“The Girl Who Died”, by
Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat
Now that was marvellous.
I think what I loved about it was that it was, for the most part, clearly set up as a middle-of-the road comedy historical - something like “The Shakespeare Code” or “Robot of Sherwood”, only inside of mashing up Shakespeare and witches (or Robin Hood and Robots), we’ve got vikings meeting some random space “deadly warrior race (TM)”, but otherwise don’t seem like all that much. It plays out, at least until the last few minutes, as one would expect such an episode to. But it’s always clear that there’s something more going on under the hood.
Firstly, it’s just based on the personnel involved: Moffat didn’t give this episode to Mark Gatiss or Steven Thompson, or even Gareth Roberts, who does middle of the road episodes better than most, but rarely writes an outright great story (at least on televised Doctor Who). He gave it to Jamie Mathieson, who wrote two of the most popular scripts from last season, and helped co-author the episode himself. Mathieson is, incidentally, emerging as quite the find: he’s now written three very distinct and different episodes, each of a different genre and style, that nonetheless feel clearly like his writing. And the follow up episode has been given to Catherine Treganna, another writer with quite some pedigree from her Torchwood scripts, and who needed to be sold a really good pitch to be persuaded to write for the show. On top of that, it’s the episode where they brought in Maisie Williams, the season’s big name guest star. And she gives a duly brilliant performance, creating a character who is cut from the same cloth as, but nonetheless a distinct role from, Arya Stark.
Then there are the lovely little touches that are scattered throughout the episode: the pre-credits scene, with Capaldi wrestling with a helmet (proper Doctor Who camp!). The musing on the ripples in reality created by time travel. The return of the yoyo! Clara taking charge in the first confrontation with the villains, and almost persuading them to leave: finally, Coleman gets some material in this episode to show off her acting ability, although I still feel she deserves at least one more proper acting showcase before her departure story. The cast of villagers are hilarious, with details like the cut from them picking up swords to chaos breaking out across the village being a brilliant piece of visual humour. Everything about the way the episode uses the Doctor’s ability to speak baby, in particular the line “Babies think laughter is singing”, a lovely piece of dialogue that uses the Doctor’s abilities not for humour, but to create a moment that is alien, haunting, and beautiful. And then there’s my favourite touch of the episode: the aliens who massively outpower this small village being defeated by the tale of a storyteller.
And then there are the last ten minutes: the Doctor’s decision, remembering where he got his face from, his decision about what that means, the ambiguity of Ashildr’s resurrection and the Doctor’s disquieting response as he calms down after bringing her back. The lovely dialogue as he muses on her immortality, and the intriguing development of the season’s hybrid theme that this brings. And then there’s the beautiful and unusual cliffhanger that is quietly haunting: Maisie Williams sells a lot with a look. It sets up a part two that still leaves this episode as a distinct story on its own: I suspect “The Woman Who Lived” will be more of a sequel to this story than a part two of the same story.
Basically, what I loved about the episode was that it showed how even a seemingly relatively bog-standard episode of Doctor Who can be turned into something brilliant when approached from a slightly different angle.
Best episode of the season so far.
Episode Rankings (story Rankings will
return next week)
The Girl Who Died
The Magician’s Apprentice
The Witch’s Familiar
Under the Lake
Before the Flood
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