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In the end, Anah wasn’t dead, she was just resting… And when the Doctor freed her, he got lumped with a teleport bracelet to a location of Ashildr’s choosing. In return to turn everything around, Ashildr demanded the Doctor’s confession dial (Why? Who knows. It may contain his last will and testament, but tbat’s only of use to his solicitor), but when she went to free Rigsy of the chronolock, she didn’t realise it had been passed over to Clara… and that causes a problem – she’s rather stuck with it. She should’ve read the terms and conditions of the contract!
What followed was quite a decent scene – one of the first for this series – where Clara resigned herself to her fate, saying she thought she deserved it because she’s been reckless, and that why can’t she be reckless when the Doctor always is? In addition, as he begins to get angry about the potential outcome, she begs him not to avenge her death because others will most likely suffer if he rampages through time after Ashildr.
In the past week, I’ve woken up every day to hear this episode’s trailer echoing softly out of the TV, with Clara praying “Let me be brave, let me be brave…”, which rather stuck in my mind. And in wanting to be brave as she faced the raven, she was suddenly brown bread, but she had a wazzo pair of jugs while doing it!
However, is this really the end for her? We know Jenna Coleman is leaving during this series, but she was also killed off along with Missy in The Magician’s Apprentice, at the start of this series, and both were fine! Even still, while this was a fairly strong ending for Clara, you just know Moffat will ruin it and make a big thing about her in the Christmas episode, if not during the final two episodes of Series 9, prior to the brief break before Christmas.
Clara has been around longer than most recent companions, so Jessica Gaye summed up a nation’s thoughts on the Doctor Who Facebook page:
The ‘attack eyebrows’ then came out as The Doctor threatened Ashildr to keep out of his way because otherwise, “You’ll find it a very small universe when I’m with you.”
And then, after the forever-shouted-over-by-continuity-announcers credits, we saw an abandoned TARDIS turned into a shrine for Clara.
Next time: The Doctor’s in a maze with a recogniseable individual in front – who hasn’t been revealed. He then bellowed: “I’m the Doctor. And I’m coming to find you. And I will never, ever stop.”
Face The Raven is available on the BBC iPlayer until December 20th.
Doctor Who Series 9 Part 1 is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD, you can also pre-order Series 9 Part 2 on Blu-ray and DVD ahead of its release on January 4th 2016, and individual episodes can be bought in HD and SD here.
And click on all the images in this review for the full-sized version.
Score: 7/10
Director: Justin Molotnikov
Producer: Nikki Wilson
Screenplay: Sarah Dollard
Music: Murray Gold
Cast:
The Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Clara Oswald: Jenna Coleman
Rigsy: Joivan Wade
Ashildr: Maisie Williams
Kabel: Simon Manyonda
Rump: Simon Paisley Day
Anahson: Letitia Wright
Chronolock Guy: Robin Soans
Alien Woman: Angela Clerkin
Habrian Woman: Caroline Boulton
Elderly Woman: Jenny Lee
Jen: Naomi Ackie
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.