The Zygon Inversion

A glimpse of just how good this Doctor and Clara could, and should have been, given the material.

One of the best episodes from The Capaldi era, after several revisits, I would still say it's awesome.

I was a little unsure after the first few minutes, the dream sequence seemed to go on a bit, but once that was done this episode left me absolutely speechless, a truly worthy conclusion to the excellent opener. Peter Harness role a wonderful tale, one of morality which has subtle a political message at its heart, condemning the act of war.

The best performance I have seen from Jenna Coleman so far, she was terrific, why has she not been allowed to be as good as this before? I almost wanted her to stay a Zygon, she did 'bad guy' brilliantly. Zygella demanding the whereabouts of the Osgood box from Clara, was one of Jenna's standout moments. She is going out on a high.

I will say hand on heart this is the best performance yet from Peter Capaldi, his speech was the high point of his time as The Doctor, powerful, charismatic, I've been waiting for him to get the chance to be this good!

A special mention of Nicholas Asbury, he played Etoine, the Zygon forced into revealing his true self. He did an incredible job in such a small space of time, it was a wonderful effort, super special effects helped create a cracking scene.

After that showing I get the impression we will be seeing more of Osgood in the near future, The Doctor said he was a fan, and after that so am I.

10/10 so good I had to put it straight back on. This season has been very strong in general.

Works great when nobody has anything that they are willing to fight for.

I think that the first part is somewhere between bad and average (probably closer to average) whereas this second part is really entertaining and good. The first part had a sense of confusion, inaccuracy and acting like it's not what it is, yet this feels well paced with like the 3rd best capaldi speech (1st being his regen speech, 2nd some random bit in heaven sent), has a good atmosphere and has that mind reading thing with the zygons that is done very well.

I will criticise the woman with the ? jumper not saying her species. Didn't change much as far as I can remember, just in there for dramatic effect and for me was more annoying. It is a small flaw in an otherwise above-average episode though.

Overall, 9/10. Would give up to 9.5 (don't like 10/10 ratings)

In this second part of a 2-part story the faction of the Zygons are stepping up their efforts to wage war and UNIT are meeting the threat with counter threats so that the Doctor has to step in between the 2 and try to find a peaceful solution. Meanwhile Clara has been captured and an evil Zygon version named Bonnie is having to mentally battle Clara who is able to fight the Zygon's control of their linked minds.

Jenna Coleman gets some of her best scenes as she gets to show a full evil side as Bonnie and acts her various aspects and struggles well. I find it slightly odd in a way that Clara can fight the control and how the control is depicted but it is interesting and isn't a problem.

Peter Capaldi is as wonderful as ever and gets a tremendous speech that immediately became a famous scene in the show's history. People accuse more recent Doctor Who of preaching but I must say I think this speech is preaching more than anything Chibnall did - the difference in my opinion is that this was well very written and powerful whereas Chibnall's messages tended to be presented with weak, clumsy dialogue in a cheesy way. Here we get a strong speech and Capaldi delivering with real class. The writing of this speech may not be hugely subtle but it is a thoughtful and important moral message which with Capaldi's awesome acting makes for electrifying viewing. That alone lifts this episode to high levels but the rest of the episode is also thoroughly entertaining and dynamic.

Osgood and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart continue to be beautifully portrayed good characters and the Zygons are a fun, exciting adversary. The exploration of the Zygon mental links are done sufficiently well and there is plenty of action and good dialogue.

My Rating: 10/10.

Series 9 Episode Ranking: 2nd of 14.

Rating for overall 2-part story: 9.5/10.

Capaldi's great speech? Seriously? Utter, juvenile rot. Also, I don't see how anyone can write that Tenant over-emotes, compared to Capaldi. I have completely given up on Doctor Who. I won't watch another episode while Moffat is in charge. I might watch Capaldi again. He probably can be a good actor, if given decent material.

One final comment. When you look back at the great episodes Moffat wrote several years ago, they were all very much fantasy as opposed to science fiction. The man obviously couldn't distinguish a planet from a plant, or a moon from a womb. With Moffat in charge, there is zero sense of verisimilitude. I also strongly object to the creepy-weepy Doctor-companion style---under Moffat in particular, but for the whole NuWho years in general.