Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Jovian Wade, Maisie Williams, Simon Manyonda, Simon Paisley Day, Letitia Wright, Robin Soans, Angela Clerkin, Caroline Boulton, Jenny Lee, Naomi Ackie.
The hidden, those that seek asylum and keep themselves out of sight down a maze or concealed nest of alleyways and secret hideouts, a place where the unnoticed go about their business and a place where even The Doctor doubts their existence. Into such a street comes the best of traps, the finest of well laid out plans to deceive The Doctor and which to ensnare him and make those around him accept their own final destiny and Face The Raven.
In a series, with the very obvious exception of the episode Sleep No More, which has attained such great heights in performance and story-telling, Face The Raven reaches a new pinnacle of bringing the Doctor Who audience to its knees in both absolute adoration and in the deepness of sorrow as both Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman inspire and stir the imaginative loins with their portrayals of The Doctor and Clara Oswald. The final rousing scenes, ones that match any of the greats of the classic series, are particularly poignant as the Impossible Girl does the final noble and most human of acts and brings about an end to a partnership on screen which has been magnificent and brutally cool.
It has also been a series for great speeches, notably from Peter Capaldi and in Sarah Dollard’s masterful script and in Mr. Capaldi’s resonating delivery, the anger and absolute fury are not to be trifled with, they are not to be dismissed and rank as high as the lecture given by the mysterious detective in An Inspector Calls as the downfall of decadent society is predicted.
It will, as always, be interesting to see how the new dynamic works when the new companion is announced, in Jenna Coleman, following on as she did herself from the exceptional Karen Gillan, the producers of the show have had the luxury of arguably the finest of all companions in the long history of the show.
To Face The Raven, to face sentence, judgment and ill-omen in one swift heartbeat, to go out, perhaps not as a hero but with courage and bravery, to allow an Empire to fall as the Raven flutters its dark plumage, is the greatest of all endeavours.
Ian D. Hall