Vera

Image provided by AcornOnline.com.

      There are two reasons why I’m surprised I’m enjoying the show Vera as much as I am.  First is because the character Vera (Brenda Blethyn) is very cranky and abrasive.  The littlest thing can set her off and a lot of people are left with hurt feelings.  This is not usually a type of character I like to watch, but there is another side to Vera that does come out from time to time that I do like.  It just takes some prying to get this other side to come out.

          The second reason for my surprise is that when I first tried to watch the series on PBS, I kept falling asleep.  Now that I am watching it on DVD, I blame my initial sleepiness more on the time the episodes aired than the actual show itself.  The background music doesn’t really help either.  It has a lulling quality that can easily put a tired person to sleep.  Which is why, even if you have the DVDs, make sure you don’t watch it late at night when you might doze off.  If you do, you’ll miss a really good mystery.  

       Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope investigates murders.  The main person who helps her is her Detective Sergeant, Joe Ashworth (David Leon), but the whole office chips in on every case.  As a result, the cast changes around as different people come in to help.  The only constant, other than Vera and Joe, is Detective Constable Kenny Lockhart (Jon Morrison).  He and Vera butt heads a good deal of the time as they have similar abrasive personalities, but Vera does respect his work, despite how much she pokes at him.

Image provided by AcornOnline.com.

        While everyone involved in the cases is expected to do everything and anything when asked, they do each have their own special set of skills.  Because of his years of service, Kenny has skills that were developed before technology came to the forefront.  He knows how to dig up information from odd places as well as how to effectively tail someone.  In addition, Kenny has a tendency to develop and keep relationships with people who don’t have the cleanest criminal record.  These people trust Kenny and are willing to talk to him when he’s seeking information.  Joe, on the other hand, deals mainly with victims, witnesses, and suspects.  He has a way about him (Vera often suggests it’s Joe’s good looks) that gets people to open up.  Children he is especially good with as he has three children of his own.  This is a big help to Vera because she does not always interact well with children, even though she tries.  Vera does better with adults, and somehow she always knows how to question a person in order to get the answers she is looking for.  Some need gentle understanding, while others need a much more abrupt tact.  In either case, Vera knows how to do it perfectly and how to surmise if a person is lying to her or not.  Her investigative skills and ability to twist the facts and evidence into different possibilities instead of the obvious is why none of these cases would be solved without her, and I believe everyone she works with knows this.  They have a great respect for her, and that is why they put up with all her crankiness.

Image provided by AcornOnline.com.

            The mysteries Vera deals with are interesting but they are also realistic.  There is never some vague connection as to why someone was murdered.  The motive is always very personal, and usually has to do with relationships over anything else.  I also feel that while I’m watching Vera I’m witnessing a true case unfold.  She repeatedly returns to witnesses and suspects when a new thought and question comes up.  Theories are created and then eliminated as new information comes in.  Everything Vera and her team do is with a purpose, even if it seems the information they are seeking has zero relevance to the case.  They want to be sure they investigate and look into everything so as to be certain they have the absolute right culprit in the end.

                Through the entire investigative process, Vera comes off as quite cranky, which I said before.  I also said there is another side to Vera, and that side is her good heart.  She likes to keep this part of herself buried, but every once in a while it does come out.  Mostly this happens with Joe.  He sees this good side of Vera and keeps prying at things in an effort to get her to show it.  He will invite her to dinner at his home and to family events.  Despite her repeated rejections, Joe does not give up.  He also makes sure Vera takes care of herself.  When Vera had health problems, Joe was the one who took her to the hospital.  He makes sure Vera eats and looks into things about her personal life that really need to be looked into.  Joe is a great partner for Vera, and she knows it, even though she’ll never admit it. 

                I’ve only gotten through the first three seasons so far. With each season I enjoy the show a little bit more. The only thing I’ve truly been disappointed in (I’ll warn you, I’m going to ruin something here) is when Detective Constable Holly Lawson (Wunmi Mosaku) left in the second season. She was very good at investigating and eager to learn, but her big talent was the ability to look at the human side of things. Holly was able to hear a theory and figure out whether an actual person would be driven to action based on what was being theorized. She did not see things as they were on paper, she saw them as reality. This did not always go over well with Vera, but Holly developed a way to stand up for herself and get herself heard. Vera respected Holly for that in the end, and that was why it was so hard for Vera to see her go. It was hard for me to see her go too, because all those things made Holly a great character. I wonder if that’s why since that point there have been so many different cast changes. Maybe Vera is having a hard time replacing such a good person too. Although, I think by the end of the third season she may have found someone. I’m going to have to watch the fourth to find out.

                 Images added April 21, 2016.