K9 says ACAB.... until it goes Idiots Lantern on us at the end.

This is a really fun premise for an episode, the Police have been replaced with the CCPCs, so what does that mean for the people that were on the force? Where are they now? Well, as this episode tells us, they lost their jobs and some became terrorists fighting against The Department.

I appreciate how unsympathetic The Last Precinct are made to be, sure Starkey was also doing anti-Department terrorism back at the start of the show (and has still done a bit throughout), but unlike these guys he wasn't kidnapping kids or threatening harm to civilians. There's good ways to fight the good fight, and there's bad ways to do it too.

I like the idea of alien tech being used in CCPCs, sort of building on what was done in Mutant Copper (and giving me ideas for what I'd love from a continued version of this world), and I like more hints that Thorne has some plans going on behind the scenes, likely to be revealed next episode (wow, it's only 2 episodes left, what I assume is a 2 part finale from the names).

Interesting interactions between Darius and his dad here, we learn that he upped and left him and his mum (sidenote, he has a mum we never see??? I just assumed she was dead like Jorjie's dad probably is) a couple of years ago to join(/found?) The Last Precinct.

The ending though, it leaves a ***lot*** to be desired. Darius' dad doesn't really do anything to redeem himself at the end, he releases Gryffen sure, but that's because his plan had already failed. Darius then figures a way to use K9 to help ensure he gets a proper trial and fair sentence, which like, is a good thing to do, but it's framed as a moment of forgiveness, especially with the shoulder grab afterwards. It's not as bad as The Idiot's Lantern, but it's definitely up there and while I wanted to give this story a higher rating with that at the end I can't.

It looks like the series peaked, this is the worst episode of anything Doctor Who related I’ve ever watched. Appalling performances from actors reaching well beyond their range.