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The Doctor and Clara have established a dynamic as a partnership of equals, they’re relishing the fun and thrills that all of space and time has to offer. Tangling with ghosts, Vikings and the ultimate evil of the Daleks, they embark on their biggest adventures yet. Missy is back to plague the Doctor once more, the Zygons inspire fear as they shape-shift into human clones, and a new arrival moves in cosmic ways.
What makes the episode interesting isn't that the Doctor figures out a way to snatch a young girl from death's icy hands. Rather it is the larger, unseen consequence of him doing so and, possibly more intriguing, the reason behind the Doctor's action.
The attack and battle sequence zipped through at speed. If it felt a little rushed it didn't hugely matter, as it was clearly setting up for a bigger second half.
The Viking girl's story plays nicely into the bigger thematic arc of this season as well, as the Doctor and Clara contemplate the constraints of being a Time Lord... of, as he puts it, being able to do anything but not being allowed to.
New director Ed Bazalgette proves adept at both keeping the light-hearted antics bubbling along, and provides space for Capaldi and Coleman to nail the serious moments.
Maisie Williams is, of course, terrific. If her character hadn't worked, the episode would have fallen apart, but Ashildr is hugely likeable. She's fierce, but not one-dimensionally angry, brave but not unafraid.
Tonight's much-anticipated "Doctor Who," perhaps my favorite episode so far this season, gives us our first glimpse of Arya Stark, well "Game of Thrones" actress Maisie Williams anyway, in the Whoniverse.
"The Girl Who Died" is the show doing historical episodes as they're meant to be done. It's like "Fires of Pompeii," "Robin of Sherwood" and classic Third Doctor adventure "The Time Warrior" all mixed into one -- literally -- electrifying episode.