Face the Raven Reaction and Discussion Post [SPOILERS!]

[jjpor]

Well, Series 9 of NuWho nears its conclusion with what has been described as being essentially the first part in its three-episode finale. What is going to happen to the Doctor and Clara (nothing good, I suspect), and which old acquaintances of theirs will be making a reappearance? Find out in the ornithological shenanigans of Face the RavenAnd

Comments

[wunnerwmn]

Okay, I've just now watched it and am still processing a bit. I feel like I need to be a bit careful of what I say as I know there are lots of Clara fans, and that's good, no problems with that. I just never quite "got" Clara. First she was the "Impossible Girl" showing up through the Doctor's history, then she was made out to be Lying McLiarson for a full season, and then she's best buds with the Doctor and all about adventure. It was hard for me to make a connection with the character as she just seemed to be different every season.

So, that's probably why I'm having a bit of a different reaction to the episode. No, I wasn't really glad to see her go as I thought she'd been written better this year, and Coleman's done a great job. I just didn't see her death completely as a sacrifice. A calculated risk to save Rigsy, yes...but she figured in the end the Doctor would save her, everything would be right as rain again, and she'd be ready to go off on another adventure with him. Even in the beginning when she was hanging out of the TARDIS door in danger of falling to her death, she giggled and woo-hoo'ed as she probably figured as long as the Doctor was there, she wasn't in danger. The tragedy at the end was she had to realize, suddenly, finally, that the Doctor has his limitations too, and he can't fix everything. I had the thought too that after all her time as the Impossible Girl, with the Doctor at some point in every regeneration, she figured that she'd live forever, or at least as long as he did, and came to find that with this regeneration that was no longer true.

But I did like how they had her face her death...no crying or whining, just acknowledging that she made an unfortunate choice, making sure as her final way to help the Doctor that he not take revenge. She took responsibility for what she'd done, didn't regret trying to help Rigsy, and faced the end with bravery. It was a great exit as far as companions go. Certainly a whole lot better than Sarah Jane being unceremoniously dumped off in the wrong place, or Donna's memory being wiped...honestly, I'll never get over what they did to Donna.

Capaldi was stellar, just absolutely amazing in the last scenes with her. And when he told Ashildr to avoid him...yikes, it gave me chills. "The Oncoming Storm" indeed.