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[acheron_xl]

That one was... fine. But then any episode that is mostly Capaldi talking is going to be.

Maisie's face turn was rather sudden, but whatever. Lion-O was kind of weak, but whatever.

 

[DieH@rd]

Good episode. No timey wimey stuff, just a buttload of charachter interactions [a different take on "what means to live forever" tale].

 

[Chariot]

I gotta say I liked the whimsical music when they broke into the house and the banter at the hanging and the beginning of the episode. But it was a bit bland and the firespitting lion was ridiculous. I also think that this episode would've been better further away from the last one. You could've even had her in the background of other episodes.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Great episode. Maisie was fantastic as the dead-inside Ashildr. We definitely didn't need that stupid Lion-Man. Could have been an entire episode of Ashildr and the Doctor talking and going on a weird adventure together that ends with the portal opening because Ashildr is meddling with things she doesn't understand to escape the hell that is her life.

Stupid-ass Lion Man. But man, it'd be awesome to get a Captain Jack bit this season.

Definitely setting Maisie up to be... a villain? Anti-villain? She'll be back.

even dresses the same

Bet you Ashildr's gonna backstab the Doctor at the end of the season and we get a scene of Capaldi doing that.

 

[Chariot]

phew almost openly spoiled MGSV

Bet you Ashildr's gonna backstab the Doctor at the end of the season and we get a scene of Capaldi doing that.

MGSV spoiler:

Spoiler

Turns out that Capaldi isn't the real Doctor, only Venom Doc and Matt Smith is still around doing... something.

 

[ZoddGutts]

So so ep.

 

[Bluth54]

British overnight ratings down slightly this week at 4.34m, however it was up against the popular X-Factor reality show, which was apparently also down quite a bit.

 

[tonysidaway]

Overnights are no longer much use. Wait for the full official figures.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I liked the episode. Probably the weakest so far this season, but still quite enjoyable. All the Fire Leo stuff could have just been cut from the entire thing though. It added absolutely nothing, and him just being vaporized at the end...come on.

 

[paradox121]

Bet you Ashildr's gonna backstab the Doctor at the end of the season and we get a scene of Capaldi doing that.

I did wonder if her being in the background of the picture at the end was less 'Hey, I'm still around' and more 'Hey, I'm stalking your companion. Watch yourself'.

 

[DECK'ARD]

I did wonder if her being in the background of the picture at the end was less 'Hey, I'm still around' and more 'Hey, I'm stalking your companion. Watch yourself'.

I took it as the latter.

 

[iMax]

phew almost openly spoiled MGSV

MGSV spoiler:

Spoiler

Turns out that Capaldi isn't the real Doctor, only Venom Doc and Matt Smith is still around doing... something.

Spoiler

what if the meta crisis doctor was the real doctor all along

 

[Dryk]

I liked the episode. Probably the weakest so far this season, but still quite enjoyable. All the Fire Leo stuff could have just been cut from the entire thing though. It added absolutely nothing, and him just being vaporized at the end...come on.

It does however tie in the season arc of underutilised villains

 

[neoanarch]

People are saying Maise was good? Her line reading was all over the place, was terribly disappointed in her fírst and foremost.

Yeah you are dead wrong. Maisie was really good and the episode was one of the better episodes this season.

 

[Symphonia]

Ashildr will kill Clara. The Doctor rages and his personality and being splits in to two - literally - and forms The Valeyard.

 

[Rymuth]

Meh...did not care for this episode. Maise was all right. Bring on next week.

 

[infiniteloop]

People are saying Maise was good? Her line reading was all over the place, was terribly disappointed in her fírst and foremost.

Yeah. Thought she was bad in this episode.

 

[M.Bluth]

Had its moments, but overall, really very sloppy.

Dunno why people are spoiler tagging this:

The mystery is going to be which one was killed.

Or, they could just set this story happening before the finale of last series

That ending made me realize that when they finally say goodbye to Clara its going to be devastating.

Yeah, that's mostly what I got out of it, it was more about building up for that than anything, really

 

[V1LÆM]

Enjoyed it. Hope Maise shows up for more episodes.

Apparently she's back in the 10th episode "Face The Raven". It was supposed to be a secret until the episode aired.

This seems to be the episode where

Spoiler

Clara leaves/dies

because the summary says that

Spoiler

"Not all of them will get out alive"

and the episode after that will be the first ever Doctor Who episode

Spoiler

with just The Doctor and no companions/guest actors.

It's shaping up to be an interesting episode. I hope she comes back.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I'm actually enjoying the focus of this season being more on the characters side than bombastic plot side. It's definitely a nice change of pace for me.

Oh holy hell yes.

 

[Guri]

As someone who just started watching Doctor Who last year, it feels like these slow, character-driven episodes are usually divisive. Some love them, some hate them. I'm usually in the first group. Also, Maisie is fantastic.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

As someone who just started watching Doctor Who last year, it feels like these slow, character-driven episodes are usually divisive. Some love them, some hate them. I'm usually in the first group. Also, Maisie is fantastic.

Yeah, I feel like I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from vocal Who fans in this thread. For example, I thought The Magician's Apprentice was better than The Witch's Familiar, and I enjoyed Before the Flood more than Under the Lake. It is fascinating to see the varying opinions for each episode.

I think it all depends on what someone wants out of Doctor Who.

 

[Effect]

Have you by any chance seen Terror of the Zygons? It's mostly good apart

Spoiler

from a short special effect at the very end that almost undoes the whole thing.

Nope. My experience with old Who is really limited.I know some is on Netflix but don't recall seeing that episode there.

 

[Stallion Dan]

She didn't sell me on being a mother.

 

[Jacobi]

One thing I gotta say: The character design of the Lion dude was pretty cool. The character had a lot of potential... Kind of wasted IMO

 

[dead souls]

Just dreadful. The first complete dud of the season.

 

[D_prOdigy]

Yeah the thing about her children was weird because I took it that Maisie was playing younger in The Girl Who Died and Ashildr was supposed to be like a scrappy 14 year old or thereabouts. Her body wouldn't have aged, so it kind of sat a bit odd with me, but I suppose I just misinterpreted the 'age' of the character.

 

[Chariot]

Yeah the thing about her children was weird because I took it that Maisie was playing younger in The Girl Who Died and Ashildr was supposed to be like a scrappy 14 year old or thereabouts. Her body wouldn't have aged, so it kind of sat a bit odd with me, but I suppose I just misinterpreted the 'age' of the character.

I mean, when we get down to it, we have very young mothers, so it's biological possible for her to bear children at the age she looks and the child age ended a lot earlier in those past days. I can definitely believe that she was a mother and nobody bat an eye. It's only weird from our perspective.

 

[Red Arremer]

Still maintaining the suspicion that Ashildr is the Minister of War that was foreshadowed in the underwater two-parter.

One thing I gotta say: The character design of the Lion dude was pretty cool. The character had a lot of potential... Kind of wasted IMO

Agreed. Visually the lion alien was really awesome. And they missed the chance to make a stab at him being Richard Lionheart or from The Lion King or something.

 

[hamchan]

Yeah the thing about her children was weird because I took it that Maisie was playing younger in The Girl Who Died and Ashildr was supposed to be like a scrappy 14 year old or thereabouts. Her body wouldn't have aged, so it kind of sat a bit odd with me, but I suppose I just misinterpreted the 'age' of the character.

14 wasn't an unusual age to be a mother in certain time periods though.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Yeah the thing about her children was weird because I took it that Maisie was playing younger in The Girl Who Died and Ashildr was supposed to be like a scrappy 14 year old or thereabouts. Her body wouldn't have aged, so it kind of sat a bit odd with me, but I suppose I just misinterpreted the 'age' of the character.

I figure even if she was a scrappy 14/15 year old (and maybe even 17/18, which is I think her actual age) the cultures in the time period she was moving through would consider any of those ages to be completely within the norm for having kids.

 

[bluehat9]

Really liked everything until the rushed ending and lionman getting vaporized thru a hole that was basically already closed.

What were the pages that she tore out of the journal? Did I miss that? And the guy they saved is not immortal, they just counteracted the death amulet with the life one?

 

[Jacobi]

Agreed. Visually the lion alien was really awesome. And they missed the chance to make a stab at him being Richard Lionheart or from The Lion King or something.

Yep really reminded me of this

 

[Bobby Roberts]

What were the pages that she tore out of the journal? Did I miss that? And the guy they saved is not immortal, they just counteracted the death amulet with the life one?

I don't think it ever went beyond anything as specific as "bad memories I dont' want to remember," So maybe, if/when she comes back, we'll discover what that was, and it'll play a part. It's gotta be worse than losing three children, apparently.

And I think it's also up in the air whether Swift is now immortal or whether that bullshit the Doctor spewed is actually correct. Maybe he hangs out with her for the rest of her immortal life - maybe he dies a lot later than he normally would have, but he still dies. Or maybe all that healing energy did get sucked into the sky and he's just a normal dude after all that.

 

[Boem]

Really liked everything until the rushed ending and lionman getting vaporized thru a hole that was basically already closed.

What were the pages that she tore out of the journal? Did I miss that? And the guy they saved is not immortal, they just counteracted the death amulet with the life one?

Her journals are the only way for her to keep track of her life because she can't physically remember so many years. The torn out pages contained things that happened to her that she didn't want to remember (the pain of loving loved ones, etc). She did keep the entries about losing her children as a reminder never to have children again.

Weird episode. Liked the plot, liked some scenes, but something was off about the direction/acting.

I don't think it ever went beyond anything as specific as "bad memories I dont' want to remember," So maybe, if/when she comes back, we'll discover what that was, and it'll play a part. It's gotta be worse than losing three children, apparently.

I don't think it's necessarily worse than losing her children (that's the first question the Doctor had too), she just mentioned that it was too important to forget. She never wants to have children again because, even without a plague, she would always outlive her children.

I don't think it's something that's going to come back later - just read it as her not wanting to spend eternity with the pain of losing people she loved in the past (apart from her children I mean). Easier to just forget them.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I don't think it's necessarily worse than losing her children (that's the first question the Doctor had too), she mentioned that it was too important to forget. She never wants to have children again because, even without a plague, she would always outlive her children.

Yeah, I'm saying that could basically be deflection on her part as a character. Which would make sense. She managed to get the Doctor to shut up like three or four times in the episode. She's pretty good at talking him into cul-de-sacs.

Torn out pages from a diary might just go unanswered, sure, but those sorts of things sometimes end up being story hooks later. "Hey, remember that one thing we never got an answer for? I bet there's an episode in there..." I mean, I prefaced it with an "if/maybe" for just that reason. It's an open door. It's possible they didn't set aside 2-3 minutes of storytime to address it JUST to have her talk about remembering her children. It could be, sure, but to me, it's sorta obvious by the way the scene plays out anyway that she doesn't NEED that memory to be in the book for her to remember it.

 

[BrokenFiction]

This was probably completely obvious to a lot of you, but it occurred to me late last night that Moffat hasn't introduced a River Song-type in a while - a recurring character that can be a foil for the Doctor. Ashildr is clearly meant to be that character. Even though River is coming back for the Christmas special, I think we'll be seeing Ashildr many times down the road, including this season.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I think people probably haven't brought up River as much because the episodes have made a point of blatantly pointing you at the Jack Harkness comparison. But you're right, River is a fair comparison, too. Especially in the way she can fluster the Doctor.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Don't get me wrong, it's about time we had Jack back, just to see how much Capaldi can get frustrated with him. I just think Moffat wanted someone new.

 

[D_prOdigy]

14 wasn't an unusual age to be a mother in certain time periods though.

I figure even if she was a scrappy 14/15 year old (and maybe even 17/18, which is I think her actual age) the cultures in the time period she was moving through would consider any of those ages to be completely within the norm for having kids.

You're not wrong, but I still wouldn't expect to see it in Doctor Who...

 

[Boem]

I haven't read the books so no spoilers please, but knowing that Game of Thrones will continue for at least a couple more years would prevent Arya from being in the show as frequently as River right? Unless Arya dies next season (again, no spoilers!) I don't think we'll see her more than once or twice a year.

Something else entirely, I was watching the behind the scenes clips on the BBC website and there's a rather charming one of Capaldi celebrating his birthday during the taping of this episode:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035xf9n

He mentions that they did the same last year in a very similar setting (during the taping of Robots of Sherwood), and that 'hopefully he'll still be there next year'. He repeats that later when one of the crew members gives him a chair with his name on it as a gift with 'does that mean I'll be back next year?' (not literally what he said - I'm at work right now so I can't listen to it again, but that's more or less what he said. You can watch it yourself at that link above).

Could just be Peter joking around, but given the rumors about next year just having a set of specials I thought it was noteworthy. Seems like even Peter was unsure about what's going to happen, at least when they were making this episode.

 

[CrimsonFist]

You're not wrong, but I still wouldn't expect to see it in Doctor Who...

Doctor Who had a very young mother back in The Doctor Dances too.

 

[M.Bluth]

I haven't read the books so no spoilers please, but knowing that Game of Thrones will continue for at least a couple more years would prevent Arya from being in the show as frequently as River right? Unless Arya dies next season (again, no spoilers!) I don't think we'll see her more than once or twice a year.

Something else entirely, I was watching the behind the scenes clips on the BBC website and there's a rather charming one of Capaldi celebrating his birthday during the taping of this episode:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035xf9n

He mentions that they did the same last year in a very similar setting (during the taping of Robots of Sherwood), and that 'hopefully he'll still be there next year'. He repeats that later when one of the crew members gives him a chair with his name on it as a gift with 'does that mean I'll be back next year?' (not literally what he said - I'm at work right now so I can't listen to it again, but that's more or less what he said. You can watch it yourself at that link above).

Could just be Peter joking around, but given the rumors about next year just having a set of specials I thought it was noteworthy. Seems like even Peter was unsure about what's going to happen, at least when they were making this episode.

I wouldn't read too much into it, don't think it says anything beyond that back in April he still wanted to stay in the role (which I believe he just signed for, something showed up on my Google Now). That might also mean that back in April they probably had not the slightest idea of whether the scheduling for next year will change or remain the same.

 

[VegiHam]

]Could just be Peter joking around, but given the rumors about next year just having a set of specials I thought it was noteworthy. Seems like even Peter was unsure about what's going to happen, at least when they were making this episode.

Just sounds like a joke about being old, to me. Like 'haha it's my birthday sure hope I'm still around for my next one eh?' My Father makes that kind of joke every year.

 

[obin_gam]

]I haven't read the books so no spoilers please, but knowing that Game of Thrones will continue for at least a couple more years would prevent Arya from being in the show as frequently as River right? Unless Arya dies next season (again, no spoilers!) I don't think we'll see her more than once or twice a year. [/B]

GoT cant be spoiled anymore. The series and the books have catched up to eachother as of last seasons ending.

 

[Boem]

GoT cant be spoiled anymore. The series and the books have catched up to eachother as of last seasons ending.

Ah right, forgot about that.

 

[tomtom94]

This is only a spoiler if you want to go into the rest of the series blind, but I hadn't seen anyone else post it yet:

Sarah Dollard has confirmed that

Spoiler

Ashildr will be back

for "Face the Raven".

 

[Ithil]

Apparently she's back in the 10th episode "Face The Raven". It was supposed to be a secret until the episode aired.

Well it sure as shit isn't a secret now dude.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Well, it's basically straight up news, now.

Radio Times
Mirror
Digital Spy
Metro

all reporting the same thing right up front in a headline.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I think this might just be my favorite Doctor Who episode yet. Had a lot of character building. I like that she might become a recurring character. Esp loved the end showing that she is alive in "present time"