the message that there's something bigger than himself that is coming. Only, if it really was an onion, what came after would in fact be *smaller* than what went before. But it may well smell stronger. Operation Rose. We're left to guess that the man at the heart of that will be the man who's been leaving roses all over the place for Alex. And maybe he's had an Operation. Mack had earlier told Gene "what you do in this place has consequences," and it looks likely those consequences will be terrible indeed.

Gene's off on his own crusade first though. Drawing his own lines and demanding his team step up to the mark. They can be rufty tufty coppers, slapping down and beating up, but they'd better not be bent, or he'll "destroy them." I thought Ray looked distinctly uncomfortable at the mention of "a single bent penny."

It's all tosh of course. But at least it's well made tosh, and it helps that everyone acts as though they (a) believe it and (b) understand it. Me? I'm just along for the ride. And the music.