Doctor Who: The Legends of Ashildr

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Berserk Button: Being betrayed and trapped by Ashildr is one thing, but realizing that Clara's foolish plan to save Rigsy will now cost her her life causes the Doctor to have a Freak Out and threaten the lives of Ashildr and the other Trap Street residents. It's only because 1) Clara calls him off and 2) he's being delivered elsewhere shortly that they even have a chance, and Ashildr is now on a very short leash. The misdirection circuit stops people from noticing the trap street by leaving them momentarily confused whenever they glance upon it. Even if they manage to find their way in, the circuit has the secondary effect of disguising all the residents as human.

The Doctor saves Anah despite knowing he's walking into a trap, because Anahson "needs her mother". The two of them proceed to witness the horrible confrontation and revelations that follow involving him, Me, and Clara... and do absolutely nothing for the remainder of the episode. At least Rigsy cared about what became of the people who saved him and them. The Doctor is prevented from saying anything approaching "I love you", just as he was in " Doomsday", though this time his companion stops him; this is followed up by her invoking a sentiment similar to "Does it need saying?", much like " Journey's End". The fact Clara herself does not say the phrase reflects the promise she made to Danny Pink in " Death in Heaven" that she would never say "I love you" to anyone else. Catherine Gee (26 October 2015). "Doctor Who: The Woman Who Lived, review: 'stand-out episode' ". Telegraph.co.uk. Enemy Mine: Although Clara calms him down before we find out if this was anything more than Freak Out-related bluster, the Doctor claims that not only is he capable of bringing recognized allies such as UNIT and the Zygons down upon Ashildr and trap street, but he's willing to bring in his mortal enemies the Daleks and Cybermen as well. This is not a threat as he (and we) know they would both come to kill. Kaite Welsh of IndieWire also acclaimed the episode, awarding it an A++ grade, the highest score available. She said that the episode marked the "fifth stellar episode in a row", and that it represented "the show doing historical episodes as they're meant to be done. It's like 'Fires of Pompeii', 'Robot of Sherwood' and classic Third Doctor adventure 'The Time Warrior' all mixed into one—literally—electrifying episode". [24] Mark Rozeman of Paste Magazine also responded highly positively to the episode, awarding it a score of 9.6 and saying that it "stands up remarkably as its own story". They closed their review by stating "As with the best Who adventures, it explores more complexities of time travel, whilst never losing a sense of whimsy and fun. It's another home run in a season that, so far, has a pretty great batting average". [25] In print [ edit ] The Girl Who Died Author

Face Death with Dignity: Everyone runs from the raven, despite it being pointless. Though it takes all her courage, Clara does not. In fact, she walks towards it. Also applies to her touching speech to the Doctor before going into the street. After dressing casual for the entire season to this point, the Doctor suddenly decides now is the time to start wearing a sharp new purple velvet number. Continuity Cavalcade: Among the aliens living in the trap street are Cybermen, Ood, Judoon, Sontarans, Silurians and Ice Warriors. The Doctor additionally invokes the Daleks during his freakout with Ashildr. Farley, Connor (21 April 2015). "Doctor Who Series 9 Mystery Image & Casting Update". kasterborous.com. Kasterborous Doctor Who News. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015 . Retrieved 18 October 2015. The role [of Odin] was originally supposed to be played by Brian Blessed Gee, Catherine (19 October 2015). "Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died: Vikings and an unconventional cliffhanger". Telegraph.co.uk.

Kaite Welsh (25 October 2015). "Review: 'Doctor Who' Season 9 Episode 6, 'The Woman Who L - Indiewire". Indiewire. Super-Persistent Predator: The Doctor says that once the quantum shade is bound to a victim "You could flee across all of time and all of the universe, it would still find you." Odin was originally to have been played by Brian Blessed, who had previously played King Yrcanos in 1986's Mindwarp, and had been offered the role of the Second Doctor in 1966. [6] Blessed, however, was forced to pull out, and was replaced by David Schofield. [7] Broadcast and reception [ edit ] Eldritch Location: The trap street: It's built on Alien Geometries and inhabited by actual extraterrestrials of all kinds.

In the following episode " The Woman Who Lived", the Doctor catches up with Ashildr in 1651 England after 800 years have passed for her. She has become a highwayman, adopting the new name of "Me". While her body has become immortal, the human brain is physically insufficient to contain 800 years' worth of memories, which has evolved her personality: she has lived many lives under different personas, loved and lost many people, most of whom she cannot even remember clearly anymore. The only constant that remained was herself, leading to her developing the new name "Me" to refer to herself - she laments because everyone else she encounters is transient. Welsh, Katie (18 October 2015). "Review: 'Doctor Who' Season 9 Episode 5 'The Girl Who Died' Keeps a Good Thing Going". IndieWire . Retrieved 19 October 2015. The Doctor informs Me that the imminent Great Fire of London was caused by the Terileptils, referring to the Fifth Doctor story, The Visitation (1982). [1] [2] Rollason, Jane. "Level 2: Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died: Jane Rollason: 9781292206134". Book Depository.

Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club highly acclaimed the episode, awarding it a perfect "A" grade – the first of this series – and stated that "the writing, the acting, the directing combine to create what is quite possibly the best episode yet of this Doctor's tenure". He called the episode "fantastically funny whenever it wants to be", but also heavily praised the subplot of the Doctor's face, calling the reveal "wonderfully simple". He closed his review by labeling the episode "a damn triumph. More than that, it's a triumph because it feels so resolutely like a Doctor Who episode", and stated that the episode "remembers that what motivates the Doctor's decisions are fundamentally the same emotions that we all feel, and that's what makes this such a brilliant hour of television". [10] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy also praised the episode, calling it "unlike anything you've seen before". He called the episode "fast-paced, with sharp, funny dialogue and some great clowning from Peter Capaldi" and further praising Williams as "nicely ethereal in the part, without ever overplaying the character's enigmatic nature". He closed his review by saying "while Doctor Who shouldn't be like this every week, the show's boundless variety has always been its biggest selling point, and it's refreshing to see 'The Girl Who Died' break the mould and dare to be entirely unpredictable and different". [20] Copy Protection: The "trap street" method of copy protection is discussed in universe. However, there is at least one trap street that is a real place. As he is adapting a Mire helmet, the Doctor claims he is " reversing the polarity of the neutron flow", a phrase said many times in various ways during Doctor Who, beginning with the Third Doctor. [1] Motifs: Beings returning from death / not being dead even though they appear to be continues as a theme in Series 9, with Anah being revealed to be not actually dead (just in a death-like stasis). Rigsy's transfer of sentence might technically qualify too. Odin's face appearing in the sky to talk to his disciples directly references a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which God does the same thing. [2]invoked The physical damage done to the old man and later to Clara appears to be enough to cause them great pain, and apparently isn't something the Doctor can use regeneration energy to heal (since if he was willing to spare some for Davros he'd certainly do it for her). The rest is ( unfortunately) left to our imagination. a b c Rozeman, Mark (25 October 2015). "Doctor Who Review: "The Woman Who Lived" ". Paste Magazine. Mark Rozeman . Retrieved 26 October 2015. Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Clara demands the Doctor not to become this after she dies, but the Cliffhanger suggests his grief and loneliness are too strong for him to resist the urge, and the next two episodes confirm it. After meeting the Vikings, the Doctor produces a yo-yo in an attempt to impress them with "magic". A former companion, Leela, believes a yo-yo is magical when the Fourth Doctor provides her one to play with ( The Robots of Death, 1977). The Twelfth Doctor previously used one simply to test the gravity in 2014's " Kill the Moon", [1] as did the Fourth Doctor in The Ark in Space (1975). [2] This name derives from the Old Norse name “Áshildr”, composed of two elements: “áss” (heathen god, god, deity), from the Proto-Germanic “*ansuz” plus “hildr” (battle, fight). In turn, the name means “God fights for us”.