The Girl Who Died
| 256 – "The Girl Who Died" | |||||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||||
David Schofield as Odin, and the Mire.
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| Cast | |||||
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Others
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | Ed Bazalgette | ||||
| Written by |
Jamie Mathieson Steven Moffat |
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| Script editor | Nick Lambon | ||||
| Produced by | Derek Ritchie | ||||
| Executive producer(s) | Steven Moffat Brian Minchin |
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| Incidental music composer | Murray Gold | ||||
| Series | Series 9 | ||||
| Length | 45 minutes | ||||
| Originally broadcast | 17 October 2015 | ||||
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 94% |
| Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score) | 8.1 |
| The A.V. Club | A |
| Paste Magazine | 9.6 |
| SFX Magazine |   |
| TV Fanatic |  |
| IndieWire | A++ |
| IGN | 8.8 |
| New York Magazine | |
| Daily Telegraph | |
| Radio Times | |
"The Girl Who Died" is the fifth episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 17 October 2015. It is written by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat and directed by Ed Bazalgette.
The episode is set in a "little Viking village where all the warriors have just been slaughtered". The Doctor and Clara have 12 hours to train some farmers into warriors when Ashildr (Maisie Williams) declares war upon the Mire.
Under attack from a battle fleet, the Doctor rescues Clara from asphyxiation in space by materialising the TARDIS around her. He lands the TARDIS on Earth, and they are captured by Vikings. The Doctor tries to frighten them by brandishing his sonic sunglasses, but an unimpressed Viking simply breaks them. The Doctor attempts to use his "magic" to impress the Vikings into letting them go. He claims to be Odin, but they dismiss him as an impostor. Suddenly, an image of Odin appears in the sky, commending the Viking warriors' bravery and inviting them to Valhalla. A squad of armoured suits arrive, using weapons that appear to disintegrate the warriors. The Doctor deduces they are using advanced imaging to target the warriors and teleport them away; Clara tells Ashildr, a young woman from the village, to use part of the sonic sunglasses to remove her chains, the two women are struck by the weapons after the sonic technology was scanned. The armoured suits disappear, leaving the Doctor alone with the non-warriors of the village.
Clara, Ashildr, and the Vikings Warriors find themselves aboard a spacecraft. The male Vikings are killed and drained of their adrenaline and testosterone, but Clara and Ashildr are spared. They meet "Odin", who is actually the leader of the Mire, a species that prides itself on its merciless reputation. Clara attempts to negotiate peace, but Ashildr, enraged by what she has seen, declares war for her people. "Odin" states he will launch an attack in 24 hours and returns Clara and Ashildr to the surface, to the relief of the Doctor. Clara brings the Doctor up to date, and the Doctor encourages the remaining villagers to abandon the village until the Mire have left. They refuse, willing to make a stand despite their lack of battle skills. The Doctor attempts to train them to fight, but they are far too weak and incompetent to stand up to the Mire. The Doctor tries to devise another plan. He discovers that Ashildr is a storyteller who uses homemade articulated puppets. Able to understand "Baby", he translates for the blacksmith's baby, who is crying about the "fire in the water". The Doctor realises that this refers to the electric eels that the fishermen have caught, and this becomes the basis of his plan to save the villagers.
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Wikipedia