In the last episode, it looks like Bonnie and her Zygon rebellion has taken steps to secure their victory. UNIT is gone, the Doctor and Osgood are gone, and Stewart is dead But things aren’t always what it seems.
Clara wakes up in her apartment, but things are not right. Little things like words are backwards, and the windows are blocked by a wall. She realizes she is in a dream and her actual body is still in the pod. She can hear her own voice talking to the Doctor. All of a sudden the television turns on with the Doctors plane about to be shot down Clara finds a way to prevent the plane from being shot down. To her relief, the Doctor and Osgood escape the missile attack. She tries to communicate with the Doctor using Bonnie’s cell phone. She spells “I’m awake” on her phone. The Doctor finally gets the message and is elated. She uses Bonnie’s cell phone to locate Clara’s whereabouts.
Bonnie wants to break the cease fire, so she finds a Zygon and exposes his true identity on national television. She succeeds on doing that. Now she wants the Osgood Box, but she is having trouble locating the Box, because Osgood put safeguards to protect the location. So she goes to Clara for the information. She gets Clara to give her the location of the Osgood Box, it is in the Black Archives under the Tower of London.
The Doctor locates the Zygon that Bonnie used for her agenda. He is in bad shape and just wants to go back to his normal life, but knows he can’t. He kills himself. The Doctor feels that time is running out and that Bonnie must be stopped. He finds the cave that the human pods are, but is stopped by Stewart. She calls Bonnie to say that the Doctor is here in the cave. Bonnie orders Stewart to kill the Doctor and replace him. But she does the opposite; she kills the Zygons that are holding the Doctor. The real Stewart did survive New Mexico after all. They all head to the Black Archives and meet up with Bonnie and Clara who has awaken from her sleep.
What Bonnie finds out is that the Osgood Box is two boxes, one red, and one blue. It’s a game of choices and living with the consequences. One box contains death for the Zygons and the other contains a permanent life altering changes for them. Either way the decisions will have irreparable damages. Like a soldier, Stewart heads to the red box where one button will detonate a nuclear bomb under London, the other button has a virus that can kill all Zygons in the most horrible way. Bonnie goes to the blue box where there is a button that will forcibly unmask all Zygons all over the world, and other button will permanently freeze the Zygons in their human form. But in both boxes, the buttons are labeled Truth and Consequences. It is a game of who will press their buttons first. The Doctor gives them another choice, just close the boxes and walk away and let the cease fire continue. Bonnie and Stewart angrily blame him for all of this. He created these boxes. The Doctor talks to Bonnie about how actions can lead to suffering and that once you start treating people with cruelty to change your situation, then you’re no better than your worst enemy. He asks Bonnie what she wants, she says war. He talks about what war will do to you, and how it will change you forever. The images and actions will be seared in your mind forever. It will never go away. “How many hearts will be broken, how many lives will be shattered, how much blood is going to be spilled until you sit down and talk!!!!” he screams. Bonnie replies that he doesn’t understand. He tells her that he has been in wars so big she will never know, that he did worse things that she could ever imagine. He says the screams will always be there when you close your eyes. No one should have to go through that, he concludes. Stewart closes her box. Bonnie realizes that both boxes were empty. He tells her the reason why she knew is because she began to think like him.
Bonnie wants to know how he knew she wouldn’t press the button. He said he was there in the same situation to push a button that would kill millions of people. It was Clara that helped him make a better decision. Bonnie still has Clara’s face. Bonnie goes to the Zygon High Command and declares the cease fire is back on and that the rebels to stand down.
This is one emotionally charges episode. The Doctor uses his experience on war to deliver one of the best scenes in the series, probable better than Matt Smith or David Tenant. I love this one; it was very emotional and powerful. War is hell!!!!
