The Rebel Flesh Review
Review for Episode 6x05: The Rebel Flesh. There will be spoilers.
Overview
The Rebel Flesh was the opening episode of another two parter. Written by Matthew Graham (co-creator of the award winning Life on Mars), this episode was called “Troughtonesque” in interviews featuring a classic “base under siege” storyline.
And it was as creepy as heck.
Episode Summery
Thinking about it, this series seems to contain more two part episode than necessary.
With only episodes three and four so far being standalone episodes and episode seven set to present us with a cliff hanger that won’t be resolved till September, I can only hope that Season 6 part 2 will have more single episode adventures.
As mentioned above, this episode was described as “Troughtonesque” and despite being the opening episode (and thus having to establish all the plot points necessary for part two) everything was there to make this a classic example of the “base under siege” concept. Deserted location, small cast of characters and something just begging to go horribly horribly wrong.
Trapped in an acid factory made out of an abandoned monastery with doppelgangers (or gangers) made out of artificial bio-matter the whole thing took on a rather gothic, Frankenstein vibe, accentuated by the Flesh form of Jennifer springing out of the tank in a very Frankenstein’s monster type way.
But this episode was also deeply psychological, plunging straight to the meaning of what it means to be human. Cleaves clearly saw the Gangers as nothing more than machines, equivalent to a fork lift or a microwave. In fact she has more respect for her equipment at one point referring to the battery charger as “she”, while referring to the Gangers as “it”. But as the Doctor’s pointed out the Gangers were flesh and blood with hearts that beat, with the same memories, thoughts, feelings and hopes as those who created them. So does this mean they are in fact human?
Two last things. I thought the sound effects used for the solar storm in the first scene while good were a bit too loud. They rather drowned out the dialogue which I would have liked to have heard.
Two: Artificial matter from which you can create living beings. Can anyone say LOOM THEORY.
The Doctor
This episode was interesting because it for the first time (in my opinion) presented the Doctor from an outsider’s perspective. Several times during this episode (especially when he figured out that Cleaves was a Ganger) we didn’t see how he worked it out, we just saw the after effects, showing us once again that the Doctor is usually two (or twenty) steps ahead of everyone else and the best we can do is hang on for the ride and try not to get eaten. We also got to see his compassion. This is a man who values life above all else, be it Human or Flesh.
I am intrigued as to where the Doctor was going at the beginning of the episode, before the Tsunami struck, and why he was so keen to get the Ponds out of the TARDIS. Is it something to do with Amy’s Schrodinger’s pregnancy? I suspect so.
The Companion
Amy was rather put on the back burner this week, reduced to following the Doctor around, saying WHAT a lot, chasing after Rory and shooting death glares at Jennifer (who frankly deserved it). However this left plenty of room for someone who is quickly becoming one of my favourite companions.
Rory. Good old dependable Rory Williams. Or Rory Pond as he is now. One of the strongest things about Rory is his humanity. Maybe it comes from being or a nurse, or maybe it’s one of the reasons he became a nurse I don’t know. But Rory cares about people. Last week, he was the one to hold Idris as he died, because someone had to.
This week he was no different. In fact you could say he was the antithesis of Cleves. While she was determined to wipe the Gangers out, Rory reached out to Ganger!Jennifer seeing her for the person she really was. He cared about her and made her feel like she more than a lump of Flesh.
That’s why I like him.
The Bad Guy
Now this episode raises some interesting questions. Clearly from the Miners point of view, the Gangers were the bad guy. But at the same time it could be argued that the Gangers were as humans as the people they were copies of. Ganger!Jimmy for example had the same memories of Jimmy’s sons birth as Original!Jimmy as well as the same paternal feelings towards him. Does that make him as human as the original? And note that though the Gangers took the acid suits, it was Original!Cleaves who fired the first shot. Score one for Normal Unthinking Humanity.
Moffat Era Doctor Who has a history of introducing “Bad Guys” who may not be as bad as everyone expects them to be. This week was no different.
Conclusion.
There have been better episodes of Doctor Who, and after last week’s sparkling episode, this one does drag you down to earth with a bump. But it was deep and made me question things, which is what I like from my television shows.
Next Week: The Almost People