Silent Witness (TV Series) Seven Times: Part 2 (2020) User Reviews

It's not great, but...

[keysam-02610 · 6/10 · 11 December 2022]

Not a great episode this one. It is clearly trying to address a very serious issue but I agree with the people who think they've gone about it in the wrong way. Though quite how you tackle this without it being bleak....

Anyway, I do take issue with the criticism of Nicky and the flashbacks. While I agree there's been no hint of her Father as an abuser before, I believe the point is supposed to be that she is reliving things that she saw & did in the past & realising what she actually *did* see & do at a time when she was too young to understand.

However, if I'm correct, it's clear that it wasn't done well enough for it to have been easily understood by everyone watching. It also seems unlikely that she hadn't done a PM on a victim of domestic violence before, given the stats, so why the sudden realisation now?

The cardinal sin for me though is the lack of proper conclusion. There are a load of dropped threads. OK we know Tina was basically making sure the abusive characters either got bumped off or banged up, and that she got caught. But what about her daughters? I suppose her case will have to get a new judge now, but will her kids end up with their revolting father?

What really happened when Nicky was little? Did she really bash someone with a shovel? Was it fatal? Was that actually her father, so the bloke that has turned up in other episodes is a step-father? If so I don't remember that ever being stated. It all just ends a bit too abruptly & evidently the writer thought the scene at the end with the girl was more important. As a viewer I would disagree.

Martyr Pathologist

[lupusaphex-44343 · 29 January 2020]

I've been trying to really carry on watching this series and liking it. But I can't. I find Nikki Alexander insufferable. In this episode particularly, where the focus should be on victims, we keep seeing her story and her past. What is she? A kind of martyr who has gone through every possible traumas both in her childhood and in her adulthood? We've seen her relationship with her father in previous episodes, and not once, has any abuse by him come forward in the narration. Not to mention that he is characterised as a gambling sort, somewhat unpleasant but certainly never violent either against his wife or his daughter. I understand that she must mature into something different, from the once light, funny and smiling character that she was at the beginning of her appearance in the show (completely out of character and in no possible way consistent with later episodes resurgence of her broken past). But this? It should be called Dr Nikki's Silent Martyr instead of Silent Witness. Each case has impact or resonance in her own private life. And oh gosh, we see plenty of this in this show now. Is the actress friend with the producers, writers, directors? This is extreme narcissism and it makes the series distasteful, very unlikely and unwatchable

Possibly the weakest of the series.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 22 January 2020]

It's another harsh episode, the miseries and impacts of domestic violence plainly visible for all to see. Important that domestic violence is shown in a true light, it's not just about men attacking women, it can happen in any dynamic.

It doesn't seem to have been the most well received episode on Earth, and I can sort of understand why, continually grim, a little bit easy to work out, I found it a little on the boring side.

I am loving the DI's range of trendy shirts, he's been a good character, with a wicked taste in fashion. Thank goodness for Clarissa, she injected some humour, and was genuinely brilliant. Best thing about this story the whole way through has been Sian Reese Williams.

Several comments on twitter about this story being woke, I would argue by saying we are a multicultural society, but they pushed it a little with the villainous white posh men sprouting how they're an endangered species, the judge taking the side of the dad, Thomas's all boys club, this was tedious writing, I'm all for equality, but please BBC give us a little break in between this and Dr Who.

Hopefully it'll be back on track next week. This was disappointing. 5/10

Of course a man wrote this.

[jocelyn21403 · 1/10 · 6 August 2020]

The abuse of women at the hands of men is a very important subject. That the writer chose to make an abused woman the criminal is beyond the pale. Fact is, men kill women so often, and abused women very rarely kill their abusers. There were a million ways to tell this story. By choosing to tell a story where a woman hunts abusers, you made men the victims. And that is gross.

Who will do the post mortem on this?

[mcaspeth · 3/10 · 28 April 2021]

Lame acting even lamer script. This used to be good viewing as pure entertainment.

This episode needed crutches to even limp to a politically over corrected solution.

Was there a resolution?

[evalent-1 · 4/10 · 3 February 2020]

Because I didn't see one. It would seem the police know who the criminal(s) is/are, but it's never confirmed. Perhaps a woman was a victim, and maybe she wasn't? All a muddle to me.

Remember you are only a mid level crime drama?

[oxleyhs · 4/10 · 31 January 2020]

I would agree that this was weak. There is a strong sense that once a topic is broached all areas have to be covered. Silly punchbag scene at the beginning =men have aggression. Women do it too. Tick. But actually this tick box attitude leaves us with a bunch of stereotypes. Plus the gratuitous and always tedious back story for the pathologist. We had this too much in the earlier series and to be honest who cares. We are left with a very confused sense of reality and a feeling that someone has a checklist to fulfill. I agree, disappointing, V disappointing.

Clearly the bottom

[lalison · 30 January 2020]

I very much hope this 2-parter has gotten this out of their system. Every long running series has a worst story/episode, and I think this was it for SW. This is one set I will never rewatch, and I recommend skipping it.

Almost 10 years ago there was an absolutely ridiculous exocism episode, the previous worst now dethroned. Maybe we can get to season 30 before another stinker hits.

Worse thant the first part

[retina_scan · 4/10 · 22 February 2022]

It's interesting that this episode got such low ratings, for many for being 'woke' - I hate the word. It seems to have been disliked by male and female vieweers for different reasons. It is indeed weak and problematic.

A major issues for me is that it was poor storytelling, even worse than the prevoius episode. At times it was forgotten completely that this is a forensic crime drama and more a story about social issues. In this way, it all seems a bit forced, even patronising, as if it is telling you and explaining to you rather than showing you.

More to the point, it was - like the previous epiisode - quite rushed in its resolution.

Another issue: this must be the first time that I recall that we see gay people on SW, in all these years. And the underlying assumption is quite problematic - 'yes, men do that, but you see? Women do that too?' (black women for that...)

I've seen in imdb that Amanda Burton is returning to the show and I can't wait to see that! Nikki Alexander is the most privileged white middle-class pathologist I've watched for a while....