Face the Raven

I was lost a long time ago. She was saving you. I’ll do my best. But I strongly advise you to keep out of my way. You’ll find that it’s a very small universe when I’m angry with you.

The Twelfth Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor, Clara and Rigsy find themselves in the midst of a mystery with a ticking clock in a magical hidden street in the heart of London

Review

Face the Raven marks the end of Clara’s time as a companion and the culmination of her subplot around her trying to be the Doctor. This story features a lot of good ideas within an entertaining framework and stands up to multiple rewatches.

Sarah Dollard’s first script for the programme is really good, and has some great ideas that in here that feel quintessentially Doctor Who. Trap streets, fictitious streets created on maps to prevent plagiarism, are a concept that it almost feels as though it is mad that Doctor Who hasn’t played with before. Hidden streets are not exactly a new idea in fantasy fiction, with the most famous example possibly being Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series, but Dollard uses this idea and makes it a hiding place for refugee aliens. I’ve written in previous reviews about enjoying when the show tries to make the universe feel like things are going on outside of the Doctor’s orbit, and having some of the Doctor’s foes hiding out in this street makes the Trap Street feel really dangerous. The story is really well-paced, with the chronolock tattoo giving the story a sense of urgency and drama, and the threat of the titular raven is teased well with the death of the elderly man who refuses to transfer his punishment to his partner.

The Trap Street which is the backdrop for the majority of the story is under the protection of Ashildr, or as she prefers to be referred to, Mayor Me, and her mysterious backers who clearly have plans for the Doctor going forwards. This story again toys around with the ideas of immortality, as Me tells Clara that the former knows that she has met the latter, but that she does not remember this and is so relying on her diaries. Whilst Me was set up to be more antagonistic towards the Doctor at the end of The Woman Who Lived, here she seems to be acting under duress, determined to keep the refugees on the trap street safe from the threats of the universe. Having made a deal with the Shade, enforced by the creepy raven, Me seems to be in over her head.

The story brings back Rigsy from Flatline, which is one of my favourite episodes in Series 8, and the story is used to highlight how much further Clara has gone since their first meeting. It’s an easy way of bringing in a member of guest cast that the audience already has some attachment to in this instance. Joivan Wade puts in a good performance here, and it is important that he does so as the audience needs to care about the fate of the individual who starts the story with the Chronolock tattoo on them. Rigsy gives the story its central mystery, calling the Doctor and Clara into the story to investigate his missing 24 hours, and later whether or not he murdered Anah, a Janus. The Janus is perhaps one of the elements of this story that doesn’t work so well, but it feels as though this is perhaps one idea too many for this story and there is simply not enough time to deal with this properly.

I am a big fan of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor but I think he gives one of his best performances here. When he turns on Me when she tells him that she cannot remove the Chronolock from Clara, he is truly terrifying.

The Doctor is no longer here, you are stuck here with me!

The Twelfth Doctor

Yes, this is part of my best quote from this story. When the Doctor gives this speech, it never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The Doctor is capable of being dark in all of his incarnations, but the Twelfth Doctor really makes me feel his pure anger and how scary it would be to be faced with it. It’s not all darkness and seriousness though, as he also gets moments of light, like asking Rigsy whether he made ‘this human’. Ultimately though, this story is about stripping away at this incarnation of the Doctor, who has gone from being grumpy and unapproachable in Series 8 to working on being much more the opposite in Series 9 to this episode. A lot of this work was done with the help of Clara, who started the era as the woman who had saved the Doctor throughout his travels in time and space, and became someone who believed that she would be able to escape every dangerous situation she was stuck in. Steven Moffat’s era of Doctor Who focuses on how dangerous the Doctor can be to their companions, and Face the Raven feels like the culmination of Rory’s concerns he raised to Capaldi’s predecessor in Vampires of Venice: in wanting to impress the Doctor, companions take increasingly dangerous risks. Ultimately though, the story wouldn’t work so well without the relationship between Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, who have worked well together all series and the final scenes between them is no exception.

As a final point, this story features my favourite costume worn by the Twelfth Doctor. There is something so Doctor-y about the maroon jacket!

Verdict: Face the Raven is a great ending to Clara’s story, even with what happens after this story. Capaldi and Coleman put in great performances and the story is brimming with ideas. 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Maisie Williams (Ashildr/Me), Joivan Wade (Rigsy), Naomie Ackie (Jen), Simon Manyonda (Kabel), Simon Paisley Day (Rump), Letitia Wright (Anahson), Robin Soans (Chronolock Guy), Angela Wright (Alien Woman), Caroline Boulton (Habrian Woman) & Jenny Lee (Elderly Woman).

Writer: Sarah Dollard

Director: Justin Molotnikov

Producer: Nikki Wilson

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 21st November 2015

Behind the Scenes

• Clara becomes the first onscreen companion to die on screen since Adric in Earthshock.
• The first Doctor Who story to have a post-credit scene. Death in Heaven had previously featured a mid-credits scene.

Cast Notes

• Simon Paisley Day previously played the Steward in The End of the World.
• Robin Soans had previously played Luvic in The Keeper of Traken.
• Jenny Lee has appeared in a number of Big Finish audio dramas, including Time in Office opposite the Fifth Doctor.

Best Moment

There are a lot of these, but I do really enjoy the Doctor, Clara and Rigsy searching for the trap street.

Best Quote

Fix this. Fix it now.

It’s not possible. I— I can’t.

Yes, it is. You can, and you will, or this street will be over. I’ll show you and all your funny little friends to the whole laughing world. I’ll bring UNIT, I’ll bring the Zygons – give me a minute, I’ll bring the Daleks and the Cybermen. You will save Clara, and you will do it now, or I will rain hell on you for the rest of time!

Doctor, stop talking like that.

You can’t.

I can do whatever the hell I like. You read the stories, you know who I am! And in all that time, did you ever hear anything about anyone who stopped me?

I know the Doctor. The Doctor would nev—

The Doctor is no longer here! You are stuck with me! And I will end you and everything you love.

The Twelfth Doctor, Ashildr and Clara Oswald

Previous Twelfth Doctor review: Sleep No More

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