Posted in: BBC, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: Acorn, Alexa, amazon, bbc, iplayer, line of duty, streaming, tv
Line of Duty: With Alexa Spoiling Who "H" Was, Is Skynet Next?
The finale of Series 6 of Line of Duty was broadcast on Sunday night in the UK. It promised to reveal at last the identity of the series' Big Bad, "H", after teasing the audience for over 5 seasons and 9 years. However, if you want to skip to the chase, you could've just asked Alexa who "H" was.
For those of you not in the UK, Line of Duty is currently the top-rated show in the UK, racking up more than 10 million viewers per week. It is also a cop show. It is about a fictional anti-corruption division in the British police force that investigates corrupt cops. The series-long arc that emerged from the 1st series onwards has been the mystery of who H or "the Fourth Man" is, a high-ranking police officer at the head of a ring of corrupt cops. This ring of cops has engineered a series of cover-ups, murders, and corrupt cops over multiple generations. It's probably the evilest conspiracy on British television outside of Love Island. And it has had over 10 million viewers hooked. They all tuned in on Sunday to find out who H is.
But Alexa already knew. Seems Alexa is omniscient after all. Of course, Alexa would spoil Line of Duty! What else does Alexa know? How did Alexa find out before everyone else did? Does Alexa have a leak at the BBC?
But there's a bigger issue here:
Now Alexa is spoiling our TV shows? Skynet has nothing on Amazon! This is what the true menace of AI is. If you're one of those people who are viscerally, emotionally allergic to spoilers, your Alexa is now your greatest enemy and abuser. Humans trolling us isn't enough? We need our devices to mess with us now too?
Of course, you would have to ask Alexa to tell you first. Can you resist? Why do you want to torture yourself? Just go watch the show and add to the viewing figures.
Line of Duty is now streaming on the iPlayer. Series 6 will be streaming in the US on Acorn soon.