Chris Jordan reviews the new Doctor Who episode Face The Raven, as the end of series nine draws near.
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| "Do you get the feeling that Moffat's going to try and out-brutal last year's finale, Clara?" |
Doctor Who's ninth series approaches
its close in Face The Raven,
an excellent supernatural-tinged tale which brings to the forefront
the abstract thematic arc introduced across most of the previous nine
episodes. This series has asked us to consider what ramifications and
harmful side-effects The Doctor's actions in time might have, and it
appears that the show is preparing to ask The Doctor to face this
question as well. This episode functions on two levels: to tie these
thematic threads together in preparation for the ominously-titled
two-part finale Heaven Sent/Hell Bent,
and to simultaneously be an excellent story in its own right, with
some welcome homage to at least a couple of modern fantasy's most
beloved literary works. On both levels, Face The Raven
is a resounding success: it does a lot in just 45 minutes, and it
does it all near perfectly. It fits in its running time perfectly
well, but is good enough that it leaves me wishing it had been a
two-parter, if only so we could have had more time to enjoy its
world.
The
episode is based around a fascinating premise: the idea that there is
a surreal and anachronistic fantasy-esque other world hidden right
inside modern day London, invisible to normal people. A mix of
17th-century architecture, modern touches, and strange things that
don't belong in either, this hidden London is more than a bit
reminiscent of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter
series; and indeed, there likely was some Potter-esque influence at
work. But the major homage here comes from another highly-influential
and greatly-loved – if not quite as ubiquitously-read – modern
fantasy novel: it is a Doctor Who-style
twist on Neverwhere by
Neil Gaiman. This is an episode in which The Doctor and Clara
essentially find themselves in London Below, Gaiman's world of the
dispossessed and disillusioned who have slipped through the cracks of
society into the space just outside perception. It's a fantastic
homage; a wonderful literary mash-up for anyone who wondered what it
would be like for The Doctor to visit Gaiman's unique universe. Yes,
Neil Gaiman has written scripts for Doctor Who,
but those were him coming to the show's universe; this episode (by
another writer) brings the show to his. It does a really good job of
it, too – again, the only regret is that we only get to spend one
episode in Doctor Who's
London Below rather than two (presumably, anyway – we'll see what
next week holds).
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| "Excuse me - I'm looking for the Marquis De Carabas, have you seen him?" |
As
satisfying as this all is as an individual episode, Face
The Raven also has a lot going
on in terms of series nine's overarching story. This series is a bit
unique in that it doesn't have an ongoing plot in the literal sense.
Instead it is driven by a set of questions concerning the actions and
ethics of The Doctor's use of time-travel, and by a character arc
showing Clara's personal growth into a Doctor-ish hero in her own
right. It has been obvious since at least The Girl Who Died
that the former will likely be the focus of the series' finale, with
the latter forming a major factor, but how these themes will coalesce
into a concrete climax has been less clear. While it is only one part
of a puzzle that will unfold over the next two weekends, Face
The Raven has begun this process
of theme becoming story, and it is handled excellently. The mistakes
of The Zygon Invasion are
not repeated; there is no crashingly obvious dialogue shouting “hey,
get it? This is what this season has been about,”
just very well-written conversations and plot-points that drive the
questions home while creating a new narrative trajectory. It is an
extremely well-handled start to series nine's third act.
The
stage is set for what I can only hope will be a finale as excellent
as this episode deserves. In the mean time, Face The Raven
has given us a classic in its own right, with a Gaiman-esque attitude
and style that is quite unique to Doctor Who. It's a shame that its memorable world
wasn't allowed to develop over an extra episode, but it used its time
very well. There's always a possibility that this is a world we will
see again, of course – hopefully even in the next two weeks.
Score:
-
Christopher S. Jordan
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