MovieChat Forums > Silent Witness (1996) Discussion > Series 19 - After the Fall (minor spoile...

Series 19 - After the Fall (minor spoilers, maybe)

posted 9 years ago by lilactime2014
7 replies | jump to latest

New Series of Silent Witness is always something to perk up the new year and this is no different, new series of Endeavour too - Bliss.

However.... Now I love SW been a fan since Amanda Ryan left and even checked out her episodes after the event and I consider the Pomp to be something like the Episode they did in Budapest, Series 12 to 15 are unbelievably good.

It's like this episode has been written by Ian La Frenais and Barry Chuckle.
One brilliant Writer and one comedy idiot (although no disrespect to Barry he is a Legend).

It is suspenseful, it has a good twisty plot, two strands, seemingly separate become one. Fantastic. YET, never in the space of one hour have we paused the action so often to comment, that's just rubbish, that doesn't make sense, he / she would never do that, why is he / she doing that? It's almost schizophrenic in composition. Brilliant and stupid all at the same time.

For those (me included) who have previously commented on Nikki's propensity to do too much investigation (coppering) and not enough pathology, you will not be disappointed. "What the hell is she doing, why not call the cops".

There is also the standard moment where there is a chance to explain to someone what is going on and get help and typical Nikki "Just give me a chance to deal with it on my own" leading to further sustained peril and death.

I hope I haven't given too much away for those who haven't seen it. It is by turns brilliant and bonkersly stupid. Can't wait for more.

'tler

[–] lilactime2014 9 years ago

Replying to my own post, how sad.

Well that was just silly. I was pleased I got the Murderer using "Lewis's Law" before the end of the first hour but the way the perp. was collared was just plain Stupid.

Nikki searches house for tapes, finds tapes, Jack calls "Did you find the tapes?" Nikki says "No" and goes off, on her own, no back-up to confront a person who is responsible for the deaths of several people. At this point she hasn't even made a phone call. NOT ONLY THAT, she takes with her the (very) key pieces of evidence, has a forensic scientist not heard of "Chain of custody". What's to stop the perp, killing Nikki, hiding the evidence because at this point only Nikki knows the truth. NOT ONE OTHER SOUL knows who the killer is. And a good lawyer (oh the irony) would trample all over the Police case with Nikki's involvement including being a key suspect at one point.

So it is a fantastically fun episode, the good bits are every bit as good as any previous series, but the amount of bad decisions being made by key characters is annoyingly high. I guarantee any viewer with half a critical eye would have said at least a dozen times in two hours "He / she would never have done that". It's stupid, almost Luther stupid (another enjoyable romp), but I know I will watch the end of this series, and the next and the next and love those too. But it would be great if the writers would just try and be a bit tighter. To be a procedural there has to be a procedure and how a woman of Nikki's experience, who is intimately involved in the case, just completely knackered British Law is beyond me, in real life she should have been suspended and warned within an inch of her job to stop ruining the police's work or at worst sacked and possibly re-arrested for tampering with evidence. I am a fan, what a disinterested casual viewer would have made of it I don't know.

'tler

[–] TravisTheSky 9 years ago

I take it that Lewis's Law is where the most famous guest-star ends up being the murderer? Sometimes he/she can be a fun red herring. When I saw Geraldine Sommerville appear on the screen, I briefly thought, "Why is she in this small role? I hope that doesn't mean she's the killer." And she was. Sigh....

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remember: tv is called PROGRAMMING, items of news are STORIES

[–] lilactime2014 9 years ago

Absolutely yes, I guess that is Lewis's Law part one. Part two would be, watch the film for the first 20 minutes and the killer is the kindest and nicest of them who seems to pose absolutely no threat. Going back to the Lewis Pilot (amongst many) where it was the most insignificant and gentle character.

I first noticed part one of Lewis's law in Prime Suspect- The Final Act when I thought "Why would Stephen Tompkinson be playing a bit part headmaster - it can't be him surely." I think that was the same year as the Lewis Pilot.

'tler

[–] TravisTheSky 9 years ago

Oh, thanks. I've not heard that one before. In that case, Lewis and Hathaway themselves must have committed most of the murders. Tee hee, it's the same thing everyone said about Rosemary and Thyme.

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remember: tv is called PROGRAMMING, items of news are STORIES

[–] calmeilles 9 years ago

For those (me included) who have previously commented on Nikki's propensity to do too much investigation (coppering) and not enough pathology

Just a few minutes ago I watched the scenes in which she approaches the priest and consequently alienates the DI.

And I really, really wanted someone to shout at her to butt out! :)

[–] calmeilles 9 years ago

...and nearly getting strangled at the end of the last one.

[–] lilactime2014 9 years ago

Exactly.

So you have just damaged your leg enough so that you cannot run from a known killer. You then decide that you will go to the house, ON YOUR OWN, of the person you suspect to also be a killer. An ex-marine no less. On the way you get a call to confirm that he was indeed the killer in cold blood of at least 3 people. Does this make you hesitate, does it make you think "Maybe I should just make a call to the cops?".

The thing about the ending that got me was the ease with which this person was taken down. How many times do we see two fully grown men, fighters and hard men, trade blows, many of them with fists, chairs, walls etc. and they keep on getting up AND YET one tap on the head with a small vase by a tiny inexperienced woman, the vase didn't even break mind you, and this trained killer is out cold after a trip down six small steps. The person who made the vase attack didn't even swing it, they sort of tapped him with it.

It's a shame as it was a very strong and immensely enjoyable end to the series.

I am not sure if it is pressure of writing or what, I have never written anything so what do I know. But time and time again many excellent UK drama series, not just Silent Witness, build brilliantly to an ending that just kinda fizzles out into stupidity. Most boards have threads that go "How the heck did that happen?" or similar as viewers are let down for the want of a bit of ingenuity. It's very entertaining, but is it ultimately satisfying when loose ends just get tied up so simplistically or so fantastically? Silent Witness is becoming candy floss when it used to be a Beautifully satisfying Rhubarb Crumble.

'tler