Doctor Who – “The Woman Who Lived” Review

Note: The final five minutes of the broadcast were cut off in my location and with no timeline, I’m posting my review as it stood, sans thoughts on the final minutes. Once I have seen this, I will update my review.

In the midst of a heist gone wrong the Doctor stumbled upon an Ashildr from a time long after her Viking origins. Most interesting she developed the skill of using different voices. She’s changed quite a bit over the years. The plucky enthusiastic girl we met previously is gone. She hardly remembers her village much less her name. She’s completely detached from others and even goes by Me because it is entirely singular. She’s gone though a lot, learned much, and become cynical in her very long life.

She lost a lot. We really got a chance to look inward on what she became and her journeys over the years. She had kids and lost them. People came and went none of them having the distinct advantages she did. The flashbacks were a delight as we saw glimpses of her through time and the actual things he was reading in her diaries.

The Doctor became her sidekick instead of the other way around. It was interesting seeing the normal roles reversed. The Doctor was the one asking questions trying to piece things together. He was taking a backseat as Me led them. Yet all the while you got the sense that The Doctor was still very much being the Doctor. Heck, to keep the duo shtick going he pretended to be her dad. It became clear that they do not see things eye to eye. Me was ready to kill without another thought if it wasn’t for the Doctor’s opposition.

This week’s story when you break it down was really an examination about what would happen to a person left to be the only person who was immortal. Her time jaded her and changed her until she was willing to do evil. Her morality had been skewed and rather than accept her own actions and corruption, owning them, she blamed the Doctor.

WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 00:00:01 on 20/10/2015 – Programme Name: Doctor Who – TX: 24/10/2015 – Episode: THE WOMAN WHO LIVED (By Cath Tregenna) (No. 6) – Picture Shows: ***EMBARGOED UNTIL 20TH OCTOBER 2015*** Leandro (ARIYON BAKARE), Me (MAISIE WILLIAMS) – (C) BBC – Photographer: Simon Ridgway

It wasn’t until she first committed her first act of callous evil that she realized what an awful thing she had done was. As the rift opened and she learned she had been betrayed and used that she rethought things. Then it became about her fixing the problem she caused and helping others.

Moments
No puns. Line in the sand. No puns
That lion looked like King Leonidas
The guards quite pleased with £30. A small fortune for the time.

What did you think of the episode?