Who Review: Face the Raven
The Doctor and Clara are surprised when Rigsy–“Local Knowledge” from last season’s story “Flatline”–calls the TARDIS emergency line. He’s got a tattoo on the back of his neck, but he doesn’t know where it came from. Indeed, he doesn’t remember anything about the events of the previous night. But this tattoo is no ordinary tattoo–it’s counting down minutes. And, as the Doctor discovers, they are the number of minutes Rigsy has left to live. Together the three explore the hidden streets of London for the people who gave him the tattoo, and stumble upon a strange world of secret aliens trying to live in peace, ruled by a long-time acquaintance. It seems a crime has been committed, and Rigsy stands accused. He must either prove himself innocent, or “face the raven.” Time’s running out, and, unknown to the Doctor, the stakes are higher than he could imagine…
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
After last week’s questionable offering from Mark Gatiss, we get back to form with, I think, a much more solid story. The idea that an ancient city like London might have hidden streets, like hidden closets or rooms in an old house, is very appealing. There’s so much you can do with that, like, for example, have a street where all kinds of otherwise hostile aliens co-exist under a peace agreement. Outbreaks of lawlessness are punished by death, and the countdown to death is marked on the accused’s neck. Sentence is carried out by “the raven”–a shade that can hunt a people down wherever they might be, so there’s no escaping justice. Of course, this is a fallible, Draconian justice, where guilt is determined more by crowd opinion than by evidence (do we have a bit of social commentary here?), and even stealing medical supplies for one’s spouse is punishable by death.
It was nice to have Rigsy back. He was one of the more popular characters from last season, and, given his involvement with the events in “Flatline,” I suppose he was a natural choice for a comeback. Of course, if Moff would bring back Rigsy, one imagines he has plans to bring back Shona from “Last Christmas”–she was also a fan favorite, and considered by many to be companion material. Who knows…?
Speaking of new companions, I suppose that spot is now vacant since this episode saw Clara’s departure. Russell T. Davies managed to avoid killing off companions, but Moff seems a little less willing to give the Doctor’s companions a nice send-off. Amy and Rory were both sucked back in time by Weeping Angels (“The Angels Take Manhattan”), and Clara unwittingly seals her own doom by taking Rigsy’s tattoo. Her final scene with the Doctor was very emotional, and I’m sure there were few dry eyes as Clara accepted her fate, and chose not to run but to face the raven. I have to say, while it was good and powerful, I thought it a bit drawn out. I found myself thinking back to Adric’s demise in “Earthshock.” There was something very simple and understated about it that made it, I think, at least as powerful. His last goodbye to his friends as they left him to solve the logic puzzle that would give him control over the ship–the Doctor knowing the odds were slim he would survive. The shot of Adric gripping his brother’s belt, after the dying Cyberman shoots the control panel, ending any hope Adric had of getting out alive. The shot of the ship crashing into the Earth, the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan watching helplessly from the safety of the TARDIS. The silent credit role at the end over Adric’s broken badge. That, to me, was as gut-wrenching as Clara’s speech, the Doctor’s protestations, and Clara’s slo-mo death fall and silent scream. But it was a bold end to the impossible girl’s time on Who, and, as always, brilliantly performed. The little tribute to Clara after the credits was also a nice touch.
So I was wrong about last week’s story having anything to do with Clara’s exit, which is a shame. That really does relegate “Sleep No More” to being this season’s “Love and Monsters.” Sorry, Mark! 🙂
It appears this was all a grand plot to capture the Doctor. Someone needs him, someone who could not have asked the Doctor directly because he would have refused. And now the Doctor has been transported away, and I can’t help thinking Missy’s involved in this somehow. I guess we’ll find out next time.
There are my thoughts–what did you think?
My hubby has NO idea about Jenna leaving the show, so he is convinced she’s not really dead. I bite my lip each time he brings it up. I thought her dead dragged a bit. Like it kept making me thinking there was going to be a twist. I didn’t expect her to die in this episode either. Companion departures are usually reserved for the finale. I liked the departure though. It will make upcoming companion departures less predictable.
I knew Clara’s demise was coming up, and I’m sure I read somewhere it would be episode 10. It would have been good if they’d managed to keep it secret–make it a total surprise, as they did Adric’s death back in 1982. I guess these days that’s next to impossible. As you say, they normally leave companion departures to the finale (or mid-way finale, as with Amy and Rory), so I guess we’re expecting a lot from the next two episodes…
Unfortunately I accidentally spoiled this for myself because I couldn’t watch it on the night and then the next day my FB feed was covered in floral tardises. Watching it knowing the ending it was odd. I don’t know whether I’d have picked up on Clara’s idea being so terrible if I hadn’t known where it would lead, but knowing it the scene felt wrong – why was she rushing through this plan, pushing him to make an immediate decision, and above all not telling the Doctor? Her half falling out of the tardis and whooping and laughing as she did felt a bit clunky too, as though it was just a hammy set up for her later saying that she takes risks. But it’s easy to be critical when you never experienced it fresh.
I assume the ending was so drawn out because they wanted people to think there would be some last minute rescue of some kind? Even knowing Jenna was leaving, I’d have been shocked by this if it hadn’t been spoiled. Not least of which because the writer was a pretty random one who’s only done one ep before, and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that Moffat would hand over his baby the impossible girl’s death scene to another writer.
Still, I’d really warmed to Clara this season, at last, so I found it very sad! (Still doesn’t come near Doomsday for the blubbering, though, or Donna’s exit for tragedy).
As indicated above, I was fairly certain that this episode was Clara’s last, though I didn’t know quite how it would happen, so I understand what you mean by the hanging out the TARDIS scene. You know, I almost got the sense that Clara wasn’t completely convinced of the plan to begin with. It was a huge risk, but her main concern was that Rigsby survived. Maybe her *real* motive was to convince Rigsby to hand over the mark so he could live to raise his family. Whether or not she survived was secondary. Hence her whole speech wasn’t about persuading the Doctor to fix the situation, but for the Doctor to accept her exit and not seek revenge.
A drawn-out ending dangling the hope of a last-minute reprieve? I could see that. Though I know how much NuWho likes to yank on the viewers’ heartstrings, so I wasn’t too surprised at the (IMO) overly-emotional parting scene. Don’t get me wrong, it was sad, but the whole 10-min speech (I’m probably exaggerating–maybe), and the slo-mo silent scream? Like I said, Adric got a lot less, and it was just as shocking and tragic, if not more.
I actually thought it was cool they gave such a big scene to a relatively new Who writer–a *female* Who writer, no less!