Doctor Who just aired “The Woman Who Lived,” and once again we were riveted by Maisie Williams.
After last week, we were left with lots of questions. How immortal is Ashildr? What is the time gap when the Doctor next encounters her? How will immortality change who Ashildr is? All those questions and more were answered. More horrible than those unanswered questions is this: what will Ashildr do in 2015?
Zorro called, he wants his clothes back
The Doctor interrupts a highway robbery in 1651 while looking for a missing piece of alien technology, and it turns out the robber is Ashildr. At first Ashildr is excited because she thinks the Doctor has come for her, and that he wants her to travel with him. Then, she realizes that his presence has nothing to do with her.
The girl I used to know
Back at Ashildr’s mansion, she brings the Doctor up-to-date with her life. Though the Doctor has looked in on Ashildr from time-to-time, the altruistic girl who used to be a dreamer is gone. Ashildr claims not to remember her past 800 years of lives. She now goes by the moniker “me.” Her top priority is herself, because it hurts too much to let others in, and then to lose them.
Ashildr leaves the room, and the Doctor reads her diaries; her past has had adventure and heartache. Notably, Ashildr has ripped out some tear stained pages. On other pages, the Doctor realizes that she lost her children and her husband to the Black Death. He confronts Ashildr about the missing pages, and she states that anything that is too painful she rips out. The Doctor wonders what could be more painful than losing her children.
The Doctor’s sorrow
Ashildr keeps throwing in the Doctor’s face the fact that he made her what she is. She’s callous, selfish, and petulant; it’s his fault. She takes no responsibility for her actions. Despite what Ashildr claims, the Doctor feels that the girl he saved over 800 years ago is in there some place.
The quest and double-cross
Ashildr agrees to team up with the Doctor to reclaim the amulet they both want. The amulet is supposedly a Greek talisman to ward off evil, and protect wearer on their trip to afterlife, but the Doctor thinks it’s actually alien in origin.
It turns out that Ashildr is in league with an alien from Delta Leones. The alien tech the Doctor is seeking is actually from Delta Leones, and it’s capable of opening a porthole to that world as long as someone pays a life debt. Ashildr no longer seems to value life the way she once did. She only cares about her own life, and wanting to escape the slow-paced earth for adventure.
Housebreak hijinks and captive chaos
The Doctor and Ashildr manage to get the amulet after a Three Stooges escape plan. Notably, while stuck in the chimney together, Ashildr would rather just kill people to solve her problem. The Doctor tells her, “Kill them and you make an enemy of me.” Ashildr agrees not to, but frighteningly asks him about how many Clara’s he’s gone through. How many companions has he lost to death or departure?
On the way back to the mansion, the Doctor and Ashildr run into Sam Swift, who was previously the best highwayman in the area. Ashildr takes him down pretty quickly, and they get back without further incident. Before they go, Ashildr makes it clear to Sam that the Doctor isn’t her dad. This seems to be a point that matters very much to her.
The best laid plans
When the Doctor and Ashildr return to the house, the double-cross is revealed and the Doctor is tied up. Of course the Doctor manages to escape. While he was tied up, Sam managed to get himself captured and he is about to be hanged. The Doctor arrives at the gallows to stop Sam’s hanging. In that way the life debt the portal needs to open won’t take place. Alas, it doesn’t matter to Ashildr. She slaps the amulet into Sam’s chest. It effectively kills him, and chaos reigns.
Be very careful what you wish for
As Ashildr screams wondering what is going on the Doctor explains it to her. The portal works two ways. She could travel to Delta Leones, or the forces of Delta Leones could travel to earth and conquer the planet. Ashildr may be longing for adventure in the galaxy beyond, but that doesn’t means the aliens want her to.
Ashildr’s old self comes to life, and she wants to save those around her. She closes the portal by restoring Sam’s life with the other repair patch the Doctor had given her all those years ago. Sam is now immortal like she is, but he doesn’t know it yet.
Frenemies forever
In a tavern later, the Doctor, Ashildr, and Sam decompress from the stress of the day. When Sam goes to get another drink the Doctor and Ashildr have a heart-to-heart. Ashildr waffles between her old self and her current, more sinister, personality. She still blames the Doctor for what she is.
The Doctor tells Ashildr that the humans around them are like mayflies who know how to live in the brief time they have. They know how to make it all count. The Doctor won’t allow Ashlidr to travel with him. He tells her two people with their perspectives would be bad because they are too vast, too far away. In reality, it seems that it comes down to trust, and the Doctor just doesn’t trust Ashildr.
The Doctor speaks of another immortal traveler, Captain Jack Harkness, and states that he’s sure Ashildr will meet him at some point. The Doctor again states that though Jack traveled with the Doctor, he will not travel with Ashildr. She instead seems haughtily satisfied with this, and states that someone has to look after those the Doctor leaves behind. She’ll be the patron saint of the Doctor’s leftovers. When the Doctor asks if this means they are now enemies, Ashildr answers that it’s “Friends you need to be careful of not enemies,” and she calls him her friend.
Future threat
The episode closes with Clara and the Doctor meeting up. Clara shows the Doctor the photo, and he notices that Ashildr is in the background of Clara’s photo looking at her menacingly.