11.02.2015

Television: Doctor Who, "The Zygon Invasion"

I'm not one of those viewers who hoards little tidbits of information and trivia so that I can expound upon it later. And really, given the quality of this show the past year or so, I've actively forgotten a lot of it. So to have Zygons sprung upon me . . . Sigh. I kind of remember them? I definitely remember the Osgood girl. I know I should do better, but I have more important things in my head these days.

It probably doesn't matter one way or another. What we really have is a story of "some are good, some are bad" using aliens instead of, say, Muslims or whatever.

A bunch of Zygons live among us. They look like us; they've assimilated. Then some bad ones turn up and start training to take over the world. They even kill the good Zygons for not embracing their heritage.

You'd have to be living under a rock not to see the parallels.

Meanwhile, I had the Truth or Consequences thing figured out the minute they showed the words on the screen. Do try to be clever, guys. Also, New Mexico doesn't look like that.

And now we have Evil Zygon Clara. Which has the potential to be interesting, but why not Missy? I mean, Evil Clara and Missy feel interchangeable as characters. There seems to be some generic version of "evil woman" that gets pulled up to fill the slot whenever they need one. Very one-dimensional.

It wasn't a bad episode. It just didn't completely hold my interest. And it was hitting me over the head with its message, which is something I don't particularly enjoy. It's harder to do subtle—it takes a lot more craft—but that's why one appreciates a delicate touch.


2 comments:

Christine Rains said...

I didn't remember much about the Zygons myself, and I didn't find myself caring all that much. Evil Clara? Not working for me. Is it bad I'm missing Missy? I've noticed that the Doctor has played his guitar in every single episode so far.

M said...

They're definitely "playing" up the Doctor + guitar thing. Are they trying to make him "hip"? That and the sunglasses? Sigh.

Missy is a fun character, but I do also find her rather generic as a villain. Still, better to have a generic villain who is fun than . . . Whatever we're doing with all the rest of this show.