Silent Witness (TV Series) Greater Love: Part 2 (2013) User Reviews

Farewell Leo.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 23 October 2018]

At the Lyell Centre the bodies mount up, as the unmanned facility struggles on.... Meanwhile in Afghanistan the entire team get to grips battling insurgents and rogue units. If I were to read the script I imagine if be sat scratching my head, as so many elements are just so unbelievable, you truly need to suspend belief. The fact that it features the Silent Witness crew, boasts a dramatic setting, and features the demise of one of the show's long serving members, means that it's ultimately good telly.

This series has been fantastic, the calibre of writing, acting, production, has seen the show once again return to the dizzying heights. You could have been forgiven for thinking this episode was going to be the showstopper of this series, but alas not. It's still very good, and better then the opening half, the reveal comes out of nowhere, and Leo's heroism is great.

Unfortunately the story is a little messy, Leo's forced relationship is so contrived, it's hard to believe. The freedom the trio have seems a little far fetched, but it's the fact that all three have abandoned their base that I find hardest to digest.

Very good viewing, full of thrills and spills, just let your mind switch off. 7/10.

Finishes Strong

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 24 April 2019]

This turned out to be another episode where there are twists and turns along the way. Nikki's fixation on the prisoners really became tiresome. Meanwhile, Leo tried to keep order when there were threats to all of them. We find out some really surprising things along the way and the 16th season ends with a real surprise.

The team go to Afghanistan

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 9 February 2013]

When a soldier approaches Leo to ask that he deals with his brother's remains when they are repatriated from Afghanistan he is told that there won't be much they can do to identify those responsible as the evidence needed will be at the site the body was found. Leo decides that he will take the case on though… and that means going to Afghanistan. He planned to go alone but Nikki and Jack insist on going with him. The area the body was found is officially under Afghan control so there are no British troops to protect them; just a group of ex-military security contractors. It isn't long before they realise they are somewhere very dangerous; on the first night there the compound is attacked by Taliban insurgents; three of whom are captured. One of them is soon found dead; Nikki is convinced that he was murdered by the security team… if the men responsible for their safety are murderers they are in real danger!

This was an exciting end to the sixteenth season but the viewer does have to suspend their belief somewhat to believe the entire forensics department could just decamp to Afghanistan at a moments notice. If you can except that the story is pretty exciting; there is a good amount of action, frequent danger and some good twists. As the evidence is presented it is possible to figure out what is really happened but not too long before the team figures it out. I had feared that the solution would have been more cliché as the head of security constantly looked like a bad guy but ultimately the opposite was the truth. The romance between Leo and the project manager seemed a but rushed making me think it was just leading up to an emotional moment when she would be killed or implicated in a crime; once again I was wrong though… it was all leading up to a far more shocking conclusion, which I won't spoil here.

The People Are The Story - Cast and Viewers

[waltonmktg · 9/10 · 29 July 2019]

My family and I are followers and first-rate fans of Silent Witness. There have been many opinions of the writers and actors, most incongruous. This show had always sought to open hearts as well as minds. You can't do that with the scenes limited only to sterile morgues.

The atmosphere digs deep into the individual thoughts and beliefs of the participants. The pain in this story is real for the viewers and the characters.

I applaud a show that digs a little deeper than the usual crime story. And if we leave a little broken and sad, we can feel something real that many of the sons and daughters of the U.K. and the U.S. have felt from close up or afar.

I am a Vietnam vet, and this story is real at its heart, for cast and viewers. I will always remember the final outcomes. Not all drama in the U.K. and the U.S. can do that.

Worst Episode Ever

[raccoon1956 · 1/10 · 20 January 2021]

Worst ending ever. Leo may as well have committed suicide. There are a million better ways to write a character out of a series.

Nikki

[jerseygirl49-674-599559 · 3/10 · 21 February 2021]

So far good except this one. Nikki is so annoying. Do good er English doesn't have a clue how bad the taliban is. This is too sympathetic to the taliban and Nikki is just sickening

Simplistic, Reductive, (Insulting?)

[retina_scan · 3/10 · 24 January 2022]

I'm doing a Silent Witness marathon on BBC iplayer. So far, the show has been at its best when focusing on 'familiar territory'. Any stories dealing with foreign locales or ethnic/religious minority groups are, for the most part, problematic. (One exception would be the superb 'Life Cruise' episode about the Holocaust, back in 2000). In general, though, portrayal of non-white, non-British/non-Western cultures and settings tends to be stereotypical, reductive and often 'white saviour' narratives.

The reasons for which a born-and-bred British person will end up joining the Taliban may be much more complex and nuanced than what this story suggests. Nikki's and Leo's interventions and speeches seem naive at best, patronising at most.

I do appreciate it when writers try to experiment or verge to unusual directions for a TV series but, so far, Silent Witness is at its best only when it 'works from home', as it were....

Just not the same

[simoncoram-06766 · 5/10 · 20 December 2022]

Leo leaves, and it's easy to see why: Harry has gone to America and some loudmouthed, arrogant, bellend is trying, and failing, to replace him.

Nothing lasts forever, but by god this show ain't what it was!

I managed to persevere through the appalling Sam Ryan years, and really enjoyed the casual humour of the show and the likeable characters, but now I may well give it up.

By the way, was Sam really meant to be quite that arrogant, with a perpetual, smug little grin on her face that never went away? Or was it just the actress, who I've never seen in any other show? Her long lost son reappeared in later episodes, but with a different name, somehow. Seems like they've done this quite a bit over the years. 🤔

And Niki woke up and it was all a dream..

[stuarttennent · 3/10 · 10 January 2022]

Well I thought that was how it was going to end anyway. It would have allowed for the.: flakey plot, shoddy script writing full of holes, a full auto SA80 that not only doesn't FTF but also prints " fired from a British weapon" on every round fired, And finally a lead characters make-up based on Gary Johnston from Team America.