TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 10: Face The Raven

*knocks on the glass of the monitor* You all still out there? Good! Cause though this will be short, we still need to discuss what happened.

Yes, it appears it’s true, Clara Oswald is dead, like for real dead. It’s been known that this would be her final season, but much like past Doctor Who companions, it’s always unclear just how, or in what condition, they would leave in. For Clara, she’s now on the list of companions who didn’t leave at all.

Now to be fair, she did this to herself, believing she was saving a life, or “cheating” it as it were, but you can’t cheat death as we would find out. And just because you’re clever, and you have experience defying death…in the end it always wins.

“Face The Raven” had some very high concepts that dealt with recurring themes from Doctor Who. Mainly the cost of justice, what justice should mean, and what does it mean to be guilty or innocent. As Ashilder returned and unveiled a “safe haven” for many of the Doctor’s enemies, and by that we mean the races he’s interacted with over time. The only catch was that if you broke the rules, you would be sentenced to death. When a man is wrongly accused of murder, the Doctor gets called in to save the day…only to find out it’s a trap.

While there still are some questions, including where the Doctor is now, the mystery itself was quite compelling. But it will be the ending that this episode is remembered for. As it delivered a very heartfelt goodbye to Clara, who in her last moments wanted to make sure The Doctor didn’t become vengeful, and that she went out on her terms, brave, and true.

Now like I said, there are still many questions that need to be answered. But for now, let’s just take a deep breath, and remember the life that is most likely lost.