Doctor Who-"The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People"

The Doctor looks at his screwdriver on "Doctor Who"
Credit: BBC/BBC America

(Attention all UK readers, I know you've seen the midseason finale already, but it hasn't aired in the US yet. So don't say ANYTHING about it. I mean anything! Remember the No Spoiler Rule! Thank you.)

My review of the two-parter is after the jump.

I'm going to start by saying that I wasn't exactly impressed by these episodes. Honestly I'm a little disappointed. This probably stems from the disappointment that comes from when I've seen what a show can do. When I've seen that, I can easily be disappointed by an episode (or in this case, two-parter) that wasn't particularly entertaining. With the exception of the last few minutes, this two parter was average. I'm not saying it was bad by any means, it just wasn't particularly good. 

The idea of the Almost People was an interesting one, it's just one that would have played better in one more condensed episode rather then in two episodes. There was a lot of running around, both literally and in the plot. It was a lot of running around that I lost interest in pretty quickly. I stopped caring about which side the Almost People were fighting for, and who was fighting who about half way through the second episode. The only thing that stuck with me about these people was the ending. These actors didn't grow from being flat cardboard cutouts until the last 20 minutes when gangers were sacrificing themselves to save the humans. That was where the actors actually showed signs of emotion (for the better) and my enjoyment of the episode went up a little.

Even if the plotline with the Almost People wasn't entertaining, there was enough other material there to save the second part. Matt Smith made the Doctor talking to his clone incredibly entertaining. The writing there was sharp and pretty funny. We also had Amy tell the real Doctor about his death (from the premiere). That should have some interesting effects in next week's episode (and for the rest of the season). 

Then, there's that ending, and it was quite the ending. Here's what I was able to work out: The Amy we've been following since the premiere (or even further back) wasn't Amy at all. It was a ganger made from the flesh. So the Doctor disintegrates the flesh Amy and we're sent to a weird white area. In this area, the real Amy is pregnant and about to give birth, under the direction of a weird lady with an eyepatch. That is a lot of information to take in during the last two minutes, but this ending helped make the episodes average. 

Honestly, I didn't like these two episode as much as I wanted to like them. The Almost People made villains that weren't very entertaining. But that ending made me very excited for next week's midseason finale. 

What did everyone else think?