An Hour of Who a Day: May 25: "The Rebel Flesh"

Matthew Graham's second story for the show is a lot like Chris Chibnall's last one. In that story, we got a conflict between humans and Earth reptiles in an isolated area, where both sides do good and bad things and neither comes out as morally superior; here we get a conflict between humans and the doppelgängers they've created in an isolated area, where both sides do good and bad things and neither comes out as morally superior.

Of course, while the basics are largely similar, the devil's in the details, and those details are different enough that this doesn't come out as a pure remake, even if there's frequently a sense of déjà vu. We get quite a bit of backstory about the Gangers and how they've been created by people to be sort of remote controlled clones, mainly so that we understand what's going on. But that's good; they've taken enough care with this that we can sort of see the original people's point, even if the episode is set up so that we're unlikely to agree with it.

But as I said, there is that lingering sense that we've already had this story before, so it's nice to see the changes. The underlying setup is doubly bizarre (there's an island monastery that's mining for acid for some unexplained reason, and solar storms can cause earthquakes and things), but there are some lovely moments. Rory's treatment of the Ganger Jennifer is really lovely, as he's willing to help her even though she (sort of) tried to kill him earlier, in a fit of anguished anger. The interaction between the two Jimmys is handled well, as neither of them seem to be violent, and the cliffhanger is the logical conclusion to all the running around with doubles that we see here.

It's not great, but it's moderately entertaining so far. The question that the next episode is going to have answer, however, is the fate of the Gangers. If they can avoid killing them all, this might turn into a more interesting story than it initially appears to be.