As you’ve no doubt noticed, BBC America has given this new season of Doctor Who a promotional push in the U.S. like no season before it. I pass at least two prominent Who billboards on my usual commute to work and friends have started to ask me where they might best start watching. I usually tell them either to go back to the Eccleston season and start from there or check out the fifth season, since the beginning of the Moffatt/Smith era provides a pretty good point of entry. (That’s no slight against Tennant, whose work I love. But by the time he joins a lot of wheels are already spinning.) But, honestly, I could just as easily steer them toward something like “The Rebel Flesh.” Not because it’s a great episode; I think it’s just a pretty good episode. But it’s certainly a representative episode that would show new viewers what Who’s all about.
For starters, it takes place, as many episodes do, in a familiar setting that’s just a little off. The episode opens on some workers going about their business while tending to a vat of acid. When some horseplay sends one of them tumbling into the vat, everyone’s response is weirdly blasé. “It’s not like anyone was ‘urt,” one says, and that’s correct. More or less. It turns out that the workers can treat injuries so casually because they’re not risking their own bodies at all, simply manipulated a kind of synthetic flesh that does the dangerous vat work for them.
It’s not that simple, though. First-time viewers might not necessarily see the dreadful implications of the scenario right away, but veterans surely will. If there’s one theme Doctor Who returns to again and again, it’s that life is precious, freedom a birthright, and those who exploit either are doing wrong. Even if they’re doing it unwittingly, as seems to be the case here. The Doctor picks up on this immediately, not long after the TARDIS arrives to the accompaniment of a Dusty Springfield song. (“My mom’s a massive fan of Dusty Springfield.” “Who isn’t?” Truer words…) What’s more, he seems to have some familiarity with The Flesh, the victims/villains of “The Rebel Flesh” (and its upcoming follow-up “The Almost People.”) Everyone involved seems arrogant that the “fully programmable matter” might not always be content to do their bidding. But it doesn’t take long for events to prove them wrong.
This is, in essence, a pretty familiar rebel robot story, albeit with gooier antagonists than most. In fact, the poor/scary Gangers frequently reminded me of the Replicants from Blade Runner. Having developed consciousnesses, they seem puzzled, then angry, that anyone would want try to deny them full rights as living beings. But, familiar or not, it’s an atmospheric, well-played (if a tad draggy) installment. I particularly liked Rory’s interactions with the Flesh version of Jennifer (Sarah Smart). In fact, if there’s any element this season that’s surprised me it’s the way it’s made Rory seem essential to the show. Where he could have been dead weight or a device to defuse any sexual tension between Amy and The Doctor, he’s been well used all year, and Arthur Darvill has risen to the challenge. (Even if, as some commenters have pointed out, he dies with an almost Kenny-like frequency).