Who Review: The Zygon Inversion

DoctorWho_TheZygonInversionZygon-Clara’s attempts to blow up the aircraft carrying The Doctor and Osgood are temporarily foiled when the real Clara wakes up in her Zygon pod. She manages to buy time for The Doctor and Osgood to parachute out before Zygon-Clara’s missile finds its target. Zygon-Clara, who, it turns out, is the commander of the rebel Zygons, resumes her quest to end the ceasefire and instigate war between the Zygons and humans. But now she has an ace up her sleeve. With the realization that there’s a two-way link between her and real Clara, she can mine Clara’s memories to find the location of the Osgood box, and transmit the signal that will put an end to the peace…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The second part of this season’s two-part Zygon story started with the kind of cliffhanger you know can’t be all that it seems. After all, if the Doctor gets blown up, that’s the end of the show. Surely the Doctor must survive, so the excitement is in seeing how he survives. And this time it’s a close call with a parachute jump from the plane. Of course, the Doctor has a Union Jack parachute–a James Bond reference, perhaps? (See the end of the pre-titles sequence in “The Spy Who Loved Me.”)

The crux of this episode is the Osgood box, and negotiating peace with the rebel Zygons. Of course Kate Stewart survived her Zygon attack by shooting her assailant with “five rounds, rapid”–a reference to one of the Brigadier’s famous lines from the 1971 story, “The Daemons.” Kate is on hand to represent the human race when it comes to peace talks, though Kate is far more willing to destroy the Zygons than the Doctor would prefer.

The Doctor’s impassioned speech to the Zygon commander, recalling “The Day of the Doctor,” and the terrible decision he almost made (and actually did make before he went back an un-made it… wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey…). Capaldi is on form, pleading for the sake of both humans and Zygons, for thoughtfulness. What would a Zygon victory look like? What would a world populated with only Zygons be like? Who would make music? Who would make the instruments to play? And how would the Zygons protect themselves against the next rebellion? And the next? And the next? “Break the cycle!” he implores. Which they do. The Zygon commander stands down, and the Doctor causes everyone to forget about the rebellion. Everyone except the Zygon commander. He wants her to remember, so she won’t let it happen again. And, in what I see as a gesture of her best intentions, she takes the form of Osgood–so there are two Osgoods to keep the peace once more.

This was a good story, though it doesn’t leave much room to bring back the Zygons–at least not on Earth. Writing, acting, effects–all top-notch as usual. The Doctor’s speech does make some good points about the futility of war, and how often war is undertaken with no thought to what life will be like after. However, even though I hate war, I have to admit that while I wish it was that simple, it isn’t always. Sometimes, war is necessary to stop obstinate, evil people (e.g., Hitler), and in what is (from a Christian worldview) a fallen world, there will always be a need to use force from time to time. But the Doctor’s point of view is well-taken.

I think we’re coming up on the end of Clara’s time. If you recall, at the end, Clara says to the Doctor (and I’m paraphrasing a little), “You really thought I was dead?” To which he responds, “Worst month of my life.” “Month?” says Clara. “More like five minutes”–or something like that. Then, in the trailer for next week’s story, we see this Morpheus machine that can let people go a whole month without sleep…

So, what did you think?

cds

Colin D. Smith, writer of blogs and fiction of various sizes.

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4 Responses

  1. E.Maree says:

    Really enjoyed this episode! Much less heavy-handed than the previous ep, which had some *super* uncomfortable attempts to shoehorn in terrorism parallels that just fell apart under close inspection. This one was much tighter, and the acting from both Jenna and Capaldi was *fantastic*.

    • cds says:

      I’ve said it more than once, but one thing I really haven’t been able to fault, especially this season, is the acting. The UK has a lot of acting talent, and Who is definitely benefiting from it. When you watch Capaldi pleading with Zygon-Clara, you can see the conviction and intensity. He completely owned that moment. As you say, Emma, *fantastic*!

  2. The Doctor’s speech was amazing. Capaldi was brilliant in that moment. The whole episode had me on the edge of my seat. I figured Kate would survive (she’s too awesome to kill off!) and I love how they reference to her father. In Classic Who, I enjoyed the Brigadier.

    • cds says:

      I can see that speech going down as a classic moment. Not just for the words, but the delivery. Right along with Tom Baker’s classic “Have I the right?” moment in “Genesis of the Daleks.”

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