This feature is an exploration of the idea people living out their lives through mechanically based doubles. While it has a relatively slow opening, it really lets lead Bruce Willis demonstrate his awesome acting skills, and perhaps finally shake off that just an action guy and - wait a second - shit, you know what I’ve done; I’ve got this episode of Doctor Who mixed up with the movie “Surrogates” where the whole idea was lifted from.
Oh well no major issue, this episode revolves around the flesh doubles of people coming to life independent of their controller. But you already knew that, because literally all of it was in the trailer last week. That’s the first criticism I’ve got for this one, there’s nothing in this story that couldn’t fit into thirty seconds, it feels kind of like it hates its own run time and so makes the viewer suffer through slow explanations of what the flesh is, by using (you guessed it) Amy as the one who doesn’t understand the concept and could probably benefit from some picture cards to help her.
Oh and interestingly, Rory’s not in this episode. I mean there’s a guy who looks just like him, but does almost the exact opposite of what Roy would do in any situation. Seriously, he waited around for 2000 years, on the off chance that during those 2000 years something that could destroy and indestructible cube would come along, just because Amy was inside said cube. Yet, when he’s presented with a choice between protecting her and protecting some random woman he met like twenty minutes ago, he goes for the twenty-minutes-ago-girl. Who the fuck is this guy?
Let’s take a look at the supporting characters for this episode. I’d name them, but they’re all so generic, that I can’t actually remember their names. Seriously, not even crazy one. On that point, why, when crazy-one kills one of the doubles and then declares that it’s war, why does everyone else agree?
I mean, the rest of them seem fairly level-headed. Also, looking at crazy-one a bit more draws out another massive hole in this episode. No adult human being reasons the way this woman does. One word described the way she acts and that word is “contrived”. She isn’t this way because she’s stupid, ignorant or shaped by some bad experience. She’s this way because the plot requires it. She makes the decisions she makes, not because she would, but because the writers need her to. Writing characters like this is obnoxious. There should be some sort of rule against it.
Ok, one-eyed lady’s back (anyone else thinking Rani). She puts in a brief appearance for like the third time. God, if only Amy had a friend who was an alien genius and could explain what this is. Why the fuck hasn’t she told the Doctor about this weird lady yet? It’s just getting ridiculous.
Let’s move onto my biggest criticism and this is a weird one. Something was niggling at my mind as I watched this episode, something about the pace, the costumes, the set…then it hit me. David Tennant could have made this episode passable.
Think about it. This episode looks like it comes from the tenth Doctor’s years. I’m not saying that Smith is bad in the episode, just that he doesn’t fit with the mise en scene. It’s like it wasn’t written for him; he’s not as out of character as Rory, but he’s certainly not the Eleventh Doctor.
And it’s a two-parter…what?
We’re now one episode away from the end of this half of the season and the one of the last two episodes is going to be wasted wrapping up this…
This does not make for a happy me.
Oh, spoiler warning; this episode ends with the flesh making a version of the Doctor. So, a perfect duplicate of the Doctor, complete with two hearts and all his memories. An exact copy of him. Wonder how he’s gonna survive that inevitable death that’s coming…
Rory is a man slut. Let him be.
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