The Zygon Invasion

It's been coming for a while now. The season's opening story was somewhat interesting, but that was owing entirely to Missy (the actress would have been made a good Doctor, really). Outside of that, I was underwhelmed.

And I kept on being underwhelmed. Nothing was awful, but the series felt like it had finally, completely run out of ideas. Individual stories felt like more of the same, and there was little indication of the sort of grand, tricky story arcs that have been Steven Moffat's saving grace.

By The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived, I was seriously considering whether Doctor Who was still worth watching. I was a little shocked at myself. During the Russell Davies years, and even during the early Moffat era, there was no show I was more excited to watch each week than Doctor Who. It was my top show. Could I really just ... stop watching?

As I was watching this episode, which felt so similar to so many episodes before (where are the ingenious new ideas like deadly statues that the series once threw at us with suck reckless abandon?), I realized it was time to stop. I was in the middle of the episode, and I didn't care what happened next. Not at all.

It's not the actors. I always liked Clara, and I like the new Doctor as much as I liked the last one (in both cases, not nearly as much as the first two). It's the writing. The writing has gone to s***. There's no other way to put it. The show is devoid of fresh ideas. This episode is simply a matter of raiding old ideas to piece together a new episode.

Doctor Who is not a terrible show. But it is no longer a wonderful show. There are so many better series out there (The Strain, Haven) that I just don't have time for it anymore.

Will I ever watch the show again? I might look in if I hear Missy is back. Or I might not. It might take a change of show runner to get me back. This series is completely out of steam. It makes me sad.

UPDATE: Years after writing this, I decided to watch some well-reviewed episodes from the Capaldi era that took place after this, and discovered that eventually the show got quite good again. So my leaving Doctor Who wasn't permanent.

The events of the Day of the Doctor lead us to this point, Earth home to humans and Zygons alike....

Twenty million Zygons rehoused on Earth as part of UNIT's operation double. All that's needed is one rogue Zygon to upset the balance and break the ceasefire.

I always like references to previous episodes, a few to enjoy here, the Day of the Doctor, Death in Heaven, Terror of the Zygons. Absolutely loved the reference to the question marks, and the underwear, brilliant! The benefits line loved that too.

I just love Osgood, she's a brilliant character, they realised her popularity, I'm sure that's why they killed her off originally. Good also to see Clara back on form too, best outing for her for a little while. So good to see more from Jaye Griffiths, a more meaty part then she had in the Season opener, she's been off our screens for too long.

I'll be honest I wasn't sure about the re-design of the Zygons in the Day of the Doctor, but here they just looked so effective. The 70's Zygons were a design classic.

A genuinely creepy episode, I absolutely loved it, just brilliant. You watched the episode and genuinely didn't know who was a Zygon and who wasn't. The tension was expertly created. Great development to the Zygon race itself, we get to learn a bit more.

This is the first part of a 2-part story and follows on from plotlines introduced in the 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor in which Zygons were allowed to live on Earth disguised as humans.

Here we find that a faction of the Zygons is rebelling, looking to attack, take control and return to Zygon form. We are shown that one of the Osgoods has survived and will not reveal whether she is the human or Zygon version. She has taken matters into her own hands to try to stop things reaching massive loss of life.

The Zygons are a great monster and are depicted well in this story and the threat presented is suitably menacing. UNITs involvement is well used and it is always great to have Jemma Redgrave appearing as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Ingrid Oliver as Osgood who are both engaging in their roles.

Clara is used well in the story although I find it a little annoying when she takes command of situations and gives orders to supposedly experienced military personnel rather than just giving advice or suggestions. It is also a little annoying having the slightly silly ideas of the President of Earth and Air Force One used again.

Peter Capaldi is on top form in this whole story and even sells the slightly silly bits of humour in a school playground or aboard his Presidential plane. His quality is unquestionable.

Writer Peter Harness wrote the daft and very illogical Kill the Moon but has a complete turnaround in this story where the writing is extremely entertaining and high quality. The script is strong and the plot is interesting. There are clear political messages (a pretty common Doctor Who theme despite what some fans like to make out) and these messages are good moral aspects to explore. It is well executed and enjoyable.

There is humour, intrigue, action and danger with Capaldi's brilliant Doctor at the centre of it all so it is very good indeed with no significant negatives for me but I wasn't overly keen on the setup or execution of the cliffhanger.

My Rating: 9/10.

Series 9 Episode Ranking: 4th out of 14.

An alien from a time long bygone. Wants to shatter the peace ending all liaison. They're tall and orange and spongy and suckered. Kind of covered in lips that are constantly puckered.

If they wanted a capital I'd suggest Saigon. A great place to host the rebellious Zygon. That said, it's a shame, a bit of a pity. As someone renamed it to Ho Chi Minh City.

The Zygonity Invasion doesn't quite have that ring. And this episode doesn't overwhelmingly sing. There are occasions when suckers can fail to stick. And storylines stay wrapped in their amniotic (a lot better than the previous two offerings however).