5B

Is it time for Joe to move on and come out from Vera's shadow?

He thought so momentarily but I think Joe needs Vera almost as much as Vera needs Joe. No matter where he goes his wife is going to complain about the time he puts in when they are working a case. Unless he goes to an extremely small department the police are always going to be busy.

No, I don't think so. Maybe it's time for him to explain to Vera how her degrading statements make him feel. I think they do work well together and that he does understand that Vera does have problems in regards to her past and how she was treated by her father. I'm not sure Vera would change but if he threatened to leave, she may consider treating him better if she felt that she would lose his help.

I think he feels like he will never get out from under her personality. He should talk to her. She would not want to drive him away.

Time enough to move on when he's ready for his next promotion - though he probably won't need to move stations then.
Vera quite expects to be working for him one day, so she must see great potential in him. He just needs to settle and learn as much as he can from her.
As with Carol, I think his wife is unsettling him at the moment with her whining. And a new baby isn't helping the situation, everyone is tired...

I think there will be a point when it is time to move on , but I don't think the time is quite yet. It definitely needs to be when he is ready to run his own team.

Joe is still learning a lot from Vera so not quite time yet but eventually he will need to.