Doctor Who - 'The Zygon Invasion'

“This is your country. Protect it from the scary monsters. And also from the Zygons.”

Since the brokering of a peace treaty, twenty million Zygons have been resident on Earth, in permanent human form. Now, the death of one of the Osgoods has led to an irreparable breakdown in communication. The younger Zygons are growing restless and yearning to be the foetus-like pink mushroom lizards nature intended them to be, and if the humans are in their way, the humans will have to be removed.

The Good

• Osgood! I mean... I'm in two minds. Despite the apparent ongoing unity of the Osgoods, what we know is that this isn't the Osgood who was killed for cheap effect in War in Heaven, so it's not that that has been undone. That Osgood was cool, and then she died, and she's still dead and Donna is still a deadbeat. No, I'm not letting it go any time soon.
• Doctor Who still lacks emotional truth, but it does at least have rocket launchers now.

The Bad

• The Zygons are no longer reliant on a human body print, nor, it would seem, on the lactic fluid of the Skarasen. In short, they aren't really Zygons anymore.
• Oh, yay. Huge numbers of children kidnapped and apparently murdered. FAMILY VIEWING!
• So, the Zygons are Muslims, and immigrants, and leary British ex-pats, all rolled into one?
• Bonnie the Zygon?

The Ugly

• I feel annoyed that a hideous, genocidal weapon is Harry Sullivan's legacy in nuWho.

Theorising

So, Z-67 was mentioned a few too many times not to show up again, possibly in the form of an anti-human variant, because irony.
Sadly, I doubt we will be seeing an appearance by the Skarasen.
I am assuming that Clara isn't quite dead, simply because it would be so weird to murder her off screen.

Top Quotes

• "There will be truth, or there will be consequences." Say what you like, Kate Stewart; it's a decent catchphrase.
• "You start bombing them, you'll radicalise the lot. That's exactly what the splinter group wants." The typical subtlety of a Doctor Who moral.
• "I thought you didn't like being President of the World."
  "No, but I like poncing around in a big plane."
• "Yes. We know who you are." I'm not convinced the Doctor turning into Harriet Jones is a good thing.

The Verdict

This was a pretty meh episode, which really ought not to be the case in an episode which has children being kidnapped and the Doctor's companion apparently dedded by the dreaded Zygons within five minutes of the credits. A part of the problem lies in its attempt to up the stakes by changing how the Zygons work, such that... they're not really Zygons anymore. Another is the ham-fisted metaphor, and yet another the fact that UNIT are once more portrayed as complete incompetents, with no-one on task who falls between the extremes of trusting the obviously untrustworthy Zygon duplicate and being a cliche-spewing bomber of hospitals.

Score - 5/10