Doctor Who 9×10 Review: Face the Raven

I’m sorry, what?

Did Clara honestly just die two episodes before the finale? I mean, I guess it makes sense if the people who made a deal with Ashildr are the Time Lords, because then the Doctor can spend the two-part finale fighting off by himself and facing whatever the hell he’s been postponing for since the 50th anniversary -hell, since David Tennant’s last episode, I would say.

I knew that all the foreshadowing of this series was hinting at Clara’s inevitable death, but I sincerely hoped that would not be the case. When a companion dies, the trauma of it means the Doctor spends an entire season mourning and basically ignoring whoever comes next. I don’t know, I wish it had been different.

That being said, the episode was great. The plot of a countdown to die and the Diagon Alley-styled street/refuge for aliens was an interesting topic. Clara’s ultimate death, though a bit anticlimactic, had a powerful effect and the scene gave me the chills, though mostly thanks to Capaldi’s restrained performance. To be honest, until the very moment when she dies, I wasn’t worried at all, because I kept thinking “she is not going to get killed off with two more episode ahead.” Oops.

Not that we didn’t see that coming. Clara has been way too reckless. Just a few minutes before her death scene, when she is looking over London and she almost falls from the TARDIS and finds it thrilling, all I could think was “this woman is nuts.”

I will miss Jenna Coleman, though. I always liked her and always defended her, even when people criticised her and the Impossible Girl plot. True, these last few episodes have worked in a foreshadowing way that have made me detach from the character and probably get less affected by her departure and more by what effect it will have on the Doctor. I think he needs a new companion that is more like Donna, or perhaps Sarah Jane -but more specifically, when she was with the Third Doctor.

Well, now I definitely cannot wait to see what happens next!