Fractures: Debrief

"Shoot every bird you see."

Writer: Alfie Shaw

Format: Audio

Released: June 2025

Series: UNIT: Brave New World 3.02

Featuring: Bambera 

Synopsis

Summoned to Geneva HQ, Brigadier Bambera is reunited with her old sergeant, Tomasz Zbrigniev. A UNIT operation has gone horribly wrong and it's up to Bambera to determine what happened. If she doesn't... it will kill them all.

Verdict

Debrief was another excellent episode to continue my way through the Fractures third series of UNIT's Brave New World! This was a stellar hour of audio drama that was honestly so simple. The format was perfect in that it was just Brigadier Bambera debriefing two UNIT members on what went wrong on a mission. It doesn't sound all that exciting on paper but it works an absolute treat. The links to Battlefield continue this series as we reunite Bambera with Zbrigniev which was really nicely done and I think it's important to honour history. Bambera only made one appearance on screen but with this now her third series that she's heading, she has clearly made an impact! I liked her position of seniority and the one being in charge as a changing dynamic of her history with Zbrigniev. She wasn't letting their history getting in the way of finding out what happened on the failed mission. At least, that's how it appeared at the start. I thought Zbrigniev and Specialist Jane Rowe had a fun dynamic too and the way they remembered events quite differently made for some interesting comments. The style of story almost going in the vain of a Companion Chronicle was brilliant and it was just good for us as a listener to get that recount of what happened in real time. It was refreshing to go back and forth and added to my intrigue, The concept of a shapeshifter is a good one and it was done in its most basic terms here. The insinuation from Bambera that one of Zbrigniev or Rowe was still in disguise was fantastic and hearing them try to decipher which of the other was the fake was terrific. It's futile though as the other would obviously know they're not! Their shared agreement that it potentially was Bambera that was the shapeshifter was fascinating and I was a little surprised to find that they both readily went with that being a very strong possibility. Bambera was confronted with that and took it on the chin rather well because she knew the answer. Playing with the device that could threaten to blow up the entire UNIT HQ was a fun side of Bambera that I enjoyed and that brought Rowe out of the shadows as actually being a Dresscallian. They didn't last long enough to make much of an impact other than the knowledge that they had killed troops, but that was fine with the twist that was to come. I thought the order to even shoot birds was strong but when dealing with a shapeshifter everything is fair game and it was logical that the culprit could fly away as something as small and innocuous as a bird. The moment where Bambera revealed her true colours and shot Zbrigniev was sensational audio and really wasn't something I saw coming! She had no feelings towards her old sergeant because he technically wasn't. This was the Bambera of another universe and that was a tremendous tease! It links back to Kaiju very nicely and I love the prospect of two Bamberas encountering each other in the finale. Bambera had history with the Dresscallians and had wiped them all out in her universe, but she was actually on the same side as the one impersonating Rowe here. She formed an alliance which was unexpected and the aftermath was something quite spectacular. This universe's Bambera getting the message of a massacre of the entirety of UNIT HQ was pretty incredible and a sublime cliffhanger! Talk about a threat and making an impact! I'm loving the links and exploration of parallel dimensions crossing over which has set things up very nicely for the finale. Overall, another magnificent episode in what is shaping up to be a stellar series.

Rating: 9/10