Doctor Who 9x07 The Zygon Invasion

With UNIT there seems to more to it than just taking the outward appearence of a loved one. When the drone operator cant fire the Doctor comments that 'Thats new' and 'Well that's interesting'- this is because this is something we havent seen before with Zygons, up until now all we have seen of them is that they have to first take a human captive and then link to them to take their form, personality and memories - the implication here is that the Zygons can not only reach into someones thoughts and take on the form of their loved one, even at a distance, but that it somehow convinces the person they do it to that it really is their loved one, even if logicially they know it cant be, hence why the drone operator cant bring themselves to fire and the UNIT soldiers the same. As if when the Zygons reach into a mind to take its form and thoughts they can also alter their victims thoughts to be convinced the duplicate is real. Almost like hypnosis but done from the inside.

Doctor Disco has entered the chat!

I love all the 2 parters this season but this one feels like the most traditional mid season 2 parter we got back in ‘old’ nu-who

Are We Human Or Are We Zygon? Bonnie/Clara is so much more unsettling on a rewatch, especially when you can tell she's trying to gain intel from Kate ("How many troops do you have?", "Got any snazzy weapons?"). very very spooky and jenna coleman does a wonderful job seconded on recommending The Thick of It, funniest show I've ever seen (four snappy seasons and two specials) and Peter is absolutely wild as Malcolm. Rebecca Front is also so great as Nicola. a scene so great it entered a word (omnishambles) into the oxford dictionary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijLDJGfO5K8 also what the heck UNIT!! bumbling is an understatement

When Missy killed Osgood it was tempting to remind you that there were really two of them, though that would have technically hinted at this story coming up. It remains a mystery which one was which as it's not supposed to matter in-universe, and you seem to agree. I'm glad you enjoyed the big twist about Clara being replaced (though the way the scene plays out you can at least suspect it from the start). Evil Clara is a lot of fun to watch. It's interesting seeing Rebecca Front as Col. Walsh as she was one of Capaldi's co-stars in his previous show, The Thick of It where she was a weak and useless government minister and he was the senior government official responsible for keeping them in line and screaming at them when they screwed up (which was all the time), a rather different dynamic to here. Actually if you like Capaldi enough to want to see more of him elsewhere maybe that should be on your list of things to watch in future, as long as you don't mind an insane amount of strong swearing. I agree with you about UNIT, as while it's a difficult situation to deal with they also come across as being idiots for falling for it when they know that's what the Zygons can and will do to trick them. This would have never happened in the old days of Kate's late father, the Brigadier ;)

Gonna watch this before I nod off to sleep. Early start tomorrow. But to say this two-parter is my favourite of the series. Incredible mixing action, SF and modern politics and cuts past the crap to interrogate the subject matter with the good spanking it needs.