New Episode Reaction - The Woman Who Lived *SPOILERS*

About this Story

Title	The Woman Who Lived
Series No. Episode No.	Series Nine Episode Six
Broadcast Dates	24th Oct 2015
Overnight Ratings (UK)	4.39 Million
Doctor	Twelfth Doctor
Companion	Clara Oswald

The Doctor bumps into Ashildr again, but is she the
girl she used to be?

The Reaction

Highlights

• Premise - The exploration of the Doctor's effect on the lives of the people he leaves behind was developed in a different way here. It's one that has been done before (e.g. Donna suggesting he turn Martha into a soldier), but this is a new twist on the same idea.
• Visuals - The sets, specials effects, costumes and monster make up were all brilliant in this episode.
• Maisie Williams - She had a lot more to do this week after her limited contributions last week. The further exploration of her character gave a wider range to the acting.
• Character Moments - Treganna's script offered plenty of opportunities to get to know the characters a bit better, giving depth to what was happening to them within the story.
• Humour - The script also offered plenty in the way of humour, with a good range of types, from slapstick in the earlier scenes, to more witty humour in the gallows scene.

Leandro is scheming with "Me", but
can he be trusted?

Low Points

• Rufus Hound - As soon as it was announced about his casting, I wasn't particularly looking forward to his appearance. His acting style(?) didn't seem to suit the character he was playing; I presume highwaymen were pretty serious people.
• Obligatory Alien Threat - The very forgettable Tharil thingy (forgot its real name) seemed rather surplus to requirements, taking away from the main premise of the episode which seemed to be about the effects of the Doctor's decisions on the people he leaves behind.
• Foreshadowing - In small intriguing doses, I love a bit of foreshadowing. But the subtle as a brick through a window lines about Clara "never leaving" the Doctor take the biscuit. We all know how that ends.
• Sonic Sunglasses - Ho hum.

Quote of the Week

Doctor: "Anyone in that village would have died for you." "Me": "Well, they're all dead now, and here I am. So I guess it's all worked out."

Thank you for reading! Drop a comment with your thoughts or suggestions! They will be greatly appreciated!

New Episode Reaction - The Girl Who Died *SPOILERS*

About this Story

Title	The Girl Who Died
Series No. Episode No.	Series Nine Episode Five
Broadcast Dates	17th Oct 2015
Overnight Ratings (UK)	4.85 Million
Doctor	Twelfth Doctor
Companion	Clara Oswald

Odin and the Mire attack the Viking village

The Reaction

Highlights

• Pacing - I usually criticise an episode for its stop-start pace, but this time it seemed to work. The cutting between action and dialogue gave a chance to take the story in little bits at a time, as well as being teased about when the climactic action would come. Another compelling script by Mathieson!
• Setting - Excellent graphics and set design effectively established the Viking setting of the story.
• Quality Acting - Capaldi and Coleman on top form as ever, with Maisie Williams contributing brilliantly too. It should be good to see the less controlled part to her character next week.
• The Face Thing - I have to say that I'm not disappointed with the way the face choice was resolved: we even got some flashbacks of Donna! Does make you wonder why Sixie took Maxil's face though...?
• Immortality - It was quite shocking to see the Doctor grant someone immortality despite him being completely against it in the past. It also shows Twelve's development of human skills by giving her a second one for the person she falls in love with, though I theorise that she may pick the wrong person to use it on... We'll see next week....
• Sonic Glasses - The Vikings snapped them. The Viking dudes are cool!

What is so special about Ashildr?

Low Points

• Vikings - They didn't have horned helmets. It had to be said....
• The Mire - Another enemy of the week that slipped through the fingers of the writers - underused and underwhelming. I'd also liked to have seen more of what was under that armour.
• Odin's Cloud - Did it not seem all a bit Teletubbies?

Quote of the Week

Doctor: "Immortality isn't living forever, that's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying. She might meet someone she can't bear to lose. That happens, I believe..."

Thank you for reading! Drop a comment with your thoughts or suggestions! They will be greatly appreciated!

New Episode Reaction - Before the Flood *SPOILERS*

About this Story

Title	Before the Flood
Series No. Episode No.	Series Nine Episode Four
Broadcast Dates	10th Oct 2015
Overnight Ratings (UK)	4.38 Million
Doctor	Twelfth Doctor
Companion	Clara Oswald

The Doctor faces the Fisher King

The Reaction

Highlights

• Beethoven's 5th - The little analogy for the whole episode in the pre-titles was great. The breaking of the fourth wall was effective, which would help the casual viewer to understand the concepts of the episode.
• Axe Chase - The scene in which Moran was stalking Cass down the Drum's dark corridors was perfect. The audio and visuals built up the tension brilliantly.
• Theme Tune - The different arrangement of the theme tune was a lot better than the usual one. It was probably the best use of the electric guitar this series, but hopefully the last...
• Clara - Her assumption of the Doctor's role over Cass and Lunn was convincingly performed by Jenna Coleman, who worked well with both of the guest stars

Will Lunn escape the ghosts?

Low Points

• Fisher King - Don't get me wrong, I thought the design of this monster was excellent, but it was just underused. We never actually got to see it properly in action.
• O'Donnell's Death - It seemed rather pointless with the attack happening off-screen. It may have been more effective if she has actually died off-screen.

Quote of the Week

Bennet: "My first proper alien and he's an idiot!"

Thank you for reading! Drop a comment with your thoughts or suggestions! They will be greatly appreciated!

New Episode Reaction - Under the Lake *SPOILERS*

About this Story

Title	Under the Lake
Series No. Episode No.	Series Nine Episode Three
Broadcast Dates	23rd Oct 2015
Overnight Ratings (UK)	3.74 Million
Doctor	Twelfth Doctor
Companion	Clara Oswald

The Doctor and Clara find an adventure in The Drum,
an underwater mining facility in Scotland

The Reaction

Highlights

• Base Under Seige - I love a good one of these, and this was certainly a good one. The atmosphere of the underwater base was perfect for tension building, helped along by the strong score from Murray Gold.
• Guest Cast - It was lovely to have our first "proper" guest cast since Last Christmas! The two-parter is giving us a chance to get to know these characters better, with some pretty solid acting from them, particularly Sophie Stone, whose facial expressions were often more believable than some of the dialogue from other characters.
• The Doctor and Clara - After being separated for much of the previous story, it was excellent to see them together in a new stage of their relationship. Capaldi and Coleman work brilliantly together, meaning I am beginning to draw parallels with the Tennant/Tate dynamic of Series Four, the best since the Baker/Sladen pairing.
• Cards of Humanity - Clara's cue cards for the Doctor to be more human were great. The card with Aberdeen pulled on my emotions, and Capaldi's failed delivery of the card brought some good humour to the episode. Twelve's inhumanity is quite refreshing after the very human Doctors that have preceded him.
• Threat - The amazing special effects made the ghosts pretty convincing. Their killing of Pritchard was harrowingly spooky, and his whole death scene had parallels with that of Scooti from The Impossible Planet, a story which I love.

It's soon a race against time to save the
lives of everyone on the base

Low Points

• Wearable Technology - The sunglasses don't even look remotely "sonic" and it's just a stupid addition which should be removed sooner rather than later.
• Faraday Cage - It's a bit like when you played tag in the school yard and had a base: everyone stayed on base and it was boring. Also, the ghosts were locked in there a bit too early, but that's just a minor nitpick...

Quote of the Week

Pritchard: "If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."
The Doctor: "It's ok! I understand....you're an idiot."

Thank you for reading! Drop a comment with your thoughts or suggestions! They will be greatly appreciated!