Doctor Who: The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion (2015) - Written Review

Hey, remember that Zygon sub-plot from the 50th Anniversary special a couple of years ago? Well, Steven Moffat has finally decided to actually give some sort of conclusion to it with The Zygon Invasion and The Zygon Inversion, written by Peter Harness who wrote last year's universally panned Kill the Moon.

It's not very reassuring that the series needs to conclude loose plot-threads from a supposedly standalone special two years prior, especially when the writer's only previous Who episode was hated by many . Surprisingly though, the story actually turns out to be pretty great.

The Zygon Invasion certainly stands out from pretty much every other recent Doctor Who story in that it deals with some pretty deep political themes and ideas, which is probably why most people have been raving about it.

The story follows a revolution from a splinter group of Zygons hiding on Earth, trying to overthrow U.N.I.T control and cause an uprising of the species to take over the planet. The Doctor and Osgood want to maintain the peace, while Kate Stewart is getting a bit too trigger happy on using a device that will turn every Zygon inside-out.

If you wanted any more political elements, there's a drone missile attack on a town held by the resistance, videos sent to U.N.I.T showing good Zygons being slaughtered for not joining the resistance, American soldiers storming towns to massacre the Zygons, and a Zygon blowing up a plane in the sky. There's a lot one can uncover from the episode in its social commentary, but it is quite on-the-nose with these elements.

Having a whole story work as a sci-fi metaphor for real political issues or real-life themes is not something new in Doctor Who. The Silurians back in 1970 deals with prejudice between the reptiles and humanity; Genesis of the Daleks in 1974 is very much akin to World War Two; and the entire arc of Series 5 is very much a metaphor about growing up for Amy Pond.

While these political influences feature heavily in the story, sadly The Zygon Inversion never quite goes far enough with these themes and ideas. I never felt that the stakes were raised so high that the climactic scene where The Doctor rants at Kate and Zygella felt unnecessarily overblown. I understand the parallels between this and The War Doctor's arc in Day of the Doctor, but this was him choosing between letting his race and the Daleks exterminate each other and the rest of the Universe or kill them both and save the rest of the Universe. Here, in The Zygon Inversion, it's simply unmask the Zygons or kill the Zygons. Given that the episode continuously says that a Zygon revolution would fail, there's no threat that the Zygons could win even with the Osgood box, so when Zygella realizes that the boxes are empty, she's simply lost the battle that she couldn't win anyway.

It's also worth mentioning that Zygella is a character whose arc in the story is about losing her ego and realizing that a diplomatic peace is all the Zygons and humans want. However, as she only fails because she can't use the Osgood box, it seems like a major character leap to suddenly become the second Osgood, even going as far as to act exactly like her. Now, I'm not sure how Zygon duplication works but in theory Zygella shouldn't be able to act exactly like Osgood within a matter of hours, within the context of the episode. It's too big a leap for her character, especially given that she is still antagonistic towards the humans when her plan falls apart. I also can't believe that the rest of the Zygon resistance just went along with what their commander said. Surely other Zygons would attempt another resistance?

That being said though, I really liked Jenna Coleman's performance as Clara's Zygon duplicate, which gave her a lot more to do compared with the previous episodes of this series, even if it wasn't actually as Clara. I did sadly guess the big twist at the end of The Zygon Invasion very early on in the episode, but it did mean that I noticed the subtlety in her performance with Zygella pretending to be the human Clara for most of the episode. The twist was pulled off really well, and the big reveal was a chilling moment.

The scene where Clara and...do I have to call her Bonnie?...were talking to one another psychically was quite an interesting moment, and I really liked the subtle build up with the little irregularities in Clara's dream, before the reveal hit her.

Even with this great reveal though, the cliffhanger was massively let down by the Kate Stewart sub-plot in the Peace and Consequences town, where the Policewoman was revealed to be a Zygon all along. Wow. What a massive surprise. I can't believe how my investment in this sub-plot paid off so well. Honestly, I really wasn't interested in that sub-plot - it didn't add anything to the story, there were no new angles added to the Zygon/Human dynamic, Jemma Redgrave looked pretty bored throughout it and the two twists it had were easy to predict from a mile off...if you were at all interested in them to begin with.

It's also worth mentioning Peter Capaldi's performance as The Doctor, particularly with his speech on war in the Black Archives. It's an extremely well-written scene, incredibly well-performed by Capaldi and really nicely tied back to the events of Day of the Doctor. This is a moment that many are calling Capaldi's defining moment as The Doctor, but personally I'm a big fan of his speech near the end of Flatline, so this didn't really top it for me. I was very happy about how long the scene lasted though; the pauses were uncomfortable for both the characters in the scene and the viewers watching and it was a really effective climax to the story.

Murray Gold's score was also excellent, particularly in just how quiet and subdued it was during Peter Capaldi's speech. There's nothing particularly memorable, but it all suited the moment very well.

What really did work about the ending was the way it concluded the feud between humanity and the Zygon resistance. As The Doctor says, it all could be resolved by just sitting down and talking. This is how wars conclude, with treaties being signed and decisions being made between parties, which made for a great moral message to finish off the episodes on a much more optimistic note than how they began.

When all is said and done though, how great is it to finally have another proper Zygon story? They're a great alien menace and are explored within this story in some really interesting ways, even if Peter Harness changed their abilities slightly too much to fit the story he was telling.

Overall though, The Zygon Invasion and The Zygon Inversion is a cracking story. It may not live up to its full potential and there are some minor flaws within the episodes, but it is very well written with a great use of real world political influences and some really interesting themes were explored. Peter Capaldi delivered a brilliant performance, Jenna Coleman was a lot of fun as an evil Clara and there's a lot to love in here. I feel like my review has been a little harsh on the story, but it isn't perfect and rises above these flaws to make a really good sequel to both Day of the Doctor and Terror of the Zygons. It's just a bit of a shame they changed the titles really.

I give The Zygon Invasion and The Zygon Inversion an 8/10. So, what did you think of the story? Do you think it's the best of the series so far? Or were you a bit disappointed by it? Let me know in the comments section below and I'll see you all next time for Sleep No More...