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You might remember I thought the previous Doctor Who episode, “The Zygon Invasion,” was okay but kind of boring. It was all set up, and I figured everything important was going to happen in the second part, “The Zygon Inversion.” For about half the episode, though, I had the sinking feeling it was going to be no better or more interesting than the first episode. Then the second half of the episode came to the rescue.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The second half of the episode takes place entirely inside the Black Archive, which we haven’t seen since the 50th Anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” and consists primarily of the Doctor trying to convince Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Bonnie, leader of the Zygon revolution, not to start a war. All he’s got in his favor are two mysterious boxes, the Osgood Boxes, and a slim chance to convince them to stand down. He gives a long speech, a good speech about how you can’t know who will die in a war, a speech that covers so much of what the Doctor felt during the Last Great Time War, and one that is completely heartfelt thanks to Peter Capaldi’s BAFTA-worthy delivery. It’s a speech about being able to forgive yourself and each other in order to move forward. It’s the heart of the story. The only drawback is that it took an episode and a half to get there, but once it arrived I thought it was pretty damn good.

When I initially saw what was inside the Osgood Boxes, I felt my suspension of disbelief slip. How could the buttons be labeled Truth and Consequences, the same words the Zygon revolutionaries use as their rallying cry? How could the Doctor have known after the events of “The Day of the Doctor” that those words, and that very concept, would come into such heavy play later? I was tempted to pass it off as just another flashy but illogical Moffatism (Steven Moffat co-wrote the episode with Peter Harness), but then a line at the end of the scene, little more than a throwaway really, implied that this was actually the fifteenth time the ceasefire had broken down. Kate and Bonnie didn’t remember because of the Black Archive’s mind wipe. So it’s possible that at some point in the previous fourteen crises, the Doctor altered the contents of the boxes to match the recurring Truth or Consequences theme. (One must also presume that during the other fourteen crises no one was killed and no one saw a Zygon au naturale, because there’s no way the Doctor would have been able to accurately wipe so many people’s memories outside of the Black Archive. How the people who lost loved ones this time around will cope with what happened is left unaddressed.) Once again, Doctor Who has given us an amazing scene that doesn’t involve explosions or running down corridors or someone talking really, really fast. Just Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor talking to people like they’re adults. Like in “The Witch’s Familiar” earlier this season, it’s the best part of the story.

Anyway, this time the Doctor tries to prevent a future, sixteenth reoccurrence by only wiping Kate’s memory and not Bonnie’s. Then, in an about-face that is way too fast, Bonnie goes on to become the new second Osgood to help defend the Earth. It’s a sweet and likable moment with the two Osgoods at the very end of the episode, but it seems to me that this big a change of heart requires a lot more time and healing than “later that day…” After the amazing scene in the Black Archive, it rang a bit false.

I admire the episode for sticking to its guns and not revealing which Osgood we were seeing all this time, the human or the Zygon. Even the Doctor can’t resist asking, but she refuses to tell him, saying she’ll only do it on the day when it no longer matters. That, too, was a sweet moment and central to the story’s theme. (Also a sweet moment: When the Doctor tells Osgood he’s a big fan.)

All in all, I found the “Zygon Invasion”/”Zygon Inversion” two-parter not very interesting, at least until the end, but ultimately solid. One weird thing I noticed, though: I think the Zygon costume design actually looked better in 1975’s “Terror of the Zygons” than it does now. These new designs look too…dry. The Zygons should be slimier. Also, bring back the Skarasen!

And now for some fun Doctor Who neepery! The painting of the First Doctor in the UNIT safe house makes another appearance, with a wall safe behind it. Kate uses the phrase “Five rounds rapid” in explaining how she escaped from the Zygon that was about to kill her — a phrase made famous by her father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, in the 1971 Third Doctor serial “The Daemons” (which happens to be one of my favorites!). There’s another mention of “Sullivan’s gas,” the anti-Zygon weapon created by former companion Harry Sullivan, which the Doctor goes on to call “imbecile gas,” a reference to the Fourth Doctor memorably calling Harry Sullivan an imbecile in the 1975 serial “Revenge of the Cybermen.” In the Black Archive, we can clearly see the battle helmet of a Mire in the background. And finally, at the end of the episode one of the Osgoods is again wearing the Seventh Doctor’s outfit.

(And here’s some bonus James Bond neepery: the Doctor’s Union Jack parachute is a callback to Bond’s identical one in the opening scene of The Spy Who Loved Me!)

“The Zygon Invasion” isn’t a bad episode, per se, but coming on the heels of the exceptional two-parter “The Girl Who Died”/”The Woman Who Lived,” you can’t help but notice how mediocre it is by comparison. It’s an Earthbound UNIT story, which is already one strike against it, although for the first time since UNIT was reintroduced in the new series I found myself pleasantly reminded of the Third Doctor serials of the classic era, in which he and UNIT would fend off all manner of alien invasions (half of which also involved the Master in some capacity). Of all the new Doctors we’ve had since the show came back, I must say Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor reminds me the most of the Third, and that definitely comes through here.

Truthfully, I don’t have a lot to say about this episode because there isn’t much meat to it. I suspect everything important is going to happen in the second part. About the only thing I really liked about the episode was its refusal to state whether the surviving Osgood is the original human or the Zygon version. It’s a brave stance, considering it’s a question that’s surely on every viewer’s mind, but it fits snugly with the story’s theme that it doesn’t matter if she’s human or Zygon: she’s Osgood. (My main concern for the second part of this story is that everything is going to be solved, in true deus ex machina form, by the mysterious “Osgood box” rather than the characters’ ingenuity or peacekeeping abilities. But then, this season has mostly been smarter than Doctor Who has been in some time, and this story may yet surprise me.)

“The Zygon Invasion” features some fun callbacks to the classic series, which as a longtime Doctor Who fan is something I always enjoy. The biggest callback is the question marks printed on Osgood’s shirt collar. We know she’s a big fan of the Doctor’s, having already seen her wearing a Fourth Doctor-style scarf and an Eleventh Doctor-style bowtie, but seeing those question marks again was kind of hilarious. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Doctors all had question marks on their shirt collars, while the Seventh Doctor moved them from his collar to his sweater and the handle of his umbrella. Frankly, the question marks were one of the worst costume choices of the John Nathan-Turner era, and believe me there are a lot to choose from, but I got a weird kick out of seeing them here. (I did not, however, like the Doctor saying he still wears question marks on his underwear. I’d love it if the show could leave this kind of juvenile humor behind.)

Other fun callbacks include an oil painting of the First Doctor hanging on the wall of the UNIT safe house in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance. (Although this is somewhat inconsistent, since the Doctor was already on his second incarnation when UNIT was initially formed, and his third when he became UNIT’s Scientific Advisor. Did I mention I’m a nerd?) The events of the 1979 Fourth Doctor serial “Terror of the Zygons” are referenced (the only appearance of the Zygons in the classic series), as is, quite unexpectedly, former companion Harry Sullivan, who we’re told invented the anti-Zygon weapon Z-67 shortly after the events of that serial.

One last thought. I appreciate Peter Capaldi’s skill as a guitarist, but I don’t think the Doctor needs to be seen playing the electric guitar in every episode. A little goes a long way, folks. Even Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor didn’t play the spoons in every episode! Also, in case I haven’t mentioned it recently, the sonic sunglasses have got to go. Seriously. Just do everyone a favor and get rid of them already.

“The Woman Who Lived,” the second part of the story that began with last week’s episode “The Girl Who Died,” is, quite simply, the best episode of the season so far. It may in fact be the best episode of Doctor Who in a very long time.

***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***

Maisie Williams, as Ashildr/Lady Me, is a big part of the reason why this episode is so good. Clara isn’t in this episode, and it has never been more obvious how little the show needs her. I didn’t miss her at all. In fact, by the time she shows up for a brief scene at the end of the episode, I had mostly forgotten she existed. Ashildr steps into the companion role effortlessly and with far more panache, and the adventure they share is an enjoyable one, a compelling mix of humor, drama, and science-fiction nonsense.

It’s the conversations between the Doctor and Ashildr that make this episode work. The way she accuses him of leaving too soon after a problem is fixed, thereby freeing himself from having to experience the consequences of his involvement. The way he throws it back in her face that she’s the only one responsible for her decision to stop caring about other people, not him and not the gift he gave her. The Doctor explaining how he can never travel with someone who, like him, is essentially immortal because he needs someone to remind him how precious and fleeting life can be. We even get a mention of Captain Jack Harkness, possibly for the first time since “The End of Time, Part Two” in 2009, and the Doctor’s cheeky response to Ashildr not knowing who that is: “He’ll get around to you eventually.” The dialogue, written by Catherine Tregenna (incidentally the first female writer the show has employed since 2008), absolutely crackles. She turns Ashildr into a far more memorable character than she was in “The Girl Who Died,” and in Sam Swift she creates a hilarious comic foil (and potential love interest?) for quite possibly the rest of Ashildr’s days.

How much Ashildr has forgotten (and sometimes how much she has wanted to forget) over the eight centuries she’s lived is perhaps the most realistic portrayal of a normal human being granted with immortality I’ve seen. In movies like Highlander, it’s implied that the immortals’ memories are fully intact, that they can remember events from hundreds of years ago with ease, but the human brain can store only so many memories. The way Ashildr is forced to keep journals so she can remember, and the way she has forgotten her Viking village and even her original name, is handled compellingly and with a sense of authenticity. (Although if she rereads her journals regularly, it strikes me that she wouldn’t have forgotten the name Ashildr at all — though I may be taking her initial protests of ignorance too much at face value.)

The plot itself is of less interest than the character interplay. Something about a magic amulet and Lion-O Leandro, a lion-headed, fire-breathing (?) alien who tricks Ashildr into something something invasion. There’s lots of fun running around and some good heisting along the way, though, including a hilarious highwayman showdown between Ashildr and Sam Swift. Seriously, this may just be the best written and best acted episode of Doctor Who in recent memory. (No props for the clearly fake horse the Doctor was riding, though. During close ups, was Peter Capaldi sitting on a plastic horse replica on the back of a flatbed truck that was driving down the street? I think the answer is obviously yes.)

I was delighted to read a news item this morning that said we haven’t seen the last of Ashildr this season. I continue to stand by my assertion that she will be heavily involved in the finale as the Minister of War hinted at a couple of episodes ago in “Under the Lake.”

Silliness aside (Dalek poop, the sonic sunglasses, “I know why I gave myself this face”), this is turning out to be a remarkably thoughtful and mature season of Doctor Who. I’m more optimistic about the show than I’ve been in years. Please don’t let me down, show!

And now for some Doctor Who neepery! When I first saw Lion-O Leandro in the promos for this season, I thought we might be seeing the return of the Tharils, the lion-faced, transdimensional aliens from the 1981 Fourth Doctor serial “Warriors’ Gate.” That supposition had me wondering in turn if Maisie Williams’s character was going to turn out to be Romana, whom we last saw leaving with the Tharils to free them from slavery in E-Space. It didn’t turn out that way, of course, which is probably for the best since I think Ashildr is far more interesting as her own, new character than as a returning character in disguise. Also, Tharils don’t breathe fire. (Neither do lions in general. What the fuck?)

When the Doctor mentions to Ashildr that the Great Fire of London is coming in 1666, she wonders if she’ll be the one to start it. The Doctor replies no, it will be started by the Terileptils. This is a reference to the 1982 Fifth Doctor serial “The Visitation,” in which the Terileptils, a race of reptilian aliens, invade England in 1666. They accidentally start the Great Fire at the end of the serial, when a Terileptil drops its weapon into a fire and it explodes, destroying the Terileptils and starting the notorious fire on Pudding Lane.

Next week, the Zygons are back. And so, strangely enough, is Osgood. Will she be a Zygon replica, or the real human? And what does that mean for the Osgood we saw murdered by Missy in last season’s finale?

For the first time in what feels like a very long time, we have in “The Girl Who Died” a nearly flawless episode of Doctor Who. (Not to be overly cynical, but I do feel it’s too bad this is a two-parter, as I’m convinced they will only muck it up. Prove me wrong, Doctor Who!)

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

The story is an enjoyable one right from its rather zany pitch: a ragtag team of Vikings with no battle skills takes on an alien warrior race considered the most fearsome in the universe, with the Doctor and Clara tasked with forging a plan to make sure the Vikings survive. In usual Doctor Who fashion, the solution is kind of random and nonsensical (electric eels? what?), but the episode is so much fun I just went with it.

Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame is a welcome guest star, although I felt her role of Ashildr was somewhat underwritten. There’s a concept at the heart of this story about the power of storytelling, Ashildr’s in particular, but it’s only brushed upon before it becomes part of the Doctor’s big plan. We never see Ashildr telling a story, for instance; never see her hold the entire village in thrall with her words and imagination. That would have been better. As it was, the idea felt rushed. I wish they’d had time to explored it more. Unsurprisingly, I’m intrigued by the power of storytelling and would have liked to see this concept coaxed more to the surface.

The other thing I really liked about this episode were the references, and it was chock full of them. Not just references to Doctor Who, but to other pop culture mainstays. The Doctor refers to one long-bearded Viking as ZZ Top. There’s a hat-tip to “Yakety Sax,” the 1963 pop-jazz tune made famous when The Benny Hill Show turned it into its de facto theme song. The stupid sonic sunglasses get snapped in half by a Viking right away (yay!) but apparently still work (boo!). The Doctor claims he’s “reversing the polarity of the neutron flow” at one point, which is a nod to the Third Doctor’s famous and oft-repeated words. He also says, at the end, “Time will tell. It always does.” These are the same words the Seventh Doctor used at the end of the classic 1988 serial “Remembrance of the Daleks.” (He talks about creating “ripples in time” in that serial as well.) Clara gets the funniest line of the episode, if not the season so far: “The universe is full of testosterone. Trust me, it’s unbearable.”

The reason I call this a nearly flawless episode is because there are still a few things I don’t like about it. (You know me, I can nitpick anything to death!) I think Doctor Who makes a narrative error every time it opens an episode with the tail end of some other, untelevised adventure the Doctor and Clara are currently having. Not only does it run the risk of being more interesting than the episode we do get to see (I’m looking quite pointedly at you, “The Caretaker”), but it also runs the risk of setting the wrong tone, as it very nearly does here. A lot of fast talking and things exploding (two elements Moffat-era Doctor Who continually mistakes for viewer-grabbing excitement) precede an episode that is thoughtful, quiet, humorous, and dialogue-driven. Someone needs to send a memo that not every episode requires people talking really fast and things blowing up.

Then there’s the episode’s title. There’s nothing really wrong with the title “The Girl Who Died.” As titles go, it’s fine. However, at this point, the instant I see anything in Doctor Who with the word “girl” in it, I sigh heavily and roll my eyes. That’s because we’ve already had Amy Pond as “the girl who waited,” and Clara Oswald as “the impossible girl,” and before both of them we had Madame de Pompadour as “The Girl in the Fireplace.” I’m a little over the “girls.” At least the next episode is called “The Woman Who Lived.” Maybe that’s a step up?

The bit about the Doctor having somehow chosen this particular face unconsciously, and the reason why, felt extremely forced to me, retrofitted into the story rather than something they gave a lot of thought to. I’m against the idea that the Doctor can unconsciously choose what he looks like, because A) it implies he has too much control over the process, which he clearly doesn’t, and B) he definitely would have been a ginger by now. It’s even harder to imagine he can or would choose his face in order to send a vague message to himself. But Steven Moffat, who co-wrote this episode, can never let a chance go by without tinkering with Doctor Who canon somehow.

And now, my theory on this season’s arc! Back in “The Witch’s Familiar,” Davros mentions something about the Hybrid, a mixed-race warrior that the Time Lords had a prophecy about. Davros mistook the prophecy to mean a creature half Time Lord and half Dalek, but he was wrong. Now it’s possible the Hybrid is Ashildr, half Viking and half alien technology. In “Before the Flood,” O’Donnell mentions the Minister of War as one of the Doctor’s foes, but it’s not someone he’s met yet. Is it possible Ashildr, now made immortal by the alien tech, becomes the Minister of War, whom the Doctor will have to face at the season finale? I’m leaning toward yes. After all, why hire Maisie Williams if you’re not going to give her a super juicy role?

But time will tell. It always does.