‘The Girl Who Died’ is one of
those episodes of Who, where you leave the screen with mixed feelings. I
thoroughly enjoyed the episode, although it was obviously one of the more light
hearted episodes of the series, but it certainly left a lot of questions unanswered.
My first nag at the episode, was
the villains. Although I understand that they weren’t entirely the main focus
of the episode, I still felt that they were tragically underused. Also, the ‘Deadliest
warrior race in the universe’ guise is getting old; seriously, how many of them
are there? The ‘scare factor’ was also brutally low, and the main villain, ‘So-Called
Odin’, was honestly laughable. However, due to return for the second part (As
seen in the Next Time trailer), my decision could still be rethought if they
were to prove more formidable and deadly.
A major pro of the episode was Maisie
Williams character; Alshildr. The acting from Maisie was great and the whole
setup to the reveal at the end was timed to perfection, although it still could
prove to be a red herring. The depth and the whole ‘I’ve always been different’
is extremely reminiscent of the Doctor, and shows how he understands her.
The first two thirds of the
episode, I thought, were the weakest Jamie Mathieson has ever written for Who,
however the last 15 minutes really turned things around. The ‘Face Arc’ return
was in spectacular fashion and the ‘Hybrid’ prophecy return was unexpected.
Also, Gold’s music was absolutely whimsical and really captured the spirit of
the Vikings as well as the now iconic twelfth doctor’s theme.
Overall, the last fifteen minutes
swayed my vote from a 6 to a 7/10,
and I hope ‘The Woman Who Lived’ lives up to expectations and answers all my
queries!
