The Girl Who Died review
This post will contain spoilers
so if you haven’t watched the episode yet, don’t read any further until you
have done so.
First of all, can we talk about
how amazing Maisie Williams was? I admit that I have never seen Game of Thrones
but have heard such great reviews about her as an actress. I was really looking
forward to seeing her in Doctor Who and I’m so glad she didn’t disappoint. I love
the multiple dimensions of her character Ashildr, who had hints of
vulnerability whilst also channelling enough of a strong character to challenge
the false Odin to war. She also presents a helpful, kind character, but there
were occasions when we saw her evil side coming out. All praise has to go to
Maisie Williams as an actress, because it is not an easy thing for any actor to
play a multi-faceted character, but to do it so well at 18 is simply unbelievable!
At the end of this episode, we revisited
what appears to be the story arc of series 9; the hybrid. A few weeks back, I asked
the question as to whether this would end up being the character played by
Maisie Williams and now it turns out that this may be the case. Having saved
Ashildr, the Doctor has now inadvertently made her immortal. My initial
reaction to this can be summed up simply by the phrase “uh oh”! Having not had
long enough to get to know who Ashildr really is, only time will tell if this
is a good or bad decision on the part of the Doctor, as the character develops
further.
Ever since Capaldi was announced
in 2013, one question has been repeated over and over; how can Capaldi be the
Doctor when he’s been in the show before? Finally, it appears that this might
be explained. I absolutely loved the throwback to The Fires of Pompeii and the
nod to Donna and the tenth Doctor, which I’m sure you all enjoyed as well. So,
if we are to believe what we found out in this episode, the current Doctor was
given (or chose) his current face to remind himself to (quoting Donna Noble)
just save someone. This could work out as a very clever reason why the many
faces of the Doctor are what they are and that, perhaps, the choice is not
random and that Timelords have some level of control over how they look. I’m
sure that this is going to lead to a lot more fan speculation on this issue in
the future.
Although slightly inaccurate, the
idea of Vikings was very clever. Taking a civilisation that are traditionally
known for their strength and power, then turning them into the worst warriors
ever added a certain degree of comedy to this episode. I laughed so much at just
how bad they all were, and found the Doctor’s names for them hilarious and it
is always a good thing to bring humour into an episode to lighten up what could
otherwise be a dull, overly sincere episode.
Episode 5 had a lot of content to
it, some of which lacked depth. However, the inclusion of the comedic elements
made this quite light-hearted in places. On top of this, Maisie Williams gave a
standout performance as new character Ashildr, and she will hopefully deliver
more of the same in episode 6 and in any further episodes in which she makes an
appearance. Overall, a hilarious yet dynamic and compelling episode.
Rating for The Girl Who Died
8/10
Thank you all for reading this
review. Apologies that it’s so late, I’ve had an incredibly busy week, as you’ll
find out in my next post. Stay tuned for that and follow me on all of my social
media links which are below to receive updates from me. Comment below if you
have any thoughts on the episode or have any questions you want to ask me. Until
my next post, keep following, keep smiling and above all keep believing.
TRENT
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