The following article contains a small number of early spoilers for V. E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Do we count this as part 2? I guess it’s strictly how you perceive time and from whom’s direction. For one side, it is only the second time interacting. However, from another non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it is either the third or possibly the fourth. Either way, it’s treated as a standalone story unto itself, weiving in a series of references we know of and those yet to come. Oddly enough, coming back many years later to the episode, I like it more.

“The Woman Who Lived” is Catherine Tregenna’s one-and-only episode of Doctor Who. I’m surprised she hasn’t done more. Primarily working with Chris Chibnall on the absolute and objectively awful Torchwood and the sometimes ok Law & Order: UK, she’s got a strange set of credits behind her. This includes Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, alongside something with the fantastic Adrian Lester, called Riviera. This episode itself is based around a concept from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. She also has credits for an episode of Casualty (Grey’s Anatomy for daytime), and strangely enough, just one episode of Eastenders.

Anyway, shall we get to my point about Addie LaRue, I mean, Me? Not me, but Me, as in the character. Sometimes I do hate when Steven Moffat is actually half decent with his direction for writers. Maisie Williams’ character, now near-immortal and no longer going by the long-forgotten name of Ashildr, is stuck in what we perceive to be a timeline of the strict progression of cause to effect. She has lived for what is now hundreds of years, including fighting through the Hundred Years’ War, the second bubonic plague (which still rages on), and several other world events in her long and not so adventurous lifetime.

It is a weird mix of what Blake Snyder called (in his book Save The Cat) the genres of Monster in the House and Rites of Passage/Superhero. Mostly because there is that unease of Leandro hiding in the bushes from the outset, and the overall premise of the episode where Me has to learn that despite being hundreds of years old, she can’t be disillusioned with apathy for her friends just because she has to go “the long way ’round.” It is very much a moment for the Doctor to teach her that, no, this ability to live longer than others is neither a curse nor a blessing.

It is going to be hard and heart-breaking to see the “little people” grow up, grow old, and die, but they are the ones that ground you. Now an adventurous “young” woman of faux nobility, she earns her fortune from being the fable “Knightmare” thief of the day. This is what I think I missed a bit in the review of “The Girl Who Died,” because Williams has the ability to straddle that line of neither being pinned down as masculine or feminine, depending on the role. Additionally, here you can neither hold the adjective of old or young to her. This is the point of the role itself; Addie LaRue without the curse of being easily forgotten.

Though for all my praise across Williams and Capaldi’s performances alongside Tregenna’s writing, I do have a thing to highlight. The dim-witted and otherwise simpleton that is Me’s butler is described as “deaf as a post” then she shouts at him from another room and he’s able to hear it. Either he is the village simpleton and a bit deaf, or he’s messing with you my lady. There is no way he’s hearing you three rooms over when he has trouble hearing you two feet away. I’ll believe the thing keeping you alive, I’ll forgive the Aslin cosplayer, and I’ll forgive the magic aliens he’s from, but that, I’m having trouble with.

Otherwise, Aslin’s plan of using a jewel that opens a portal to the underworld and thus rips a hole in the fabric of space, yeah, I need more set-up on that. Yes, a bi-pedal lion-man that spits fires is convincing on premise alone, but Me trusts him wholeheartedly, and I don’t see how. I guess it is supposed to show her naivety in the plan, displaying that her hunger to see the stars is overpowering her ability to see a red flag. I’d still have liked a little bit of something to show how he convinced her.

What I didn’t expect was that I’d like the Rufus Hound-led bits, since Sam Swift is portrayed as a surface-level Robin Hood in his introduction. After my last bit about Hood, I think it is clear to see why I don’t care about the myth that is Hood’s gimmick. Yet when Swift is rolling out gallows humor left, right, and center, I’m surprisingly invested in his character, not because as Snyder puts it, he saves the metaphorical cat. He’s desperate as the hangman looms, he doesn’t want to die and the acting surprisingly well done for someone I’ve personally seen only on Celebrity Juice.

As an episode, “The Woman Who Lived” actually stands out as one of the best episodes of Capaldi’s run. Capaldi’s performance as a Doctor teaches a lesson only he can, to the person his actions disillusioned. Tregenna’s script is wonderful not only in its simplicity but in its ability to shirk off several staples of the era without feeling too out of place. Without Clara, this episode is perfectly fine and is arguably one of the best episodes of Capaldi’s entire run. Causality or symptom, others will argue I’m wrong. However, her absence and good episodes fall in line most of the time.

Sure, the resolution is whimsical, to say the least. If it were an episode so grim and restricted by tone, I’d have argued similar sentiments. However, it is very Doctor Who to hang the resolution of the problem (quite literally) around one of the lead’s necks and a make point out of it. Nevertheless, the point I made earlier about the Rites of Passage/superhero categorization is actually the point of the story. It is about the growth of Me and her ability to understand that she isn’t alone, she doesn’t have to run away and she can help the people the Doctor leaves behind.

Anyway, after this weekend’s performance in Australia, most people are like Peter and want a Ferrari. Oh, and Me will make a return while Clara says the words I think we’re all happy won’t be true for long: “Don’t worry, daft old man. I’m not going anywhere!” It was fun while she was away, but of course, that had to be ruined with Clara flying the TARDIS at the very end. 

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Doctor Who "The Woman Who Lived"

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• a seminal & fun story for Peter.
• An episode without Clara
• Maisie and Peter's performances

Cons

• The resolution to the problem is a little shaky.