S9 E5 "The Girl Who Died"

[Rassilon]

What did you think?

[Catsmate]

The best yet. Hopefully Ashildr's return will be as well handled.

[ninjaconor]

After being a little disappointed by last week's episode and seeing the silly-looking aliens vs vikings trailer I was really worried the winning streak had ended. Then, suprisingly, this turned out to be one of the best so far! Peter Capaldi gave the performance of the season and I'm really excited to see where the hybrid plot goes from here.

[generalrose]

I have to say I was blown away by this episode. I came in with such low expectations from last week's next time trailer.

That said, this episode had it all. Lofty might as well have been Stunt Rory. The Tenth Doctor, Donna and Calcius (absolutely butchered that name, I know it) made great little cameos via stock footage and we finally got the answer of why the Doctor has this face. Clara was excellent as ever. Capaldi was also fantastic. And I know it's cheating, but the next time trailer confirming that we'll be getting another pair of sonic shades made me quite happy.

Disappointments: Functioning immortality and no mention of Capt Jack?! The sound mixing still seems off to me. Sometimes the music is much louder then the dialogue which makes things hard to hear.

[zebaroth]

i was thinking the same thing last week here we go with vikings of shrewood but not so
it was good i have also noticed that Water and hybreds seam to be the key words this season
hmmmm where could this be going i look forward to finding out

[da professor]

Loved Clara's haranguing of False Odin - she's clearly been listening to the Doctor when he does it. If Ashildr had kept her mouth shut, she could have won then and there.

[olegrand]

A great episode, all in all.

The promised bit about the Doctor's face was a nice, well thought-out bonus - for once, we had a bit of "Moffat continuity cleverness" which didn't take precedence over the story itself.

The only really annoying thing IMHO were the horned helmets - especially since this very blatant historical inaccuracy was pointed out in one of the First Doctor's stories ("The Time Meddler"). A minor gripe, anyway (especially since the horned-helmet guys get killed quite early in the episode).

BTW, did you notice how much the concept of Ashildr's immortality was reminiscent of the amazing "Road to Hell" / "Glorious Dead" storyline in the Eighth Doctor comics from DW magazine ?

[Escher]

Highly enjoyable episode. As remarked upon, the stories have been deeper and more fulfilling than what they initially appeared to be.
The Doctor's Face explanation hit the spot and I was intrigued by the reaction the Doc and Ashildr had when they first saw each other. Is this a foreshadowing of something deeper that will be expanded upon in the future? Also, this is the second time this series that a 'Hybrid' has been mentioned (Davros said something about this along with the question 'why did the Doctor run away from Gallifrey?').
Perhaps the 'half-human' Doctor in the Eighth Doctor movie is finally going to be addressed.

[misterharry]

Another strong episode, though the electric eels really annoyed me - so far as I know electric eels are native only to South America, not the North Atlantic!

Oct 18, 2015 9:26:32 GMT olegrand said:

The only really annoying thing IMHO were the horned helmets - especially since this very blatant historical inaccuracy was pointed out in one of the First Doctor's stories ("The Time Meddler").

Actually, I thought this was a deliberate (and humourous) reference to The Time Meddler (which actually didn't debunk the horned Vikings notion).

[olegrand]

Oct 18, 2015 20:22:10 GMT misterharry said:

Actually, I thought this was a deliberate (and humourous) reference to The Time Meddler (which actually didn't debunk the horned Vikings notion).

Oooops sorry - I was really sure there was something about this when the Doctor finds a horned helmet at the start of the episode - must have mixed things up with memories of another (non-DW) story or perhaps I simply misheard the English dialogue. Anyway I still feel yesterday's episode would have been better without them horns.

[Hedgewick]

Oct 18, 2015 9:26:32 GMT olegrand said:

BTW, did you notice how much the concept of Ashildr's immortality was reminiscent of the amazing "Road to Hell" / "Glorious Dead" storyline in the Eighth Doctor comics from DW magazine ?

Yes! I thought of Sato Katsura immediately. It's clear they'll be exploring similar themes in the next story. I am curious to see how the possibility of a second immortal--an immortal "soul mate," if you will--might alter the equation.

[imajica]

I don't know, I'm just not "getting it" this series. I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief as far as Doctor Who is concerned, but the Viking helmet thing is now so well known even a kids show like "Horrible Histories" makes fun of horned helmets. And electric eels? Really? Couldn't do anything better?

I'm not sure I'm going to bother with much more of this series... Wow. I might actually be losing my love for Who.

[DEN]

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Horned helmets and problematic eels aside I thought the story was top notch. I am really looking forward to the next episode. I want to see how the girl handles immortality.

[Stormcrow]

I wasn't impressed with Coleman this episode - as usual - but Capaldi was terrific. This was the first time I didn't cringe from a "he speaks" gag (he speaks baby; he speaks dinosaur), because he did it so well.

I was mildly annoyed by the horned helmets - and by Norse farmers calling themselves vikings - but after the Robin Hood episode, "vikings" in horned helmets was a breeze to ignore.

[bjmorga]

Not bad. I didn't enjoy this as much as the previous four episodes, but it was solidly entertaining.

[Aerzyk]

I really loved this episode because it reminded me of something that could have happened in one of my group's games. The electric eels, the hologrammed dragon thing, all of it.