User Reviews

Sasha leads The UCOS team into an investigation into the death of her former partner, who's killer's guilt is questioned by the integrity of The Officer, DI Fielding, who had him convicted.

It's almost a completely new show, I can't help but wonder why they didn't rebrand it, it give it a major facelift, I understand why some didn't like it, it's nothing like earlier seasons, but it's still very good. That ending, that was bleak.

Gone are the lighter, humorous moments, in place, a more serious, sombre tone, don't come here expecting any laughs, there aren't any. It looks, sounds and feels very different.

Engaging mystery, Sasha needed zero time to establish, she set the ground running in her first episode, and that continues here, Outhwaite was terrific. I enjoyed Steve's storyline with his son. Steve's place, I'd nice in tomorrow, it's awesome.

Very good cast for this one, the liked of Bruce Montague, Diane Keen and Emily Joyce were all excellent.

8/10.

This is one of the earliest episodes I'd seen (started with the first episodes in season 12, saw this one and the one before, than seasons 11 and 12, and working backward from there), which gave a skewed view of the show. But still a good episode.

Monroe is quite a bit scarier than just about anyone else on the show, able to scare/threaten Sasha in a way no one else can, even telling a prison guard what to do at one point. The case itself is quite good, the murder took place out of view of most people, so a lot of work goes into figuring out motives, history, etc. To determine what happened and why. Sasha makes a solid leader here.

Only issues are an ending people might not like, and a side plot with Steve and his son that isn't all that entertaining.

Have always been a big fan of detective/mystery shows from a fairly young age, well since starting secondary school.

'Inspector Morse', 'A Touch of Frost', 'Midsomer Murders' (in its prime), 'Law and Order', 'Inspector George Gently', 'Criminal Minds', 'Murder She Wrote', you name them to name a few. 'New Tricks' has also been a favourite from the start (despite not being the same without the original cast in recent years). Although it can be corny at times (in an endearing sort of way) it has always been perfect for helping me relax in the evenings. Something that was needed during all the hard times endured in school.

'New Tricks' was past its best by now, with integral characters no longer with us, but was certainly not an unwatchable period. For me, "Wild Justice" is one of the better episodes of this period and a solid way to finish Season 10.

While it is charming, witty and likeable, the chemistry between the leads was stronger in 'New Tricks' prime era (Seasons 1-9 when characters that made the show (especially Brian, which the show wasn't the same without when he left) were still there. Prime-era 'New Tricks' also had more spark and freshness.

Sasha however is more settled in and more confident as a leader, and Tamzin Outhwaite does a very good job again. The ending is not as soapy either, although a very sombre one, so that's already two improvements over the previous episode "Roots".

Case itself is very compelling, with some nice twists and turns, not all surprising but many are, tied up satisfyingly and cleverly.

Visually, "Wild Justice" is slick and stylish as ever. The music is a good fit and the theme song (sung with gusto by none other by Dennis Waterman himself) is one of the catchiest for any detective/mystery show and of any show in the past fifteen years or so.

Writing is intelligent, thought-provoking and classy, with a nice mix of the comedic and the serious.

Cannot fault any of the performances (the leads are very good and Ralph Brown is suitably creepy), and while the chemistry is less than perfect it just about works enough all things considered.

In conclusion, solid. 8/10 Bethany Cox

With most of the original cast gone, everything has changed. The music, the storylines and almost everything else are totally different. I'm so sorry that it's come to this. I can also see why this incarnation of the show didn't last very long. I'm not sure if I even want to watch the last two seasons. I agree with the previous reviewer who said it's become a soap opera. It's not the show that I I grew to love. I can see why the key actors left. It's sad.

If no other time 'New Tricks' "jumped the shark", this is it. This series excelled due to great writing and stories. Here is a blatant example. Instead of writing a story strong enough to stand on it's own, the writers collapsed and created still another of most found today on television: A personal story. More soap opera than mystery. Making this one particularly worse is that there is another soap opera involving a character also stuffed in to pad the mess. Both characters new without really seeing their development involving solving crimes, the intent of the characters. How is a viewer to care about all of this personal garbage?

This series has fallen down into still another mystery/crime drama that had an initial premise and devolved into a personal vendetta premise. All dumped into a distracting bed of more jungle drums and over synthesized droning noise, as most other programs of the ilk were/are doing. All signs the series' producers no longer believe they can create a strong program.

The base plot in this episode is strong. The writing is horrid. It would have been stronger stripping all of the character involvement. Unfortunately, the plot drowns in the faulty logic that emotional manipulation should be the foundation of the plot. The series started with strong mysteries with separated strong characters attacking the mystery. This episode is the direct opposite of that, involving execution.

The one saving grace is Dennis Waterman, whose personality carries past the poor writing. All of the other characters are tripped up in developing as law enforcement characters, as should be the series only intent. Either that or it should have dropped the mysteries and crime and just become a full scale soap opera.

If they wanted to go pure soap opera, they could have dropped all of the other characters and just streamlined the series to just focus on Gerry Standing. That would have been intriguing.

Obviously, I was not the only one watching the series come apart as it's existence was not to continue much longer.

A sick version of truth with no justice. I loved with show would look forward to watching every night and then this. The show took a turn when two main characters left. Don't know if it's worth watching after this!