Face the Raven

Can they please just decide wether Clara is alive or dead for f**k's sake man

I really did not connect with Face the Raven. By this point in watching the series, Clara had so many potential endings racked up at this point, including outright deaths, that I was and still kind of am simply numb to the character. Her ending and death here is well acted by Jenna Coleman and she is certainly talented but any affection I have for the character was long worn out. So the whole death and big sacrifice here felt really unnecessary, while you just know the Doctor is going to react poorly in a way that just doesn't feel true to a character who has survived and lost so much by now. This is a guy who, at least in theory, has lost children to war. Certainly it makes sense that the Doctor would care about Clara, that makes sense, but it does not feel it should break him so thoroughly, as we will see when this all falls apart in Hell Bent. It does lead to the wonderful Heaven Sent, at least.

Beyond the big moment everyone remembers, the rest of the episode is remarkably empty and disappointing, in my opinion. The shelter for aliens feels great as a concept, but it felt severely underused while Ahisldr kind of feels pointless here. The raven story is fine as an idea but the script simply doesn't feel polished enough to execute this idea. If it weren't for Coleman and Capaldi doing some awesome acting this episode wouldn't really offer much at all, but they definitely elevate what material is here.

The special effects are also really underwhelming. We aren't going for impressive sets here and are reusing costumes, of course, but even the Raven itself kind of feels like an empty threat when it is just a basic CGI bird passing through Clara. I just did not enjoy this one and don't think I could recommend it.