The Silence

I enjoy Douglas Henshall in Shetland so I thought I'd give The Silence a go. Although the characters were hard to be empathetic for, especially the whiny pip-squeak older son, I gradually got into the storyline of the 4 episodes about a young deaf girl that witnesses a woman getting killed by 2 corrupt cops and her Uncle, Henshall, trying to bring them to justice. BUT then I had to endure one of the worst and most poorly written endings of a multi episode show that I've seen in a long time. A middle schooler in creative writing class could have written a better, more complete and satisfying ending than the writers of The Silence. If you start, know what you're getting yourselves in for!

I watched this, potentially brilliant, mini serial for each of its four days. Each day I really looked forward to the next episode. However, having now watched the whole series, I have reached the conclusion that the drama should have continued for five days instead of four. The fourth episode could very easily have concluded with a cliffhanger concerning the main character. This would have enabled the drama to end in a much more satisfying way. Instead, after watching four days of a truly gripping thriller, the ending was very disappointing. I don't think merely leaving your audience with a good idea of the probably outcome of a drama is a patch on concluding with a fully rounded ending. Instead of the series concluding in a way that left me pleased I have invested my time and energy in it, I was left feeling it had been cut short because the writer (or director) had simply run out of steam. On the plus side the acting, especially of those playing the two leading characters, was first class.

I found the ensemble cast inspired when I decided to stream this British drama...so many familiar faces :). The storyline was intriguing and fresh, which is what got me to watch it in the first place. Going through the episodes, I found a lot to love, even the circuitous route the plot was taking. However, once you get into the final episode, you are left with the decided impression you have been set up, and not in a good way.

I appreciate good storytelling, in fact I prefer it to insipid and cliché meanderings that are rampant and clog up the tele on both sides of the pond. I do not however, appreciate the multitude of hanging threads that are in dire need of snipping in the end. Whether this was the intent, laziness, or simply a segway to inspire a further episodic endeavor (never to ultimately materialize), the end, which is not an end, leaves you with something of a bitter taste and feeling a bit betrayed. I guess there are suckers born every minute and this serves as a rather unsubtle reminder. It ruins what could otherwise make it a great series, hence my 7 rating.

There are a multitude of twists and interesting plot points throughout, hinting at the serpentine conspiracy to cover up corruption and murder. So many guilty parties outside the primary two that sit at its heart...but each tantalizing tidbit that hints at other key players is sadly left to dangle. I am fabulous at whodunits....but just because I can see the angles and conspirators, doesn't mean they shouldn't be explored...in fact the story demands it. DI Edwards is awash in a sea of conspirators in his own department, in superiors, in the drug squad...but the writers never take the time to fully develop them. There is a great story here dying to be spun out...a conspiracy of corruption so serpentine it aches to be explored...but it seems the interest was not there or it wouldn't have been quashed at four episodes. What a waste, a sad, sad waste of a talented cast and potential at great drama.

This was a very intriguing suspenseful show; however, the ending was terrible. There should have been at least one more episode to tie up all the loose ends. The last episode also had very poor picture quality: the storyline was, however, fabulous.

For three out of four episodes, this is outstanding TV that packs so much into one episode without feeling rushed that you've thoroughly enjoyed something in a short amount of time while perceiving it to have been much longer. To me, this is a feature of great writing.

But all the way through the fourth episode, it falls apart. The tight storytelling is gone from the very beginning of the final part. It meanders along without seeming to know where it's going and, to be honest, gets rather boring. It really does come across as if they ran out of money or the writer quit and walked off the project after part 3 and they decided to give the ending a go anyway and eventually just gave up.

I am tired of reading pretentious comments about the ending. It is not a misunderstood ending or an anti-Hollywood ending -- there simply is no ending and the story is terminated prematurely. This isn't a clever but unsettling ending that in the end makes you smile like the one in Sean Penn's "The Pledge". It simply stops before it finishes, which is why so many people are wondering about a fifth part or a 2nd series (which the BBC have said will not occur).

Even with all of that said, I still want to give it a high rating because the first three parts are so good. If I get the chance, I may go back and rewatch the final part to see if it gets better with age. But I don't think it will -- as I said, the problem isn't that the ending is unconventional or ambiguous but that the ending simply isn't there.

With a better ending, I would have given this a 10.