Spoilers will appear both in Zygon and human form.
Doctor Who 9×08: The Zygon Inversion(2) begins with what I like to call a runaround plot. I like to call it that. I don’t like to recap it all so I won’t. It would be a mess of having to say “first the run over here then they run over there, then they meet someone and they all run to another place.” So, for the second part of the Zygon Invasion, now called the Zygon Inversion, basically here’s where everyone ends up.
Clara is telepathically linked to her clone, whose name is Bonnie? And she’s managing to control her enough to text the Doctor and even make her wink. The Doctor and Osgood had their plane blown up, but they did manage to parachute out. Kate Stewart was not taken prisoner, she’s just impersonating a Zygon. No idea what happened to Jac. Good enough?
The meat of the episode once everyone stops running around is when Clara, Zygon Clara-Bonnie, Kate who’s not a Zygon but plays one on TV, Osgood and the Doctor finally meet… in the Black Archives.
We finally meet the Osgood box and why it’s called the Osgood Box – there’s two of them. It’s a dilemma showdown. It’s the Doctor’s time to once again try to bring two races together when they’d rather go to war. The blue box is opened by Bonnie aka Zygon Clara. It has two buttons called Truth or Consequence. Once will make all the Zygon reveal themselves (what she wants) the other will make them remain in human form forever (not her best wish). The red box is in front of UNIT’s Kate Stewart. Also a Truth or Consequence pair of buttons. One will release the gas that turns the Zygons inside out (what she thinks she wants) the other will detonate a nuke and destroy London (not really a request from anybody).
It’s one of the Doctor’s own debates and it comes to getting both races to stand down. This is Peter Capaldi’s moment to explain how exactly disturbed is the Doctor by his participation in the Time War. How he never wants anybody to live with the screams he still hears in his head. I wanted to believe him and that’s why I did. I wanted to believe that was the Zygon Commander in Clara form and I did. It takes suspension of disbelief and I still have that. And perhaps that’s the reason I enjoyed the Doctor’s exposition during the showdown.
Of course finally both sides agree to the ceasefire. However, Bonnie also figures out that the boxes are empty. Kate Stewart tells the Doctor that the jig is up. “That’s what you said the last 15 times,” says the Doctor. Here comes the memory wipe again.
Not for everyone, but a great episode IMNSHO. Certainly I was not engaged until we got to the Osgood boxes. The showdown is pretty similar to the Day of the Doctor. Nice ending with Osgood getting a clone of herself back as Bonnie decides to take the mantle.
Highs/Lows/Osgoods:
- Runaround storylines at the beginning. I wasn’t really sympathetic with the sleeper agent. The whole Clara vs Bonnie/Zygella had some nice back and forth. Eventually everyone is going to make it to the same place, but I guess we needed to fill the hour.
- Petronella? Basil? Where are we getting these names? There’s probably something really obvious that I’m missing and I’m probably going to figure it out later and hate myself. I couldn’t follow the convo at this point.
- Although I did enjoy the Doctor’s monologue once both human and Zygon sides are at each other’s… box, it’s more than a throwback to the Day of the Doctor. It’s a do-over. Well, kinda. The ending is similar.
- I did enjoy the interaction with the Osgood and the conclusion with Bonnie filling in as the new second Osgood. I also enjoy her exchange with Clara.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 