Face the Raven - Clara Oswald is Dead

In the latest episode of Doctor Who, fans around the world witnessed Clara Oswald’s Swan Song.   Unless Moffat decides to revisit Rory’s constant dying/resurrection plot line, Clara is dead.

For the most part, Whovians were shedding tears over the Doctor’s companion’s demise; and after watching Face the Raven for a second time, I also got a little teary eyed.  But it wasn’t over Clara’s death.  The sadness I felt was more for the Doctor.

Don’t get me wrong – I really loved the character of Clara and felt that her characterization really blossomed with Capaldi’s regeneration especially in Season 9.  Unfortunately, her constant recklessness led to her inevitable death.  During the first few minutes of Face the Raven, we learned of all the chances Clara took and that the Doctor was not really happy about it.  This was further emphasized when she almost fell out of the Tardis and was enjoying every adrenaline rushing moment that came with facing death.  However, she also felt that no matter how many death defying chances she took, she will always be ok because the Doctor would fix it.  And I think this was the message:  Never think you are invincible.

The way I saw it, when Clara offered to take away the “countdown to death” from Rigsy, she wasn’t doing it to sacrifice her life to save him.  Instead, she thought she was being clever and strategic; giving the Doctor more time to solve the problem of the day.  She did not think about what she was really doing.  On the flip side, when Cyber-Danny ignited himself along with the other Cyber-dead at the end of Dark Water, he knew he was going to die in order to save the world.  So I refuse to believe that Clara sacrificed herself to save Rigsy.  Instead, she was being reckless.

Now, where she redeemed herself in my eyes is after realizing she completely messed up and was going to die.  She gave the Doctor a wonderful speech and willingly faced the raven – aka Death - without running away.  Personally, I would have preferred that as soon as the Raven went into her, she died instantly.  Instead they did this slow-motion repeat thing for dramatic effect that kind of reminded me of those old cowboy movie death scenes.  But that is neither here or there.  Clara’s death was effective in showing that she faced the consequences of her actions with bravery.

As I stated already, I did not shed a tear over Clara’s death but for the Doctor.  The look on his face both while Clara was saying her final goodbyes and when he saw Clara’s dead body was as if he said a thousand tear-jerking words.  It is going to be interesting to see how he deals with the loss of Clara in the next two episodes.

Finally, let me just say that Jenna Coleman really showed her acting abilities in Season 9 and in this episode.  Her performance is a PERFECT TEN! I hope to see her in future performances.

Peter Capadi of course gave another PERFECT TEN performance.  I am actually starting to rank him in with Harrison Ford, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.  His ability to say a thousand words with just his facial expressions is a rare gift.

Face the Raven – I enjoyed it.  It was a big surprise to see Maisie Williams again, who gave a great performance.  I also loved the cinematography and Diagon/Knockturn Alley feel.  I give this episode a solid 8.5.

#DoctorWho  #JennaColeman  #ClaraisDead  #PeterCapaldi