Vera (TV Series) Tender (2024) User Reviews

A quality episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 19 January 2024]

The body of a young woman is found by the side of a railway crossing, a young woman who's been battling cancer.

I don't know about you, but for me the recent run of episodes, some of the show's best, this was another great episode.

A really powerful and sad story, with some interesting and intriguing twists, Gabby was definitely a complex character. There's a little more humour here than is usually the case, Vera's toothache provided a few laughs.

Too notch cast here, including Gillian Kearney and Shaun Dooley, great to see Julia Sawalha, and wow she is ageing incredibly well, she simply doesn't seem to age, she's great here, a passionate performance.

Things felt a little more settled here, with Joe behaving more like one of the team, rather than the rule book obsessed smart arse he'd turned into.

There's so much speculation in the press about this show ending, I hope it's not the case, on recent evidence, there's a season or two surely.

9/10.

Tough good story and tragic but beautiful ending

[SunnyDaise · 7/10 · 15 January 2024]

There are loads of twists in this extremely complicated but still followable mystery. I related to every character and felt sorry for them all in one way or another because they all felt a sense of loss, which meant they handled situations wrong and that had knock on effects. The big lesson: it is fine to give your kids a loan or other form of support as long as they do something constructive with it - if you give them nothing when you could, it can send them on the wrong path or burnout. They don't have to do everything from scratch, as long as they still work hard. And more importantly, never forget the surviving kids when you lose (the chance of) another.

Intriguing

[kristhebass · 9/10 · 16 January 2024]

Well let's start with the plus +++++ points.

Nice to see Joe back, he's softening a bit after his 'I prefer to be called Sir' entry last week, not sure about the full beard though.

This is the best plot we've had for a long time, lots of red herrings and who was the victim, really.

So now the minus - points

Why, oh why are the producers of TV shows, films etc obsessed with mixed race couples, two in this episode. Just seen the new Silent Witness, what do we have there? Yup, mixed race couple, although this time a little different with the genders reversed, at least it shows a white man this time.

I digress.

I know Ms Blethyn is actually 20 years past retirement age but to be fair, she doesn't look it and I really don't care, keeping doing it while you can Brenda.

Nice to see Kenny looking trimmer as well, give him more to do.

So ten stars but one off for the minus point.

If it's not broken don't fix it

[jazzyphipps-56857 · 10/10 · 7 March 2024]

Solid acting and directing. The last two episodes (2 and 3)of season 13 put Vera back on top where she belongs. The acting was superb. The storyline was allowed to develop. I am glad that the directors went back to the drawing board. I understand that there are times when you have to shake things up a bit but sometimes that doesn't always work. I have seen shows over the years become a shell of there former days. With viewers wishing that the network just shelved them already. Put them out of there misery. If episodes 2 and 3 is a foretaste of what to expect from season 13, I can't wait. Gr8 job.

Why is this guy ALWAYS the killer

[Apd227 · 6/10 · 6 March 2024]

EVERY TIME Shawn Dooley guests on a show, he's ALWAYS the killer. It sucks. The show was ruined the minute I saw him because I knew. EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW. They really need to stop doing. Ruins the ENTIRE show when you know within the first 15 minutes who done it.

I now need to use up 400 more characters ridiculously. Happy some of the other characters are getting more responsibility. I hope this continues.

Another 200 characters. I will never understand why these people have accidental deaths and never just call the police and say they fell. It's ridiculous.

30 more characters. Stop this nonsense please.

Tender

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 23 January 2024]

The episode opens by following Gabi McSwain. She is out shopping with an older woman and later takes a train. It looks she might be followed. Later she is found dead by a railway track.

DCI Vera Stanhope is already in a bad mood as she has toothache and needs to be on painkillers.

It is not long before Vera learns the truth about Gabi. She was estranged from her parents. They spent more time with her sister who was dying of cancer.

Gabi had befriended Helen Rushden and moved in to her family home. Gabi also had cancer and Helen cared for her.

Only Vera learns that Gabi made up the cancer diagnosis. She was healthy.

There are no shortage of people with motives and people who are hiding something. As always Vera speaks to everyone twice as they all seem to lie or obscure the truth the first time round.

Gabi was not the most sympathetic person The conclusion was genuinely sad although the episode neglected to make clear what happened to culprit.

Why does every character...

[Cali88 · 7/10 · 9 March 2024]

...always have their 5-10 minutes of being intensely considered a suspect, before the team clears them and promptly moves on to the next character/suspect under scrutiny - it's a particular quirk of the writing/storytelling on VERA that grows tiresome, and we have it in spades in this episode.

I was immediately suspicious of Shaun Dooley's character when Vera and team didn't corroborate or follow up on his alibi during the time of the murder. And as another reviewer stated, why is Dooley always the murderer?! I love him, and he always does a fantastic job (I thought his confession scene was one of the better ones from this episode), but man, it's about to become a running joke at this point.

I really like Steph, she's a welcome addition to the team and she seems whip smart and capable, but I think she had a bit too much screen time and responsibilities in this one, especially for being the most junior person on the team. And where was Kenny?? Let's not focus so much on Steph to the point we lose him. And did anyone think the scene where Mark hands Steph a mug of tea while they share a phone call with Vera was cute? Mark and Steph shared a "look" last episode, I can see them becoming more than just work colleagues and I'd be happy to see that.

Loved seeing Julia Sawalha, but hated her accent work. In fact, most of the accents in this episode felt forced, inauthentic and a little singsongy (Freya, Jonathan leading the pack). In terms of performances, I thought the actress playing Gabi was a little weak. Good thing we don't see too much of her. ;P Lastly, glad Joe turned it down a bit this episode. After last week, I was worried that all of his interactions with Vera and the team would be strained, uncomfortable, and annoying, but he actually seemed a bit more like his old self in this one.