Protection

Three of the most important police roles are women. Liz leads witness protection, Hannah Wheatley leads the murder inquiry, and Amanda Kelman handles the police standards review. A black woman holds one of those senior jobs, and South Asian men also hold important detective roles. The pattern is audience-visible, but the show does not make diversity its main subject.

The show keeps Liz's struggle between police work and family care in the story across the season. The story also makes Hannah Wheatley, another senior woman, Liz's main work rival. The women drive most of the investigation, while several important men are corrupt, compromised, or in need of help. Liz is flawed and often reckless, so the story does not present a simple unbeatable female hero.

The season repeatedly shows police and intelligence leaders hiding crimes, leaking witness data, and protecting their own offices. The finale says the truth will be buried under the national interest and greater good. That gives the show a mild anti-institution message. The story does not connect the corruption to race, capitalism, patriarchy, or a current activist cause.

A handful of small X accounts called the show “usual woke crap” because women hold senior jobs and some male characters are villains or weak cops. Other small posts objected to a storyline they described as involving a far-right group and to a sympathetic Turkish drug importer, while one called the word “patriot” a slur. The complaints had no large campaign, review-bombing, boycott, or broad news cycle. Reddit discussion mostly praised the thriller or raised ordinary plot complaints.