Doctor Who S32E6, "The Almost People" [spoilers]

[NecronLord]

Objective Interim Spoiler Policy: All prior episodes of Doctor Who up to and including this one may be discussed without spoilers. Recent EU publications and upcoming episodes must be spoiler tagged and labelled. Previews (as released on BBC, website, etc) of the next episode are not spoilers, nor is speculation derived from them.

Today's poll theme, Time Lord Doubles.

[Revy]

Well ... that was rubbish. Didn't really like it at all. All over the place. Messy. Guess the deal with Amy and the eyepatch lady finally makes sense now, but that was the last ten seconds of the episode. Complete Meh from me.

[Jon]

Was there any meaningful character development the 'real' Amy has missed out on this season then? How long has she been a duplicate?

[Revy]

I got the impression that the ganger Amy wasn't independant the same way the ones in this episode were, rather the 'real' Amy was remote controlling the Amy we all saw, which was why she occasionally saw the eyepatch lady. So the real Amy experienced everything that happened these last few episodes.

[Iroscato]

Was there any meaningful character development the 'real' Amy has missed out on this season then? How long has she been a duplicate?

I think it might, just might have been when the Silence took her from the orphanage, and when she woke they said she had been there 'many dayssssss'.
There's something big going on here, and I thought the episode was a step up from Rebel Flesh, still crap, but saved by the ending.

[Captain Seafort]

Eh. Pretty average, but by and large no worse than part one. Given that I was worried that it might go from "Meh" to "Fucking Awful", the way the Silurian two-parter did, that's not too bad.

At least we know have explanations for the eyepatch lady and the the phantom pregnancy.

[Iroscato]

Oh and Revy, looks like they'll be River Song aplenty in the mid-series finale. You love her really.
Just seen the trailer for the finale. All I can say is...hehehe...ahahahahaaa...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!
Ahem.

[Revy]

Trailer? I never got any trailer! All I had was 'To Be Continued'. That was it. What was in the trailer?

[Iroscato]

Trailer? I never got any trailer! All I had was 'To Be Continued'. That was it. What was in the trailer?

Just go on the Doctor Who website, bbc.co.uk/doctorwho and look for episode 7 trailer

[evilsoup]

Man, that was a pretty nifty twist. Have you seen the 'prequel' to the next episode?

I even hear rumours of whose child you've taken - are you mad!? ... You know the stories about the Doctor? The things that man has done? God help us if you've made him angry!

The implication is that Amy is pregnant by the Doctor - maybe they danced the horizontal tango under the influence of the Silence? Alternatively, this is a red herring and the child is Rory's (who the blue man knows to be a companion)? Okay, probably not the second one, but on the subject of Rory ...

This is the day he finds out who I am.

Now, the reason she was imprisoned in the STORMCAGE was for 'killing the best man I ever knew'. Obviously, we all took that to mean the Doctor, but (since the Beeb isn't going to kill off the Doctor yet) could River have been talking about Rory? It would be perfect to have her kill him just after he rescues Amy. Then, when the Doctor next meets her, he's angry about it but she can't remember...

I don't know. Anyways ... this episode was okay, I suppose, though the pacing felt a bit off ... and then Jennifer was a monster. Blah. I dunno. But the twist was pretty neat.

[HMS Sophia]

Most of the episode was all-right, but the end (from the switched doctor reveal) was pretty good. Which doesn't men a whole lot, since that was the last five minutes
I'm a bit excited about the whole thing...

[DarkSilver]

a bit choppy in places, but a good run, and the last 5-10 minutes sets up the mid-series finale extremely well. Suddenly makes a great deal of sense what he meant about the Flesh's early days...and what he intended to get out of it (I thought for a moment we were going to see more of the Timelord Victorious appear with him trying to save people which should have died).

I can't wait for June 4th now.

This kinda feeds back into a theory I had shortly after "Day of the Moon", the voice always said "Silence Will Fall" - which they did. The Doctor caused the Silent's fall from power.....but what comes after? I guess we'll see now, what comes after. And according to the stuff on the BBC's website.....we have some of the Alliance races showing up again.

[Broomstick]

For those who can't use the posted link due to "that is not available in your area": link

[Darth Nostril]

a bit choppy in places, but a good run, and the last 5-10 minutes sets up the mid-series finale extremely well. Suddenly makes a great deal of sense what he meant about the Flesh's early days...and what he intended to get out of it

Sexy always takes him exactly where/when he needs to be.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The Amy we've been seeing all season seemed to be psychically linked to the pregnant Amy, I'm guessing she has all the memories.

[Drooling Iguana]

The script was terrible but the performances saved it somewhat. Not a good episode by any means, but there've been worse.

[Shroom Man 777]

I liked it. They're doing a good job making it all interlinked. Good on Moffat.

My question though was, how did the Doctorbs get TWO sonic screwdrivers?

[Broomstick]

The sonic has been repaired/replaced/duplicated before, so either the Doctor brought a spare along in anticipation of the Doctorganger needing one, or else the Flesh could duplicate it. Personally, I'm more inclined to think he brought a spare.

[Alkaloid]

I seem to be the minority here, but frankly, I really enjoyed that.

It was the sort of episode that had everything I like about Smiths Doctor in it. I like they way they sort of took the 'Time Lord Victorious' and have him revel in how dangerous he is, to the point where 'Basically, Run!' is almost the catch cry for this incarnation. Sure, he seems friendly, and maybe slightly mad, but he is actually a dangerously smart 900 year old alien being who is nearly always two or three steps ahead of the bad guys, and he might want to help you, but if you make him, he will dispose of you almost out of hand while dealing with a bigger problem.

The episode raises some questions about the Silence too, mainly what is it/are they. We assumed it was the aliens from the season opener, largely because they said they were, but if they were responsible for replacing Amy, then who is the woman with the eyepatch, why is she working with them? (am I the only one who thinks she looks a lot like an older version of River)

In regards to the finale, I'm going to be very surprised if it is the Doctors child, mostly because all the evidence points to that being the case, and I doubt it's going to be that simple. I'm also going to be surprised if those two mysterious figures in red robes are not Rory and the Doctor, and I find that the blue guy reminds me of that Farscape episode with the fat blue hippy male version of Xan. Just sayin'.

[Shroom Man 777]

It would make sense, seeing as he probably didn't want to get handicapped as he did in the Christmas Carol. But the Ganger Doctor took one with him, so I guess he's just stuck with one again.

I also liked the bit with them swapping shoes.

[Broomstick]

Yeah, the first time I watched it I didn't think of shoe-switching until they revealed it at the end, but when I watched it a second time, knowing they had done that, some of the "off" reactions of the two Doctors started to make much more sense. The first time through I was thinking "Oh, that was an odd expression/reaction" and then "oh... that makes a LOT of sense!"

And if you watch it, with that in mind, you know when they swapped shoes. It was very early on, and the key for me was that the Doctorganger was still channeling prior regenerations. When Doctorganger says "... and I have been all along" yep, that's pretty much true. They've made the swap by three minutes into the episode.

It wasn't a perfect episode (there are no perfect episodes) but there were some things I definitely liked about it. And, of course, I'm going to talk about them.

First up, I thought the Doctor showed a compassionate side of himself we don't always get to see. It wasn't all glurgy and sweet, but there was compassion here. First, despite the fact the previews lead one to believe that there would be a two Doctor battle, that's not what happened at all. The Doctorganger was having issues with past regenerations haunting him, all dazed and confused, and it wasn't the two of the fighting, it was the Doctor trying to help the Doctorganger through that. Frankly, I found it a relief they didn't go down the cliched path of "evil twin" at all in this episode in regards to the two Doctors (there was enough of that with the Humans, thank you).

Not to mention the whole point of the two parter was to get everyone to stop fighting.

I had some issues with the idea that the Doctor knew all along Amy was not the original Amy but an avatar. It also makes his look of despair when scanning her make sense now. I believe he had some idea of what was going on the first time he got the Schroedinger result of the pregnancy test, but said nothing while he worked out exactly what was going on. Although I'm a big fan of honesty, would that have helped or harmed in this situation? I think it would have harmed - first of all, he wasn't going to convince Amy she wasn't "real". It certainly would have caused problems with their relationship, even if Rory is remarkably open minded about duplicates (having been one himself at one point). Not telling Amy and Rory until something could be done about the problem was the least unkind thing the Doctor could have done. Amy got to enjoy her life with Rory, even if via avatar. Ending that illusion early would have left her stranded as a prisoner where she could do nothing to help herself, cut off from those who cared about her. At least now she has some idea of what happened to her, and that the boys are coming to her rescue. I mean, damn, if I was trapped somewhere and the Doctor told me he'd move heaven and earth to find me and rescue me I might start feeling sorry for my captors, you know?

Rory and Amy needed to go through meeting the Flesh. Rory already got it that the gangers were people in their own right, but Amy had to learn that, for two reasons. First, any memories she had while her original self was captive and experiencing the world through a ganger she needs to accept as real memories, not fake. Those were real experiences. Second, if cutting the signal off didn't result in Amyganger falling into a puddle there would be a second Amy - who would also be a real person. That was one of the reasons for the two Doctors and for them swapping shoes. Amy had to learn that no, she really couldn't tell them apart. They were both the Doctor, and both of equal value. I kinda sorta wish that at the end, when Amy is doubting that the Doctorganger is Flesh, that he had gone briefly melty-face to prove he was the Doctorganger, but it worked well enough as it did.

Another moment of compassion is when the Doctor tells the Doctorganger it might not be the end for him and tosses him a sonic screwdriver. I was sad to see that yes, they killed off the duplicate, but that was sort of inevitable and at least it wasn't sad and pathetic, he went down fighting. As the Doctorganger (posing at the Doctor) said to Amy earlier, "I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams". Where possible, the Doctor gives people hope, even when it looks hopeless. Sure, the acid mine is about to explode, and if the explosion doesn't kill you the acid steam will, and, oh yeah, a deranged monster is bearing down on you ready to kill you but HEY! There might be a way out! And then what does the Doctorganger do? Turns around and tries to reassure ganger Cleaves, because the Doctorganger is also the Doctor. That's sort of a major point, isn't it? They're both the Doctor.

[Shroom Man 777]

Personally, I found the plot generic, but what saved it - as is the case with a few other episodes - was the characters and the acting. Even though all they did was walk around through stock corridors and craps, they were still very engaging and they sold the story for me. So I liked it.

[Broomstick]

Of course, the Doctor didn't get the nickname "The Oncoming Storm/Darkness" from the Daleks because he's always a nice guy bringing sunshine and roses. He can also be one scary bastard at times. He also will hurt people either because that's what is necessary to make them better, or because they really piss him off. (One of the preview clips for next week alludes to that, with Blue Man saying "God help us if you make him angry!")

Destroying ganger Amy certainly hurt Amy - but in the end, it's kinder than her captors suddenly ending the link with her not having a clue what's going on. This way, when she wakes up someplace else, having been told she's having a baby, she has some clue what's up. As bad as that was, imagine waking into that situation with no warning at all. At least now Amy has hope (see prior post about the Doctor and hope). It hurt Rory, too, but Rory, despite clinging to ganger Amy as long as he could, did eventually step away, showing some pretty deep trust in the Doctor.

I'm just wondering who the father is. I'm sure Rory is, too, and maybe the Doctor as well. Odds would seem to favor Rory, given that there were two months of them being on their own prior to "The Impossible Astronaut" and she couldn't have been that far along. If the Doctor is the daddy, well, somebody's got some explaining to do, haven't they? How the hell could that have happened? Nevermind that the Doctor has been rather forthright about resisting Amy's advances, they're separate species, and this isn't Star Trek. Aside from Rory getting royally pissed at the notion that Amy and the Doctor might have made the beast with two backs (you know that will occur to him) if it's a matter that the Doctor wasn't a willing participant, and neither was Amy, there are going to be three very, very pissed off people, one of them a man persistent and willing enough to take 2,000 years to accomplish a goal (protecting his fiancee, much less his actual wife) and the other a Time Lord capable of multiple genocide. He condemned the Time Lords not once but twice. What's most scary? He isn't improvising this time - he's doing the research and he has a plan.

It looks more and more like Amy's baby is the little girl in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon". And it might also be the Doctor's baby.

Anyhow - back to this episode: the Doctor isn't above hurting/manipulating people. The phone call with the little boy Adam for example (and how did the Doctor know how to time that? He's cheating, he has to be - that's what I mean, he's not winging it this time, he's researching and he has a plan. The only thing scarier than the Doctor ad libbing is the Doctor playing chessmaster. Holy fuck someone is going to get hurt before the dust settles on the larger story arc.) After ganger Jennifer goes monster he kills her without a qualm (well, OK, Doctorganger does that, but essentially they're the same man).

And that brings me to the most morally grey scene in the episode: the Doctor throwing Amy up against the wall and getting very frightening. Amy thinks it's the Doctorganger, but it's not - that's the original Doctor doing that. Did I mention he's not always a nice guy? This also demonstrates that being mildly telepathic can really suck. Clearly, the whole time they're at the St. John Acid Mining Factory he's been hearing the Flesh in his head. The whole time. That "WHY? WHY? WHY?" But despite that he keeps trying to get everyone to play nice. Well, as Doctorganger said much earlier on "We're under stress".

I really think those few minutes around that scene are the most important of the episode - sure the last 5 minutes are huge, but they really pertain much more to the future than the main body of "The Almost People".

Remember the sequence: The Doctor (not the Doctorganger) leaves the room - maybe he's trying to listen to the Flesh without distraction? Maybe that's why he hears it clearer than the Doctorganger? (I'll come back to that). Amy follows him. She then - because she thinks he's the Doctorganger - awkwardly gives him a spoiler about his own death. I'm thinking, at this point, the Doctor is having a sort of shitty day, you know? Anyhow, he's got the Flesh yelling in his mind, he's trying to keep two sides from wiping each other out, then Amy drops into his lap the little fact turd she saw him die and is only telling him that because she thinks he's the "fake" Doctor and is clearly hoping the Doctorganger can die in place of the Doctor. Yeah, I think it pisses him off a little. How do I know it's the real Doctor? (Other than keeping track of them during my second viewing) Two other hints:

First - when Doctorganger (who Amy still thinks is the Doctor) and ganger Cleaves are holding the door against monster Jennifer, the Doctor comes out and says "...or perhaps you think I should stay instead?" to Amy, referring to her prior idea that the Doctorganger is expendable. The second clue is when Doctorganger says "Well, my death arrives I suppose" and the Doctor replies "But this one we're not invited to." Doctorganger doesn't get the reference, because he wasn't in the hallway when Amy dropped the spoiler.

But back to the hallway scene. After that, the Doctor and Amy go back into the room with everyone else. She thinks the Doctorganger has gone mental and wants him kept away from her, not knowing it's the original Doctor. She runs to the Doctorganger for reassurance because she really can't tell one from the other. Then there's that bit about the Doctor saying the flesh is talking to him and Amy saying he IS flesh... look at the expression on Doctorganger's face when she does that, when they cut to him (he's the one sitting down, near Amy, if you're not clear on who's who). He's clearly sad to hear her refer to a ganger copy of the Doctor as she is doing because, although she doesn't know it, she's actually referring to him. The Doctorganger is, of course, hurt to know she doesn't consider him real because he is real. The Doctor isn't as put off because he knows he's the original, it's not really him he's referring to.

Contrast that at the end, when Amy does her farewell embrace of Doctorganger.

Which leaves just one loose end in that sequences around the hallway. Why does the original Doctor hear the Flesh better than Doctorganger? Two reasons, I think. First, I think the Doctor was deliberately listening. Second, not all the gangers are as tuned in to the Flesh as others. Ganger Jennifer, with her memories of being decommissioned, clearly was solidly plugged in. The results were not pretty. Ganger Cleaves, on the other hand, had no access to any such memories, nor did anyone else's ganger, apparently. I have to wonder if the Flesh normally had a barrier between its larger self and gangers - given that the Flesh seemed to be in pain, blocking the ganger access to such memories might have been a mercy to both ganger and Flesh. Certainly, ganger Jennifer wasn't making anyone feel better. If that was the case then there might have been more of a barrier between Doctorganager and Flesh than Doctor and Flesh - in which case maybe Doctorganger wasn't picking it up from the Flesh directly, but rather through the Doctor's distress.

Anyhow, I'm probably over-analyzing again, but whatever. Everyone needs a hobby.

[The Romulan Republic]

It looks more and more like Amy's baby is the little girl in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon". And it might also be the Doctor's baby.

I really, really hope its not the Doctor's baby. While it would be a nice way to continue the Time Lords as a species, and would explain the girl regenerating, well, its crossing a really big line. For one thing, the series has generally avoided romantic/sexual relations between the Doctor and companions, right? And while this would almost certainly be a pregnancy achieved without the knowledge or consent of either parent, it still seems like setting/breaking a hell of a precedent. It would also make things quite awkward between the Doctor and Amy, I imagine.

It would also suck so hard for Rory. Poor guy. It almost looks like God or Fate hates him some times. I wonder if we'll get to see him punch the Doctor again if this turns out to be the case?

Edit: Also, having a Rory suspects Amy of cheating on him with the Doctor subplot would be a bit too soap opra-like for my taste.

[Broomstick]

If a cross-species baby was made without the consent of those involved it would, essentially, be a three-way rape. Which would be a lot heavier than Doctor Who usually goes. Rory would, of course, get pissed as hell but he's smart enough to understand the implications if neither the Doctor nor Amy agreed to it or were unaware of it. His anger will move from "my wife and friend cheated!" to "I'll kill the bastards who raped my wife and friend!"

If she's not the Doctor's baby then there is the problem of regeneration to explain.

Of course, Amy's baby may not be the regenerating girl, either.

There is the snag that if Amy's baby did have the Doctor as the father Rory would probably wind up acting as father anyhow - it's not like the Doctor is going to drag an infant along on his travels. But I suspect Rory would be a great dad and hey, he's got massive "protector" credentials.