Revisitations: Open the Box

"Evil cannot bear its own reflection."

Writer: Roy Gill

Format: Audio

Released: November 2018

Series: UNIT 7.04

Featuring: Kate, Osgood

Synopsis

In the years since the Stangmoor Prison incident, Captain Chin Lee found a new calling. She now heads up an international organisation, dedicated to meditation and 'mental fortitude' training. 

But there is a menace deep inside the Pandora Institute. And Kate, Osgood and Josh must face their darkest fears....

Verdict

Open the Box was a great story to conclude the Revisitations seventh series of UNIT from Big Finish! This was a terrific use of the theme and I loved that the specific enemy being revisited had big connections to UNIT. We started straight in the action which I liked with an apparent aircraft containing an organic component and it was coming for the attack. UNIT was in peril and Osgood was unable to calculate the angle needed to blow the craft out of the sky, so what use was she to Kate? I loved that this was a dream and really established what was to come with that familiar low hum in the background being reminiscent of the Keller Machine dating back to The Mind of Evil. This was essentially a sequel to that Season 8 serial which is just marvellous and this time around it was all focused on the Pandora Institute where Osgood was a guest. Miles being introduced was good and he was a very fun character with him sneaking Osgood some coffee contraband but once UNIT were introduced, things took a dark turn. Seth was established as the Institute's deputy director and the insinuation that Miles had a panic attack on his flight to the island really became quite sinister. UNIT's arrival being sparked by Whitehall buying into the Institute and wanting to integrate it into UNIT's training was good and Kate wasn't having that without investigating it herself first. The island being off the coast of Wales was intriguing and I'd have liked to learn more of its location, but there were more pressing matters like a number of deaths associated with the Institute and there not being any common thread. I really liked the mystery behind that. All were traumatised and that's what happened to Miles with Seth feigning he caused his own self destruction. The arrival of the director and her being familiar was excellent and I liked how the Institute actually aimed for the opposite of what the Pandora name suggests as it aimed to drawn in the neurosis. Seth's encounter with Josh was brilliant as he led the captain to face his trauma and turn him into a toy solder which was a real highlight. I was very interested to learn he had a fear of control. Kate being with the director and being subjected to a meditative state was good and I liked how she was confronted with her deepest fear which was losing her team members. The revelation that Chin Lee was the director was expected but it was still wonderful to have her return after all this time! Kate wanting Pandora shut down was not going to end well and I loved the idea of her always being on a UNIT watchlist and it being flagged when she reentered the country. Her describing the history with Keller and how the Master actually had backup embryo creatures was a clever way around the initial creature being destroyed, as that was just the first. She went and raised the only mature embryo herself and this actually was Seth! It was obvious we were heading that route once the embryo was mentioned and him being empathic and using it for evil, even controlling Chin Lee, was fantastic. The impending tee hour was a little odd as the negatives were to be drawn and Seth aiming to give his gift to the world, but UNIT were on hand and seemed set to replicate what happened at Stangmoor by blowing the creature up. Realising that Seth was vulnerable in physical form was very good and I liked the links with mythology and wanting to get him to feed on himself and use the negativity of reflections to defeat him. An island setting was perfect for that to use the water as reflection and it tidied things up neatly. Kate reflecting on Chin Lee and how UNIT could have done more once she was freed from the Master's clutches was a poignant way to conclude the episode and the series. A fantastic idea and a very good way to conclude!

Rating: 8/10