I also thought about that when I first saw it. Forgot about it later.
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Yeah, thatās what I noted in my earlier comment as well. Itās another example of RTD referencing past episodesā¦
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I was really disappointed by this story, itās by far my least favourite of series 15. It just felt so uncomfortable how the political messaging of the story was that UNIT are always the good guys, and that discrediting them is dangerous because it endangers the people they protect, because in the real world organisations like the army and the police use that exact kind of rhetoric to get away with doing terrible things. Even in doctor who, UNIT have tried to commit genocide before, like in The Silurians, so making them into the victims in this story, and making it so that the only people who criticise them are obviously irrational and bigoted reactionaries, has the implication that they should be beyond criticism. Despite being a military organisation??
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My problem with this episode is that I think itās saying itās message to the wrong audience.
What I mean is what the game Mouthwashing is about. In this game, you follow two main characters. One is an abusive narcissist, and the other is his best friend, who isnāt abusive, but he is an Enabler to his friendās abuse.
What this game does correctly is that the message is to recognize who/what an Enabler is. Because no one playing the game, open and willing to hear itās message, is going to be like the other main character (an abuser). The audience are likely to be decent people, so the message isnāt ādonāt be an abuserā, because thatāsā¦obvious.
I feel with this episode, it falls flat for me. Not only because it retreads Torchwood plotlines, but also because, the message doesnāt land becauseā¦I know. I think most kids watching know too. They know not to be like Conrad.
And those who are like Conrad do not watch Doctor Who, so they wonāt be affected by a story highlighting them. And if they do watch it, itās not difficult to understand Conradās perspective.
Which brings me onto the point that if someone really and sincerely believes something, to the point to them it is an objective fact (Kate protecting the Earth from aliens), they WONT simultaneously feel the need to prove this fact to others to validate themselves. Imo, the fact that Kate unleashed this creature demonstrates more of her insecurity as a leader and a protector, to see Conrad as enough of a threat to the point she wants to prove her reality to him, rather than it being a cold-hearted strength to her character. This therefore, in my eyes, makes Conradās belief even more justified, and in reality, would cause more anti-UNIT sentiment for the public.
This is the same public who have witnessed numerous invasions, and now UNIT, with their Avengers-tower, is unleashing monsters for political gainā¦
Itās not even like itās for monetary or funding gain either, which is a much better way imo that this plot could have explored, at the risk of being morally-grey.
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Going from memory here but didnāt the pranking and resultant avalanche of bad publicity (which, sadly, is quite plausible in the current social media influenced environment) lead to questions being asked at a senior (international) level about the contribution of the UK Govt. towards funding of UNIT? This is in line with a lot of the interplay between social media, Trumpās populism and attitudes towards funding of NATO etc. We can assume that politics in the Whoniverse is a reasonable mirror of our own (only slightly more caricatured for storytelling purposes). Obviously, in this story, liberties were taken for speed and expediency but it may be more plausible than at first glance, especially if we assume a politically savvy tech billionaire a la Musk (or, indeed, Van Statten) to put additional pressure.
We might postulate that other parties contributing to UNIT internationally could band together to downgrade UK UNIT security as penalty for the poor publicity or if the UK Govt. were not deemed to fully back UNIT. We might also imagine the UK Govt. cutting back on spending (Resolution), with the downgrade as a consequence. Finally, there has long been tension between UK Govt., the regular army and UNIT dating back to the early 1970s. The Think Tank prank provided easy ammunition for Govt. pushback which could have resulted in the same. Sadly, all of the above seem plausible to me in our current political climate (let alone the heightened universe necessary for drama like DW).
tldr - It might seem unlikely but, sadly, far from implausible.
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A really good point. Its part of the reason I wanted Kate to go full dark on Conrad & just let him be killed. Set up a more confrontational relationship between UNIT (Kate in particular) & Doctor Who.
Iāve already mentioned this but I do feel UNIT are protrayed in a very ill-defined way. They are just whatever the story needs them to be in the particular episode.
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Just seen someone on Twitter mention that Kate mentions a ātransduction generatorā and could that be similar to the transduction barrier on Gallifrey which can prevent a TARDIS From landingā¦ 
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I reckon Conrad will be backin the finale and has used his wish to make himself a dictator and now has all of Unitās tech, hence why Earth is gone
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You raise interesting points. Whilst UNIT are often portrayed as the good guys (so to speak), I donāt think that criticism or conflicts are avoided. Most of the time, theyāre the acceptable face of the military (that dates back to the 1970s) which is much more palatable than the Doctor being pally with the normal military establishment. Even then, we had genocides like that commited against the Silurians.
Only last year, Kate remarked to Ruby that UNIT worked alongside the Doctor but not always āon his sideā. Specifically, āWith him. Despite him. Against him, sometimes. And I adore him. I can only say that now heās not hereā
For simplicity and the kids, UNIT generally are the āgood guysā but thereās enough evidence in the show, even today, to show itās never that clear cut.
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I agree with this. My take on the episode was that it was using UNIT and aliens as an allegory for, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic or global warming, both of which were/are known, objective issues which had/have to be addressed. In those contexts, far-right trolls and grifters demonstrably hamper government attempts to deal with the issue, prolonging them and causing unnecessary harm. For the purposes of the episode, alien incursions represent the objective, unavoidable issue that will cause harm to great numbers of people, and UNIT represents the required government response needed to limit that harm. I personally thought that the comparison worked within the episode itself - the episode goes to great lengths to show Kateās attempts to limit any harm coming to Conradās group at his initial reveal, and even initially when he is at UNIT HQ. After Kate releases the Shreek, the episode is also pretty clear that she has done a bad thing.
I think where the comparison gets murkier is, as you say, when UNITās actions in other stories and its status as a militaristic organisation are brought in. I personally didnāt mind the way UNIT was presented here, and thought a good balance was struck, but I can understand why someone might take the opposite stance.
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This for me is the problem, UNIT doesnāt work as an allegory for those things.
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In what sense, if you donāt mind me asking?
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I agree that this was the intention of the episode, but in real life what health organisation carries guns? UNIT is specifically said in this episode to keep information away from the public, and UNIT soldiers are seen pointing guns at people who are just filming them. So while the intention is to compare UNIT to scientific organisations, the visuals of this episode make this analogy very hard to translate across, not least because of just how militaristic UNIT is now compared to the somewhat more science-based UNIT when Kate first appeared in New Who.
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1000% agree on how ??? UNIT has been portrayed as in the past years, and how weāve not been shown what normal people on Earth (on this era, at least) actually know about aliens.
And 10000% agree with everyone saying the message of this episode, while basically being good, was executed very clumsily. You can almost read it as pro-military, even. At the same time, it also laid the āpeople who spread misinformation are complete monstersā on a bit thick. I get that Conrad is a bad person, they didnāt have to have him say Rubyās name was ridiculous and badmouth the Brig in front of Kate. Thatās literally Master behaviour. Conrad would have been more effective as a villain if he was more normal, I think, since he was supposed to be a more realistic antagonist.
One thing that left me scratching my head. What exactly did Conradās prank prove? That UNIT will mobilize if they suspect aliens are attacking innocent civilians? Like, how is that bad thing?
On the other hand, I loved seeing Ruby again. I love her, and I loved that little scene with her and the Doctor. Such a short lived TARDIS teamā¦ And I love UNIT, all the more reason for me to be sad this episode was so messy.
I had a great time watching it, however! It was just that thinking about it afterwards made me go āwaaait a minute 
ā
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I donāt think UNIT as an organisation fits as an allegory for those examples. It is a shadowy secretive organisaton - well, now they have a big tower with the words UNIT written on it - one that works to protect the public from alien threat, but it seems like alien threats are known now by the public. They are not a government, although its hard to pin down what they are now. Do they have autonomy from government? Are they answerable to government? Even though they seem to have a public face now they purposely keep things from the public, they use military tactics against Think Tank. If it is an allegory for those things its a very over simplifed & unhelpful one sending out mixed messages.
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Lucky Day but Torchwood would go incredibly hard and would probably be more effective, as Torchwood are more shadowy than Unit
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This is absolutely my main issue with this episode, and itās one thatās irritating me more and more. The imagery in those scenes is not at all good.
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Torchwood: Among Us fits that vibe quite nicely, especially the finale.
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Good point. If their example was to expose UNIT as falsifying alien threats this was a stupid way of going about it.
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