Family: Part 1

Pieces of this episode - both parts - were missing when I watched it on Prime. There were enough loose ends that it made no sense. So I watched it over again with BritBox and got both the intro and wrap up that were missing. Much better, but still not their best episode.

Christmas day is ruined for the team as they're called to a house where multiple victims lay dead, shot by an assailant that seemingly remains still active.

This has been the best series of silent witness for some time, every single episode has been of the highest calibre. The tension here was fantastic, terror and panic generated to a level I've not seen on the show since Shadows. Acting first rate as always, there is so much speculation about Emilia Fox leaving the show, and if this is to be her last, she's going out on a high, she was superb, as was Liz Carr once again.

It is nice to see a returning DCI, not often on the show these days do we get returning Police, as we did in the good old days, and whilst Chief Inspector Cooke wasn't my favourite officer it.was a welcome return nonetheless.

Great production values, although I must criticise the continuity team, it is clearly not December, by any stretch of the imagination. The house used is fantastic.

The idiocy of moving Nikki away from a position of cover (and abandoning a patient) during an active shooter situation was infuriatingly absurd. Not even an 8 year could suspend disbelief.

Though a number of episodes displayed childlike plot stupidity, the events were reasonably short and forgettable. In this episode, the plot absurdity not only lasts a long time, it was turned into a drawn-out, high-suspense sequence, which was moved forward with ever increasing stupidity.

While all this idiocy lead to new and important plot points, there we so many other ways the audience could have been brought their without insulting and distracting stupidity.

We really enjoy Silent Witness but this episode is the worst. You don't wander about a shooting scene while gunfire is still going off; you hide! A squad of trained police marksmen doesn't wander about all at the same time while a shooter is active, you move one at a time and cover each other. You don't wander off individually and when you do find a victim in the horse barn you don't leave them to join up with the rest of your team while a shooter is still active! It's as if a different script writer and director took over and nobody checked any of it with professionals. Even the acting was sub-par, very disappointing.

This is a gripping first half of the season finale. And the last one I'll be able to see for a while. A couple of cops are called to a rich man's house. When they arrive, they find bodies all over the place and burned van with a man, totally charred, inside it. When forensics arrive, there is gunfire and Nikki finds herself in great danger. One person, a daughter is still alive, and is rushed to the hospital. There are a lot of strange things going on, including the suspicious actions of the police. The husband, the suspected killer, has run. In the house is a gun arsenal. The police had a connection with the father.