A woman pushes one of her fellow workers into the acid tank where he burns and he later returns again, as his doppelganger. Rory (Arthur Darvill) plays darts with Amy (Karen Gillan) whilst the Doctor (Matt Smith) still attempts to get a fix on whether Amy is pregnant or not. He volunteers to drop them off for fish and chips, but Amy wants to be a part of whatever he's up to. So what was he up to on the sly, it couldn't really have been landing on that island as that was the result of the freak solar storm, or was it? A solar tsunami strands them on an island, housing a monastery. Doctor: "behold a cockerel, love a cockerel." Referring to the weather vane. Always have to have one of those around. Rory says it's not medieval as he can hear Dusty Springfield. Being the Doctor he can't resist nosing around.
They got here by accident and acid is being pumped off the island in unstable looking pipes. Inside they notice the people's doubles on harnesses. The Doctor shows one of them his ID, he's from the meteorological department. Another solar wave is about to hit them. They're a factory and the woman, Cleaves ( Raquel Cassidy) tells Dicken (Leon Vickers) to scan them for viruses or bugs. The Doctor asks to see their "critical systems," she knows which one he means. Was it me or did he already know what the critical system was and where it would be? He had to go and put his hand inside the tank and we all know what will happen now.
The material inside the tank is known as 'the Flesh' and it can replicate itself; "manipulating living matter into anything." Doctor: "Only living things grow." They mine acid using "gangers" doubles of themselves. The Doctor was scanned by the Flesh when he stuck his hand in, and he "felt it in my mind" and it also reached out to him. He monitors the progress of the solar storm on his snowglobe! Jennifer (Sarah Smart) replicates herself in a demo for them. He wants to take them off the island in his TARDIS.
They use solar power on the island and the alarm sounds. Cleaves won't prepare for the storm. The Doctor needs to check the storm and is involved in yet another climb to the top of the weather vane. (As in the episode Daleks in Mahattan when he climbed the Empire State Building and in last season's The Vampires of Venice episode. There has to be a vane of some sort involved, which includes a climb.) "I have to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose." He falls off the ladder. Everyone was out for an hour and he says plenty can happen in an hour. Rory comforts Jennifer, who takes a shine to him. The gangers return to pure flesh and the Doctor says they've gone "walkabout." Buzzer (Marshall Lancaster) mentions the Isle of Sheppy where a ganger killed his operator. The Doctor tells them they need to know their gangers have their memories (thus his double will have his memories too.)
Jennifer throws up some pure flesh, she wants to live. The Doctor heats up a plate and gives it to Cleaves who holds it as if it was cold. She'll stabilize eventually. Doctor: "Please trust me I'm the Doctor." Amy's worried about Rory as he hasn't returned with Jennifer. Doctor: "Always with the Rory." If the Doctor can talk with them then he can put things right. Jennifer is a ganger and searches for Rory, who hides. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS to find it's sunk into the acid and so do his shoes in the process. Amy searches for Rory alone and comes across the Eye-Patch woman (Frances Barber) again. That's twice in this episode alone. Jennifer noticed Rory's kind eyes. The Flesh is replicating the Doctor and the words, "trust me" can be heard. What's with Dicken and his sneezing, is that so we can tell he's not a ganger, or is it some way for them to defeat the gangers, infect them with human bugs; since Cleaves had them scanned for bugs when they first arrived. The gangers have taken the acid suits so they can now "strike at will."
Jennifer is happy Rory called her by name and kisses him on the cheek, Amy's lucky to have him. Rory returns with her and says they need to protect her. The Doctor needs size 10 shoes and has "very wide feet." Convenient losing his shoes wasn't it, let's see what sort of shoes his doppelganger will be wearing, oh well maybe it won't come down to shoes in the end. Just like Dicken and his sneezing. The Doctor says they're becoming people with souls. Cleaves arms herself witha cattle prod and electrocutes ganger Buzzer.
She's antagonized the others by stopping his heart and this means war. The Doctor speaks in a northern accent, "Oh well I'll just go up t'foot of stairs; aye by gum." Cleaves is adamant "monsters need to be destroyed and it's us and them." Which the others, including Jimmy, (Mark Bonner) all repeat. "Us and them" is also uttered by the gangers. They head for the "most fortified and defendable room in the monastery" the chapel and Rory leaves them to search for Jennifer again, that was like deja vu, he already looked for her once. Like looking for a ganger in a room full of doubles. Amy's peeved he didn't come inside with her.
Will they have Doctor ganger on their side now to reason with them, or will he on the side of the gangers. Doctor: "...about to get even more insane-e-rer." As the Doctor's double appears and he just had to be in the chapel where they barricaded themselves in, like he was waiting for them there.
Great to see Rory taking a stand against the others; that none can shake him in his resolve in protecting the innocent Jennifer, not even Amy. There's no need for Amy to be jealous, don't think she was but she did appear to be perturbed he didn't listen to her and she had to go looking for him this time round, usually it's Amy who does the wandering off, or disappearing. But that's something Rory would do if that had been Amy, as said he's done so in the past. Also he's had plenty to put up with, including, he believed, her attraction towards the Doctor. So he's come a along way from when we met him the season 5 opener and has the courage to take a stand when all are against it. Don't think anyone quite expected him to do that.
Oh the ganger Doctor, he looked evil and fancy him, (some do) the real Doctor losing his shoes like that in the acid, wouldn't have expected that of him. Still it was a funny scene, or do we read something more into it. At least there wasn't any mention of the Doctor's future that awaits him this time round. Though why can't the TARDIS determine if Amy's pregnant or not and I hope we get the reveal on the Eye-Patch woman pretty soon too.
Raquel Cassidy appeared with Matt Smith in the BBC series Party Animals.
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