So I am trying to get caught up on the latest Dr. Who season, despite my dislike with the sonic-shades wearing, guitar playing 12th Doctor. I am still waiting for him to get better and on occasion he is. Unfortunately, when he shines, the writing fails miserably. At one time, new Doctor Who was one of my favorites but it has slowly declined over the years. The writing has been really weak as of late, and the techno-babble has boiled down to kindergarten level of “magic happens” instead of thought provoking science. Instead, like many shows of the kind (ST: TNG, for instance), they want to use the story to push a political agenda instead of just telling a good sci-fi story, like it used to.
I watched the first episode of The Zygon Invasion and immediately saw red flags of another leftist agenda. Of course, the Brits are way more lefty then even the US lefties so this really concerned me. Already integrating buzz words straight from the headlines , radicalization being just one of them. So the Zygons were allowed to integrate but now a faction of them want to be “outed” and live as themselves instead of hidden in human shells. Way to go, Brit-lefties! You managed to combine two major hot-button issues into one – coming out of the closet and radicalization!
Of course, the Doctor goes on the preach about not painting all Zygons with a broad brush. Just because one radical group is killed people doesn’t mean all of them are radical. Wow, can you preach to us a little more!? But then somehow they link yet another hot button issue – illegal immigration from Mexico – by relocating some of the plot to a town of Truth and Consequences in Mexico (or maybe it is New Mexico, my sources conflict)! Really? Are you going to preach to us about that too?
So watching the second episode, it finally gets back to a real story and evades the preaching until the end. And int he end, it is a very tame and generic leftist story of “why can’t we all get along?” It delves into the pain and suffering that the Doctor has gone through since the War and there is a long dialogue that he goes through trying to convince the respective leaders that they are heading down a bad path. It is nice to think that perhaps one long speech can de-radicalize the leader of a radical terrorist group. Yea, that’s all we need. Whatever!?
These two episodes are heralded as some of the best this season has had to offer. Perhaps because it hit on so many hot-button issues the lefties and the mainstream love so much. Perhaps it ended with such a warm-fuzzy ending and the Doctor saved the day again. Sorry, I was not so thrilled with it. Same old drivel that this new Doctor has been putting out. Contrived, non-nonsensical and poorly written.
I am quite discouraged. And the next episode after that… EVEN WORSE! Sandmen, really?