There are literally hundreds of cop dramas out there, with the subject of police being a focal point for film and television creatives. The tones may shift, and the focus may change, but the underlying appeal of seeing complex cops do their jobs has proven to be a winning formula. One of the best examples of that trope has been at the heart of Blue Lights, the BBC cop drama about a group of new officers in Belfast.
That ability to blend those differing aspects of the archetypal cop drama — the tight character focus, realistic police procedural, and expansive criminal conspiracies — has always been one of Blue Lights‘ better qualities. The fourth season does live up to that legacy, although the stronger moments are definitely more rooted in the character beat and scenes. While it may lose some momentum as it tries to keep some multi-season arcs spinning, the underlying focus on character pays off in what may prove to be the show’s swan song.
Blue Lights Is Best When It’s Focused
Blue Lights‘ fourth season picks up where the previous batch of episodes left off, with an anti-immigration demonstration that goes off the rails, setting the tone for the season. The officers of the Blackthorne face external threats from the movement stirred up by the protest, as well as lingering criminal conspiracies and the machinations of Belfast’s biggest criminal families. Blue Lights season 4 wrestles with some tricky material, although its impulses to fall back on genre conventions can leave certain beats feeling trope-y instead of compelling.
However, even those aspects benefit from a never-better cast, whose time with the central officers gives them an authentic sense of humanity that other shows could only dream of. Siân Brooke is great as Grace, using the complications of the riot fallout to showcase a different side to the former social worker. Finally tested in her morals in a way she hasn’t been before by a deceptively complex, social media-famous racial provocateur played by Tabitha Smyth, Grace’s arc is the most compelling and grounded story in the season. The rest of the cast is just as good as always, but it’s Grace’s storyline that feels the most effectively composed by the time the credits roll for what may be the series finale.
Blue Lights Is Able To Stick The Landing
Blue Lights does have a lot going on for itself beyond Grace’s story, even if that remains the highlight of the season. Katherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff get a lot of solid focus as well. New character pairings prove to be a delight, especially whenever Colly finds himself bouncing off the crew. Their storylines don’t benefit from the same tightness as Grace’s, however. Although other elements like the brewing gang war between warring families and conspiracies related to MI:5 have their highlights, they don’t quite land as hard as the more character-driven elements.
These are the moments when the show feels most like it’s spinning its wheels, playing out the drama for all its worth (and at its worst, feeling like a stalling device). However, these beats do pay off by the sixth episode, which is positioned either as a sa new beginning or a possible ending for the show. Blue Lights does a good job fulfilling its central arcs in the process, with an emotional throughline that lands as well as it does because it refuses to let the characters be overshadowed by the larger meta-plots. The result is a season that feels like a strong note to end things on, if that’s the case. Regardless, on its own merits, there’s a lot to like about the fourth season of one of BritBox’s best modern dramas.
