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phoenix64First of all I just want to say that I disagree with a lot of the problems people have with these episodes but I don't want to go through them all. I did want to address the different perspective a rewatch of the episodes offers.
I've found that rewatching "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People" knowing from the beginning that the Doctor's entire reason for being there was because someone took Amy provides a very different experience. For one thing it changes the Doctor's interest in Amy's reaction to the Flesh Doctor quite a bit and it puts more weight on the Doctor's line, "Given what we've learned I'll try to be as humane as possible". Another result is when Amy talks about how she is well and truly frightened I identified that statement immediately with the Amy that isn't there as opposed to the Flesh Amy.
But seeing how differently I viewed things on a rewatch also makes me more inclined to consider it critically flawed as a piece of storytelling because the viewer doesn't really get any breathing room to reassess after the reveal. It's OK for a story with a twist to be somewhat different on a second viewing but it should still be able to work on all the levels it's meant to in a single viewing. The Ususal Suspects and No Way Out come to mind as obvious examples.
So as I said, I disagree with most of the issues people had with the content of the episodes but I think the narrative structure itself "delivered" the content badly.
I've found that rewatching "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People" knowing from the beginning that the Doctor's entire reason for being there was because someone took Amy provides a very different experience. For one thing it changes the Doctor's interest in Amy's reaction to the Flesh Doctor quite a bit and it puts more weight on the Doctor's line, "Given what we've learned I'll try to be as humane as possible". Another result is when Amy talks about how she is well and truly frightened I identified that statement immediately with the Amy that isn't there as opposed to the Flesh Amy.
But seeing how differently I viewed things on a rewatch also makes me more inclined to consider it critically flawed as a piece of storytelling because the viewer doesn't really get any breathing room to reassess after the reveal. It's OK for a story with a twist to be somewhat different on a second viewing but it should still be able to work on all the levels it's meant to in a single viewing. The Ususal Suspects and No Way Out come to mind as obvious examples.
So as I said, I disagree with most of the issues people had with the content of the episodes but I think the narrative structure itself "delivered" the content badly.