Answering another distress call the TARDIS has decided that the Doctor is too worried about Amy’s pregnancy and should instead go focus on some acid miners who live in a monastery and play Dusty Springfield. Getting there they find (what was already established in the cold open) that the people running the place are copying themselves (making “gangers”) in order to perform dangerous acid harvesting tasks. Anyway, after a storm disrupts the power in the castle the copies get disconnected from the originals and everyone starts freaking out because they are suddenly being forced to deal with an existential crisis that was barely even all that edgy when Christopher Nolan made a movie about it.
So, of course, the two sides break off and start trying to kill each other. Everything is rather rushed though, so the only really fun part of the whole episode comes from the Doctor asking for some new shoes since his other ones got eaten up in the acid pool that the TARDIS is in. At least, with the introduction of the Ganger Doctor at the end of the episode we have a setup that might force the next episode take a few twists.
The best thing about this episode was Rory’s sudden gaining of a backbone. After a season and a half of clinging to Amy trying to just be safe, he seems to finally be taking some heroic initiative in trying to help one of the gangers whose plight as someone who has been uploaded into an imperfect body. This is clearly something he can relate to, and it doesn’t hurt that she’s a cute woman who is prone to hugging him and kissing his cheek before telling him how lucky Amy is. This all leads to him actually actively choosing to wonder away from Amy multiple times during the episode. Clearly, he and Amy are going to have a talk about this in the near future.
While many felt that The Curse of the Black Spot was a bit too simple and hokey, it was at least fun. This episode was far from fun as it was too busy just trying to make sure we were all kept up with the situation. This made it feel like the most un-Moffat Who yet, considering even the most complex Moffat episodes are all full of a good fun. Here’s hoping that next week will give us more whimsey since it already has the plot mostly set up.
Oh, and Eye Patch Lady popped up again. This is an even less subtle runner than Bad Wolf. Let’s hope we meet this woman soon.
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