The Silence

I really enjoyed the series just released on Netflix. The main character being deaf and able to lip read was interesting. I can't believe the ending....it left me wanting and waiting for more. A Season 2 would really help the curt ending. So much more to explore ... A courtroom drama should ensue wrapping it all up but we need twists.

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!

4 stars for 4 episodes. Wish I had come here and read the reviews about the show first I would've never started it. I absolutely hate shows that do this leave all these loose ends hanging with an ending where you're supposed to try to figure out what "you think" happens. This show was really good- tense, interesting unusual story line, some great acting. I was enjoying watching it and then I pause it for a minute during the last episode to see that there was only four minutes left and knew immediately this is going to be one of "those shows". A show with no real ending. I am really angry right now.

I liked the show but was challenged with the uncle, the police investigator's behaviour towards his children and the niece - what a right ass. Why is she lying, why accuse her, yell at her and treat her badly? He being a witness was all about him. Otherwise was suspenseful.

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.