Timelord Thoughts 10 - Face The Raven

So it's the moment the series has been building to over the last nine episodes. The big question is, will it live up to expectations when it's time for Clara Oswald to:

Face The Raven

• Once again we start the episode with the Doctor and Clara having just finished another exciting adventure. This time not only is Clara bragging about how she saved the Doctor, but she is also boasting about how wonderful and clever she is. Pride comes before a fall...
• I'm digging the Doctor apparel at the start here - kind of a rock tour T shirt and velvet jacket combo. I do think it suits Capaldi more than the buttoned up white shirt look.
• There seems to be an awful lot of steam coming up out of those floor vents.
• I'm not quite sure why they both look so surprised that the TARDIS phone is ringing - it has happened quite a lot before, especially in the Matt Smith era.

• The idea of a moving tattoo that is counting down to something is a good one. It certainly means that there is an deadline that has to be faced. Tattoo's have of course appeared frequently in fiction. Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" featured animated ones which told stories as a framing device. Garth Nix's "Keys To The Kingdom" series contained a character that had tattoos that moved and changed form dependant on his emotions. Even "The X-Files" had an episode where a tattoo of a woman begins to talk to its wearer -  insulting him and forcing him to do things.
• We don't need an expensive effect to see the TARDIS materialising in Rigsy's flat. Just a flashing light and the "Vworp Vworp" noise does the trick.
• So the buttoned shirt is back. I had a theory that because of it's appearance in the trailer, this episode was set before all the others we have seen this series (no I am not gong to say those Txxxxx Wxxxxx words). Three minutes in and I already think that might be on shaky ground.
• The Doctor's seeming amazement that a human could make another human is a little odd but maybe it's just that he didn't have a very high opinion of Rigsy after their last encounter in "Flatline".
• "No! Don't bring the new human. I'll just get distracted". I liked that.
• As the Doctor scans Rigsy, Clara examines his phone. It's another example of her being more than just another companion. The old title was "assistant" and she certainly want to live up to that - and more.
• Retcon of course appeared first in the Torchwood episode "Everything Changes" and last appeared in an episode of "Miracle Day" <<Shudder>>
• It's an interesting scene when the Doctor is trying to tell Rigsy he is going to die. He's looking at Clara and it could almost be directed at her too. (Yes I'm desperately flailing around to try and make my theories fit now).
• Again when Rigsy asks the Doctor to save him, the Doctor looks over his shoulder at Clara. Is that just an instance of "Yes, I know what I have to do" or is it something more?
• It's a shame that when the Doctor decides he is going to take action that the music (a quite pleasant piece which was bubbling underneath nicely) has to roar into life and drown out the dialogue.
• It's also far too loud during the British Library scenes. Subtitles really help here.
• Ah "hidden" London. Obviously there are lots of areas of the capital which have changed over the years. Stations and buildings and streets and walkways which have been obliterated by construction projects or just renamed. There even used to be a "Black Raven Passage". Some of these places have been used in fiction but others are just made up - Malcolm McLaren's odd musical "The Ghosts of Oxford Street" features a preserved Victorian shopping arcade underneath Selfridge's, but sadly it's not real. Conversely there is the very real Down Street underground station used in Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere". More on that later.
• Clara was correct, "trap streets" are created by map makers to catch potential copyright thieves. Sometimes they are non-existent streets but often they are just misrepresentations of real locations. There are reckoned to be over 100 trap streets in the London A-Z alone. The Doctor doesn't seem too impressed by Clara's knowledge though.
• That's a great shot of Clara leaning out of the TARDIS over the City of London. I think I spotted where I work in the top right.
• If the Doctor knows that Clara's "adrenaline junkie" actions are an ongoing problem, why hasn't he done more to curb them?

• Naughty Mr. Moffat. Incorporating his own trope into the dialogue. "Hiding in plain sight" indeed. 
• It's a nice efficient montage of the trio hunting for the effects of the misdirection circuit overlaid with the Doctor's instructions. It doesn't look like any part of central London I know, but they get away with it.
• The Doctor's "most annoying stuff" seems to include a trumpet, a tambourine and... some headphones?
• Isn't that a Blowfish from Torchwood? The Wolfman looks familiar too.

• I liked the alarm effect on the cobblestones and the guy struggling to get out of the trap door legs first!
• They called the trap street a refugee camp, but I don't think they are going to go down the modern day allegory too much - not so soon after the Zygon two-parter.
• So here comes Ashildr or Me or whatever she's calling herself these days. I hope she has converted those diaries to eBooks otherwise the sheer number of them would fill the British Library by now.
• Whenever the Doctor flashes that huge grin, you know he's not really smiling at you...
• Another couple of centuries has not really improved Ashildr's empathy with humans or her willingness to condemn someone to death.
• Let's play spot the reused monster costumes. Two points for the Judoon.
• I know that some have said that the trap street set looks very like Diagon Alley from the "Harry Potter" movies. Perhaps it does. But then again if it has remained fairly unchanged since at least 1815 (the date of the Battle of Waterloo) then why would it not be full of oak beamed houses and lanterns? There is nothing to indicate that they don't have electric light and hot running water.

• The idea of a society of people / creatures hidden from the mundane world is not a new one in fiction. Apart from the aforementioned "Harry Potter" series and "Neverwhere", which the trap street most closely resembles, my personal library also contains works by Clive Barker, Terry Pratchett and Robert Rankin which all deal with this concept in one form or another.
• Three points for a Sontaran that seems to be far taller than the rest of his race (judging by the hologram glitch). An extra point if you  realised it was an Ice Warrior outside his armour in the background. Oh and not forgetting the Silurian just as they enter the building.
• I missed the name of the creatures providing the telepathic field on first viewing. Lurkworms eh? The thing is, if they "normalise" everything you see within your own expectations and experiences then based on what the Doctor has seen, shouldn't he automatically see the creatures as they really are?
• No points for a Cyberman and an Ood. That's just too easy.
• Janus was the ancient Roman god of beginnings, transitions, gates, doorways and endings - and by extrapolation time itself (very apt for the events of this episode). As with Anah, he was depicted as having two faces one looking to the past the other to the future.
• Having the quantum shade in the form of a raven is not only an arresting image, it also ties to it's wider significance in cultural mythologies around the world. The raven has often been considered a bird of ill omen linked with the dead and lost souls. However in Greek myth it was originally associated with Apollo the god of prophecy - but for good luck. The legends of Odin tell of him having two ravens, Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) and these play a big part in another Neil Gaiman novel, "American Gods". There are hundreds of other references in all cultures. 
• Is Ashildr's comment about a Cyberman's fear of a merciful death meant to indicate that the running man is meant to be one of that race? A Cyberman with emotions is not unheard of in the new series, but one married and living in domestic bliss? Is his name Kroton?
• I wonder if Ashildr has made a bargain with the quantum shade that she herself can't get out of? She certainly doesn't seem too happy to get its mark back around her neck.
• Nice that the Doctor has a 1980s style digital watch to check the time. Expert Pertwee style neck rubbing from Mr. Capaldi there too.

• In that moment when Clara realises that the chronolock can be passed on, we *know* where this is going and what it will lead to. Her fate is sealed.
• Those tapestries on the wall behind Rigsy include something that looks like a flux capacitor from "Back to the Future".
• "Doctor 101" Oh Clara how wrong you are. This is where she genuinely thinks she is as good as the Doctor and can do anything he can. She is also guilt tripping Rigsy into going along with her mad plan. She won't take no for an answer.
• Clara's Jane Austen tale and the flippant "take that how you like" is both an almost-fourth-wall-breaking commentary to the audience and a sign that she just doesn't care what people think of her any more.
• The attitude of the trap streets residents to the impending death of an apparently innocent person is both horrifying and yet.... They don't want to lose the peace and safety they have, so are willing to sacrifice one person for the sake of the community. I don't in any way agree with it, but you can understand their fear.
• The penny is starting to drop for the Doctor and "Trap Street" takes on a whole new meaning. It's a little convoluted as far as plans go - plant a tattoo on the back of Rigsy's neck. Hope that he'll spot it in time. Hope that he'll call the Doctor. Hope that he'll find the hidden street. Ashildr could have just asked for the Doctor's help. It would perhaps have piqued his interest enough for him to turn up. I guess with the current plan she didn't anticipate them talking to "Anahson" and finding out the truth this early on.
• Slowly the jaws of the trap start to close. Ashildr said she would protect Earth from the Doctor and she always wanted access to the TARDIS. Has she been planning this for over two hundred years? Was the formation of the street part of her plan all along?
• A teleport bracelet? I guess calling it a "Time Ring" would have made it too obvious who "they" are. Yes I'm still sticking to my theory that the Timelords are involved in this somehow. Why do they want the confession dial though?

• The Doctor looks genuinely horrified at what Clara has done, as does Ashildr. The deal she made with the Quantum Shade and the chronolock on Rigsy was never meant to be activated - it was just a ruse to capture the Doctor. Now Clara has interfered and created a new deal, one that she did not fully understand the terms of. Hence she's doomed.
• The rest of my theory is shot to pieces. Unless there is some serious timeline manoeuvring to come, there is no way that the Doctor's confession dial can detail his involvement in Clara's death - although I did get it right - as did most people to be fair - that her hubris and arrogance would be her downfall and that Ashildr was involved somehow (even as it turns out only indirectly). The playing field is wide open now for next week.
• The Doctor may be going through the anger and bargaining stages of grief at the same time. His threats to Ashildr are frightening. "Give me a minute I'll bring the Daleks and the Cybermen". "...I will rain hell on you for the rest of time". "The Doctor is no longer here! You are stuck with me and I will end you and everything you love". It's the Doctor at his most furious and Capaldi at his most electric. Just mesmerising.

• Yet Clara *knows* the Doctor. She knows he isn't the man of fury and vitriol - at least not for long. "Your reign of terror will end at the sight of the first crying child".
• Ashildr says that there is nothing she can do, but there's a bloody big stasis pod right there. Couldn't they put Clara in it to buy some time? Or is it as I suspect, a creature that can find you anywhere in all of time and space would have no problem getting through a stasis barrier...
• These last moments between Clara and the Doctor are just wonderful. Both trying to take the blame for what is about to happen and both not letting the other carry the guilt. Capaldi and Coleman are fantastic. There are a million different emotions flitting over their faces.
• "I know what you're capable of. You don't be a warrior...be a Doctor". Clara has seen what happens when the Doctor stops being the Doctor. It took him three incarnations and hundreds of years to work through and to forgive himself.
• We've never seen the Twelfth Doctor cry, but this time he comes so close. It's a heartbreaking goodbye.

• I just want to say something about Murray Gold's music during these scenes. I've been very critical of his bombast and inappropriateness during this series. But for once, when it mattered, he got it right. The melody as Clara steps out to meet her death is beautiful and movie soundtrack quality. 
• ....
• ....
• ....
• ....
• And then they blew it. The music swells far too loud. The slow motion crucifixion pose and multi angled silent scream goes on and on and on. Some of the people I was watching this with had to stifle a laugh. Why couldn't they just restrain themselves just a few moments longer and then we would have perhaps had the most powerful and dignified companion death ever. I get that it's meant to be painful and emotional and gut wrenching but it doesn't have to be overblown like this. It's such a shame. 

• In a final note to Clara's quest to be like the Doctor, she actually looks like she is in a regeneration pose and energy seeps from her mouth. Except unlike the Doctor for her it brings death.
• It's the Doctor's Hulk moment. "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry". If I was Ashildr I would run as far away as possible. The problem is, she'll probably forget all about this in a couple of hundred years - mortal memory and all that. I'd recommend writing herself a note in glowing red ink at the front of every volume of her diaries from now on.
• To be continued indeed. Wherever the Doctor has been transported to, there seems to be no way back. The TARDIS is covered in remembrance graffiti thanks to Rigsy. But one question remains - what did happen to Clara's body?...

Conclusion:

I enjoyed that far more than I expected to going in. The concept of the "trap street" was excellent and could have been the focus of an episode all by itself. It felt like a natural conclusion to Clara's journey and her portrayal over the last two series. Much like the Doctor she wanted to emulate so much, she gave her life to save another. I've liked Jenna Coleman ever since "Asylum of the Daleks" and I think she got a great last episode. The final speeches by both Clara and the Doctor were magnificent and up there with the quality of "The Zygon Inversion". Capaldi in particular was just spine-tingling.

Where it was let down was the moment of Clara's death. It was a real mis-step in my opinion and almost ruined her sacrifice. Still, 95% of excellence is a great hit ratio. With two episodes to go, anything could happen now. If they can keep this quality up, I can't wait.

Rest in peace Clara Oswald.