Doctor Who 9x07: The Zygon Invasion

It's been a while since a  Doctor Who story touched on political themes. It happened more frequently in the Barry Letts, Andrew Cartmel and Russell T Davies years but the last time I can remember it happening in the Steven Moffat era was  The Beast Below with reference to the way people vote. Since then, Moffat's era has mostly focused on emotional themes, but with the return of the Zygons, the opportunity of a story of shapeshifters living among us becomes a metaphor for terrorism and radicalization with a Zygon splinter group attempting to create war and fostering paranoia. The appearance of drones and references to bombing made this feel a much more unsettling story. Some prefer the fairytale style of the Matt Smith years but I prefer this harder edge feel.

The Zygons themselves are well realised. While I prefer the more humanoid faces of the originals, the basic costume is the same, if not better than the 1975 versions. The costume is similar to the old one but the concept has been updated to recent times. The idea that they can impersonate people without needing to keep the original alive makes them much more terrifying since they now have no reason to be merciful to their victims. The idea that they can impersonate loved ones proves effectively creepy in the scene with the soldier threatening to shoot his own mother.

Another welcome return is that of Osgood. It's nice that we don't know yet whether she is a Zygon or a human. The notion that this one has grieved for the other one allows Osgood's death to stay while allowing the character to continue on in this story. Ingrid Oliver continues to be likable in the role.

Peter Capaldi continues to prove that he is one of the best actors to inhabit the role of the Doctor. The guitar playing is certainly becoming a thing. The Doctor spends the episode on the sidelines while other characters make decisions. There's still a chance that this will change next week.

Although Clara appeared briefly at the beginning, Jenna Coleman spent the episode playing Clara's Zygon duplicate, known as Bonnie. Jenna did admirably in the role but a downside this meant that the real Clara once again was sidelined as she was kidnapped at the very beginning of the story. It is odd that Clara is being kept apart from the Doctor so much this series and once again I am wondering why the production team kept her on.

The Unit team were okay. Kate Stewart still seems underplayed to the point of dullness. I suppose you could be generous and say that she is quietly tough. Jac was likeable enough to make this viewer feel sad that she was ambushed and killed at the end of the episode.

This episode accomplished the hard task of making a UNIT story exciting. A lot of Series 9 has been playing it safe so it is good to see an episode that is not. This series seems to have a running trend of second episodes not being as good as the first so I hope this one proves that wrong.

9/10