Doctor Who season 9, episode 2 just aired and the Zygons had their best appearance in the reboot era.
Osgood and the Zygons swap
Harken back to the last time we saw the Zygons, and you’ll remember a bit of a stand-off involving U.N.I.T. and three Doctors. The long and short of it is that the Zygon stalemate, truce, peace, whatever, is at an end.
Essentially, an entire generation of Zygons peacefully settled Earth. Osgood-human and Osgood-Zygon knew where all the Zygons were located. They worked in conjunction with a set of young girls in the U.K. who were the Zygon high command on Earth.
One such colony of Zygons is located in the USA in New Mexico. And yes, we are laughing at the notion of down on their luck British immigrants settling in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico in what is tantamount to a refugee migration. Unfortunately, one of the young British-Zygons couldn’t hold human form, the local population panicked at a large, orange alien. Presto, we had an all out war. The truce was over.
Social commentary, pick your war
Doctor Who has always made social commentary, and tonight’s episode was no exception. There are elements in the episode that might remind viewers of tensions between Israeli and Palestinian forces, between Scots who want independence and those who want unification, between those fleeing Isis and the countries whose boarders are burgeoning, and between the factions of the Democratic and Republican Parties. The parallels could go on and on.
The one message that seems to be clear parable/allegory (call it what you will) is this — no one side holds the moral high ground. There are plenty of despicable leaders, xenophobic followers, and plain old sycophants on both sides. The only way that catastrophe is going to be avoided, is if humans and Zygons start seeing each other as sentient beings, and not the sums of their ideological and biological parts.
Loose ends
This one ended on a cliffhanger. Obviously, next week we are going to see how the Doctor survives the missile attack, and rescues Zygon-Clara. On top of that, Kate Stewart has her own mess to get out of. What kind of compromise will be made, and how will Osgood play a role?
Also, the word “hybrid” came up again this week. The last two episodes it was used in conjunction with Ashildr. Do the two hybrids intertwine in some way? Do we need to re-watch earlier episodes to see if there was a hybrid line in there that we missed?
Catch the conclusion of this two-part Doctor Who episode next week on BBC America at 9:00 pm.