This morning's viewing of episodes five and six of The Invasion culminated in one of the most iconic shots in the history of Doctor Who. After much skulking about in the sewer system, the Cybermen are finally fully revealed as they emerge onto the streets of London, including a group of them marching down a flight of steps with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. If you were going to pick a single image to represent the Second Doctor's era, this would be the one. So much so that a few years ago, when my wife and I took a trip to Great Britain, there was a moment when we were walking around London and I suddenly noticed exactly where we were and I had to take a photo. Sure, I took lots of other touristy pictures, but that was the one moment that really spoke to me. 

But long before we get to that point, there are two episodes full of story that made me realize that Professor Watkins' daughter Isobel is truly a sociopath.

Let's talk about that.

The Invasion - Episodes 5 & 6

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The plot of episodes five and six pretty much sum up to: The Doctor knows the Cybermen are there and present in the sewers, the Brigadier believes him, but UNIT can't take any action without concrete proof. Isobel, being a photographer, suggests that she just go down into the sewers with her camera and a telephoto infrared lens, and get some pictures to show to UNIT headquarters in Geneva. The Brig thinks the photo thing is an excellent idea, but rightly forbids Isobel to do any such thing because he actually has trained soldiers under his command who can perform the task. 

So of course Isobel decides to sneak out and do it herself anyway, because she is a young and carefree sociopath.

She convinces Zoe to join her, and then the two of them essentially connive Jamie into coming along and not telling the Doctor. The end result is that the three of them go get the camera from Isobel's home, and then head down into the sewer.

The first thing that happens is a police officer sees them going down through the manhole, and he follows them down with the intention of chasing them back out and preventing whatever mischief those wacky kids might be up to. The police officer is subsequently killed by a Cybermen.

The next thing that happens is the Doctor notices the three are missing, tumbles to what they are up to, and notifies the the Brigadier. This results in a squad of UNIT soldiers being rushed down to find the trio. In the ensuing hubub, while Jamie, Zoe, and Isobel are rescued, one of the soldiers is killed by a Cyberman.

Back at at UNIT, Isobel develops the pictures she took. They are a blurry mess because she was panicked and screaming when she took them. They are basically useless. They aren't going to give the Brigadier what he needs to convince UNIT HQ, and then the invasion proper begins and it is too late anyway.

So at the end of the day, Isobel directly caused two deaths in the sewers and may well cause many more from an invasion that could possibly have been thwarted in its infancy if she hadn't decided to traipse of and try to take the photos herself. She does have a moment of contemplation to this effect towards the end of the sixth episode, but ultimately she just shrugs it off. 

Isobel is a bad person, and she should feel bad for herself.

BTW - here is that photo I took. It definitely needs more Cybermen.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Second
Companion(s): Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot
Episode(s): The Invasion - Episodes 5 & 6
Steps Walked: 6,688 today, 768,795 total
Distance Walked: 3.31 miles today, 371.24 miles total
Weight: 274.44 lbs (five day moving average), net change -32.14 lbs