Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 5 – ‘The Girl Who Died’…
Doctor – I’m so sick of losing
Clara – You didn’t lose. You saved the town!
Doctor – I don’t mean the war, I’ll lose any war you like.
Doctor Who with Vikings in it. Instantly you’d think that you would be on to a winner here, especially as one of our bearded warriors does a fan pleasing thing and snaps the Sonic Shades in half. Well with what feels like a call back to last years “Robot of Sherwood”, this episode shall be marked as this series’ first trip up.
With Clara out floating in Space we enter the episode at the end of an unknown story, for which the Doctor has had to rescue a race of people by leading the attackers halfway across the universe, leaving Clara who has gained a Love Sprite – known for sucking your brains through your mouth – in her space suit. With the TARDIS materializing around Clara the Doctor removes Clara’s helmet and squashes the Sprite under his foot, and for this he needs to leave the blue box to wipe his shoe on the grass. As Clara questions the Doctor on the rules he imposes upon himself and his interference in matters across Time and Space, they are both ambushed by Vikings. The Doctor is unimpressed by this Viking incursion into his day and when they demand that both he and Clara come with them, he attempts to dissuade them with his power of the Sonic Shades, for which they pull them of his face, snapping them in half.
With the Doctor and Clara placed in chains, they are forced to sail and trek for over two days to the Viking camp, where the Doctor attempts to gain power of the camp by pretending to be Odin. Unfortunately at this point – appearing in the sky – an apparition appears proclaiming to be Odin. With the promise of Valhalla, Odin’s troops are sent to the ground and begin to scan the area, registering the warriors of the village who are then transported away. However the Doctor is not taken in by this and instructs Clara to stay quiet and not get chosen, realising this is a harvest with only the strongest and fittest being chosen by the false Odin. However, Clara cannot stand by and runs to the girl – called Ashildr – who currently has half the Sonic Shades, asking her to use the remains of the tech to open the chains on her wrists. Unfortunately this attracts the attention of Odin’s foot soldiers who also transports both Clara and Ashildr away.
Aboard the false Odin’s vessel the Vikings greet both ladies as they appear. However they all soon realise this isn’t what it appears to be as one Viking is vaporised instantly in the chamber ahead of them. Seconds later the wall behind them forces the rest of the occupants forwards towards the chamber, we then hear the generators building up their power, ready to eradicate the Vikings and Clara. Back in the village the Doctor is arguing and explaining to the villagers that not only is he a false Odin, but so was the one in the clouds. Back on the ship Clara and Ashildr awaken to discover they have been saved due to the Sonic Shades, it being technologically superior to their attackers, and Clara is also wearing a space suit. This attacking race has killed the Vikings to extract their adrenaline and testosterone. As Clara uses the power of words and deception in the hope of getting this force to leave Earth, Ashildr declares war on these aggressors for mocking their Gods and killing their people. The false Odin enjoys this and relishes the chance to battle, giving a time and place he offers the parameters of the fight, ten of his best warrior versus ten of the villages best; he then reveals his true face to both of them.
After both Clara and Ashildr are return to the village, much to the joy of the Doctor and the girl’s father, the Doctor informs Clara that this race is called the Mire and that they are one of the most deadliest warrior races in the entire galaxy. When the village is told of their impending fate, the Doctor gives them the plan of leaving, splitting up and hiding. However the village want to fight, for which this the Time Lord asks how many have held a sword in battle and the only two to raise their hands are both Clara and the Doctor. He goes on to ask if babies die with honour – it appears he speaks “Baby”, announcing to the room, “I applaud your courage, but I deplore your stupidity and I will mourn your deaths which will be terrifying, painful and without honour!”. Ashildr asks the Doctor to stay and help, the Doctor tells her to run as that’s all the help they need and that’s all they help they are getting.
Outside the Doctor explains to Clara that the Earth is in not danger, going on to explain the repercussions of one small village defeating the Mire, and what could happen to Earth if word gets around about their power. With the baby crying Clara asks him to translate and during this translation, internally the Doctor decides to stay and help. During the naming and training of the farmers it becomes rapidly apparent to the Doctor that this isn’t going to work, due to these farmers injuring themselves, fainting at the sight or acknowledgement of blood, and also accidentally setting fire to the village. The Doctor then discovers – via the Viking Baby – that there is an abundance of Electric Eels in a storage room and with this he finally has a plan to defeat the Mire, using the wire from Clara’s space suit, wooden models made by Ashildr, a number of Anvils and the Electric Eels.
As the false Odin enters the hall to begin the battle, the Doctor and Viking community are in the midst of a party. The Time Lord distracts the attackers with numerous questions and the plan comes into action as the electric eels are agitated. The suited Mire are stunned, the anvils become magnetised removing some of the warriors of helmets and guns. The Doctor – giving Ashildr a helmet which has been altered to project an holographic image -forces the Mire back into a retreat as a projected invicible Dragon begins to attack them. The cowardly retreat – which was recorded upon Clara’s iPhone – is used as leverage by the Doctor against the leader of the Mire to leave Earth and never return, for which he grudgingly does. We discover that during the projection of the dragon the helmet drained all of the life from Ashildr, the Doctor filled with grief apologises.
Clara finds the Doctor staring into his reflection, mourning the loss of Ashildr, and feeling even more exhausted with the fact that once again another innocent person has lost their life and it frustrates him that in truth there is nothing he cannot do and he could – if he wished – save Ashildr from death, but due to the rules set by others he can’t. It’s here the Doctor has an epiphany about himself and his face, he recalls his Tenth incarnation returning to Pompeii after being begged by Donna Noble to save at least one, and he returned to rescue Caecilius and his family, for which he retained the image of Caecilius. For this he now believes is the reminder that he can bend the rules, to hold himself to the mark, to remind himself that, “I’m the Doctor and I save people!” He then lays the gauntlet down to the universe if anyone has a problem with his forthcoming actions.
Removing the Mire Battle-Field Medical kit from the helmet and reprogramming it for humans, he places it on Ashildr’s forehead and it’s absorbed into her. She suddenly comes around and as the Doctor leaves he gives her father a second dose, for whoever she wants, he explains. Ashildr rolls over and whispers “Thank you”, to which the Doctor replies with, “Don’t thank me yet.” The Doctor explains to Clara that he may have just made Ashildr immortal, not only that but a hybrid too; part human and part Mire.
Not the greatest episode of Doctor Who I’ve seen, bordering on the barely palatable Who mixed with a touch of Horrible Histories. It could have been better, however there were the occasional good fleeting moments – for example the Sonic Shades being snapped in half, and we had Peter Capaldi being a Doctor who realises what happens when a butterfly flaps its wings and later ignores the same butterfly. However, we also had numerous dodgy moments like a giant space craft floating above a small village in Mudsville, Sweden which stole ten plus Warriors to fulfil his daily quota of man juice. Surely with that power and available resources, a trip to a bigger village or town would have been more efficient? We also have Amazonian Electric Eels quite clearly in abundance in this village, along with this we have the Mire unable to shoot through a few wooden objects and they retreat from a dragon, though they are one of the deadliest warrior races around. Not only this but I feel Rani should team up with this Mire leader – in The Mark of The Rani she had a much nicer way of extracting man juices from her victims. On top of this we had the short blast on why the Doctor chose his face; will this be also tied in to Peter Capaldi’s appearance in Torchwood too I wonder?
Next week we get to see the continuing adventures of Ashildr as she becomes a highway robber, though why we need to see the continuing adventures so soon I’m quite unsure. The next episode of Doctor Who is called “The Woman Who Lived”, starring Maisie Williams, and you can watch a trailer for it here.
SEE ALSO: Check out the Series 9 episode title and descriptions here
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=GIxhevaIcbw
