Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion Recap

The Zygon Invasion was a welcome return for some familiar faces, and was perhaps the best first half of a two parter of this current series. The concluding half, The Zygon Inversion, rounds the story off superbly, featuring clever twists, and perhaps Peter Capaldi's finest moment as the Doctor. The Zygon Inversion is, without doubt, this series' strongest episode.

After shape-shifting into the Doctor's most trusted allies, the Zygons continue to take control, and push hard for a full-scale war to break out on Earth. Osgood and The Doctor narrowly escape from the missile fired at them by the Zygon-Clara (now named "Bonnie") at the end of the previous episode. With time short, the two races descend on UNIT HQ in search of the "Osgood Box". Kept hidden in UNIT's vaults, the device is said to be powerful enough to box instigate or prevent the war. As UNIT and the Zygons arrive to obtain the box, the Doctor is caught in the middle, and must convince both parties not to pursue activating it and re-establish the broken peace between humans and aliens.

Much of the episode deals with Clara and her evil counterpart, Bonnie. Having Jenna Coleman portray a villain was a good way to change the dynamic between her and Peter Capaldi, and she handles playing a villain and a hero with ease. The writing behind Clara and Bonnie's interactions is particularly gripping, as Bonnie is able to detect any lies Clara may be telling her, as they are both linking mentally and share the same pulse. The scenes with Clara tapped in a coma like state are also well handle, with slanted camera angles and a flickering television present throughout. It very much had the look of another of my favourite television series, Life on Mars, and the use of similar surrealism works within the context of the episode very well.

But Peter Capaldi's performance is the episode's highlight. In particular, his speech towards the end of the episode. Acting-wise, Capaldi is captivating, as he tries to bring the idea of war on Earth into perspective for Bonnie. He mentions his past experiences of war, and that nobody should ever have to go through what he went through. Previous Doctors, such as Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, have made passionate speech's about their experiences of war, and Capaldi's will surely be regarded as arguably the very best. For me, this is Capaldi's greatest moment in the role so far, and one that will be tough to beat for the remainder of this series.

As two-parters go, this is one of Doctor Who's strongest in recent years. Combining classic monsters and creative writing, The Zygon Invasion/Inversion is perhaps the best story of Capaldi's two season run. Coming off the back of the previous two-parter, it is certainly a return to form for the show. The Zygons are given new depth and the Doctor is at his passionate best. It doesn't get better than that!