Doctor Who: The Almost People Review (4.5/5)

First, a bit of honest truth- had it not been for the utterly surprising and somewhat harrowing climax, The Almost People would have scored half a point or a full point lower than it has as the majority of the story tended to retread paths laid out well in the first part rather than build on the hugely empathetic story of human/clone rights that showed so much promise last week. Elements such as Cleaves' blood clot and Jimmy's bond with his son felt just as shoehorned in as they did in The Rebel Flesh, only serving to signpost to an irksomely predictable conflict resolution that we've seen one hundred times before on Who. Thankfully, the cast as a whole was on better form this week (even if I still can't remember the names of some of the human workers), with the workers/Gangers adding tension to what at times was a claustrophobic underground romp, and Matt Smith clearly loved having two Doctors in the room, managing to establish witty and yet later totally relevant banter between the Time Lords. The main problem writer Matthew Graham seemed to face here was where to take what could have been an epic action two-parter but instead turned into a conversation-heavy drama that only picked up in terms of setpieces and grand plot twists in the final ten minutes. But if anyone can help turn a story around, it's Steven Moffat, so it's no wonder this episode will live on in the memories of fans as we discovered the Doctors tricked Amy as to which of them was the 'real' one (and now our Doctor knows about his future death- listen for an off remark before the trio enter the TARDIS), and yet even that was just building up to the shocking revelation that the Amy who has been travelling was in fact a Flesh duplicate glimpsing what was happening to her real self in captivity through the Eye-Patch Lady's various appearances. That we now know Amy is pregnant (and trailers prove she's had the baby now) answers just one of many questions posed this and last season- more on them from me later this week- but I have a feeling some of the darkest turns in the TARDIS crew's lives are coming next week, and going on just what we've seen here I cannot wait!