(776) The Almost People

The first bit with the Ganger Doctor is quite funny causes there are several incarnations that are being mixed up. The two Doctors together is fun and fun isn’t a word that I would have used over the course of these two episodes. This episode is stronger than the opening one largely because I know what’s going on and the tension that is built from it is something that instantly makes the story better than the first part.

There is a ‘us vs them’ mentality from the very beginning which for some reason didn’t work in the previous episode yet her does. The performances are also better in this episode. Smith seems to be having fun playing the two versions of himself and its clear that he has confidence in himself to be able to pull this off. Gillan is better and does well with the trying to decide which is the real Doctor and which is the Ganger. Darvill has a better episode as he gets used well for the first time in several episodes.

When Jenny turns into the big bug thing towards the end that was the point that I thought it had got as best as it could. To be honest there was no way I thought that the story could pick up despite wanting it to. It’s almost like Graham was waiting until this episode to let the good stuff appear on screen. The direction is something that has hasn’t been mentioned until now or the setting and both worked well especially the setting. I thought that the story had a base under siege vibe to it and normally that would be enough for me to rate the story highly but on this occasion the setting couldn’t save the story 100%.

There is a nice bit through this episode where Amy thinks that one of the Doctors is her Doctor and the other is a ganger but towards the end  it turns out that the one she had preferred was in fact the ganger. This showed her that you should never judge a book by it cover. It hink that more of this could have been put into the story but sadly it was reduced to a side plot which I felt was a wasted opportunity.

At the end of the episode Amy goes into labour and we learn the shocking fact that she isn’t the real Amy and she turns into the plastic seen in this story and she wakes up in a pod with the scary eye patch lady looking at her. This sets up the mid-season finale up quite well (more about that tomorrow). This episode is much better than the first but I still think that it’s a disappointing two parter.

(775) The Rebel Flesh

The Rebel Flesh is the first part of a two parter that I have never really liked that much. So it wont my a long review. This story was written by Matthew Graham who previously wrote Fear Her and whilst that was a mildly interesting story, there was something about this story that just doesn’t work quite well. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on a planet which has a monastery type place and some acid surrounding it. There are people working there and they have dopplegangers (or just gangers) that after a storm start to turn on everyone. That is pretty much the plot for these two episodes and that is why I found this episode rather boring in 2011 and find it equally boring today.

The only thing of interest that happens in this story is that Rory is starting to stand on his own too feet. He doesn’t just do what Amy tells him to do and its good to see the look on Amy’s face when this happens. Actually the cliffhanger is quite interesting as it shows that the Doctor has become a ganger. I do genuinely believe that things will pick up because there were good signs in the final ten minutes of the episode but it would have been nice had the good stuff started earlier in the episode.

I don’t know if it’s the heat but there is something about some of the episodes that aren’t working on me in the way that the previous series did. I don’t think that it’s the fault of the regulars because Smith is just getting better and better and Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvil are also on good form. I just think that some of the stories have been a bit weak.