Face the Raven (TV story)

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Face the Raven was the tenth episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. The episode saw Rigsy and Ashildr return as well as Ashildr's first time interacting with Clara since The Girl Who Died.

The episode marked the death of companion Clara Oswald, who died during the episode's climax. The situation that led to her demise dealt with the consequences of what happens when a companion starts thinking too much like the Doctor and jeopardises themselves by imitating his self-sacrificial actions; Clara in particular had begun acting more reckless since the death of her boyfriend, Danny Pink, and hadn't even considered the consequences of her rash decision until it was too late.

Synopsis

The Doctor, Clara and Rigsy are trapped on an alien street in London, that is hidden from the rest of the world.

Ashildr, the immortal hybrid-girl, is taking care of some of the most dangerous creatures in the universe. Not everyone will get out alive, one of them must pay the price and face the raven.

Plot

The Doctor and Clara get a call from Rigsy saying that a tattoo had appeared on the bad of his neck and is counting own to zero. They arrive at his flat finding out he has a wife and a newborn daughter. He tells them he has no idea on how it got onto him, he doesn't remember any events that had happened the previous day and also tells them that his screen has been cracked and wiped off any data from the phone. The Doctor takes him in the TARDIS and scans him and finds out he has been in contact with aliens in the last day and that he will die when the countdown gets to zero. They soon try to help him by finding a trap street where they assume aliens are hiding. They soon come across it when Rigsy drops his phone and recalls the memories.

When they go into the street, they find that they are around different aliens and species which is used so that average humans think they have go into a misdirection and to look human to each other. Soon, Aliens are led to them along with Me, who is mayor of the street. Me explains that the street is a refugee camp and that Rigsy is being sentenced to death for killing Anah, a two faced Janus female; he had been retconed and given time to say goodbye to family; the tattoo is a chronolock that leads a Quatum Shade which appears normally as a raven which kills the victim when the time goes down to zero. The Doctor and Clara believe that Rigsy did not kill Anah and has been framed for the murder. Me allows them to investigate the case and to make sure to convince everyone that he did not commit the crime so that the truce in the street is at peace and there will be no rivalry.

A man also has a Chronolock tattoo on the neck for stealing medical rations and his wife tells him to pass it on to her. He soon gets killed by the Raven. Clara soon learns that she can do this to Rigsy as she has absolute protection over herself from being in danger. Clara takes Rigsy's Chronolock and she has now got the tattoo counting down on her. When asking questions to others, The Doctor discovers that Rigsy tried to call the doctor when he had found out he was in the trap street and believes Me was trying to get him to come here. Clara also discovers that everyone except Anahson, daughter of Anah, was looking at Rigsy in a different way to everyone else. The Doctor and Clara find out she is really a girl and is dressed up as a boy to stay safe and to hide her ability to find the past and future in someone. She tells them that Me had made up a mystery to bring them here. They all go to where Anah's body is and find out she is alive and put inside a stasis chamber and can be only unlocked by the TARDIS key. When he opens it, his wrist is trapped and and a teleport bracelet is wrapped around his arm. Me arrives and tells them that the Doctor is to be teleported away to keep peace on the street. Me asks for the confession and what it is before she activates it. When she goes to remove the Chronolock from Rigsy, they discover Clara has it and that she cannot take it off her. Me had arranged to use the Chronolock on Rigsy and that she would not kill him or anyone. Clara broke that contract by accepting the Chronolock of Rigsy and cannot be able to take it off her. Me is stunned and horrified at this, protesting that she never meant to harm anyone and Clara is doomed to die.

The Doctor is furious with Me and threatens to unleash hell on her for all of time unless she saves Clara. Clara is horrified by the Doctor's anger and tries to calms him down. She makes him promise that he will not harm anyone who will come in his way of this and will not take revenge on what has happened, reminding him on why he became the Doctor. Clara touches the Doctor's face in sadness, who in turn tenderly kisses her hand. When the Chronolock counts down to zero, Clara goes outside to face the raven. The Doctor follows and watches her from afar. She stands there waiting for the raven and asks herself to be brave. The Raven strikes Clara, causing her to scream in an unbelievable amount of pain that the whole of the trap street can hear. Smoke comes out of her mouth and she drops to the floor dead. The Doctor returns back inside and tells Me why Clara had said what she had said. He also tells her to stay out of his way, saying that the universe can be a small place when he's angered, and he is soon transported away.

An unknown amount of time later Rigsy can be seen putting the finishing touches on his latest bit of graffiti- a mural dedicated to Clara on the front entrance of the now empty TARDIS. He then walks away, leaving the abandoned TARDIS with no Clara and no Doctor.

Cast

Uncredited cast

Crew

to be added

References

  • The Doctor and Clara visited the "second most beautiful garden in all of time and space", where Clara saved the Doctor from marrying a "giant sentient plant thing".
  • The Doctor threatens Me to save Clara, saying that he will bring UNIT, the Zygons, the Daleks, and the Cybermen down on her trap street.

Story notes

  • This is the first story to feature the Twelfth Doctor in a burgundy version of his signature navy blue Crombie coat, similar to the coat he was first seen wearing during TV: The Day of the Doctor.
  • In the credits, the word "Oods" is used to denote more than one Ood, rather than the established "Ood", as used in TV: The Impossible Planet.
  • In one scene, there is a poster with a diagram of a flux capacitor, a direct reference to Back to the Future. It is accompanied by writings in Aurebesh, the main alphabet used in the Star Wars franchise. This writing spells out "Delorean", the car used in the Back to the Future franchise.
  • This marks the first Doctor Who episode to have a post-credits scene. Previously, Death in Heaven had a mid-credits scene, but this is the first to have a post-credits one.

Ratings

Filming location

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

External links

to be added

Footnotes