Silent Witness (TV Series) Fraternity: Part 2 (2014) User Reviews

A fine conclusion to series seventeen

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 17 February 2014]

One expects there to be bodies in graveyards but this episode opens with one that wasn't expected; somebody has disposed of a body fifteen year old girl in a recently prepared grave. It isn't long before her mother's boyfriend is in police custody and Jack has a shock when he sees who it is… his brother Ryan. Jack is determined to find the evidence that will prove his brother's innocence despite the case being taken over by an outside expert to avoid a conflict of interest. Meanwhile it becomes apparent that she had been seeing a doctor for less than professional reasons. We have two early suspects and whoever is guilty the investigating officer is sure the motive was sexual despite there being no evidence of rape.

This episode provided a fine ending for the current series with Jack's position at the Lyle Centre looking rather precarious as he repeatedly tries to help his brother who may well be a killer. The feeling that he might be on his way out is heightened by the arrival of Dr. Helen Ferguson, played by the excellent Hayden Gwynne, who looks poised to take his place. While there may not have been a huge range of suspects it isn't overly obvious who did it until the final reveal and even then the suspects who weren't involved in the murder will have to answer for other crimes. This served to keep things somewhat downbeat as did the fact that one of the suspects was related to a main character. As usual the cast did a fine job and the story felt believable. It is just a pity that the series ended so soon although I'm sure it will return for an eighteenth series soon enough.

A big story for Jack.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 18 October 2019]

A very dramatic ending to the episode and series. Often a character gets a big story, this has very much been all about Jack, a personal story of family and loyalty. The team are on the brink of collapse after Jack overstepped the mark, Haydn Gwynne was excellent as stand in pathologist Helen Ferguson. It was an excellent story, well devised, well written, it certainly packed a punch.

The involvement of Jack's brother made it very interesting, Caves really did manage to develop the character well. Liam Garrigan was also excellent as the lecherous Dr Nash, previously he'd appeared in two part story, Ghosts.

The ending came as a real surprise. Very dramatic, very enjoyable, a strong episode. 8/10

Ain't No Sunshine

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 30 April 2019]

Jack continues in the middle of this. He makes on mistake after another when he is convinced of his brother's innocence. Even if the guy didn't kill the girl, his tunnel vision keeps him from following the evidence. It takes a comment by Nikki to finally get him back on track. This is such a wonderful mystery show. The writers take a cast of characters and create what appears to be an easily solvable case (for the characters and the audience). They arrange those characters and put them in an arena. But what is so special is that complexities of human nature and how the pathologists take their findings, their times of death, their human reactions and bulldog their way to a conclusion. There is always a person representing law enforcement. He or she is often overzealous and has a tendency to jump to conclusions. The one this time became impatient with the gang because they couldn't offer him conclusions while the victim lay on the ground in the rain. It gives a nice contrast between emotion and science. This episode was really quite well done.