Power Cell

UNIT #2.1

Released: 30 June 2016

Listened: 4/4/23

The second boxed set is called “Shutdown,” but not for any good reason, as far as I can tell. Big Finish wanted to establish the series with new, original bad guys, and…that didn’t really come off, in my opinion. However, this set goes a lot more slowly than the last, and the story takes a while to unfold. A scientist working on alien tech for UNIT has been killed, and another evil corporate type, Felicity Lyme, has taken an interest and used her government connections to seize UNIT’s other doodads. Generally speaking, I wouldn’t want another evil corporate type after the last series, but Lyme is played by Alice Krige, so that’s a point in her favor. The character development this time around is focused on Osgood, who goes out with old friends from college, and potentially even starts the beginning of a relationship…which is promptly ruined. It’s not quite a fridging, but it does inform Osgood’s actions in the rest of the story. The bad guys don’t have much of a presence yet; they’re just whispering and whooshing noises, mostly. As an aside, we’re told that Colonel Shindi is recuperating from events of the previous box, and likely Ramon Tikram was unavailable for this recording, so he’s out for now.