Vera Series 5 - Muddy Waters - Episode Review

My review of the previous episode, Old Wounds.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.
My reviews of the fourth season of Vera.

And it's back to the country - now Vera and Aiden investigate a death on a farm. We have a chilling body discovery in a slurry pit - the workers are trying to remove a blockage when up he bobs from the black goo. Whoever he was, his body was weighted down, which means this was no accident (or else a very creative suicide).

Vera Series 5 - Old Wounds - Episode Review

My review of the previous episode: Changing Tides.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.
My reviews of the fourth season of Vera.

"Don't blame the times; blame yourself."

This is Vera’s second shot at a historical murder (first was Crow’s Trap). Carrie Telling was dumped in the woods in the 80s, when Vera was a young W.P.C. At the time, miners and coppers were at odds, resulting in several violent confrontations. The dead girl’s father, Bill, still carries a lot of bitterness from the period: not only did the police fail to find his daughter, but he was a miner. He’s quick to expect the worst of Vera and Aiden, and his temper is strong enough that Vera thinks a bout of rage may have resulted in his daughter’s death.

Vera Series 5 - Changing Tides - Episode Review

My review of the previous season finale.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.
My reviews of the fourth season of Vera.

The beginning of series 5 finds Vera returning from holiday. Because it's Vera, our workaholic, obsessive heroine - the holiday was occasioned by the death of a distant relative in Galway. Back at home, some things have changed. Shep has disappeared, replaced by Bethany Whelan - a returning supporting cast member from season 2. Kenny and Marcus remain, and as in series 4, have expanded roles. Most significantly, David Leon's Joe Ashworth has departed.

Vera Series 4 - Death of a Family Man - Episode Review

My review of the previous episode: The Deer Hunters.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.

Despite the frightening title, Joe’s final episode doesn’t really focus on him. The most interesting change in dynamic comes from Robert Glenister’s Owen Preece, who is guesting as a rival and possible love interest for Vera. The latter half of that sentence doesn’t quite work. It’s certainly interesting to see the sparks fly when Vera encounters another authority figure (unlike Morse or comparable detective heroes, Vera has never embraced the underdog, anti-authoritarian hero storyline), but any romantic chemistry is firmly in Joe’s (and Celine’s) imagination.

Vera Series 4 - The Deer Hunters - Episode Review

My review of the previous episode: Protected.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.

British detectives - as a class - tend to be aristocratic and city-based (from Wimsey to Holmes). True, there’s the occasional working class plodder - Lewis and Frost, for example - but Vera’s the first detective I’ve encountered with her feet firmly in the country earth (photographed incredibly, in what, I think, is the first use of drones filming Vera). Poor citified Joe looks pained as she scoops up a handful of animal droppings and smells them deeply. They’ve just discovered a body - and the droppings tell Vera they should be looking for poachers.

Vera Series 4 - Protected - Episode Review

My review of the previous episode: On Harbour Street.

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.

This episode begins with somewhat of a repeat of the season 3 finale’s trick opening - a gaggle of glamorous girls are dancing on the beach, observed by a sleazy looking guy. One of the girls is separated from the others. Walking alone in the darkness, she stumbles. It’s the body of the watcher - he’s been bludgeoned to death. The man, not the woman, was the prey.

Vera Series 4 - On Harbour Street - Episode Review

My review of the first season of Vera.
My review of the second season of Vera.
My review of the third season of Vera.

So: the first episode of series 4 finds Joe and his suddenly older daughter, (played by a different actress, Olivia Armstrong) Jessie, boarding the train after church. Among the crowd is Margaret Kraszewski, a do-gooder that the camera’s lingering gaze implies is not long for this world. Sure enough, when the crowd vacates the car, Jessie finds the old woman dead - stabbed in her lower back.