Doctor Who Really Messed This Up 

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This episode would have benefited so much for being saved for after the zygon episode. Giving the character some space to breathe between adventures.

I agree the fire lion was not good, but I'd have had Ashildr use the eye of Hades as a suicide machine, rather than a murder device. She could've worked out that since it drains whoever it is placed on, she'd be killed quicker than she could be healed. Then, it turns out the eye if Hades drains it's victims life to open a portal, but mortal lives are too fleeting to even start the process, the immortal Ashildr however gets the fully opened portal we see with Sam, and so the doctor has to talk her out of suicide to stop the entire world being invaded or destroyed. You could even have the 2nd first aid kit being used to close the portal, this time on Ashildr again, ensuring she cannot die, ever.

Personally, I hated that they wasted the "reminder to save people" thing was used for this, because he just cursed this girl forever, its a terrible follow up to the original moment. I feel like _The Doctor_ would know the consequence, he knows the limitations of human mind, and the "no good decision" would have been to let her die.

This episode was filmed at my old house (attached to main manor house) and i met Peter Capaldi, was sick

Honestly I’m a bit annoyed that we never got a conclusion on Sam Swift’s fate

I just couldn't understand the Doctor's rationale for not taking Ashildr into a future where she could fit better - what harm would that have caused? But the real problem is that the healing disc is just way too powerful a MacGuffin - why would the TIme Lords need regeneration, if they could simply become immortal? - which is probably why it was never discussed before or since.

Feels like there's a lot of doctor who episodes that have really good ideas that don't quite land. Also a waste of Ariyon Bakare as Leandro, he's very good in His Dark Materials as Boreal and in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell as Stephen Black

The "Me" thing allows the ambiguous moment at the end of Heaven Sent where the Doctor says "... is Me".

If timings had been different you know Ashildr would've popped up in Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures at some point.

Yes, very much this! Plus... 1 - I suspect that Ashildur only adopted the name "Me" because she had some prescient flashforward to the whole "hybrid" nonsense and the Doctor's line about "The hybrid.... is Me!" - LOL. It would have made as much sense for her to call herself "I". Did she tell other people "Oh, call me 'Me' ", or was "Me" just a name she used when thinking or writing about herself. How would any of this nonsense have actually _worked_ ? 2 - Ashildur played the character exactly the same at the start of it all and at the end. As you point out, Smith is pretty one-note, without the depth (mainly because she's very young) to differentiate between young and very, very, very old. Her origin scenes and her final scenes were pretty much the same person without any character development at all. 3 - Considering she thought of the immortality as a curse, once she had it, it probably makes sense that she had never inflicted it on anyone else (via the second immortality button) that she cared about. But then she does a complete about turn and starts thinking of it as a gift! 4 - Leandro... ++facepalm++

‘It’s just a shot reverse-shot sequence of the Doctor asking the villains about their plans and they answer it,’ before cutting to Me saying ‘It’s boring’ 💀💀💀💀💀 THE SHADE

I liked the setting and humour of this one and while I completely forgot about the lion guy until my rewatch he was kinda interesting too.

“The episode, I mean” 😭

Why was she dressed in 1750 Highwayman dress in the period of Cromwell's commonwealth 1640s ??????? This is a mistake that the original series would never make

I appreciate your opinions on Maisie's acting in this series. I'm not generally too critical of many actors and their performances but I remember back at the time watching these two initial Ashildr episodes and just feeling she wasn't very good in them and I've only ever seen them that one time. But I'd heard such good things about Game of Thrones (which I hadn't watched at the time), that I worried I was being harsh or unfair. So it's nice to see someone else (whose opinions I've respected and who is also generally very positive about the actors in the show) feel the same and make me feel I wasn't just being mean or something. I think playing an immortal or incredibly old character must be an incredibly difficult thing, especially for a young actor. It's why I admire Matt Smith so much because despite his youth at the time, you immediately bought this sense of his grand age, wisdom and world weariness. You kind of forget he was young. I remember going on to enjoy her performance in a one-off Channel 4 drama, so there's stuff she can be really good in, but I just felt she didn't quite pull this off unfortunately.

I can't be the only one who would love an Ashildr/Me Big Finish box set where she meets Rufus Hound's Meddling Monk, who leads her to believe he's Sam Swift. The reality is that the Monk met his human counterpart and kidnapped him in his TARDIS so he could take his place.

There is a movie called "The Wicked Lady" starring Faye Dunaway that came out in 1983 which is a remake of the 1945 film of the same name and is based on the story of Lady Katherine Ferrers, who you were talking about in the video.

I think it would be nice to see Ashildr being a host to a parasite instead of being an accomplice to the Lion Thingy..

The lion man is basically a anthropomorphic male Pyroar

I am not a fan of this story. I will admit it was good to see Ashildr again and you have a good story that she is the villain, and you can tell there is a consequence from the previous story about living forever. I do hate when she turns good all of sudden and I was like What?! First you blame The Doctor and now this?! It was such a disastrous story.

Late to this one, noticed I missed it when the new one came out today. Your take on this is pretty much the same as mine. Would have been so much better if we dropped the alien bits. Reminds me of the 8th Doctor in World Wide Web : "Gosh! Evil aliens in Lying-to-human-allies Shocker." 🤣

A decent actress in that role would have lifted this episode so much.

I'm curious: What's everyone's opinion of Ashildr? I dislike her she came across as quite unlikeable in all the episodes that had her, especially her appearance in hellbent, where she came across as annoying.

The fact the Doctor hasn't learned from Captain Jack is crazy

I could be wrong, but if I recall correctly you once said S9 is one of your favorite series of DW? Was that true? It really doesn't seem like it so far. I personally isn't the biggest fan of it. Some fantastic highs, but a lot of misses. Great review anyways, as always!

I know this episode has flaws, but I love it to death. None of the flaws bother me in any material way, and it's one of my favorites of season 9, which is my favorite season.

‘That abomination from Orphan 55’ 😭😭😭😭

I loved this episode so much

I like the potential of Sam Swift reappearing if it could be opposite 14/10A Tennant

Leandro's comedicly villainous laugh after the Doctor tells him to kill him if he wants to take over the planet is up there with some of the cringiest writing in the modern era😬

The doctor cursing someone with eternal life for his own selfish reasons? Perfection.

Is series 9 still your favorite?

still think that ashindr / me should have saved that immortality coin for clara and still didn't got whole hybrid part

i hope me/ashildr finally died off screen,despite never staying dead in the girl who died,and i hope that the character can be reformed on a spin off ,if its possible

This is S9s best episode if this is the only one

bro, don't say making someone immortal is kind, I can't imagine anything more cruel. death is natural and it's a well deserved rest after a hard life. even our short lives are exhausting and death saves us after decades of suffering.

@ 17:21 You mean X, it’s called X now.

Thanks for such a thoughtful video. All hail the Algorithm

Plague doctor *

Harbo you look like a teenager,what’s your secret? Time travel? 🔷🔷🔷

Part 1 great...this one let's it down. Dull AF.

Yeah this one is a mixed bag - love the setting and philosophical questions it poses re immortality but like many Moffat era scripts, the majority of the comedy lets it down because it’s so tonally off and jarring. I’m still unsure on Maisie Williams; I like her in some scenes but in others she’s either stiff as a plank of wood or just playing outright spoilt brat or ranting cackling villain which isn’t interesting or as nuanced as the rest of the performance i.e. someone who’s bitter after all they’ve lost. If anything, she hurts it because I feel less bad for her and more oh shut up you screaming child the Doctor was only trying to fucking save you after you died because you declared war and brought it to your own village in the first place and got killed. I also have to agree it’s a shame they felt the need to shove in a monster-of-the-week when the story is already about something else which is also far more interesting. Pure historical with sci-fi element present in the gadgetry and eye of Hyades would have been the way to go for sure. If the feeling was a worry that if there isn’t a monster, younger audiences won’t engage or it’ll be forgotten or even just the idea doctor who needs to have a monster then that’s unfortunate especially as the monster not only damaged the story but was ultimately unforgettable as well anyway and contributed to the whole episode being more meh and forgettable when it should be a really poignant and standout tale. I would like to add though that Doctor Who does have The Visitation set in 1666 (15 years after this one and which is much more atmospheric) so it has explored this period of history before and it does use elements of its historical setting well (as well as an alien invasion ironically) such as the inclusion of the plague and great fire of London; it also has some of the same elements as TWWL such as highwaymen and the image of death stalking the countryside playing into the fears the locals would have been preoccupied with at the time as depicted by the android as the grim reaper - much better than a generic Lion man breathing fire and who is in league with but then predictably betrays their human accomplice. It’s a shame because this episode is wasted potential of a genuinely interesting premise and setting but it still has some good bits too.

Do you want to know how an immortal would feel? If you think the Doctor qualifies as an immortal for being alive for 10,000 Earth years, then consider that I at the time of writing this, have lived 10996 life times. The mayfly lives 1 day. Then dies. if a mayfly could speak and communicate with us, they would consider us to be immortal. And to us it’s just another day. So if we knew a creature that could live 10,000 years, we would consider them to be immortal, yes. But consider, if you scale that back to the mayfly, 10,000 years to a mayfly would only be 125 days to us. (if we assume humans live 80 years when they parish. A mayfly lives one day. 10,000 years divided by 80, 125 days) Did I maths good?

I wont lie I've forgotten most of matt smiths late episodes as well as most of capaldis entire run. They were just so meh and forgettable even though capaldi is one of my favourite doctors

I 100% disagree with the opinions on Maise Williams performance. I think she is amazing, especially with using her face. I've literally sampled her from this story in a song cuz I love it so much haha.

Captain Jack was better.

Sotrry you didn’t like it. I’ve heard some other people say that too, worked for me, if still not one off the best

Who Wants To Live Forever...? (I'll see myself out)

I think you're going a bit overboard with your dislike of Maisie Williams acting, especially given your like of Matt Smith, who could be out acted by a piece of dust falling from a shelf.

You hate Maisie so much that you have made two videos bashing her. Terrible.

I'm so happy you show your face more in your videos now. You're really cute