The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People
Story 217, Episodes 775-776, Series 6 Episodes 5-6
Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor
Companions: Amy Pond, Rory Williams
A textbook moral dilemma unfolds in a story that while a bit odd in places, is well-served by some great performances, especially from Matt Smith.
The Review
I wasn’t expecting too much revisiting this story for the first time in eight years, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The conceit is in the 22nd century, the Flesh has been discovered, programmable matter. In an old island monastery, workers pump acid controlling these Flesh avatars as the frequency of fatal accidents is quite high. A solar storm hits, and those Flesh avatars no longer fall apart when not being controlled, they’re here, permanently, with the exact memories and personalities of the originals. So, what do you do now? The best crew/Flesh avatar member is Cleaves, played expertly by Raquel Cassidy, the leader of the group. She’s a cynical woman, but it turns out she’s only that way because she’s dying of an inoperable blood clot. Without Cassidy’s performance, this story would suffer as she expertly portrays both Cleaves.
The next best performance falls to Sarah Smart as the enigmatic Jennifer who instantly is attracted to Rory but ends up becoming the most radical Ganger, horrified by the ill-treatment of the Flesh. It’s an intentionally unsettling performance that gets ruined by some very bad CGI when she just turns into a Flesh monster at the end. The weakness come in the other three, the male crew members, who never really quite form into shape. The story also doesn’t have two of each person survive, with two Gangers and one human in Cleaves escaping unharmed. The Doctor drops them off at a press conference which is a hopeful ending that they’ll change the world, but just feels kind of off.
So, what holds it all together? Amy and Rory are fine, but the star is Matt Smith. Evasive as ever, the Doctor gets a Ganger double in the second part, and Smith plays both Doctors with a hidden malevolence that is just creepy. Not every Doctor is as dark as the Eleventh is at his core, and it serves this story spectacularly. When it’s revealed the two tricked everyone into thinking which is which, it’s a startling moment revealing Amy’s prejudice toward the Ganger Doctor was actually aimed at the Doctor himself. Of course, this is even more ironic once we learn Amy was just inhabiting a super-advanced Ganger and is actually being held prisoner about to give birth. The tension is always brooding in this story, and the philosophical questions remain relevant.
While the Twelfth Doctor acts cold and distant, at his core he’s a sweetheart. I think the opposite is true for the Eleventh Doctor, and Matt Smith shows that perfectly in one of his most successful performances.
9/10 It’s maybe a bit padded, but we’re seen classic Who around here, we can handle it
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 