Vera Silent Voices (2011– ) watch online HD

When a social worker connected to a high-profile case is found drowned by being held under water, Vera and Joe (Brenda Blethyn and Joe (David Leon) embark on an investigation, in "Silent Voices." Social worker Jenny Lister was part of the Mattie Jones case two years earlier. Mattie had drowned her son Elias while she was the client of Connie Masters, whom Jenny supervised. Jenny was found innocent of any wrongdoing, but Connie Masters, overloaded with cases, was blamed. Masters now lives quietly under another name.

Jenny, on the other hand, was well regarded and adored by her daughter Hannah (Hannah Britland). She is devastated over her mother's death and leans heavily on a neighbor, Simon (James Rastall), whose mother Veronica (Penny Downe) disapproves of the relationship.

It's learned that Jenny was writing a book of case studies -- could that be the reason she was murdered? She had reported her bag stolen, and in it was her laptop. Could Mattie's old boyfriend, the strange and manipulative Michael Morgan (Daniel Lapaine) be responsible because she would have negative things to say about him? Vera and Joe have their hands full with this one. It's a depressing, dark story with the backdrop of loss -- Vera reminiscing about the loss of her own mother, Hannah facing the death of hers, and Veronica reliving the death of her other son as a child. It's also the anniversary of Elias' death.

By the time Vera has this one figured out, it's nearly too late.

Excellent mystery with wonderful performances by Blethyn, Britland, and everyone involved, as well as a story with a nail-biter of an ending.

I had fear of a L&O Criminal Intent opening, with a montage of completely unrelated things to confuse us, that the passive-aggressive writing staff would deign to let in on if we dutifully hung on every word. Thankfully, this was not the case, it was just a nice contrast opening tied in by swimming. I am really liking this show.

This episode does return to the ongoing comfort zone of the bat-shiat crazy lady, this time a gal who drowned her kid years ago-- Mattie. To keep things confusing there are multiple drownings both in the past and present.

It almost needs two viewings, but not if you take notes when it gets complex. Multitude of nondescript youngish white women. Holly's replacement is a lighter shade of pale but nondescript compared to the incomparable Holly. At least she is not white. There is Jenny the drowned gal social worker boss writing a book. Connie was an employee of Jenny blamed for kid's death and her life is ruined. Mattie is the bat-shiat crazy lady who supposedly drowned her baby Elias. Mrs Veronica Elliot is rich mom of boyfriend (Simon) to the daughter (Hanna) of drowned gal Jenny. Hanna's projectile tears on cue deserve an Oscar, as does her performance at the end.

There is also a couple nondescript white guys (NWG), besides Kenny the cop regular (NWG#1). Michael Morgan (NWG#2)-- new age spirit ass boyfriend to bat-shiat crazy gal. Craig NWG#3 is co-worker of drowned gal, had the hots for her. Micheal has co-worker Danny Shaw, NWG#4, who gets the third-degree from Vera in some mighty fine police work. Sipowicz would be proud.

Very nice job making us care about characters put at risk later in the episode. The CSI guy is back and doing pretty good job as a character and an actor. He proves that all middle-aged white guys need not be nondescript.

Pro tip: watch with subtitles on, since seeing all these characters names written as well as spoken can help keep them straight.

I should also re-state that Vera can carry this show by herself. Her sidekick grows a little and its great, although he still doesn't have the sense or ability to do a clean shave, so I end up watching for the continuity headaches of a 3-day growth instead of his workmanlike acting. The cinematography is fantastic, almost Miss Fisher quality, no doubt helped by the 12-hour "magic hour" diffuse light provided by the perpetually cloudy English daytime.

Vera and her team investigate the brutal murder of a highly esteemed social worker who was also a swimming enthusiast.

"Silent Voices" is well made and very well acted, especially by Hannah Britland, but it's also depressing to the point of cruelty: there is not a single one important female character in this episode who has not been deeply traumatized by a terrible loss (the previous episodes have been sad as well but this one takes the cake). I formed a theory about the killer being the most unlikely person based on the formula of the series so far, but I was wrong....it was the second most unlikely person! **1/2 out of 4.