Doctor Who 9x05 The Girl Who Died

[kerravonsen]

Yes, this is a belated reaction. And a quick one.

"Immortality isn't living forever. Immortality is everyone else dying."

In some ways, this feels like just a setup for the next episode, and in other ways, it's like a standalone episode, because apart from the very end, it could have been a standalone episode. No cliffhanger, and just one very important loose end. A doozy of a loose end, indeed. My expectations... that Ashildr will become bitter and angry and do terrible things and the Doctor will have to kill her. I mean, isn't that the way these things usually happen? Alternatively, she will have been spending centuries fighting against the Mire... and still be bitter and angry and all that. Because the people around her, who love her, who are the difference between living and existing... they are all going to die. Anyway, I'll find out what actually happens when I watch the next episode.

The electric eels thing was... well, barely scraping by, but I give points for ingenuity. The illusion of the serpent, though -- I just love the idea of using their sophisticated technology against them; that depending on electronics etc. to perceive the world... means that it can be hacked into and send you illusions. I like that idea.

There were fun character interactions, like the Doctor giving all his trainees names, and poignant things, like the translations of Baby.

(I found it hard to hear some of the Doctor's lines to Clara, it's like he was muttering. Did anyone else find that?)

Comments

[travels_in_time]

I found the Doctor giving his trainees names funny...until I realized that he didn't want to know their real names, because he really figured they were going to die. It was his way of trying to make them less "real". Which kind of ties in to how the enemy-of-the-week was defeated, in the end.

I love Peter Capaldi's accent, but I have to watch with subtitles on, because where his voice is pitched at is apparently my sweet spot (sour spot?) for "can't hear over the background music".

depending on electronics etc. to perceive the world... means that it can be hacked into and send you illusions.

This is a very good point, and it scares me somewhat, because I think we're seeing it happen to us now, in a sense, with our social media over-consumption.

[kerravonsen]

I found the Doctor giving his trainees names funny...until I realized that he didn't want to know their real names, because he really figured they were going to die.

Oh good point!

because I think we're seeing it happen to us now, in a sense, with our social media over-consumption.

That doesn't bother me overly much, because I figure that, no matter the source, the information we receive will have bias. And that there is more bias in newspapers than in social media, because they are controlled by the owners. And that one must always beware of gossip.

[lizbee]

I often have trouble understanding Twelve, and even Clara sometimes -- Capaldi's accent seems to become thicker when he drops his voice (or maybe I'm losing my hearing?), and he somehow makes Coleman even more northern than usual. (Imagine: Nine and Clara: THE NORTHERNEST TARDIS!) Every now and then, I have to go back and listen to a scene using headphones.

[kerravonsen]

Ah, now that's a good idea. (ponders how to set up headphones)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

The Beeb seems to be having that sort of problem with a lot of things. It is not that people are muttering just down to the sound engineers and mikes, it is especially noticeable on location filming rather than studio sets.

[cynthia2015.livejournal.com]

I use subtitles because I sometimes find the background music too loud.