Silence in the Library

Dear Gary—

“I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring.” (Obviously the Doctor is not a Packers or TWD fan.) I would think, though, that the library would be the perfect place to land if you were going to land on a Sunday; a quiet, contemplative place for a quiet, contemplative day. Except the place isn’t as quiet and contemplative as the episode title, Silence in the Library, implies. What it is, is eerie.

It starts with the little girl with a library in her head. The intercutting between her seemingly normal home and the library and between her interactions with Dr. Moon and the Doctor are creepy, but what makes them truly spine-chilling is the fact that she has no clue what is happening. She is not an evil mastermind manipulating events, and even though it is evident that she has some measure of control over the library, it is equally evident that she has no explanation for what is happening there. She is genuinely alarmed by the presence of strangers and the pain she feels is palpable when the Doctor sonics the security camera. The creation inside her head is alive; and perhaps it is she that is a creation inside it.

 It is unsettling to observe the dueling worlds merge and mingle, as in a dream. However the Doctor serves as our reality checkpoint; the library is our scene of action and the child is a mystery to be solved; a poignant and chilling mystery.

Adding to the atmosphere is the introduction of the Vashta Narada. “Count the shadows” is a particularly hair-raising warning in an empty and silent library that is quickly losing its light. I do have a minor quibble (all of my quibbles are minor in this one) with the Doctor mentioning the dust in sunbeams as evidence of the infestation on our own planet. If that were the case, I would be dead long ago; and the moral of the story would be to keep a can of Pledge at the ready.

Further shrouding our adventure is the presence of River Song. Her initial appearance, along with her band of investigative astronauts, is sufficiently dramatic, underscored with the refrain of “others are coming.” Striding towards the Doctor and Donna in space suits and darkened helmets, we don’t know what to expect. Then River clears her visor and greets the Doctor with a disarming, “Hello, Sweetie,” only to be rebuffed by the Doctor’s, “Get out.”

It is perfectly played out amidst all of the uncertainty and disquiet. River and the Doctor are both confident and direct; and yet each inevitably confounds the other.  

I have to admit, Gary, that the first time watching this I considered River Song as a minor quibble. I found the whole conceit to be mildly irritating. Upon multiple views and armed with hindsight, I can now appreciate Alex Kingston’s performance; and since I presently know where this character is headed I am no longer annoyed by her familiarity with the Doctor in this first encounter. As for how this relationship eventually plays out—I reserve my opinion for the future. After all, you know, “spoilers.”

Accompanying River are some solid performers who make an impression despite their limited action. Helping with this are small script details like “Proper Dave” and “Other Dave” that go a long way in defining character without a lot of exposition. My one quibble here is with the heavy handed point that Miss Evangelista is stupid. If she is really as dumb as they make out she has no business being on the expedition. That aspect could have been handled with a bit more finesse. Miss Evangelista’s death and subsequent ghosting along with Donna’s sympathetic interactions with both the live and phantom versions are moving, but they would have had richer meaning if Evangelista’s character had been treated with more dignity than caricature.

One other quibble I have is with the number of people who were in The Library when it was closed: 4,022. You put 4,022 people in a stadium and it looks almost empty. You put 4,022 people on an entire planet and I would call that deserted. So why the fuss about no one being about when the Doctor and Donna first arrive? It’s also a sad commentary on literacy (and I assume that the majority of those 4,022 souls were employees).

My final quibble is with the Doctor. “I’m a time traveler. I point and laugh at archaeologists.” That is an unacceptable statement coming from the Doctor; it is something I would expect from Lux, not the Doctor. This is offset somewhat with the following exchange:

Doctor: “Well, funny thing, Mister Lux; I don’t want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.”

River (to the Doctor): “Then why don’t you sign his contract?”

All of these are minor points, however, in the bigger picture that is Silence in the Library. The mysteries pile up and the tension mounts. Who is the little girl? How does River Song know the Doctor? What happened to those 4,022 people? Why are the Vashta Narada killing book lovers? And then there is Dr. Moon. His is an ambiguous presence. He has a mixed aura of sinister solicitude, and it is an eerie moment when he tells the little girl, “The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are real. The library is real.”

The ending of this first of a two part story is thrilling with Dead Dave in a space suit repeating, “Hey, who turned out the lights,” as he and the shadows advance upon the group, and it culminates with the visage of Donna on a Courtesy Node droning its own refrain of “Donna Noble has left the building. Donna Noble has been saved.”

A gripping tale that keeps me on the edge of my seat and looking forward to the conclusion.

Count the shadows Gary . . .