Immortality is a recurring theme in Doctor Who as well its spin off show, Torchwood. Writer Catherine Treganna has already brought her own notion to Torchwood. Now she gets to play a similar situation when the Doctor's search for an alien artifact leads to a run in into the immortal Ashildir.
Since we last met her, Ashildir has become Lady Me, a lady who also has a double life as the highwayman known as the 'Knightmare' and trying to track down an artefact known as the 'Eyes of Hades'. Treganna does a good job showing the transition of Ashildir from a hopeful, caring young storyteller into a hardened, cynical killer. The whole idea that Lady Me stopped having children from the pain of losing them is a good one. Maisie Williams puts in a great performance once again. Lady Me has much less in commin with Arya Stark than Ashildir, and we get to see Maisie playing a much colder character.
The coldness of Lady Me gives Peter Capaldi a different angle from which to play the Doctor. This time the Doctor is the voice of compassion, speaking for the little people. The scenes of the Doctor and Me trying to steal the Eyes of Hades is funny and overall the episode is at its strongest when it focuses around on the interplay between these two characters.
Unfortunately, the sub plot of the episode is not as strong. Lady Me is in cahoots with the leonine alien, Leandro. It is a well designed creature, harking back to Beauty and the Beast. Unfortunately the interesting appeance hides what is basically a generic monster of the week. He and Lady Me scheme to use the death of highwayman, Sam Swift to activate the Eyes of Hades and
a portal to another dimension. Leandro claims he is simply a stranded survivor trying to get home, but it soon becomes apparent that this is a ruse to allow his invasion fleet in. The fact that Lady Me is surprised by this revelation unfortunately makes her look a little stupid. She had previously been shown to be a cynical character, and even told the Doctor that she'd kill Leandro if he betrayed her so she shouldn't be quite so surprised that he didn't keep his word. The invasion is halted as abruptly as it is introduced, when Lady Me uses the other Mire medical device to prevent Sam's death and possibly make him immortal.
Fortunately the episode gets back on track in its final scenes. The Doctor and Me's final conversation in the tavern about the mayfly lives of humans is great. Sam Swift, who is initially introduced as a simply bawdry comedy highwayman, gets to be the topic of this conversation about how important it is to live life to the full. Lady Me settles on the idea of becoming the woman who helps the people the Doctor leaves behind. It's an interesting role.
Clara is absent for most of this episode, only appearance in the final scene. Despite this, The Woman Who Lived is all about the absence of Clara. All of this talk of mayflies is all to do with how the Doctor perceives Clara. This is yet another episode with hints of Clara's mortality. Given his track record, I don't Steven Moffat is going to kill the character, at least not in a straightforward manner. But the appearance of Ashildir at the end is good. Sarah Dollard has hinted at the character's return. This will undoubtedly take place in some prerecorded scene from this story's recording block, but I definitely look forward to it.
This is definitely the best two parter of Series 9 so far. Only the Leandro side of the plot lets it down.
Episode Score: 8/10
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