Line #34 Recap/InspectorLynleyS04E01InDivineProportion


1	[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/indivineproportion_5215.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:340:Well, ''that's'' a change from the pilot episode...]]
3
4	->''Lynley and the Armed Offender Squad hear a shot being fired inside the bar, where Havers is held hostage at gunpoint.''
5	->'''Lynley''': ''[urgently]'' I've got to go in.
6	->'''AOS officer''': No. We have shots fired now.
7	->'''Lynley''': I am the ranking officer!
8	->'''AOS officer''': Not once guns are involved you're not. If anyone goes in, it's us.
9
10	Lynley and Havers are called over to a remote village in East Anglia, where they have to help investigate the murder of Samantha Walthew. She was shot from behind while standing in the kitchen of the mansion that she had recently purchased. However, her body was dragged all the way to the back lawn, where it was discovered by a poacher in the morning. Unfortunately, the incompetent handling of the crime scene of the first officer who was called - a local PC Garratt - makes it difficult to identify the potential footsteps of the killer.
11
12	Through their investigation, Lynley and Havers discover that Samantha was a local girl who had left to go to University 15 years ago. She and her husband James Walthew had purchased the mansion only a few weeks ago from bankrupt landowner, Philip Turner. The local police receives an anonymously-sent photograph showing Turner and Samantha apparently having a row on the grounds of the mansion. The photo is dated the very afternoon of Samantha's murder. Lynley and Havers speak to Samantha's acquaintances, including Turner and her old friends, Amanda Gibson and pub-keepers David and Liz Hughes. They discover that 15 years ago, Samantha's younger sister, Kate, committed suicide after being raped. The alleged rapist, local pariah Ron Verger, left the village soon after and was never seen again. His son, Billy Verger, seems to be following in his father's footsteps of unemployment and delinquency.
13
14	As Havers and Lynley probe further into the case, they sense that most of the locals know more about the past case and the present than they are letting on. In the meantime, the killer is still on the loose within the small community.
15
16	Meanwhile, Havers battles a case of PTSD she'd really rather ignore, with serious consequences.
17
18	!! Tropes
19
20	* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Lynley does not particularly give a damn about anyone in that pub who is not Barbara. In his defense there were more than a few other officers around who did, so he was free to focus on his partner.
21	* AnywhereButTheirLips: Lynley can quite clearly be seen pressing a kiss to Barbara's hair when she is crying in his arms.
22	* CryIntoChest: A very traumatized Barbara clings to Lynley and sobs into his chest after she's rescued. Nobody blames her.
23	* DamselOutOfDistress: Once again, Havers shows that when she is in trouble, it is a reasonable bet that she will make the first move to ass-kicking, even if Lynley (or an entire armed offender squad, for that matter) is there to save her.
24	* EurekaMoment: Lynley's sudden realization of what has been puzzling him about the anonymous photograph - namely, that [[spoiler: the composition of the photograph indicates that the photographer's focus was the tree in the background. [[RedHerring Samantha and Philip just happened to be in the frame at the time the photograph was taken.]]]]
25	* HiddenDepths: Who would have thought that good-for-nothing, social outcast Billy Verger would be a [[SmarterThanYouLook closet genius]] and an encyclopaedic authority on the [[spoiler: [[TitleDrop divine proportion]]]]?
26	* InelegantBlubbering: Barbara Havers is not a pretty crier. Snot is involved. Lynley doesn't give a damn, even though it's his shirt getting snotted on.
27	* InUniverseCatharsis: Havers' tears are the release of months' worth of agonising over whether she should have died when she was shot in the stomach. It makes her and Lynley's SecurityCling ''that much more poignant.''
28	* MistakenForEvidence: The forensic team spend hours tracing a size 10 footstep next to the corpse, only to realise that it belongs to one of their own policemen, PC Garratt, who stepped all over the place while cordoning off the crime scene. [[spoiler: Turns out it ''was'' the [[KillerCop killer’s footprint]] after all, making it RefugeInAudacity]].
29	* MostImportantPerson: If there was any doubt as to just how important Lynley and Havers are to each other before this episode, one look at Lynley's face in the page image will remove it ''instantly''.
30	* NotSoStoic: Threaten his partner, and all Lynley's vaunted composure evaporates in two seconds flat.
31	* OhCrap: When Barbara realises who the villain is -- and that she's trapped at gunpoint with him -- her face goes chalk white. When Lynley gets her phone call about what's happening, he ''loses it''.
32	* PutOnABus: Helen, to nobody’s sorrow but Lynley’s.
33	* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Lynley's response to Barbara's being held hostage is a full-on AOS squad, and he would have gone in there himself -- alone and unprotected -- to get her out of there if he wasn't being held back by that same AOS squad.
34	* SecurityCling: He essentially folds her into his arms and hides her away from the world as she completely falls apart. It goes along with the CryIntoChest -- there's an ''excellent'' reason they need to hold on to each other as tightly as humanly possible. He nearly lost her, and she nearly died. It's a toss-up as to which one of them was more terrified.
35	* SurvivorGuilt: Barbara has been dealing with this since she was shot. Or rather, ''not'' dealing with it. This comes back to bite her.
36	* TraumaButton: Barbara shows obvious symptoms of PTSD throughout the episode, and being held at gunpoint triggers her badly enough that she actually freaks out. Coming from "always calm in a crisis" Barbara, that is significant indeed.
37	* TownWithADarkSecret: It seems that everyone in the village knows the truth about what happened 15 years ago. But no one's willing to speak.
38	* UnresolvedSexualTension: The SecurityCling looks like nothing so much as a man comforting his traumatized lover. He even ''kisses her hair!!''
39	* UnstoppableRage: Barbara doesn't take well to being held hostage at gunpoint. This results. It takes Lynley to pull her off the guy.
40	* VigilanteExecution: The fate of [[spoiler: Ron Verger]].

Context Recap / InspectorLynleyS04E01InDivineProportion