In the Forest of the Night Review

What caused the solar storm? The Doctor said it was never meant to happen in the original timeline, even the TARDIS didn't warn him until it was too late. I'm guessing it was something to do with Missy; her people at 3W tried to destroy the Earth with a solar storm. This was either the precursor to the Cyberman invasion or some sort of alternate plan. Perhaps they just wanted to destroy the human race and the solar storm was the easier option. When that didn't work, the planned to upgrade the dead and destroy the living.

What was Missy surprised about at the end of the episode? Perhaps she was expecting the Doctor to try to stop the solar storm. She might have been surprised that he just let it happen. Or maybe she was referring to the plants stopping it. Alternatively, she wasn't behind the freak storm and there are larger forces at work. I've always thought that a one-season arc for the return of Gallifrey is too short. It could be that the 3W arc ties into a larger one about the Time Lords, one that spans the entire 12th Doctor.

This light people sorta of remind me of the fairies from Torchwood. They're little people who have been around since the dawn of time. Except I think the ones in Torchwood didn't glow. But then again, this show has like two special effects, so they're probably going to be glowing amber things. Alternatively, they could be the spirit of the trees a la The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe. Whatever they were, they obviously have some sort of connection to nature, as well as an interest in protecting the Earth. Based on that and their past exploits, they seem to be on the Doctor's (or at least humanity's) side.

One thing that's intrigued me about this episode and The Power of Three is the time zones. The invasions are depicted as overnight, but that's only in Britain. In the US or China it's going to happen in broad daylight. People are going to see this happen. It could be the Asian UNIT bases warned Kate about the cubes and ran all those tests that got done surprisingly early in the morning. On the other hand, UNIT could just be ready for an invasion at all hours of the night and day. In this week's episode, the director could have shown video of the forest growing in daylight during the news segment, but she instead showed a clip of a newscaster talking about a soccer pitch. It's times like this that the show becomes a bit Britain-focused.