Doctor Who Review: Epic Story, But Can We Get a Budget Raise for the CGI?

Somebody call the Doctor! My brain hurts and I’m pretty sure he’s the only one who can answer my questions about this latest Doctor Who plot twist.

“The Almost People,” part 2 of “The Rebel Flesh” picked up where we last left off: a group of scientists are battling against their doppelgangers that have come to life via a substance called The Flesh. The Gangers – led by one in particular named Jen – want to take revenge against their originals.

Last week’s episode ended with the revelation that the Doctor had exposed himself to the Flesh and there are now two of him. The two Doctors were not as troublesome as you’d think; it was amazing to see Matt Smith acting against himself.

Rory has fallen under the spell of Ganger Jen (whom he doesn’t realize is a ganger, silly boy). She uses him to show how cruel the humans have been to their discarded, defected gangers. But Ganger Jen is scary; she can transform into this giant (albeit it hilarious-looking) monster and eat people whole.

What’s fascinating about the Gangers is that they’re more than mere clones. They have human feelings, the same health symptoms and even share memories with the Originals. But when Ganger Jimmy receives a holographic phone call from his son, he realizes he’s not really the boy’s father and faces a moment of weakness. But real Jimmy is dying, so he passes the baton to Ganger Jimmy to “be a dad.” It’s a really sweet moment and a turning point between the Gangers and Originals. They come to terms with one another – all except for Ganger Jen who’s not having any of it. In their great escape, Ganger Miranda and Ganger Doctor sacrifice themselves while destroying Ganger Jen. The remaining Gangers (only one) and Originals are now working together to live in harmony.

And now here’s the big revelation:

After all the Ganger hoopla, Rory, Amy and the Doctor find themselves back in the Tardis, but Amy’s having weird stomach pains. The Doctor says she’s in labor. Everyone says that’s impossible. Doctor outs Amy as being a Ganger. [Ganger] Amy is blown to smithereens. Real Amy wakes up in some sort of intergalactic hospital ready to give birth. She screams. Cut to black.

Um, WHAT?!

First thing that popped into my head is how did the gangers not realize that (ganger) Amy was one of them?

Has Amy been gone ALL SEASON? And when did the Doctor realize that this was not the real Amy? How did she get into that intergalactic hospital? Have we been fooled all season long?! I believe the answer is yes, yes we have.

Be prepared, everyone. Next week is the midseason finale, and it will leave us with the mother of all cliffhangers and revelations.

Season 6, Episode 6: The Almost People (originally aired June 4, 2011)

Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC America.

Images courtesy of BBC America.