The Zygon Invasion

You left us with an impossible situation, Doctor.

Yeah, it’s called peace.

Kate Stewart and the Twelfth Doctor

Synopsis

Osgood calls the Doctor back to Earth as a rogue faction of Zygons rise up and want to wipe out humanity. The Doctor heads to Turmenistan, whilst Kate Stewart heads to New Mexico, leaving Clara and Jac to defend London.

But with the Zygons, you can’t be sure who to trust…

Review

The Zygons are certainly a memorable Classic Who villain, but they’re not one that you’d necessarily put up in the top tier with the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master. Their return in The Day of the Doctor ended rather abruptly, so their first story as the main antagonist since Terror of the Zygons brings them deservedly front and centre.

Firstly, I like the fact that the show addresses the end of The Day of the Doctor and depicts the realities of how these arrangements would work, or not work as the case actually is. The Zygon subplot of the fiftieth anniversary was a welcome note of nostalgia, but it does feel as though it wasn’t fully tied up. Peter Harness gives us a story in which a rogue faction of the Zygons, who want control of the planet and will stop at nothing to get it. At the time of going to air, the world was very concerned with Daesh and the ensuing refugee crisis, but the central issues have not disappeared in the intervening years between broadcast. It is not difficult to imagine the headlines on certain newspaper in the Doctor Who universe when the Zygons rise up and start attacking humans. The imagery used evokes the real world, like terrorist videos in Osgood’s hostage video. I think that the most effective part about The Zygon Invasion are the elements that reflect the real world, which makes the story feel grounded, despite the science fiction trappings.

Director Daniel Nettheim does some really effective direction here, allowing the horror elements to really breathe. Moments like the ones in the lifts in Clara’s building and in the apartment where the real Clara gets taken work really well because of his commitment to making the Zygons feel properly scary and evoking a mood of suspicion and paranoia. The horror of the Zygons has always been present, and having this feels like it speaks to their Invasion of the Body Snatchers roots.

I do feel as though the major twist about Clara is heavily signposted, but that doesn’t make it any less an effective move. To have one of our leads compromised brings the threat home; to have it be the companion, the audience surrogate, makes it feels like the audience themselves are at risk. A companion turned also poses the biggest threat to the Doctor, who will let his guard down around his friends, and this is something that the Zygons allow Harness to fully exploit, with Clara able to take out a thinly spread UNIT and apparently take out the Doctor and Osgood with a rocket launcher by the story’s end.

One of the issues with the story is that it adds to the infamous issue of the competency, or lack thereof, of UNIT. This story has an infamous scene where a number of UNIT soldiers end up being massacred by the members of the extremist faction of Zygons outside a church in Turmezistan, after being hoodwinked by Zygons taking the forms of their loved ones. It stretches credulity that in a society where UNIT are charged with keeping the peace of the agreement made between UNIT and the Zygons that they would not be prepared for something like this, especially when it has been established that they can take the forms of people from memories, as seen when they attempt a missile strike on the village. Whilst your mother seemingly coming out of a church might take you aback, considering that the whole squad presumably knows what they’re going up against, another one could take action and shoot to wound, presumably proving that one was a Zygon. It’s scenes like this that take the audience out of the story and do UNIT as an organisation no favours, and I say that as someone who loves UNIT deeply. On the flip side, it’s easy to sit on a sofa calling out moments like this as being unrealistic and another thing entirely to suggest that you’d be able to make a rational decision in that situation.

That being said, I am equally as fond of the new UNIT due of Kate and Osgood as I am of the classic UNIT team. The twist of having Osgood killed by Missy in Death in Heaven but having a Zygon duplicate, so we’re never quite sure which one has been killed is an ingenious idea and the character is therefore essential to keeping the peace. Kate Redgrave remains a great casting choice as Kate Stewart and utterly sells authority in the scenes she is in. The casting of Rebecca Front as Colonel Walsh feels like a wasted opportunity though, as the character is rather one note and doesn’t make the most of her as an actor. It misses the opportunity to give her and Capaldi more to do together as well, as Walsh disappears when the Doctor leaves Turmezistan and doesn’t reappear in the following part.

I think that Peter Capaldi is pretty good here, even if the story isn’t the greatest, and like all of the Doctors, he is able to elevate a weaker story and make it eminently watchable. Series 9 continues its trend of having the Doctor and Clara separated for the majority of the episode, but it might work at its best here. Whilst the twist might be predictable, Coleman does really sell the villainous turn well, and the decision to have it demarked by Clara simply having her hair tied up is simple and effective.

Verdict: The Zygon Invasion tells an interesting story, if a little bit simple. The church scene certainly lets it down massively. 6/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Jaye Griffiths (Jac), Cleopatra Dickens (Claudette), Sasha Dickens (Jemima), Rebecca Front (Walsh), Abhishek Walsh (Little Boy), Samila Kularatne (Little Boy’s Mum), Todd Kramer (Hitchley), Jill Winternitz (Lisa (Drone Op)), Gretchen Egolf (Norlander), Karen Mann (Hitchley’s Mom), James Bailey (Walsh’s Son) & Aidan Cook and Tom Wilton (Zygons).

Writer: Peter Harness

Director: Daniel Nettheim

Producer: Peter Bennett

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 31st October 2015

Behind the Scenes

• The “Clara” who appears in most of the story is actually a Zygon duplicate, meaning that this is the second story in a row to be the second consecutive story in which Clara appears in a brief role.

Cast Notes

• Jaye Griffiths has also appeared in Big Finish audio plays Meanwhile. Elsewhere and The Neverwhen. She is due to play Eighth Doctor companion Lady Audacity Montague in the boxset Audacity, due out in November 2023.
• Rebecca Front played Major Takol in The Mind’s Eye, Patricia Walton in The Jupiter Conjunction and Tara in Together in Eclectic Dreams. She also appeared in The Thick of It, opposite Peter Capaldi.

Best Moment

I think the cold open is incredibly effective and its culmination, Peter Capaldi playing Amazing Graze on the guitar before reading the message from Osgood.

Best Quote

We want the truth of who we are to be acknowledged! We want to live as ourselves, at any cost. We want a home.

Well, you can’t have the United Kingdom. There’s already people living here. They’ll think you’re going to pinch their benefits.

Zygon and the Twelfth Doctor

Previous Twelfth Doctor review: The Woman Who Lived

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