C+Q - The Woman Who Lived (2015)

Before I get into my mini-rant I just want to say immediately that I love this episode and I am currently loving Series 9. Now that we've got that out of the way, Series 9 is probably the worst series imaginable for Clara to end on.

Clara is in my opinion one of the best companions the show has ever had and yet, like Amy and Rory, she's been given a pretty lousy set of scripts for her final run that in no way take advantage of the fact she's on her final run. In The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar, she spends most of the adventure in Skaro's sewer system separated from the Doctor in the Dalek city. In Under the Lake and Before the Flood, she spends most of the adventure in the past separated from the Doctor in the future. The Girl Who Died is an improvement because Clara and the Doctor spend the whole episode together more or less and they get loads of great moments. And then we come to The Woman Who Lived, in which Clara only shows up in the last scene to justify having her name in the opening titles. Because I've slipped behind in my reviews, I'm writing this after having already seen The Zygon Invasion and The Zygon Inversion, and I can confirm that not only is she separated from the Doctor in those two, but the version of Clara that's separated from the Doctor turns out to not even be the real Clara anyway. Now, again, this doesn't make any of these episodes bad. After all, The Zygon Invasion/Inversion is a fucking phenomenal two-parter and the highlight of the Capaldi era so far for me. However, for the last adventures of Clara Oswald, this really sucks. It's like how Series 7 Part 1 gave the Ponds nothing to do, but unlike Series 7 Part 1, at least Series 9 has the saving grace of just being a good run in general. The relationship between Clara and the Doctor in Under the Lake was really fun to watch, mostly because it seemed to promise an ocean of future character development in the subtle ways that Clara was actively trying to improve the Doctor and the Doctor was actively trying to improve Clara. I said in one of my earlier reviews that Clara still feels like Matt Smith's companion who just happens to be hanging out with Peter Capaldi now, and unfortunately I still think that way about her. Now that we know she only has a finite number of episodes left, I feel like every opportunity should've been taken to do new things with the character and progress her arc. Instead, it seems like she's already gone. And yes, I understand that The Woman Who Lived was an episode all about immortals and mortality and loosing people you love and that the presence of Clara wouldn't have made much sense thematically. But still, I feel like more opportunities should have been taken this series to get the Doctor and Clara together in the same room as much as possible.

Anyway, onto the actual review. At long last I can see why everyone was so worked up about the casting of Maisie Williams. Here, Ashildr goes from being a budget Arya Stark to being her own multifaceted character and Williams is incredible in the role. She brings so much age and wisdom and maturity to the part and is a very reassuring presence to have on screen. I'd be very happy with having her as a recurring character. She also works really well with Peter Capaldi who's been settling into his role as the Doctor wonderfully over these last few episodes. He still feels like a new Doctor even though he's in the middle of his second series, but that's because we're still seeing aspects of this incarnation's personality that we haven't seen before. It's obvious they're setting up the death of Clara as something that could really change him emotionally, possibly even sending him back into the dark depths of his Series 8 portrayal, but I feel like it's getting a bit too heavy handed now. Instead of outright telling us how much Clara means to the Doctor, I'd rather just see Clara and the Doctor interacting more and have their strong bond be made clear that way.

The biggest problem this episode has is its tone, which is all over the place. It goes from Ashildr mourning the deaths of her three children to a cringe-worthy stand-up comedy act from Rufus Hound that comes completely out of nowhere. Apparently he was going to be hanged when the audience stopped laughing but that wasn't established until midway into the scene after I'd already started tuning out. Rufus Hound is a fine actor but his character was insufferable in this episode and completely unnecessary. Other than that, the episode just needed little edits here and there. "Purple, the colour of death" is just a plain weird line that really should've been cut, and the man's voice coming out of Maisie Williams' mouth at the start should've been made to sound more like an actual impression Maisie Williams could conceivably do and less like she was being dubbed over by someone in a vocal booth.

Other than that, the idea of the Doctor reuniting with Ashildr to find out that time has jaded her is such a strong core that you almost don't need to add anything else. In fact, this is by far the closest New Who has ever got to a pure historical, and maybe it should have even gone further. The forced and awkward comedy, the fire-breathing lion person, and all the other little bits added here and there distracted from the tragedy at the heart of the episode and really just didn't gel well at all. The moments when Capaldi and Williams are together and they're talking about their immortality is when this episode really sings but there are some elements that felt like they were included out of obligation. It's a Doctor Who episode, therefore there has to be comic relief. It's a Doctor Who episode, therefore there has to be a monster. It's a Doctor Who episode, therefore there has to be a big CGI finale. Here, the tropes of the show are severely limiting the script's potential. It's surprising that Catherine Tregenna felt such a need to adhere to the standard structure of a Doctor Who episode with regards to the inclusion of alien elements when she quite comfortably is able to dismiss the Doctor's regular companion for a week in service to the episode's themes. When it was being advertised, one of the things that made Series 9 so unique is that it was going to mess with the formula of the show, so here it's really upsetting to see the formula of the show being followed to the detriment of the story.

The Woman Who Lived is a good episode that delivers on what it sets out to do; I went into this episode wanting to see two immortals discuss their outlooks on life and that's exactly what I got. Unfortunately there's a lot of cringe-worthy comedy and just plain weird moments that detract from the experience, like the random incompetent guard who shoots the ceiling of Ashildr's house, or the awkward dialogue from the cart driver in the pre-title sequence. On my first viewing I thought the cart driver was in on the robbery given how overblown his description of the Knightmare was and how rehearsed his line sounded. But no, it turns out it was just bad expository dialogue poorly delivered. But then, like every other bad moment, the taste was instantly washed away, in this instance by the great scene where Maisie Williams renounces the name 'Ashildr' (although that's what I've been calling her in this review for clarity's sake because, in the same way I called Michelle Gomez 'The Master' in my Dark Water/Death in Heaven review, I don't know which of her two names she's actually going to stick with until we see her again). Catherine Tregenna is quite clearly a brilliant writer who I'd welcome back to the show with open arms because despite the odd wobbles here and there, the stuff in the script that really matters (i.e. the character of Ashildr and how she's changed) is done exceptionally well. And it's for this exact reason why the odd wobbles stand out to me so much. Loads of Doctor Who episodes have weird moments and cringe-worthy humour. This is a kids show after all, albeit a kids show in which an immortal mother mourns the death of her three mortal infants. But with The Woman Who Lived, it came so close to be a 10 out of 10 episode that the negatives are seriously frustrating.

So, yeah. To reiterate what I said in the very first sentence: I love this episode and I am currently loving Series 9. Now just give us more Clara/Doctor stuff!