Weekly Doctor Who Review: Episode 6

jason stives’ weekly Doctor Who review returns with a review of episode six, “The Almost People” …

SPECIAL NOTE: Anyone who watches Doctor Who on BBC America, please avoid reading this review due to MASSIVE SPOILERS, and wait until next Saturday when this episode will air. Everyone else who refused to wait and watched the episode online, you are most welcome to continue on.

So did you all like those jokey observations I threw in last week’s post on “The Rebel Flesh?” Well, if you did I have nothing for you this week, because this week I’m all business, because this week is all about “The Almost People,” the penultimate episode to Doctor Who’s sixth season before it’s mid-season finale. Six weeks has felt like an eternity, even if it was a breeze, and last night’s episode jolted me back into reality as I realized we are nearing the end…well at least until the autumn. Before I get going on the actual episode, let’s do what every other reviewer has and jump to jaw-dropping cliffhanger we were presented with.

So after seeing her put through the emotional lunges of married life throughout this season, the revelation that the Amy Pond we have been seeing all season was in fact a duplicate, specifically a ganger, was something I defy anyone to say they saw coming. Yes, we all kind of assumed she was pregnant, but we wondering when the writers were going to cut to the proverbial chase before mid-season. Instead, another curb ball was thrown our way, and knowing that the real Amy hasn’t been seen all season leaves much to be answered, probably to many peoples’ dismay. Knowing that Amy is about to give birth brings even more questions regarding the importance of baby Pond.

Many could also probably be able to figure out the partial role of the infamous eye patch lady that Amy has been seeing all season. Yes, I have neglected to mention this woman in previous reviews, but you are all smart fans, and no doubt, you assumed what was suspected all along as the woman acted as some sort of nurse to Amy’s labor. But nothing is ever simple in the Whoniverse and since we have seen a lot of publicity stills featuring this character in next week’s episode, she has a bigger role to play in introducing the Pond bundle of joy into the world … err … universe.

Speculations and revelations aside, “The Almost People” was a satisfying conclusion to a very traditional two-parter. I know I used that term very frequent last week but two-parters are a dime a dozen that either fill their spot nicely with importance and substance or they just become forgetful (I’m looking at you, Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks). Maybe it was the anticipation of the cliffhanger that was to follow but for me I found myself very emotionally invested in this episode. The impending war that the Gangers try to spark with the humans felt believable as they swore to conquer the mainlands of the world only after they took out their own real counterparts. Between their own plotting and Foreman Cleaver’s desire to see them wiped off the island by a rescue team, both sides felt like they would eventually come to blows. They didn’t, as the common thread of logic in Doctor Who stepped in with the Doctor (in both forms) trying to reason with each sides’ right to exist.

Speaking of both the Doctors, Matt Smith once again showed how much he keeps evolving as he played both the Timelord and his doppelganger with humorous and, at times, sinister gusto. It’s no doubt hard to play two parts let alone the same part in two different forms, but Smith succeeds well giving us some very amusing dialogue embellishing the Doctor’s own vanity towards himself in the most extreme degree. Smith also does a great job of muddying the waters so that the viewer is never too sure who the real Doctor is by making them erratic, charming, and very serious when need be.

Another shout out must be given to actress Sarah Smart and her innocently disturbing role of Jennifer. While last week she played Jennifer (and eventually her Ganger) straight to match her affection for Rory, she spins it on its heals this week creating a morbid facsimile of her former self leaving the viewer uncertain of who he was really siding with, the real or the fake. This only continues to prove my notion on the potential of the Gangers and the so-called programmable flesh. While by episode’s end the potential for such a creation to return seems 50/50, there is much hope, even if it was left on a sour note by the horrendous visual of Jennifer’s mutating ganger body. I’ll definitely place myself in the majority and say that the CGI effects of the John Carpenter-inspired mutant Jennifer looked awful and not on sight, just design. I don’t know how this happens every so often on Doctor Who, but sporadically you get that one monster each season that special effects just can’t help and the mutant Jennifer may surpass the creature in Series Three’s “The Lazarus Experiment” as the least believable creation in current Doctor Who.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I love what they have done with Rory. For someone once written off as a Mickey copy, Arthur Darvill has really been given room to shine and be heroic instead of another bumbling boyfriend/husband. The sub plot involving his pursuit of escape with Jennifer gave Rory the chance to be heroic but foolish, if not by the flaw of deception and the scene where he chastises Jennifer’s ganger for the death of her real self created much tension. Now that he has to join the Doctor in the search for his real wife, there is more room to see this new Rory Pond sans the Williams become one of the best male companions in the show’s run.

With that in mind, what of next week’s mid season finale, aptly titled (with fandom glee) “A Good Man Goes to War?” For the first time in awhile, I have no real idea of what is about to happen and when I have thought the internet has had it figured out, I second guess it, probably for the better. With high stakes to ensue including the return of the Cybermen, Sontarans, and the Silurians as well as the reveal of River Song’s true identity, Doctor Who may have outdone itself on anticipation but I don’t want to rush to conclusions and neither should anyone else. Just enjoy the ride.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vna3NcIZS3w&w=560&h=349]

All Photos Credit: BBC America

Rating: 8 out of 10 (given a .5 boost for the cliffhanger)