The Commander: Abduction

The suspended DS Brian Hall is suspected of brutally murdering his mother. Commander Clare Blake is told to take charge of the sensitive case. Hall is hallucinating and it's straight forward to imprison him. The father-to-be DI Doug James hasn't attended one maternity class with Zoe. Zoe has a fight with classmate Shenae and Shenae's mother who turns out to be a thief. Later, Zoe gives birth and the baby is stolen from the hospital. Shenae and her mother become prime suspects. There is also new mother Fiona George who is desperate to get her womanizing boyfriend Jerry to propose.

I really didn't like Blake sleeping with a known murderer. It made her silly, stupid and girlie. It is a bad turn if not handled well and it wasn't handled well. Then the franchise turn into a functional but uninspired police procedural. This one finally arrives at a nice composite. The Brian Hall case is reasonable but limited. The story with Doug James is very good. It's got great side characters. I love Shenae and her mother. It's a nice way to tie in the police procedural with the lead's story. This is probably the best episode so far in the series.