Nerdist "Doctor Who 'The Girl Who Died'"

"...Well, I say they packed in a lot, but on the surface, this episode, which is a mainly standalone adventure that will have a crossover for next week, is a pretty standard Doctor Who – the Doctor and his companion get caught up in the plight of a “primitive” culture about to be annihilated by a much more advanced race and he has to save them. That’s probably 70% of all the episodes ever. But, the beauty of the show is how the writers manipulate that tried and true plot to make it something new and different. Or, in this case, to use it as a springboard for larger thematic issues.



Let’s get the “easy” stuff out of the way first. The basic plot for this episode is based on Seven Samurai, or The Magnificent Seven, or A Bug’s Life, or Battle Beyond the Stars – a village of peasants is attacked by marauders, given a concerted period of time to prepare for further attack, are forced to seek help from outsiders, are taught to fight and defend themselves, and eventually win. This story’s been done a bunch, clearly, but it almost always works because it’s the perfect example of the underdogs standing up to adversity. Adversity in this case comes in the form of a pretty ingenious villain, the Mire, an alien race that’s real, real ugly and that harvests aggression and testosterone from warlike peoples to strengthen their own armies...


...But we also get the idea of ripples in the timeline versus tidal waves. Saving a small group of people might be just ripples, but turning an entire hostile race against a planet is a tidal wave. There were hints and asides that led me to believe they’d start talking about the Twelfth Doctor’s face, but I wasn’t expecting it to be in this episode! How awesome! He realizes the reason he picked that face – meaning the face of Caecilius, whom Capaldi played in Series 4’s “The Fires of Pompeii” – was to remind himself that he’s the Doctor, and he saves people. Big-upped by the sudden excitement at the possibility, and the anger of having lost Ashildr in the first place, the Doctor tinkers with the Mire soldier’s helmet, which has a self-repairing function, and gives it to the girl, bringing her back to life..."    Bravekat


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