Vera is investigating the case of a woman who is found dead in a very bleak, remote park, it turns out the woman was a care worker, and very little is known about her.
The opening scenes are very dramatic, the shots of the woman laying on the moor are very visual and striking, they will linger. The main body of the story is good, but it's perhaps a little slow to develop, we don't see most of the suspects until about an hour has elapsed. It could have perhaps benefited from a shorter run time, bits of it felt padded out.
The social distancing was perhaps a little more extreme than in the previous episode, when Vera is showing Mark Benton the photographs, you feel he'd have needed a telescope to see the faces.
Mark Benton was really good here, he's one of those actors that can do comedy or drama with equal ease, he is very, very good as Stanley. Sian Rees Williams was also excellent, and did a good job with the accent. Jamie Ballard also great here, one awesome scene.
Paul Kaye is awesome as Malcolm, his scenes with Vera are always a real high point. The show always focuses almost fully on the story, we don't get the soap like stories about the main players, and that can be a shame, Malcolm is a big enough character, however we know nothing about Jac and Mark, other than his sudden embracing of his skinhead.
It was good, they just need to be careful with the pacing, at times this did verge on boring, still a good episode, and great to have Vera back, even if it's just two episodes this year. 7/10.