"The Woman Who Lived", by Catherine Treganna
This is an episode that is set up
to play to the best strengths of the BBC and Doctor Who. The BBC has always
been great at recreating a period setting. Duly, we have a beautifully produced
seventeenth-century setting. Doctor Who is frequently at its best in dialogue
heavy moral debates staged between two talented actors, with just a hint of the
fantastical and strange. We get Peter Capaldi and Masie Williams using on the
nature of immortality and the complexities of friendship. The episode is even
written by a writer whose sensibilities are tailored precisely to the themes of
this story: Catherine Treganna, who the two best (and genuinely superb)
episodes of early Tochwood, “Out of Time”, and the Hugo-nominated “Captain Jack
Harkness”. Wearing my tastes on my sleeve, this is the kind of episode I
generally love. And I loved this episode.
There are a couple of niggles I
had, particularly on first watch-through, as the ending of the episode felt a
little lacking in polish: Ashildr/ Me’s realisation that she does care and
betrayal at the hands of Leandro didn’t completely convince, and it felt like
the B-plot and A-plot. But on rewatch, I found most of my problems with the
ending lessened greatly: if nothing else, Peter Capaldi’s joyous response of
“Isn’t it terrible?” to Ashildr/ Me’s realisation that she cares for the
villagers sells the heck out of that scene. And while the hasty killing off of
Leandro is the embodiment of “Rushed Doctor Who ending”, there is a hilarity to
the sheer arbitrariness with which he is dispatched.
And ultimately, the good stuff in
this episode is brilliant, and for the most part it has the common sense to
play to its strengths. Capaldi and Williams play beautifully off each other,
with Williams really showcasing her range in a role that is very distinct from
last week. It helps that they are such distinct performers, separated by
decades of acting tradition: but while both are very different actors, each is
able to hold their own.
It helps that the material they
are given is so strong: both characters have distinct worldviews informed by
their differing experiences of immortality, and so they debate, with neither
being fully wrong or fully right. This aids the episode’s critique of the
Doctor: he is never critiqued for saving Ashildr/ Me, only for not engaging
with her, for running away and leaving her to cope with the loneliness of her
existence without help or guidance. And so the episode ends in a wonderfully
satisyfying place: the Doctor is glad that he saved Ashildr/ Me, that he let her
tidal wave loose on history, and she decides to help the people he rescues and
leaves behind, so that the Doctor’s leftovers can truly be saved. They end
their meeting not as enemies, but something infinitely more complex: friends.
Speaking of complex friendships
(something of a running theme this season, after “The Magician’s Apprentice/
The Witch’s Familiar”), we also get that lovely final scene between the Doctor
and Clara, a scene that opens with another (genuinely lovely reappearance of
the guitar, which has been a lovely integration of Capaldi’s personality into
his performance as the Doctor). While it mostly explores the implications of
Ashildr/ Me’s immortality, the episode is also exploring the nature of the
Doctor’s friendship with Clara through her absence, with Ashildr/ Me noting
that she is the Doctor’s weak spot, and the Doctor’s casual references to Clara
highlighting the respect and love he’s grown to have for her, and no longer
struggles to express. And the warmth between the Doctor and Clara that is
written all over the final scene is lovely to watch, building the foreboding
for the later parts of the season in the most effective way possible, by
showing us what it is about this Doctor/ Companion dynamic that we’re going to
miss.
A beautiful second half of the
best two part story from the season so far.
Episode Rankings
The Girl Who Died
The Woman Who Lived
The Witch’s Familiar
The Magician’s Apprentice
Under the Lake
Before the Flood
Story Rankings
The Girl Who Died/ The Woman Who
Lived
The Magician’s Apprentice/ The
Witch’s Familiar
Under the Lake/ Before the Flood
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