A solar tsunami sends the TARDIS hurtling towards a futuristic factory on Earth, where human Doppelgängers ("Gangers") are used to mine dangerous acid. They use the white clone goo to create avatars, which can safely mine while the actual people are controlling them with their thoughts.The Doctor would much rather have this adventure alone, but Amy and Rory insist on coming along. The factory is dangerous. Dangerous enough, in fact, to dissolve the ground around the TARDIS with acid and cause her to sink into the earth. It also dissolved the Doctor's shoes, so he has to borrow a pair of boots.The solar tsunami, however, causes the Gangers to separate from the people they're being controlled by. The clones are now separate, independent people, retaining all of their original memories and horrified by the fact that they're not "real". They can remember every second of their "original's" life and feel every emotion they've ever experienced. The white Flesh rebels against the change, and causes their faces to distort.The Gangers quickly feel threatened enough to start a rebel faction against the real humans. This escalates into an all-out battle, cut off only when it turns out that the Flesh has also made a copy of the Doctor.
Captain Obvious: The Doctor determines that "something corrosive" is flowing through the pipe marked "DANGER: CORROSIVE."
And again after the storm causes leaks. To be fair, he did just almost get a face-full of Hollywood Acid.
Doctor: It is too dangerous in here with acid leaks!
Ceiling Cling: Ganger!Jennifer pulls one off when stalking Human!Jennifer.
Chekhov's Gun: A possible example-to-be for the next episode: Dicken's sneezing may be being set up as a means to differentiate him from his Ganger.
The Doctorgänger still wearing the right shoes after the Original stepped into the acid and had to replace them might turn into one, as well. Remember - The Flesh mimics the clothing worn by the original the instant it is scanned, and the Doctor walked out into the acid after that.
Comes up as a plot point for the next episode as the shoes are used to tell the two doctors apart.
Cloning Blues: While creating the Gangers isn't quite cloning science-wise, this trope is otherwise in full effect.
Continuity Nod: The trailer indicates the Gangers may be the same as, or similar to, the state Lady Cassandra was in. They also seem to be "forced-growth clones" like Chip. The Doctor seems somewhat familiar with the flesh used to create them, suggesting it is in a "primitive state".
As in "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky," the Doctor encounters a large tank made to clone someone, and the clone has all the memories of the original person.
There's also considerable resemblance totheAutons, which is clearly the cause of Rory's extreme sympathy to the Gangers, and their identity crisis.
Rory mentions to Jennifer that the Doctor's number one rule is "Don't wander off".
Creator Thumbprint: MatthewGraham likes the image of a weathervane foreshadowing something important, characters playing darts, using 70's music in his shows, and casting Marshall Lancaster as a bumbling type of character.
It's revealed that in between adventures, Amy and Rory play darts while the Doctor listens to Muse.
Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: One of the Gangers tells his Original about the birth of... his? their? son which convinces the originals that the Gangers are more human than they thought. Until Human!Cleaves messes everything up.
Crowning Music of Awesome: The workers listen to "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, which clues the Doctor into the fact they are not in mediaeval times, and later on lets the characters know the Gangers are more human than initially thought.
Fan Nickname: The fandom seems to have dubbed him "The Doctorganger."
Funny Background Event: During the scene where the humans meet up with their Gangers, behind the Doctor you can see Rory react strongly to Jennifer squeezing his hand too tight.
Genre Savvy: Rory. "I am telling you, when something runs toward you it is never for a nice reason!"
Genre Throwback: Basically, Matthew Graham set out to write a Second Doctor story: small cast, minimum amount of effects (mostly practical and make-up) and a very dark, tense tone.
Among the Second Doctor tropes on display: A near-future setting, an isolated base in a remote location, an external threat and the possibility of internal treachery, lots of corridors, a trigger-happy paranoid base commander, and a junior member of staff with Photographic Memory who gets compared favourably to a computer.
Let's Get Dangerous: Usually timid Rory pounces on Cleaves when she kills Ganger!Buzzer
Lightning Can Do Anything: Although causing a power surge is hardly the silliest thing it's ever accomplished in fiction.
Meaningful Name: "Ganger" comes from both "doppelgänger" (a duplicate of a person) and "ganger" (a menial labourer assigned to a large work gang, i.e. on old-fashioned railroads).
Never Say "Die": Gangers, being considered implements, are not killed but "decommissioned." Justified, ish in that the originals don't consider them alive to begin with.
Nice Guy: Rory is seen this way by the Jennifer-Ganger, who says he has "kind eyes."
No OSHA Compliance: Partially justified in that military facilities and their contractors are usually exempt from many environmental laws.
Not to mention, using the Gangers is a safety procedure. They are considered mere tools by the humans, so if one is destroyed it's no different to them from a pair of rubber gloves getting damaged.
Oop North: The monastery seems to be on an island off the Yorkshire coast.
Were there any islands to be found there, at least.
There are islands off the coast a bit further north, though. Holy Island (Lindisfarne) even has a monastery on it.
Paranoia Fuel: So how are you going to tell the original and the copy apart? Well, you can't, unless the Ganger is incomplete and has that smooth, transparent face. Just hope you won't be seeing it in the mirror.
Percussive Maintenance: A weird example. Ganger!Jennifer at one point emphatically beats her fist against her chest; with each hit she instantly shifts between looking normal and look semi-Ganger.
To Blade Runner: Humanoids, created for work, which become more human, and one of the workers "decommissions" a Ganger just as Deckard "retires" replicants.
To The Thing (1982): The flesh can mimic anyone or anything, and can stretch body parts.
Buzzer even refers to a ganger as "you thing".
To Avatar: The workers control clones of themselves from harnesses, and the clones (supposedly) become inactive when not being controlled.
To Full Metal Jacket: One of the workers calls Jennifer "Twinkletoes" for making a mistake.
To Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): the early shots of Ganger!Jennifer slowly taking on definition are rather...familiar. There's also the general idea of exact duplicates killing and replacing their originals.
The Gangers' Voldemort-esque appearance seems to be lampshaded when Ganger!Jenny says she'll take care of 'the spare one'.
Along with Voldemort, the design (and abilities) of the Gangers is likely a shout out to Odo and the other Changelings.
Skintone Sclerae: Inverted — the Gangers' skin resembles the white of a human eye.
Sleep Cute: Rory and Amy wake up on the floor next to each other after the tsunami hits.
Troubled Production: In an episode of Confidential, the cast described the filming as "cursed" due to the extreme cold, a broken heater, and an injured director.
Used Future: It is the 22nd century, and the acid mine in the monastery is very dark and battered.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Gangers are designed to be expendable — their purpose is to mine the acid, a horribly dangerous job, without putting humans at risk. Naturally, they aren't happy about this.
"We're not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We're talking about sacred life. Is everyone clear on that? Everyone clear? Good."
What The Hell Minor Character?: Despite the Doctor starting a peaceful dialogue between the humans and gangers, Human!Cleaves kills Ganger!Buzzer, starting a war between the two factions.
