Who Review: The Woman Who Lived

Tracking down a dangerous amulet, the Doctor finds himself in seventeenth century England. He disrupts the attempted robbery of a carriage by a highwayman known as “The Nightmare.” To his surprise, this highwayman turns out to be Ashildr. But this is not the same Ashildr that he left in the Viking village. Immortality has changed her, and not for the better. And it seems her desire for danger and excitement has teamed her up with some questionable company…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

While this is the sequel to last week’s episode, “The Girl Who Died,” it transpires that these two stories are really two stand-alone episodes connected by a common character. “The Girl Who Died” explains why Ashildr is still alive 800 years later, and gives some character context, but you don’t need to have seen it to follow this story. The producers appear to have understood this since we didn’t get a “Previously…” recap at the beginning, making this an unusual two-parter. But that’s good. Not every multi-part story has to follow the formula.

Eighteen-year-old Maisie Williams (of “Game of Thrones” fame) puts in a great performance as the young-but-old Ashildr, now going by “Me,” because that’s the only name she ever remembers. Also notable is the fact that this is one of the few Doctor Who stories written by a woman (Catherine Tregenna, who has previously written episodes of Torchwood, Eastenders, and Casualty). Historically, Doctor Who has been fairly cutting edge in the fact that women have played a key role in its life (Verity Lambert, the first producer, to name just one). However, there haven’t been many female writers. In the classic era, Barbara Clegg wrote the Fifth Doctor story “Enlightenment,” and Rona Munro, wrote the last Seventh Doctor story, “Survival.” In the New Series era, we’ve had Helen Raynor, who wrote the Season Three Dalek two-parter, and… I can’t think of any others until now! But Catherine isn’t the only woman writing for Who this season. Sarah Dollard, an Australian writer working in the UK, has written Episode 10, “Face the Raven.”

Speaking of writing, the fact that this and the previous episode work as stand-alones is underscored by the fact that they were written by two different people. Usually, a two-part story is penned by the same person.

Enough of the interesting factoids! What about the story? I thought it was good. A different pace from last week, with a lot more introspection and soul-searching, and less action. I don’t recall much CGI work aside from the brief alien shoot-out near the end. That’s not a bad thing, but it does show that the focus of this story was on what it means to watch loved ones die, and how that affects someone who, as a result, chooses to live alone. Ashildr has become hardened, desperate to see time pass quickly, and losing sight of the value of friends, even the value of life itself. While this is told in terms of Ashildr’s experience, it clearly reflects on the Doctor, as we see in the hug he gives Clara at the end. If I didn’t know Clara would be leaving soon, I would be very VERY suspicious.

Ashildr’s new friend, Leandro, is a leonine creature (i.e., he’s a anthropomorphic lion). The last time I recall leonine aliens in Doctor Who was in the Fourth Doctor story, “Warrior’s Gate” (Romana’s last story). I don’t think they are the same race, however. The “Warrior’s Gate” aliens were Tharils, while Leandro says he’s from Delta Leonis.

The only minor quibble I have with this episode (aside from the return of the sonic sunglasses–NOOO!!) was Ashildr’s sudden realization that she actually does care about people. And perhaps it’s not so much that she suddenly showed concern for the townsfolk under fire from the aliens, but that she told us, “Oh my! I do care!” The old writing adage, “Show, don’t tell” really ought to have kicked in here. In the heat of the moment, we should have seen Ashildr trying to help people find cover, pleading with the Doctor to do something, etc. And then, when it’s all over, and she’s relieved and celebrating, the Doctor draws her attention to the fact that she cares more than she thought. That would have been much better than having Ashildr announce her change of heart to everyone.

But it’s a minor quibble. Otherwise, the BBC have delivered yet another cracking episode of Who. If this standard maintains, Season Nine will go down in the annals as one of the classics.

Next week–the Zygons return!

That’s what I thought. What did you think?