Doctor Who review: UNIT: Silenced – Silent Majority
By James Aggas
The Silence’s plans come close to completion when election day finally arrives in the third episode of Doctor Who spin-off box set UNIT: Silenced. But what is their real goal?
Silent Majority – the third episode of Doctor Who spin-off story UNIT: Silenced – continues several weeks from where Square One left off. Kenneth LeBlanc is no longer just a laughing stock. He’s now on track to be the UK’s new Prime Minister. Of course, he’s had a lot of help. But why do the Silence want him to be Prime Minister so badly? And what is their real objective?
The last episode gave us the strong feeling of a conspiracy thriller, and that only deepens with this episode. UNIT is trying hard to fight the Silence, but they can barely remember that there’s even an enemy to fight. Worse still, one of their own is completely under their control. Never has UNIT felt so vulnerable.
Of course, they’re not completely defenseless. In fact, they’ve found more than a few neat ways to use the Silence’s own abilities against them. While in the previous episode, they were struggling to find out what they were fighting, in Silent Majority, UNIT finds ways of fighting back. But will it be enough?
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Two-parter within a four-parter
In some ways, Silent Majority feels less like the third episode of a four-parter, or even a stand-alone story, and more like the second half of a two-parter. It still stands out a little bit compared to Square One, but both episodes concern themselves with a particular grand plan of the Silence. House of Silents is in many ways a prelude to that, while the next episode deals with the aftermath of their scheme. It gives the box set a clear, distinct structure.
As for the episode itself, it moves at a nice, fast pace. From the very beginning, we have a good idea of just how much the situation is going to escalate, we just don’t know how or why. The journey getting there is not only an enjoyable listen, but even helps to resolve a key loose thread from Matt Smith episode Day of the Moon.
By the end of Silent Majority, it feels like almost everything has come to an end. Almost. But it’s equally clear that the Silence has something else in store for UNIT – and for humanity…
Next. Rosa: Sitting with the discomfort of racism. dark
Do you think UNIT should have faced the Silence on television? Do you think the conspiracy thriller genre suits the monsters? Let us know in the comments below.