By Ken Parker
This is a very interesting episode and
it is obvious that the number of open endings in it means that the
story still has to be completed. After what some consider to be one
of the worst episodes in years, "Sleep No More", we have “Face the
Raven” which is a very talky almost murder mystery type of
plotline. Rigsy (seen in last season's “Flatline”) is in trouble
and calls the Doctor and Clara. He has a tattoo of a number on his
neck that is counting down. The team investigates and locates a
hidden street in London that acts as a sanctuary for stranded aliens
on Earth. It appears that Rigsy killed one of those aliens and the
countdown is when he will die. He has totally forgotten about the
previous day. What the real story is concerns Ashildr (Maisie
Williams) and yet another elaborate plan to capture the Doctor. Who
set the trap and why is to be determined next episode but that is not
important right now.
The elaborate death sentence that Rigsy
is given, we find out, can be conveniently transferred to another
willing person. Since Ashildr promised the Doctor that Clara would
be unharmed, Clara thought it would be smart to take the countdown
death herself and Ashildr would be forced to take it off or the
Doctor would figure out how to fix the problem. This would work any
day of the week but not this time because Jenna Coleman is leaving
the show. Ashildr seems distraught by this transfer because while
she could have removed the tattoo from Rigsy, she can't remove it
from Clara.
The Doctor can't do anything about it
and Clara accepts her death. A raven swoops down and takes Clara's
'life force' from her. The Doctor is teleported away by an unknown
person or persons. That is it.
The episode is all about the capture of
the Doctor and the death of Clara. The death was telegraphed with
all the rumors but was fairly powerful. We have not seen a companion
death on screen in quite some time and so it was fairly shocking.
Still, this is Doctor Who and I don't think too many people will be
surprised to see Clara return to life. It seems unlikely and if they
do bring her back it will be a cheat or let down of sorts. The
touching good-bye is more powerful as it is and doing anything more
might ruin this nice moment. I feel many people are going to be
waiting for Clara to pop up in the next episode but I feel that
Moffat has done this too many times and maybe he has finally decided
to let this one stand.
The episode is full of the usual over
complicated plots to get to where it needs to go. It is almost
theatrical play like in its setting, taking place in just a couple of
areas, often with crowds of people (aliens) on the street. It must
have been a very inexpensive episode as well. I don't understand exactly what this sanctuary is as it has some of the most ruthless aliens in the galaxy and they are just hanging out pretending to be humans. Why look like humans in a hidden alleyway? Another forced concept that is hard to accept.
I can't really judge this episode
without seeing the other shoe drop but this was one of the better
ones and a good farewell for Clara, at least for right now.
Ugh. I thought there were a lot of good elements to this episode, but it's another example of the kind of writing/episode that has left me disappointed after watching Who the last few seasons. I do agree, seeing the second episode may clear up some of this disappointment for me, but if not for the "To be continued..." at the very end, I would have had no idea it was even supposed to be a two-parter.
ReplyDeleteThey spent what felt like half an hour just to kill Clara, and then really milked it at the end, which totally ruined the scene for me. For a creature we've never heard of before that can go anywhere in the universe to kill its victim, it sure does have to land and rest a lot. And what was with the comment that this death is so horrible even Cybermen fear it... then a moment later the guy died in about 5 seconds?
I thought the cinematics were spectacular, and the acting as usual was great, but these stories are almost to the point that I'm not looking forward to new episodes any longer. Here's to hoping that part 2 explains everything and makes it all better.