UNIT: Revisitations

 

Hosts of The Wirrn by Chris Chapman 

The second pilot that UNIT kind of needed, Hosts of The Wirrn is an impressive two-parter that really understands what makes Ark in Space great, and overall, after multiple four part story sets kind of outstaying their welcome (in my book) proves the series has some actual emotional depth. (Except for the fact we haven't heard a single thing from UNIT since April last year, so who knows how that went) After literally six sets of static characters, Shana Siddiqui is introduced into the UNIT family, and well, she has 10x the emotional interest and investment in her than either Carter (the reckless and somewhat funny one) Shindi (The by the book one) or Bishop (the boring one the series forgets about half the time). Funny she hasn't shown up since. Nonetheless, Hosts of The Wirrn is intelligent as a creature feature. It analyzes what makes the Wirrn such a terrifying monster, and builds on it in a logical pattern, sort of like Moffat did with the Angels in the Season Five two-parter without giving them new powers constantly. It's an intelligent script, not only because it takes it's time to build itself up. The story is slow and contemplative in the first half before exploding into chaos just in time for the cliffhanger. Hosts of The Wirrn is affecting, and it totally gets evil alien insect body horror. My favorite part of the story though is the fact that it's presented as a pilot, the Ravens showing up on Shana's doorstep at the start is especially a delight, and reminded me of a companion introduction in a nice way. If the series took this approach more often, building it's blockbuster off of the character first, and action second, we'd have a lot better series. It's not really perfect, but I love it too much to give it any other score: 

Both Parts: 10/10

Breach of Trust by David K Barnes 

Well, what was I saying about character study first? Breach of Trust is fantastic, setting up its story around a Star Trek like moral dilemma, which eventually evolves into a high-concept standoff between UNIT and a race that has them outgunned. It almost doesn't feel like a UNIT story, and more a Torchwood one, as, well, we've never had this amount of thought put into a story for this series before. I know that sounds unfair on UNIT, but it's true! It's by far the best episode of the series, with very little other competition. It has strong emotional beats involving Kate's connection to her father and how she feels in his shadow, the relationship between Kate and Osgood, and it explores the ambiguity of difficult choices very well. It's essentially Baby's first Children of Earth. 

Although considering what that story is about, that may be poor phrasing. 10/10

Open The Box by Roy Gill

Oh hello there, normal UNIT that's a runaround action setpiece with almost no substance, there you are! Okay, I'm being unfair, but open the Box is a decided step down of a story from the first three ridiculously strong hitters, and it doesn't necessarily benefit from being a random classic who monster bringing back story. Say what you want about the new series's overreliance on old monsters over new, but let's just say they wouldn't bring back The Keller Machine. Okay, it's no Zarbi or Vervoids, but honestly, ideas like that seem somewhat inorganic, especially when Big Finish is usually so very much excellent at justifying bringing old stuff back. I just don't feel that here. It's inoffensive, but it's also...somewhat boring. I never thought I'd be saying the best part of a story is Osgood's social anxiety. 7/10