Spoilers
Hello, it is Elliott, and welcome to my reaction to the Doctor Who episode; The Woman Who Lived. I will say that this episode was better than last week’s episode. It gave a lot more depth the character of Ashildr or, I guess, me. I am so glad that it did, as it did actually manage to let Maisie Williams show how good of an actress she is, but also it lived up to the hype of her being on Doctor Who. The villain was much more threatening than last week’s villain was and the setting was used much better.
Firstly, I’ve got to talk about Ashildr, and how she’s developed over the centuries. It was really interesting to see and I liked her character a lot more in this episode. The way that she was affected by her immortality is awesome to see and it gave a really vision of how lonely it is to live for so long by having small flashback scene. When we saw the Doctor looking through her journals it really gave a great perspective to why she had grown so cold. Her relationship with the Doctor was done very well, and it worked especially well with just them and no Clara. I loved every scene with both of them in and I loved to see her arch, of gaining her feelings again, through the episode. It really shows that The Doctor needs to guide people, and can guide people, to be the best they can be. The way her immortality was is different and awesome. And I loved seeing her talk about how she could train to be impeccable at doing things because she had so much time.
Sam Swift, hmm, he was very interesting, as a character. Very well acted by Rufus Hound. And served well to the episode in being a character who was just so alive. I loved the scene with him on the gallows and he served as an interesting addition to the episode. I almost hope that he’s not immortal to be honest. Although I do like how they left it open to interpretation.
The Villain. I did like the villain, the prosthetic design was decent and they did a good job of bringing the character to life. It was a very serious threat and a serious villain, which was a nice change from last week. The Villain wasn’t the best, nor was it the most memorable. But they definitely did a good job and it served a purpose to the episode. I think that the ending was resolved a little too quickly. I would’ve liked to see the army do more damage, however, I will say that the way that the resolution was set up was good, in that it wasn’t just random. It was set up previously and didn’t end up being a deus ex machina ending. Kinda in a similar way to the Dalek sewers from The Magician’s Apprentice. Actually, this series has been very good at setting up the resolutions to the episode.
And yes, they actually acknowledged Captain Jack Harkness (then again it is written by Catherine Tragenna, who wrote the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness, wow). Yes, they didn’t just ignore him. I mean he is such a big part of the Whoniverse, and to have an episode about an immortal without referencing the immortal character would be quite ridiculous. Oh and the line “He’ll get ’round to you at some point” was so amazing and so… Jack. Also, this episode really gave me a lot of perspective on the fact that Jack is a fixed point, whereas Ashildr is not, as she can die. I really liked this because it gave more significance to Jack’s immortality. Plus, it allowed a different concept of immortality.
I liked that Clara was only in the end of this episode, because it meant that The Doctor and Ashildr could go together well and she could be like the companion. Again, something that made her character underwhelming last week. Whereas she was given time to shine this week, in that she could become the companion. I do like that her absence was acknowledged and explained, even if it was simple. I did also like the scene at the end. That was very nice.
Like I say, I did enjoy this episode a lot. And I’m really glad that Maisie Williams lived up to the hype with her character. I think this episode will probably make me appreciate last episode more. (I did still like that episode though, I will say). This episode had great characters, a great setting and a great story.
Thanks for reading 🙂