Doctor Who: The Silence – how well was the arc handled?

When Steven Moffat became showrunner for Series Five, he introduced two arcs: the Cracks in Time, and the words “Silence will fall”…(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Across the whole of Matt Smith’s era in Doctor Who, Steven Moffat created a major arc focused on “the Silence”. How well was it handled, and how satisfying was the resolution?

In Matt Smith’s first full episode as the Doctor, The Eleventh Hour, we were introduced to three words. Words that would be repeated across many episodes to come in Doctor Who:

"Silence will fall."

While the Eleventh Doctor had a few key arcs across his era, (the Cracks, Lake Silencio, the “Impossible Girl”,) there was one core arc that lasted across his entire run – the Silence. While Russell T Davies would keep his arcs limited to a particular season, with the Silence, Moffat wanted it to unfold across a Doctor’s entire era. How well did this succeed?

Series Five

When it came to Series Five, while the phrase “Silence will fall” was common throughout, the Silence themselves weren’t as much of a heavy focus, at this point. In fact, we knew so little about them, that we couldn’t even be sure if the Silence was just a sign of the Cracks erasing everything, or whether it was something more.

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However, the main arc of the series did provide some of the key framework for what came later. First, we saw the Cracks, but didn’t know where they came from. Then we eventually found out that they originated from the TARDIS exploding. By the time we reached the end of the finale The Big Bang, the core storyline of Series Five, involving both the Cracks and the explosion, had apparently been resolved.

But the series had also left some major questions, too. Who were the Silence? What caused the TARDIS to explode? And who was River Song, really?

Usually, I’m not too keen on questions being left unanswered, particularly at the end of a series. But the fact that the finale openly addressed those questions showed promise that Moffat would answer them later.

Looking back, it was definitely for the best. The Big Bang had a lot to resolve. Not just the end of the universe, or even the arc of the Cracks, but also the core character thread of Amy, Rory and their wedding. That had been built up since the first episode, so it was only right that it had been given plenty of focus in the finale.

Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber) and the Silence had a big role in Series Six.

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Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

Series Six

After establishing their arc in the previous series, Steven Moffat began to really flesh out the Silence in Series Six. He even gave a face to the name with a new monster. Of course, we found out later that the Silence wasn’t a race, but an organization focused on preventing a question from ever being answered.

This was all revealed during a core arc in the series focused around the Doctor’s future death. A fixed point in time, it seemed like nothing could prevent the Doctor from meeting his fate.

Considering how much we learned about the Silence and their motivations for wanting the Doctor dead, the Silence and the Doctor’s death were very complimentary arcs, as they both showed a gradual downfall of the Doctor.

The Doctor’s death forced him to face his own mortality, and the consequences of his actions more. The Silence are a clear consequence, as they show exactly what his enemies will do to stop him when they become desperate enough.

Just as great however was that we were introduced to a brand new Doctor Who villain: Madame Kovarian. Brilliantly played by Frances Barber, Kovarian gave us a very clear face as the leader of the Silence. (Or, as we were to discover much later, a more extreme part of it.)

She was a very complex character. She was nasty and vile, especially with how she treated both the Doctor and the family he traveled with. But everything she did, she did to end the war against him. But what war? And why is the Doctor such a huge part of it? Again, we were given questions with the promise of a resolution later.

While Series Six does have its flaws, both the Silence arc and the character study it lead to still make it a particular favorite series of mine in Doctor Who.

For Series Seven, the Silence arc took a break for a while, more to focus on “the Impossible Girl”. But did this storyline also contribute to the Silence arc in some way…?

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Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Series Seven

Series Seven was split into two very distinct halves: the long goodbye to Amy and Rory, and bringing in the new companion Clara. It’s kind of funny that in both halves, the Silence hardly gets mentioned at all. After being such a strong focus in Series Six, they’re really ignored for virtually the entire series.

I can understand why this was done. Especially if fans were suffering from arc fatigue. While “the Impossible Girl” was an arc, it was also a considerably lighter one by comparison. Amy and Rory’s final episodes didn’t even have an arc at all, just a few standalone adventures.

But it’s a shame that nothing about the Silence was developed, not even partially, especially as this was Matt Smith’s final series. It’s enough to make you wonder if Moffat or even Smith had any idea that it would be his last full series while they were working on it. Especially with what came later.

The Name and the Day of the Doctor

The finale of Series Seven, The Name of the Doctor, does at least develop some key threads closely linked with the Silence. Trenzalore, which had been very briefly mentioned in The Wedding of River Song, is seen for the first time in this episode, at a point far in the Doctor’s future. We know that he’ll face a battle there and that he would one day die on this world. But that’s all. Which is almost surprising, considering when Trenzalore was first mentioned.

For the fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, the Silence wasn’t focused on, at least not directly. However, that was more than understandable, as it was an episode that brought back Gallifrey and introduced the War Doctor, while trying to include plenty of references to Doctor Who‘s vast history.

Even an event as significant as the Eighth Doctor’s regeneration was covered in a minisode. (But considering how amazing that minisode was, that’s not at all a bad thing.) So the Silence were, understandably, something of a low priority.

But The Day of the Doctor did bring in one major tie-in to the whole Silence arc in a big way. With the Doctor saving Gallifrey, we had been given the Silence’s whole motivation for wanting the Doctor stopped, and we didn’t even know it. That was, until we saw The Time of the Doctor, of course.

The Silence arc was resolved in the Eleventh Doctor’s final story The Time of the Doctor. But was it a satisfying resolution?

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Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

The Time of the Doctor

And this is where the Silence arc had its biggest fault: its ending. The Time of the Doctor was a story that not only needed to give Matt Smith’s Doctor a big send-off. It also needed to resolve the ongoing arc of the Silence, once and for all.

The problem is that there were still many threads that needed to be resolved, or at least fleshed out more, and they had been given only one episode to do that. Unsurprisingly, a great deal of The Time of the Doctor, in relation to the arc, at least, came across as a little rushed.

This is why I think it’s very possible that both Smith and Moffat weren’t sure whether Series Seven would be the former’s last series. A few key threads could’ve been developed here, at least. As such, the Silence arc took a gap year when it should’ve been developed just a little bit more.

Kovarian’s (lack of) resolution

A key aspect of this was Madame Kovarian. She was essentially the “big bad” of Series Six, and a major threat that the Doctor needed to face. Episodes in that series had made it very clear that the Siege on Trenzalore was the core reason why she took desperate measures to destroy the Doctor before he even got there.

So after so much buildup, surely we would’ve actually the seen the character’s origins during that war, right? At the very least, show her group of the Silence go back in time and the Doctor realizing how they had affected his entire lifetime?

Wrong. The most we hear of Madame Kovarian is a very brief mention from Tasha Lem, the leader of the Silence. We also get confirmation that, yes, it was Kovarian who had arranged the destruction of the TARDIS.

A rushed ending?

And that’s all we get. Very brief exposition. It’s a huge shame, as the Silence arc showed so much promise. But by the end, while it had been resolved, it hadn’t been done in a satisfying manner. Even major questions, like how the TARDIS was destroyed, were left unanswered.

The Silence arc was incredibly ambitious for Moffat to attempt, and I can certainly respect that. I even think that, for the most part, it was handled really well. Particularly in Series Six, with Madame Kovarian.

Also, an arc like this was probably one of the best ways to truly bring back Gallifrey. After multiple series of the Doctor dealing with its loss, it couldn’t be brought back too easily, and not out of the blue. So revealing its return as the crucial part of a long term arc was probably one of the best ways that he could have handled it.

Sadly, the resolution wasn’t handled well, and with a large mystery like that, while a resolution isn’t everything, it is a huge part of it. With just a little more time, the Silence arc could’ve been an incredible achievement of long-term storytelling in Doctor Who. Unfortunately, it sadly turned into a missed opportunity.

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Silence arc? Do you wish that it had been explored more? Was there anything that appealed to you about the arc? Let us know in the comments below.