The Zygon Invasion: Review Round-Up

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

A thoroughly modern story about tolerance and extremism, The Zygon Invasion, like the finest examples of sci-fi, held a mirror up to society and asked difficult questions for what is still ostensibly a bold, prime time family show.

Was it an entirely successful exploration of modern Britain – with the trappings of a blockbusting, international thriller – or were the intricacies of multiculturalism and radicalisation painted too broadly to ever coalesce into a satisfying whole?

Well, the reviews are largely favourable – with some declaring Peter Harness’ script the best of the series so far. Digital Spy were particularly taken with the ‘rich vein of absurdity running through the whole thing’ that kept the adult subtext from overwhelming the episode.

“Harness offers up some wonderful fuel for kids’ imaginations, realising everything from their wildest dreams – an alien command centre hidden under a school – to their worst nightmares – parents replaced by sinister duplicates. But, like a shape-shifting alien, there’s something under the surface that you don’t expect.”

In this respect, the smartest move the script makes in attempting to fire the imaginations of its younger viewers is in not confirming the true nature of Osgood; allowing instead a positive message of tolerance to dictate her actions – which is perhaps frustrating for fans looking for something more definitive.

TV.Com’s Kaitlin Thomas struggled to reconcile the overarching, burgeoning theme of death and duality and the resurrection of Osgood – which gave rise to questions about the justification for bringing her back altogether.

“When a series brings a character back from the dead, there needs to be a solid foundation and reason for resurrecting that character. Although Osgood was a fan-favorite and her return wasn’t like anything we’ve seen so far this season, her return doesn’t feel justified by what we’ve seen so far.”

Personally, within the context of the episode, her return works – perhaps the confusion lies in the way Doctor Who usually avoids making these inferences into contemporary life.

Looking at her inclusion in terms of the shows tendency towards philosophical, universal questions – say, taking a hypothetical situation like the one presented in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and its lack of analogy within society  – in this case, ‘the hybrid’ or the good/evil duality of Thomas’ point, then, yes, her inclusion perhaps raises more questions than answers.

It’s fair to say, her appearance here is largely down to a fair bit of retconning – just where was the other Osgood during the events of Death in Heaven? Although that in itself wasn’t strictly relevant to the narrative, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that Osgood shared a dual existence and the episode justifies it through her continued silence.

However, it’s the real world parallels that make the episode feel special. The Radio Times largely place this new focus on Harness’ own career-wide interest in how different worlds exist alongside each other.

“Peter wrote last year’s Kill the Moon, which earned a mixed response and was greatly enjoyed by me. He adapted the bizarre Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for BBC1 earlier this year; but perhaps what’s more relevant to this task is that he’s the showrunner of Wallander (the British version starring Kenneth Branagh).

A key preoccupation of Henning Mankell’s Wallander detective novels (set in Sweden) was to show us the way we live now, how ethnic minorities try to rub along with a majority population; he would never demonise migrants or outsiders but humanise them as victims of circumstance, exploited by indigenous criminals. Peter Harness is steeped in all this and it informs his latest Doctor Who.”

All of which, argues The AV Club, say with the exception of Torchwood: Children of Earth, was perhaps for the best.

Quoting J.R.R Tolkien’s famous dislike for allegory – in this case, the Zygon’s aren’t terrorists but have elements that are applicable to that group, the review largely leaves the subtext down to the viewers own predilection to view it as so.

“That’s probably about the extent of the parallels, though, and it would be a mistake to say “The Zygon Invasion” is making any particularly deep point about the current geopolitical situation. It doesn’t need to. Rather, these connections serve to anchor the story in something more vital than your typical alien invasion plotline, while also offering viewers an opportunity to reflect on what this story might have to say about real-world situations, should they so choose—here again Tolkien’s observation that applicability “resides in the freedom of the reader” rings true. The Zygons’ motivations here are, not coincidentally, rather more nuanced than those in their two previous appearances.”

That ‘nuanced’ appearance stems from the evolution of their defence mechanism from simply copying and maintaining that copy to corrupting the memories of your loved ones and disposing of their bodies. It’s this development that Games Radar believes elevates the story above its predictability.

“The evolution of their modus operandi really works. Whereas the more we saw of the Weeping Angels the less scary they became – their chilling simplicity diluted – here the addition of the ability to use your thoughts to replicate a loved one is brilliant. The best moments in the episode come where soldiers are faced with the possibility of murdering family members.”

Ultimately, with its moral quandary, its startling change of pace and its willingness to at least attempt something more mature – even if that doesn’t quite gel beyond signifying something mature, The Independent could only see it as more evidence that this series keeps getting better and better.

“The episode barreled along with pace and panache, with the stakes being continually raised until we got one absolute belter of a cliffhanger. I’ll be furious if we’ve seen the end of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, but genuinely have no idea how it’s going to pan out. It seems like anyone’s game these days. With Peter Capaldi settled in the role and episodes like The Zygon Invasion, it feels like Who has got its groove back, as Doctor Disco might say. This is shaping up to be a very solid season indeed.”

So what did you think of The Zygon Invasion? Did you enjoy the change of pace? Is Doctor Who the right medium for this kind of discussion? Were you satisfied with the return of Osgood? Was the Zygon analogy work? Should we have seen the non-radicalised Zygons?

 

 

 

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