Check out Violet’s recap of the Season 9 Episode 8 of Doctor Who, titled The Zygon Inversion, where the Zygon who has taken Clara’s form tries to figure out where the Osgood box is and what it does! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of Doctor Who, Season 9 Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion
Clara wakes up in her apartment, but things seem a little off. She hears the Doctor’s voice coming from the TV telling her to get to the TARDIS. She then hears her own voice replying that Clara is dead. Clara soon discovers that she is trapped in her apartment, then does a dream check using a newspaper and sees that everything is nonsensical. Then on the TV she sees a gun’s scope aimed at the plane that the Doctor is on. We see that it is Clara’s Zygon version who is aiming the gun. Clara tries to move her own hand to misdirect the shot, but the Zygon Clara fires and it is a direct hit. The plane explodes.
Zygon Clara follows a man into a building and enters his apartment. She tells the man she knows who she is and is going to set him free. She says that he is going to be the first to make the humans see. She touches him, and he begins to change into his Zygon form. He runs outside and completes the transformation, while Zygon Clara takes a video of it. She calls in and says she’s going to UNIT to retrieve the Osgood box.
It turns out that the Doctor and Osgood parachuted from the plane, and safely land on the beach. He lets Osgood wear his sonic specs. The Doctor admits that he thinks Clara might be dead, but changes the subject.
Meanwhile, the real Clara takes over Zygon Clara’s hand without her noticing and texts the Doctor, “I’m awake.” Osgood figures out that the text is from the real Clara.
Zygon Clara retrieves a laptop from a safe and watches a video that the two Osgoods made about the Osgood box. She doesn’t like what they have to say, so she stomps on the laptop.
The Doctor approaches a police car, but the officers inside seem to be a bit off. The Doctor calls Zygon Clara, whom he calls Zygella, but she tells him to call her Bonnie. While they Face Time, she winks at him, and the Doctor calls her on it, but she doesn’t seem to be aware that she’s winking at him. Apparently the real Clara communicates with the Doctor via morse code. The Doctor tells Clara they’re coming for her, and not to let the Zygon into her memories.
Osgood locates where Bonnie was using her phone. They also see the video that Bonnie posted.
Bonnie goes down to see Clara in her pod and talks to her, threatening to erase her mind. Clara fights back and makes Bonnie turn into her Zygon form. Bonnie says she wants Clara’s memories, and says she can make her tell her. Bonnie tells Clara that their hearts are linked, so she’ll know when Clara is lying, and says that she’ll kill her if she lies.
The Doctor and Osgood arrive in London at the building where the video was shot.
Bonnie asks where the Osgood box is, and Clara tells her it’s at UNIT HQ under the Tower of London in the Black Archive, and that the Osgoods and the Doctor have access to it. Bonnie also figures out that Clara has access. However, Clara says she can’t give her access, though she admits that her body print has automatic access. Clara says the box ends the cease fire, that there’s a button inside that if pressed will unmask every Zygon on Earth for up to an hour. However, Clara won’t tell her why it’s called an Osgood box, because she’ll figure it out for herself when she gets to the Black Archive.
The Doctor and Osgood search the building, and the Doctor asks if she is human or Zygon. However, they come across the Zygon from the video, who transforms back into human form. He explains that a commander came and turned him back. He seems to have trouble maintaining his human form. Osgood says they can help him. He runs off, and they chase after him.
Down at the pods, Bonnie tells Kate to locate the Doctor and duplicate him.
When the Doctor and Osgood approach the Zygon man, he says that he didn’t want to fight anyone, he just wanted to live there. He uses his zap power and kills himself.
Kate and two soldiers find the Doctor and she tells him that they found the Zygon command center and Clara’s pod and can take him there.
Bonnie arrives at the Black Archive, as two soldiers wheel Clara’s pod close behind.
Kate brings the Doctor and Osgood to where Clara’s pod was, and is surprised to see that her pod is missing. Osgood tells the Doctor that she thinks they’re Zygons.
Meanwhile, Bonnie tells the two soldiers with her to normalize. Bonnie finds the Osgood box, and just then gets a phone call from Kate telling her that the Doctor is there. Bonnie reports that she now knows why it’s called the Osgood box: because there are two of them. Bonnie asks the Doctor what is in the boxes. He replies that one box normalizes the Zygons and the other destroys them.
Clara is taken out of her pod. Bonnie threatens to kill Clara if the Doctor doesn’t tell her which box is which. The Doctor says that the blue box normalizes her people. She asks the Doctor if he’s lying, but he says that he’s not, and that if she opens up the box she’ll see he’s not lying. She opens the blue box, and there are two buttons: Truth and Consequences. She opens the red box and it has the same two buttons. Bonnie gets frustrated and tells the Zygons with the Doctor to bring him to her. However, just then, Kate shoots the two Zygons, and the Doctor realizes that Kate is herself. He asks how she survived, and we see a flashback of Kate shooting the Zygon that attacked her.
Kate asks Osgood if she’s human or Zygon, but she merely answers, “Me.” Kate asks about the gas that kills the Zygons, and confirms that that’s what’s in the red box. However, the Doctor wants to negotiate peace instead. Kate questions why he left the gas with them, and the Doctor explains that the boxes are safeguards for both species, and that Kate agreed to it, and that she also agreed to him wiping her memory. He says that’s why there were two Osgoods to police the cease fire. But Kate says the peace is failing.
Bonnie contemplates what to do, and Clara tells her she can’t win. The Doctor, Kate, and Osgood enter the room. The Doctor offers to take the boxes away and for the ceasefire to stand. But Bonnie says no. Kate stands at the red box and asks the Doctor which button to press. Bonnie stands at the blue box. The Doctor warns Kate that one of the buttons will destroy the Zygons by releasing the gas, while the other one will detonate the nuclear warhead under the Black Archive. He then tells Bonnie that one of the buttons will unmask every Zygon in the world, while the other one cancels their ability to change forms, leaving them human forever.
The Doctor encourages Bonnie to break the cycle of cruelty and to forgive. He asks Bonnie what she wants, and she says war. He asks what it will be like after that. But she doesn’t have an answer. He also asks how she’ll protect her people from the troublemakers. She says, “We’ll win.” He again tells her to break the cycle. The Doctor explains to Kate that what’s in front of them is a scale model of war. He pleads with them, and begs Bonnie to stand her revolution down. The Doctor then tells Bonnie that he forgives her. However, she says he’ll never understand. The Doctor emotionally recounts the war that he was in.
This causes Kate to step away from the red box, and he thanks her. Bonnie comes to the conclusion that there’s nothing in either of the boxes. The Doctor says she realized that because she’s beginning to think like him, and he says that no one should have to think like that, and no one will, not on their watch. He tells Bonnie that she has a disadvantage: he knows her face. Then Kate says that now that they know the boxes are empty, they can’t forget that. But the Doctor replies that she’s said that the last 15 times. He then wipes Kate’s memory, but not Bonnie’s.
The Doctor tells Bonnie about a box that he was going to press a button on that would wipe out all of his kind. Bonnie asks what happened, and he says that Clara Oswald got into his head.
Bonnie reports to Zygon high command that the ceasefire is back in place.
When the Doctor, Clara, and Osgood get back to the TARDIS, the Doctor invites Osgood to come with them, but she declines, saying that she has some boxes to look after and worlds she needs to keep safe. The Doctor tells Clara he’ll meet her in the TARDIS, then privately asks Osgood if she’s human or Zygon. She says she’ll answer that question one day. Another Osgood walks up and says that day will be when nobody cares about the answer. This Osgood says that it wouldn’t be right to use Clara’s face when there’s a vacancy, and the Doctor figures out that she is Zygella, though they both insist that they are both Osgood, and that all that matters is that Osgood lives. He tells them he’s a very big fan, then goes inside the TARDIS.
Clara asks him what it was like when he thought she was dead. He says it was the longest month of his life. She says it can only have been 5 minutes, but he says that he’ll be the judge of time.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 9 Episode 8 of Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion
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Josh’s Thoughts: Doctor Who, Season 9 Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion
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Scenes from Doctor Who, Season 9 Episode 8: Sleep No More
Here are scenes from the next episode of Doctor Who, titled Sleep No More:
