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“DARKNESS: BLINDED BY VINES, LOST IN TERROR”

Darkness, the final chapter of Planet Krynoid's opening trilogy, plunges us into the aftermath of Sunset's gut-wrenching finale, where a desperate attack against the Krynoid left the colony blinded. The result is a bleak, brutal, and viscerally unsettling story about survival without sight – one that doubles down on horror and chaos with some of the most effective audio design Big Finish has ever unleashed.

The story begins in disorienting fashion, following an unnamed couple and their daughter in a tranquil park as a cataclysmic storm rolls in – until it’s revealed this isn’t a weather report gone wrong, but the sensory fallout of the previous story’s attack. It’s a clever narrative trick that quickly grounds the listener in the new reality: a world steeped in confusion, terror, and deadly flora.

SURVIVAL OF THE SIGHTLESS

With most characters now completely blind and surrounded by rapidly spreading Krynoids, the story adopts a harrowing tone. The blindness isn’t just a narrative gimmick – it’s woven into the very fabric of the horror. The audio format is exploited brilliantly, immersing us in disorienting soundscapes and unseen terror. It's not just Doctor Who doing horror – it’s Doctor Who doing full survival horror.

We follow a fragmented group of survivors from the earlier episodes, now navigating a hostile, overrun world. The constant threat of unseen predators and the collapse of order keeps the tension tight. There’s a nightmarish quality to the whole scenario: no one knows where safety lies, traps lie underfoot, and every shadow might house a tendril waiting to grab.

PLANT HORROR AT ITS MOST PRIMAL

While the human drama occasionally leans into melodrama – especially with the over-the-top mother and her annoying daughter – even that takes a chilling turn. Sophie’s transformation into a Krynoid is one of the most disturbing sequences in the entire set. Her plaintive cries of hunger morph into a grotesque act of violence as she devours her mother, locked in a room with no witnesses and no hope. It's pure audio horror at its most unflinching – nasty, but undeniably effective.

It’s this kind of moment that Darkness excels at: depicting humanity on the edge, outmatched and overwhelmed by a force that can’t be reasoned with. The Krynoids are monstrous not just in their design, but in how utterly they strip away human power and control.

HUMANITY STRIKES BACK?

That said, the story does wobble slightly in its final third. After such a blistering and relentless opening, things begin to drag as the survivors attempt a daring evacuation. The momentum slows, and a few scenes feel like filler rather than progression. Still, it picks up again in the closing stretch as Dr Costello succumbs to infection and violently attacks her fellow survivors in a final Krynoid rampage. The tension reasserts itself just in time for the climax.

The set ends not with salvation, but with resolution of a different kind: a ragtag band of survivors declaring war against the Krynoids. It’s a grim rallying cry rather than a triumphant one – they’ve survived, yes, but barely. And the future looks just as green and grim as the past.

📝 VERDICT: 9/10

Darkness closes the Planet Krynoid set with a harrowing, horror-drenched episode that leans fully into the chaos and despair unleashed by the Krynoid invasion. With some of the most disturbing imagery and soundscapes Big Finish has ever delivered – including a child’s terrifying transformation – this is Doctor Who at its most grotesque and gripping. While it loses a bit of steam toward the end, the set’s conclusion still packs a punch and sets the stage for further blood-soaked adventures. The war against the Krynoids has only just begun, and if it’s anything like this, it's going to be brutal.