Vera (TV Series) Castles in the Air (2013) User Reviews

A brilliant series opener.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 18 October 2020]

Castles in the Air has always been one of my favourite episodes of Vera. The series has maintained its great quality over the years, on the odd occasion they can be a little hard to follow. This episode is very straightforward, loaded with twists and turns, and fast paced.

The beginning is terrific, exciting, suspenseful and intriguing. It's a great Mystery, with plenty of suspects, you will be made to think all sorts, but the ending and conclusion are very satisfying.

It features a great cast, Richard Riddell and John Light in particular are great. It also sees the introduction of Mark Edwards, who's been nine years on the show as things stand, sadly we still don't know much about him.

It's a favourite, 9/10.

Hear gun shots? Don't do this.

[bittermelonisgoodforyou · 8/10 · 28 May 2021]

Maybe as a city person this comes naturally to me. But if you are naive, I have one advice: If you hear gun shots, close and lock all doors and windows, close all drapes, and never, never ever, walk out of the front door.

Nothing is as it seems

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 22 May 2014]

The series Vera, starring the marvelous Brenda Blethyn as the title character, kicks off season three with "Castles in the Air." This one had a plot hole for me, though it certainly is an intriguing story.

Three young women are spending a weekend in the middle of nowhere, drinking and generally having a good time. One of the women, Lizzie, hears a shot and investigates. She winds up dead. The immediate suspect is a local boy who was shooting badgers. His bullets, however, aren't a match. He turns out to be someone Joe arrested some years back but later believed he'd made a mistake.

Joe and Vera learn that the weekend was actually a gift from one of Lizzie's clients physiotherapy clients, Corrine Franks. Corinne is later killed in a hit and run. She was the intended victim. Months earlier, Corinne had been the driver in an accident where the wife of Justin Bishop had been killed. Justin blamed Corinne for the accident, so he's a suspect.

Vera finds out that Justin's son Sam and Corinne actually developed a friendship; to assuage her guilt, she had been buying Sam gifts. She also listened to him and advised him. Sam knew something few other people did -- that Corinne had not been alone in the car the day of the crash. Vera's investigation tells her that things were not as they appeared with Corinne.

Like all of the Vera stories, there is an aura of sadness and the failings of human nature here. This is a particularly poignant story because innocent people were hurt -- not just Lizzie, who had been mistaken for Corinne, but there is emotional hurt involved as well.

The hole for me -- and I won't give anything away by stating this -- is at the very beginning. Three women in the middle of nowhere -- and nowhere on this show is like nowhere on any other. We're talking a house in the middle of NOTHING. Lizzie hears a shot and presses up against a huge window, lights blazing, and then goes outside to investigate. Why anyone would go out into the pitch darkness to investigate a gunshot, let alone make themselves a target at the window, is beyond me.

Still, it's a well-acted, strong story.

Suspenseful episode

[safenoe · 10/10 · 7 August 2017]

I love Vera and it's one of my favorite British detective dramas along with DCI Banks. I also like from the 2000-10s era: Rosemary and Thyme, Inspector Lynley, The Last Detective, and Judge John Deed.

Anyway, there's no DC Whelan in this episode unfortunately, but we get many plot turns and beachside scenes. I also like it when Vera stops by a kiosk for bacon and egg sandwiches an coffee, as she seeks to solve the crime. There are many twists in this episode, and Northumbria really is quite haunting!