Story: The Woman Who Lived
Written By: Catherine Tregenna
Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2015
The Doctor, on the hunt of an ancient artifact, crosses paths with Ashildr (who saved from death and made immortal at the end of the previous episode) who is now living in 1651 as a Highwayman by night and a woman of wealth during the day. She has lived a long time already, and everyone she has loved has died (including her own children to the Black Death) and while she lives longer, her memory doesn't retain all the information of her life. She has forgotten much about her life and only remembers certain things because she keeps many volumes of journals. Her experiences and her losses have made her cold and emotionless.
There is also a plot about an amulet that will open up a portal for Ashildr (now calling herself Me) and her friend (a fire breathing lion man) to escape Earth....that's all fine and good weirdo Doctor Who stuff...but the episode is really a focus on Ashildr and what immortality has done to her, and how this affects the Doctor as well. It is a nice character study, even if it drags a bit in some scenes.
I think the first part of this story was a better episode, but this has a better core idea. The ramifications of some of the Doctor's actions. Did he save her life, or did he make her trapped in a life so long she can barely handle it? It questions the morals of the Doctor's seemingly good intentions and it is a good internal look for both characters about what immortality can mean, and what the loss for someone with it can be. It is a curse really, and this episode portrays it well.
This episode may drag in a few places, and the amulet subplot feels shoehorned in, but where it counts this episode nails it. It isn't about that stuff, and while I understand why it was shoved in, it didn't really need it. It could've focused on these two character pondering their existence and questioning their actions and behaviors...and it would've been good TV in it's own right.
NEXT TIME: Nightmare Scenario
Written By: Catherine Tregenna
Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2015
The Doctor, on the hunt of an ancient artifact, crosses paths with Ashildr (who saved from death and made immortal at the end of the previous episode) who is now living in 1651 as a Highwayman by night and a woman of wealth during the day. She has lived a long time already, and everyone she has loved has died (including her own children to the Black Death) and while she lives longer, her memory doesn't retain all the information of her life. She has forgotten much about her life and only remembers certain things because she keeps many volumes of journals. Her experiences and her losses have made her cold and emotionless.
I think the first part of this story was a better episode, but this has a better core idea. The ramifications of some of the Doctor's actions. Did he save her life, or did he make her trapped in a life so long she can barely handle it? It questions the morals of the Doctor's seemingly good intentions and it is a good internal look for both characters about what immortality can mean, and what the loss for someone with it can be. It is a curse really, and this episode portrays it well.
This episode may drag in a few places, and the amulet subplot feels shoehorned in, but where it counts this episode nails it. It isn't about that stuff, and while I understand why it was shoved in, it didn't really need it. It could've focused on these two character pondering their existence and questioning their actions and behaviors...and it would've been good TV in it's own right.
NEXT TIME: Nightmare Scenario
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