Mr. Harvey Almost Gives Away "Doctor Who" Spoilers… Almost
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Harvey, through the wonder of the Internet, is able to bridge the temporal gap between the “Doctor Who” broadcast across the pond and the one here in the States. And so, tallyho!]
Series 6 Episode 6: “The Almost People”
Warning! This review contains spoilers for “The Rebel Flesh”! If you haven’t already seen that episode step away from the review slowly, making no sudden moves, and go watch it.
Spoiler Free. Ish.
As “The Rebel Flesh” ended, we saw a Ganger copy of the Doctor emerge from the darkness, and as “The Almost People” begins, The Doctor finds himself face to face with this duplicate, struggling to deal with the memories of all his incarnations. This affords us the nice opportunity for referencing “reversing the polarity of the neutron flow”, as well as a brief moment where the 4th Doctor makes an appearance of sorts, and also serves to reinforce one of the questions of identity put forth in the preceding episode. With the Gangers trying to assert their right to live, and Ganger Jennifer believing the only way is to kill the human originals, The Two Doctors must race to try and find a way to save both the human originals and the more-human-by-the-second copies. But with both parties preparing to fight, can the Ganger Doctor truly be trusted?
This question will figure heavily throughout the episode, especially in the mind of one Amy Pond, who finds herself looking at the new Doctor as someone who isn’t… quite… her Doctor, with unintended consequences. That those consequences are significant is putting it mildly, but since we’re trying to avoid spoilers… suffice it to say the the Doctors are made keenly aware that Amy sees them as two very different people.
As in the previous episode we see that even though the Gangers began as identical copies of their original humans, circumstances can and do change the way they react to the world, especially in the case of Jennifer, who for some reason also retains the memories of the deaths of the previous Gangers, driving her further and further down the path of revenge. That the other Gangers don’t react exactly the same way only manages to reinforce their growing humanity, for good or for ill.
Again, the influence of Frankenstein and Alien are keenly felt, especially later in the episode as the music even echoes the Thing’s soundtrack as the tension builds. The recurring question of “Why” is very much the cry of the Creature to it’s Creator, and as Jennifer travels down her path the echoes of Shelley’s classic are clear, with no sense of avoiding the inevitable tragic ending. Of course, Victor and his Creature didn’t have a certain Time Lord around…
Even more so than “The Rebel Flesh”, the writing here is critical, with the debate about identify and existence being central to the story, and Matthew Graham’s script is excellent. The buildup of the previous episode pays off on multiple levels here, both large and small, and some of the tiniest things from before become essential to the way events play out. That a line about a birthday can help determine who lives and dies, and what it really means to be human is just one example, and Graham should be congratulated for turning in an excellent story. That said, there are some niggling little problems, not least of which is no real explanation for the factory mining acid, which never actually makes sense aside from creating a physical danger to all the parties involved. That this never actually takes away from the quality of the story itself and the arc of the characters is true, but still.
Of the characters themselves, three of our 5 workers and their Ganger counterparts get the lion’s share of development. Again, Cleaves, played by Raquel Cassidy, brings depth to what appears first to be a traditional corporate shill, by having her Ganger copy begin to see nuances that the original misses at first. That she ends up playing two version of the same woman of course goes with the theme of the story, but it’s the differences and ultimate similarities that she brings out beautifully. As the Ganger driving the others to destroy the humans, Sarah Smart’s Jennifer is the villain of the piece, but like many other “monsters” in the history of DOCTOR WHO, she has reasons for what she’s doing, and Smart gives Jennifer the emotions of betrayal, fear and hate clearly. She wants to kill because she remembers being killed, she wants to live because she remembers the original Jennifer’s life and wants those memories to be truly hers. Her “us or them” viewpoint is wrong, but in a way understandable, in the same way that we see all too tragically in our own world. That she is a petite, pretty young girl only makes it more disturbing… which she uses to her advantage. Those questions raised about both characters and their counterparts in “The Rebel Flesh” are answered, and in the case of Jennifer, not exactly as one would expect.
Our third principle worker/Ganger character is Jimmy, played by Mark Bonnar, an actor I have enjoyed in several other British productions, including the recent, and intriguing but terribly uneven PARADOX. As the only character we get any family information about, his relationship with his young son, and the impact that will have on Ganger Jimmy ends of being a critical piece of the story, and while he doesn’t have the same time devoted to his two characters as Cassidy and Smart do, he’s given just enough to make a decision later have emotional power.
As for our main characters, here we see Rory’s compassion used against him, with tragic consequences. While we can understand his desire to see the best in Jennifer, his actions here cause a certain amount of death here, and it should be interesting to see what if any repercussions follow from this. But here, Arthur Darvill’s best moments come at the end, with questions demanded and emotions displayed without words. Again, spoilers, but fine work.
Karen Gillan gets much more to do here, and Amy’s interaction with the Two Doctors is ultimately the emotional core of this episode. That she sees the Ganger Doctor as something less than the original says something about Amy, and it’s not the most flattering, if understandable. She’s human after all, and she acts like one, being unable to see the Flash formed Doctor as “her” Doctor, despite both Doctor’s insistence that they are both real and equal. Throughout the episode she treats the Ganger Doctor as something alien, and the end result of this is revelatory in several ways. That the climax of this behavior falls under spoiler territory in a big way is unfortunate, as I would love to discuss it in detail, but no. Suffice it to say that Gillan shines here, even when she’s making Amy look less than perfect. And she lets something slip to the Ganger Doctor that will have impacts much farther than the ends of this episode…
Matt Smith gets to work double duty here in a very interesting way. First we have a Ganger Doctor who is trying to process the depths of the Doctor’s mind, then we have a double Doctor act full of humor, and then we have two Doctor’s who act in ways that first appear identical, then wildly different and then… damnit. Spoilers. Smith again bounces from humor to serious to outrage without a moments notice, and as the Ganger Doctor gets to show a side of the Doctor we don’t usually see as he deals with an Amy that doesn’t trust him. That we get the confirmation that the Doctor knows far more about the situation than he’s let on isn’t terribly surprising, but how it’s handled gives Smith a chance to give the Doctor’s manipulation of the events around him something quite chilling. And again we see that there is far more to that than is readily clear is again excellent writing on Graham’s part, but Smith’s performance has to work to make it fly, and here is one of his best. I’ve thought Smith was perfect for the role from the beginnings of his run, and over and over this season he has proven me right.
For all that though, again, the final moments of the episode are where we see another side of the Doctor… aaaaand spoilers.
I do keep using that word don’t I? Well, that’s because the final moments of the episode are a game changer for the series. Not an exaggeration in any way, the revelations of the final few moments call into question everything we’ve seen this season, and with the revelations of who River Song truly is coming next week, it’s clear that we’re moving towards something huge. “A Good Man Goes To War.” There are reasons that the Doctor is feared…
[youtube=http://youtu.be/j_NLjHUKEro]
