So, for those of you who didn’t read last week’s review, let me give you the summation: I didn’t like it. At all. And for those saying “give it a second chance!”, I did. It did not improve. So, will this part 2 manage to salvage this story? Let’s see. Beware of spoilers.
1. Totally Normal Human Behavior
So, part of the plan of this zealous faction of Zygons is to expose their race to the humans. Zygon!Clara forces another Zygon to change back into their original form in front of a bunch of teens while she records…. and I noticed those teens barely flinched. It just goes to show: The civilians in Doctor Who have to be some of the most jaded bastards in all of Fiction. Like, they see this guy transform into a giant walking piece of half-dried gum and they barely bat an eyelash. They make the Marvel Universe look downright chipper by comparison.
What makes it even funnier is that later on we see the recording shown on BBC. But that’s really the only response we see. We never do see public response beyond that. I’m just going to assume everyone changed over to the Arsenal game.
2. Counterpoints
So, the idea behind the Zygons is they have to keep human hosts alive to maintain their shapeshifting. But the psychic link is a two-way street it, and the Human!Clara uses subtle ways to use Zygon!Clara as a communicator to the Doctor who is trying to pinpoint her location. And gotta give props to Jenna Coleman. Like Tom Cavanagh over in The Flash this season, she is incredibly good at distincting between Zygon!Clara and Human!Clara. She’s able to deliver menace and rage while still feeling like Clara’s mannerisms.
3. Multiple Sides to All Stories
One of the things I complained about in the last episode is that we never actually saw the perspective of the Zygons that didn’t want to fight. The ones who just wanted to live here in peace. I will give the writers this: We finally do get to see one of those Zygons… sort of. It’s the Zygon that Zygon!Clara forced to change in front of those incredibly jaded humans. And really, there is some nuance here with the whole “Refugee/Immigrant” metaphor in the fact that this Zygon considers Earth his home and how he’s “on no one’s side”. So, that somewhat makes up for the real heavy handedness of last week, even if it does come off as having those uncomfortable assimilation vibes.
4. Damn, Capaldi Is Good
Look, I still have problems with this episode. Maybe not as many as last weeks, but there are still problems.
Having said that: Peter Capaldi is the best actor in NuWho and he is potentially the best actor out of all thirteen of the Doctors and I don’t say that lightly.
The scene that essentially this two-parter was built around, this scene in U.N.I.T. headquarters with the Doctor, Kate Stewart and Zygon!Clara. And it is a masterclass. This is a performance that should be studied. It runs the gauntlet of sarcasm, wit, fury, sadness and loneliness. Hell, even when he says an iconic line from his other famous character, Malcolm Tucker, (“Kill all the bad guys!”) I didn’t realize it at first until I rewound the scene, because I was too busy watch the Doctor instead of Peter Capaldi playing the Doctor. It is incredibly powerful and this episode is worth watching for that at least (or, you know, catch the clip on youtube).
5. Okay Okay
Let me talk to you about something. I may have given the impression that I hate when stories try to “talk about important issues”. I don’t hate that. I love that. Do you know how you can tell? I’ll show you. Let me talk to you about the Eleventh Doctor episode “Vincent and the Doctor’, one of my favorite Doctor Who stories ever. Spoilers for that episode and to the end of this episode incoming.
“Vincent and the Doctor” is an episode about Depression, specifically the Depression of the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh. And there are many aspects that I loved. The first being that, there is no sci-fi stand-in for the depression. There is a man with Depression being shown on the screen. It is not caused by some alien thing. Sure, the alien in this episode exacerbates it a bit, yes, but is not the root that is pulled out by the end.
Continued belowAnd the other aspect of “Vincent and the Doctor” I loved was the ending. Even when the monster is stopped, even when the Doctor and then companion Amy Pond take Van Gogh to the present to show him the astonishing impact he has had on culture and even making friends with these two time travelers… Van Gogh still kills himself. Because Depression is not simple. It is not something that can be waved away by defeating an alien. It is something that was not understood in the time period that Van Gogh lived in and to this day there is a lot about Depression we still don’t understand.
To put it in the most simplest possible way, “Vincent and the Doctor” worked so well because it didn’t end cleanly and it didn’t try to. “The Zygon Inversion” did try to end cleanly.
That above-mentioned emotional scene from the Doctor is an amazing display of acting on Capaldi’s part, no doubt. And it does cause Zygon!Clara to lay down arms. But that’s all it does. The grievances that drove these Zygons to such a radical step I have to assume are still happening, considering the fact that Kate Stewart’s memories of these events was erased by the end of this episode. So nothing does change. There is no further exploration of the concept of cultural identity which seemed to be the crux of the Zygon renegades in these two episodes. And Zygon!Clara seemed to go very quickly into assuming the role of the dead Osgood sister. Again, like mentioned in Thought #3, this weird undercurrent of assimilation and letting go of cultural identity is very much present and it really paints what the writers are trying to say as being very shallow. The topics that they wanted to discuss felt like they were given no depth or discussion.
I’ll give this episode one credit though: It wasn’t anywhere near as offensive as the “Trust No One” rhetoric it was spouting last week.
