What a fantastic early birthday present! Mr Harness has definitely redeemed himself after Kill the Moon. This episode really held up after a phenomenal part one, and this story as a whole is my favourite of the series so far, and quite possibly, my favourite Capaldi story to date! Once again, I am back to pick out my top 10 moments from The Zygon Inversion.
Spoilers will follow.
10. Oh Look, More Foreboding…
“So, you must have thought I was dead for a while?”Let’s get this one out of the way quickly. I love a bit of foreshadowing, although it is getting a tiny bit jarring. Once again we kind of get a hint that the Doctor knows something about Clara’s fate. Now, I’ve theorised this many times in the previous top 10 articles so I wont go into it again, but I do think he knows something we don’t…
“Yeah.”
“How was that?”
“Longest month of my life.”
“It could only have been five minutes!”
“I'll be the judge of time.”
I was discussing with a friend that “Longest month of my life.” could possibly suggest that the Doctor has already seen Clara’s death… The fact he struggles to look at her here is further evidence. I expect I’ve mentioned it before but there’s some food for thought.
9. Murray Gold’s Soundtrack
Gold’s score was much quieter this week. It was suspenseful and very atmospheric which fitted nicely with this quieter, more character driven story. The piece that played over the Doctor’s speech about war was particularly powerful.
8. Osgood and Uh… Osgood
Can we have two Ingrid Olivers on the TARDIS!? I really liked this end sequence and they way they ended it just screamed for a spin off! I’d much rather that than this new Class thing. I wonder if we’ll ever find out which Osgood is Zygon and which is human..?
7. Nobody Does It Better
Intentional or not, this was a nice little reference to the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me here with the Doctor’s Union Flag parachute.
6. “Five Rounds Rapid”
I honestly wasn’t expecting Kate to be the real Kate so I was very glad when it tuned out she’d survived. There was a great reference to the Brigadier here too with his classic line “five rounds rapid.” In the past I have said I never really liked the constant references from Kate about her father, but I think this one worked perfectly.
5. “The First To Make The Humans See”
I loved this! Not only because it seemed to further the idea that not all of the Zygons want to be in this war, but because it allowed for more brilliantly gruesome transformation sequences from Human to Zygon. My only problem with it is that we no longer get them coughing up that gunk as seen with Kate in The Day of The Doctor, but I suppose the budget only allows for so much.
4. Clara vs Bonnie
These scenes, in particular the pre-titles sequence, drew very close parallels to the dream sequences in Last Christmas. I saw this as continued character development for Clara in her ability to save the Doctor from what seemed like an impossible situation, once again living up to her ‘Impossible Girl’ title and it also furthered Clara’s inner control freak as she was able to exert that over Bonnie.
Jenna gave a great performance here and an equally brilliant performance as Bonnie, her Zygon duplicate.
3. Basil and Petronella
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before.”I love The Doctor and Osgood together! Can we just get Ingrid Oliver in full time? The duo, for the most part, added a touch of much needed comic relief to what was a pretty dark episode. It seems the Doctor genuinely enjoys her company.
“Dazzling, isn’t it?”
2. Peter Capaldi as the Doctor
and 1. The Doctor On War
"The only way people can live in peace is if they are prepared to forgive”Over one and a half series in and I think we have finally had Capaldi’s defining Doctor moment. I can guarantee we’ll all be talking about and quoting this one for years to come! Peter totally shines in this scene and completely continues to own the role. I loved the references to The Day of The Doctor and the Time War - it was here that I really felt the Doctor’s emotions coming through and the sheer power of Capaldi’s performance actually made me feel those emotions too. I really liked how the scene also explored the idea of Clara’s influence over the Doctor and of course over Bonnie.
If Peter doesn’t get at least a BAFTA nomination for this series, then I think I will lose all faith in the human race…
Bravo Harness! How much of this episode was written by Moffat, I don’t know, but I will give Harness the benefit of the doubt and forgive him for Kill The Moon. Next week Doctor Who does ‘found footage’… I have very high hopes for that one.
What did you think of The Zygon Inversion?
Nick is a 2000 year old alien who travels through time and space, saving the good and conquering the evil... or so he likes to think
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