Doctor Who 6x06: The Almost People
My reaction is a little later this week since
a) I missed the first 5 minutes because I'd been grocery shopping with my flatmate jenepel and it took longer than we thought so I needed to watch that before I could react
and
b) We're having a big Book Quiz here today where at least 20 people are coming, so after Doctor Who we had to eat, bake and clean and by the time all that was done it was 3 am and there was no time for rewatching or posting.
So now, I have a bit of time before I have to go to quiz prep so I finally bring you:
Thoughts:
1. Ha! I enjoyed that opening teaser with the ganger Doctor adjusting and seeing bits of his former selves come out. Very amusing and a nice call back to his history (we seem to be getting a lot of that this series and I like it). I loved the added touch of using Tom Baker's voice. Well played, DW, well played.
2. I have SO much love for the Doctor talking to himself and finishing each other's sentences, very enjoyable to watch. Also love the conversation they/he have about getting Amy to trust him... very, very interesting in light of what happens at the end.
3. How much did I love the references to the TARDIS? The whole "Tough old sexy", "Tough old dependable sexy" conversation made me grin like crazy! Loving the continuity on that point!
4. If the Doctor and his Ganger switched places then that means it's the real Doctor Amy was talking to in the hallway. Which means he now knows of his death (which should be interesting I think). But it also confuses me - f that was the real Doctor what was the whole thing with the eyes and him attacking Amy? I mean I know that at that point he was already suspecting Amy was made from the flesh but still it didn't make sense. Unless he can sense it because he's the Doctor - or like he and the ganger Doctor have some kind of psychic connection or something.
5. Rewatching those scenes when Amy is interacting with both Doctor's is quite fascinating - I mean she's so fixated on the Doctor being real and his ganger being almost real that it's incredibly ironic given what we learn at the end - that's SHE's been a ganger all this time. From this I'm infering that she is completely unaware that she's a ganger...
6. I feel like there are a lot of plot holes in the whole Jennifer plot line - she seemed to go from being sad and lost in the last episode to being the big baddie and I don't think we saw enough evolution of that to really make proper sense, but it's DW and she's a one time character so I'll give her the benefit of a doubt. Plus, she was pretty creepy and that mass with all the eyes? BLEGH! very creepy stuff.
7. I quite liked the thing with Jim and his son Adam. I like that the Doctor knew what would get the Gangers (although again I felt the switched sides too easily - there was just too much going back and forth between good and bad in this whole two parter - it's massively confusing). Anyway, back to Jim, it was an interesting evolution and I'm glad that at least one of the Gangers got a happy ending and Adam isn't without a father.
8. The whole Ganger good/Ganger evil thing really has me a bit baffled. I mean we have this whole episode where the Doctor is trying to show them all the Gangers are not necessarily bad. I mean Jennifer went Rogue - and the motivation behind it was sad but the other three were redeemed. And then there's the whole thing about the Doctor and his ganger being the same. So to go from that message to just vapourizing Amy's ganger at the end seems a bit out of context to me. She doesn't know she's a ganger and she's given no time to adjust, no benefit of a doubt that she maybe deserves a chance at redemption either - it's such a vast contradiction from what the whole message of the episode seemed to be that I'm really struggling with it.
9. Okay yeah, that end scene was so intense - Rory being so baffled and reluctantly backing away from Amy, the Doctor reassuring her that he'll find her and then poof, Ganger Amy vapourized. Wow. That was some great, twisty television there. And then of course we've got a very pregnant Amy waking up in the hospital in labour.
So now things like the pos/neg pregnancy make more sense - the greater season arch is coming forth but there are still so many questions.
a) At what point was Amy replaced by the Ganger Amy?
b) Is it something to do with the silence? Or did it begin before this - perhaps off screen? Could it have happened before we see Amy and Rory for the first time in "The Impossible Astronaut"?
c) Why did the flesh make a copy of Amy? Even last week I had an impression the Doctor knew a bit more about what he was dealing with then he let on, so what does he know about all this that we don't? I feel like this is all leading up to something and it's going to be massive.
d) It seems we're meant to believe that the Ganger Doctor may not be gone for good - in their last moments together the Doctor not only give him the sonic, but he also says, "Your molecular memory can survive this you know, it may not be the end". I'm really wondering if this means he'll be the Doctor we see die or if there's another twist we're not expecting coming.
e) What is up with the Sonic? Are there two? Because more than once we see them handing it back and forth and yet the Doctor gives it to his ganger in the monastary and then, once they're back in the TARDIS he vaporizes Amy with it. So either there were two, or someone made a major continuity boo-boo.
f) The Doctor says he had to see the flesh in it's early days... so does that mean we're going to see the flesh again, at a more advanced stage? We did learn in this episode that there are more projects like the one at the monestary and there are a lot of gangers being used out there... perhaps this is a clue to the greater season arch as well?
g) The Doctor says to Amy that he needed to learn how to cut off the connection to the flesh so I guess maybe that's why he had to vaporize her? I'm not fully satisfied with that explanation but I think it will have to do for now.
10. I do wish we'd seen more of Rory's reaction after Amy was vaporized. Poor Rory must be so bewildered. I get why the Doctor didn't give much warning - given what we saw of Rory's interactions with Jennifer he would have fought to keep Amy Ganger in tact I think, but it seems the Doctor knew he had to do this? I don't know. I still feel that vaporizing Amy like that was harsh.
11. There was no preview this week - just a "to be continued" which means next week is a complete mystery and I'm kind of excited by this. I really think it's going to be epic. I also think Steven Moffat is going to be EVIL and the cliffhanger from that ep is likely to be extremely mean since we're looking at a longer break. ACK!
a) I missed the first 5 minutes because I'd been grocery shopping with my flatmate jenepel and it took longer than we thought so I needed to watch that before I could react
and
b) We're having a big Book Quiz here today where at least 20 people are coming, so after Doctor Who we had to eat, bake and clean and by the time all that was done it was 3 am and there was no time for rewatching or posting.
So now, I have a bit of time before I have to go to quiz prep so I finally bring you:
Thoughts:
1. Ha! I enjoyed that opening teaser with the ganger Doctor adjusting and seeing bits of his former selves come out. Very amusing and a nice call back to his history (we seem to be getting a lot of that this series and I like it). I loved the added touch of using Tom Baker's voice. Well played, DW, well played.
2. I have SO much love for the Doctor talking to himself and finishing each other's sentences, very enjoyable to watch. Also love the conversation they/he have about getting Amy to trust him... very, very interesting in light of what happens at the end.
3. How much did I love the references to the TARDIS? The whole "Tough old sexy", "Tough old dependable sexy" conversation made me grin like crazy! Loving the continuity on that point!
4. If the Doctor and his Ganger switched places then that means it's the real Doctor Amy was talking to in the hallway. Which means he now knows of his death (which should be interesting I think). But it also confuses me - f that was the real Doctor what was the whole thing with the eyes and him attacking Amy? I mean I know that at that point he was already suspecting Amy was made from the flesh but still it didn't make sense. Unless he can sense it because he's the Doctor - or like he and the ganger Doctor have some kind of psychic connection or something.
5. Rewatching those scenes when Amy is interacting with both Doctor's is quite fascinating - I mean she's so fixated on the Doctor being real and his ganger being almost real that it's incredibly ironic given what we learn at the end - that's SHE's been a ganger all this time. From this I'm infering that she is completely unaware that she's a ganger...
6. I feel like there are a lot of plot holes in the whole Jennifer plot line - she seemed to go from being sad and lost in the last episode to being the big baddie and I don't think we saw enough evolution of that to really make proper sense, but it's DW and she's a one time character so I'll give her the benefit of a doubt. Plus, she was pretty creepy and that mass with all the eyes? BLEGH! very creepy stuff.
7. I quite liked the thing with Jim and his son Adam. I like that the Doctor knew what would get the Gangers (although again I felt the switched sides too easily - there was just too much going back and forth between good and bad in this whole two parter - it's massively confusing). Anyway, back to Jim, it was an interesting evolution and I'm glad that at least one of the Gangers got a happy ending and Adam isn't without a father.
8. The whole Ganger good/Ganger evil thing really has me a bit baffled. I mean we have this whole episode where the Doctor is trying to show them all the Gangers are not necessarily bad. I mean Jennifer went Rogue - and the motivation behind it was sad but the other three were redeemed. And then there's the whole thing about the Doctor and his ganger being the same. So to go from that message to just vapourizing Amy's ganger at the end seems a bit out of context to me. She doesn't know she's a ganger and she's given no time to adjust, no benefit of a doubt that she maybe deserves a chance at redemption either - it's such a vast contradiction from what the whole message of the episode seemed to be that I'm really struggling with it.
9. Okay yeah, that end scene was so intense - Rory being so baffled and reluctantly backing away from Amy, the Doctor reassuring her that he'll find her and then poof, Ganger Amy vapourized. Wow. That was some great, twisty television there. And then of course we've got a very pregnant Amy waking up in the hospital in labour.
So now things like the pos/neg pregnancy make more sense - the greater season arch is coming forth but there are still so many questions.
a) At what point was Amy replaced by the Ganger Amy?
b) Is it something to do with the silence? Or did it begin before this - perhaps off screen? Could it have happened before we see Amy and Rory for the first time in "The Impossible Astronaut"?
c) Why did the flesh make a copy of Amy? Even last week I had an impression the Doctor knew a bit more about what he was dealing with then he let on, so what does he know about all this that we don't? I feel like this is all leading up to something and it's going to be massive.
d) It seems we're meant to believe that the Ganger Doctor may not be gone for good - in their last moments together the Doctor not only give him the sonic, but he also says, "Your molecular memory can survive this you know, it may not be the end". I'm really wondering if this means he'll be the Doctor we see die or if there's another twist we're not expecting coming.
e) What is up with the Sonic? Are there two? Because more than once we see them handing it back and forth and yet the Doctor gives it to his ganger in the monastary and then, once they're back in the TARDIS he vaporizes Amy with it. So either there were two, or someone made a major continuity boo-boo.
f) The Doctor says he had to see the flesh in it's early days... so does that mean we're going to see the flesh again, at a more advanced stage? We did learn in this episode that there are more projects like the one at the monestary and there are a lot of gangers being used out there... perhaps this is a clue to the greater season arch as well?
g) The Doctor says to Amy that he needed to learn how to cut off the connection to the flesh so I guess maybe that's why he had to vaporize her? I'm not fully satisfied with that explanation but I think it will have to do for now.
10. I do wish we'd seen more of Rory's reaction after Amy was vaporized. Poor Rory must be so bewildered. I get why the Doctor didn't give much warning - given what we saw of Rory's interactions with Jennifer he would have fought to keep Amy Ganger in tact I think, but it seems the Doctor knew he had to do this? I don't know. I still feel that vaporizing Amy like that was harsh.
11. There was no preview this week - just a "to be continued" which means next week is a complete mystery and I'm kind of excited by this. I really think it's going to be epic. I also think Steven Moffat is going to be EVIL and the cliffhanger from that ep is likely to be extremely mean since we're looking at a longer break. ACK!