The Last Line of Defence

UNIT: Brave New World #2.3

Released: 8 December 2022

Listened: 3/28/23

I wasn’t really expecting a big slam-bang ending in this story, but I got one. Lots of the plot threads that were seeded in the previous stories come together here, along with several reveals: the mysterious aliens from earlier, the mysterious phone calls Bambera was getting, and a mole on the good guys’ team. And there’s a world conference that UNIT has to provide security for, because that’s something UNIT is always doing, whether it’s in their remit or not. Unfortunately, I found the aliens kind of absurd and non-threatening, both in their audio presentation, and in their plot choices. It made it hard to take them seriously as a threat, which also made it hard to believe that people would betray their own side out of fear. Angela Bruce gets to show off her shouty side again, but also has scenes of quieter exposition. I wish there’d been a bit more emotion when she discovered the betrayal, but apparently when Bambera’s betrayed, she gets angry. Which is what Bambera does in response to anything else, so I wish that had gone differently. The story takes place on December 31, 1999, and includes UNIT’s move to the Tower, so with the big ending, this feels like the end of an era. There’s certainly room for more stories with this team, but I get the feeling there may not be. Either way, it’s a decent addition to the canon, maybe not the best, but certainly not bad. The theme song is really a banger, though; it kind of grew on me.