Face the Raven

 

Dear Gary—I am philosophically opposed to Face the Raven, yet I find no fault with it. New Who has shackled itself to Earth and thus the Men in Black/aliens among us type scenario is inevitable. Face the Raven embraces the concept and delivers a decent story enriched by the presence of Maisie Williams reprising her role as Ashildr/Me.

Ashildr, in her latest persona of Mayor Me, has set herself up as the ‘Man in Black’ arbiter for the aliens. These aliens, however, are not out and about in everyday life. Rather they have segregated themselves away in a hidden ‘trap’ street in the heart of (where else?) London. It is an intriguing concept and cleverly revealed through the saga of Rigsy. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let me back up to Rigsy. Rigsy, if you remember, recurs from the previous season’s story Flatline. Come to think of it, that is an apt callback to an episode in which Clara sets herself up as the Doctor. (But again I am getting ahead of myself.) Rigsy was a decent enough character from that rather unremarkable story, and he makes a pleasant addition to our present tale. The mystery he introduces in the form of a tattoo he inexplicably acquired on the back of his neck that is counting down is also promising. Doctor Who has done the countdown thing before to great effect (thinking Flesh and Stone and The Power of Three) and this time it is just as provocative; and it is the very thing to draw in the Doctor and Clara and set them on the path of discovery.

What they discover, through an entertaining sequence, is the trap street, a murder mystery, and Ashildr as Mayor Me.

 
The trap street provides the perfect atmosphere with its dark alleyways and its various inhabitants slipping in and out of their human disguises as they go about their gritty day to day activities in these cramped quarters. Rigsy, we learn, was lured to this pocket of London the day before. He doesn’t remember this, however, because he has been ‘retconned;’ in true Men in Black style his memory has been wiped of all events involving his alien encounter, including the murder he supposedly committed.

 

None of this would make any sense if it weren’t for the fact that Ashildr set everything up. After all, what use is the countdown tattoo if Rigsy can’t see it? Good thing he has short hair and a partner to tell him about it. And what good is the countdown tattoo if he doesn’t even know what it is counting down to? Good thing he has the Doctor and Clara to figure it out for him. And what good is it to give Rigsy the time he needs in order to say his goodbyes and make his final arrangements if he doesn’t know he has a death sentence hanging over his head? And what kind of justice is it that convicts a man without a trial based on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence?

The answers lie in the fact that it is all an elaborate sham engineered by Ashildr in order to maneuver the Doctor into sticking his hand into the stasis chamber that is keeping Anah (the alleged murder victim) alive and in a state resembling death, and this is in order to clamp a teleportation device onto the Doctor’s wrist. It is a convoluted plot that depends on lots of luck and happenstance. However, like in any good Doctor Who script, this is a case where the means justify the ends.


I can forgive the show’s contortions because of the enjoyable 50 minutes they serve up. I can forgive Ashildr’s insane plot because of the interesting puzzle it provides.  Just as I can forgive the season arc that seemingly has led us to this shackled Doctor—I can forgive it due to a season of stories involving Maisie Williams; I can forgive it due to a season of quality episodes; I can forgive it due to a season that has renewed my waning love of the show.

And I can forgive it this—I can forgive it Clara. Even this I can forgive.

From the beginning Clara has been set up as the end. She started as the arc; the reason for the season. As such, she had to be filled in. Doctor Who never did a good job of filling her in. Season after season they started at the end with her and had to backfill; had to force her character into the mold that would result in the big bang finale. And now Doctor Who has led us to this; to Clara’s end.

Jenna Coleman has been given some meatier material to work with this season and she has made the most of it. In Face the Raven many of Clara’s character traits, or I could say flaws, finally culminate into a part Jenna Coleman can sink her teeth into. This brings me back to my earlier comment about Flatline.  Clara has been flirting with delusions of Doctor for some time now, along with a sense of invulnerability. Her bravery has turned to recklessness and her intelligence to hubris; and at last these tendencies have caught up with her. At last she must pay the price. At last she must face the raven.

Clara hurls herself into the adventure head first—literally. Hanging upside down from the TARDIS high over London, Rigsy says of her, “She enjoyed that way too much.” The Doctor replies, “Tell me about it. It’s an ongoing problem.” This sets the tone and the theme for what follows.

Clara genuinely cares what happens to her friend; her compassion is one of her good qualities. However Clara’s egotism overrides her empathy. Playing on Rigsy’s sentiment for his infant child, Clara manipulates him into transferring his deadly tattoo to her. “This is clever,” she states as she cavalierly toys with their lives. Clara is so intent on being the hero that she disregards all else. Caution is not just thrown to the wind; it is flung into the abyss—gleefully.

And then she does what she always does—she turns to the Doctor expecting miracles. “We can fix this, can’t we?” She implores when she discovers the tattoo, once passed on, can no longer be removed. “We always fix it.” But she can’t fix it; the Doctor can’t fix it; Ashildr can’t fix it. Clara has made her pact with the devil and she and only she can pay the price. Except, of course, the price she pays will be felt, as it always is, by those left behind.

“If you feel guilty about this,” Clara tells Rigsy, “even for one minute, I . . .” But of course Rigsy will carry this burden to his grave. And then there is the Doctor. “You can’t let this turn you into a monster,” she admonishes the Doctor. She knows how deeply her death will affect the Doctor, and all she can tell him is, “I guess we’re both just going to have to be brave.” This is where her egomania trumps all feeling and she embraces martyrdom. After all, if Danny Pink can do it . . .

“I know it’s going to hurt you, but please be a little proud of me.”

Her final words: “Let me be brave. Let me be brave.” She isn’t being brave so much as she is being vainglorious.

An appropriate end to this control character. And now the end justifies the means as well. This powerful and apt death scene justifies the three seasons of indecisiveness building and coalescing into this monumental ego ultimately being expelled in a poof of black smoke.

Clara never had a form of her own. She has been inserted into seasons in order to provoke desired outcomes. And now the show’s repeated assertions that Clara is the best and brightest is coming to fruition as her sacrificial lamb effort provides the gut punch to the Doctor that will clearly define the remaining two episodes of this ninth series of New Who.

I can’t feel it with the Doctor, mainly because I could never develop any affection for Clara. I can appreciate the actor’s work and can even find moments to like the character, but I could never warm up to her.  Also, I know New Who’s penchant for creating unbelievable ever afters, so even without benefit of hindsight I figure this will not be the last time we see Clara.

However I can sympathize with the Doctor’s somewhat misdirected anger and I can look forward to where the arc will take us as he awaits teleportation to parts unknown. The hints all point to the Time Lords being the powers behind the scene, and the confession dial is again put into play. It is all very intriguing, Gary.