The sixth episode of Disney+ series The Mysterious Benedict Society, entitled Run Silent, Run Deep, sees the series ratcheting up the tension to almost unbearable levels, while still maintaining its sense of whimsy. The titular Society begins to show signs of fragmentation as Sticky (Seth B. Carr) begins to work more closely with Mr Curtain’s (Tony Hale) Whisperer and gain a newfound sense of confidence, while the other members try to figure out a way to stop Curtain’s plans to use the Whisperer to reconfigure the minds of the entire world’s population.
Reynie (Mystic Inscho) makes friends with S.Q. (Ricardo Ortiz), Dr Curtain’s adopted son, Kate (Emmy DeOliveira) bonds with Martina (Saara Chaudry) in an effort to get the key to the server farm where all of Curtain’s computational power resides, and Constance (Marta Kessler) sneaks into Stonetown in order to reveal that Curtain’s not just making suggestions, but orders.
All the while, we see what happened 30 years ago when Curtain and Benedict (also Hale) were in the orphanage, leading the viewer to really understand why he’s decided to pull the plug on the operation and send Milligan (Ryan Hurst) in a submarine to extract the children. This, of course, does not go well, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger as Maureen McGovern’s The Morning After – originally recorded for the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, making for a nice Easter egg bit of subtle commentary – plays in the background.
Also, not for nothing does the episode’s title, Run Silent, Run Deep, pull from the 1958 war film of the same name, which is also about a submarine and infighting amongst a group of people in a stressful situation filled with danger and intrigue. It seems germane to the plot as the children are all splitting up, on individual missions here, while also changing in terms of how they see the plan. Constance and Kate are firmly committed to subterfuge, while Reynie is openly worrying that all this lying is changing him, and of course, Sticky is almost fully committed to working with Curtain.
Seeing Curtain and Benedict’s relationship rent asunder 30 years prior, and the various infighting within the children and Benedict’s crews feels as though this is all the real downer, The Empire Strikes Back-style instalment before the triumphant Return of the Jedi of the final two episodes. There’s a lot to take in here, but the storytelling lets this pendulum swing of an episode really shine brightly.
The Mysterious Benedict Society is streaming on Disney+
