tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7535659061710047958.post526740815202374494..comments2023-06-30T10:21:47.712+01:00Comments on Musings from the Mind of MetalOllie: Face The RavenMetalOlliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04163366438489552850noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7535659061710047958.post-71834517234177969662015-11-24T14:17:06.054+00:002015-11-24T14:17:06.054+00:00I thought understated approach worked quite well f...I thought understated approach worked quite well for Clara's death, and that Coleman and Capaldi worked together beautifully in it. The key thing for me was that we had been set up to half-expect the Doctor would be mad with grief and the would be in a vengeful mood after. Not that his mood isn't, but it looks like he's going follow Clara's final order to him. That subversion of the Revenge Fantasy was powerful and necessary. I'd been reading speculation that this is where the Doctor would become the Valeyard and I think it would have a been a terrible may to bring that about. Clara got to be a teacher, teaching the Doctor to be a good man, at the end, and her death, as a result, meant something more than driving a vengeance plot. That lesson, about being brave in the face of death -- not just in the sense of maintaining your dignity -- and working for your life being something worthy of being honored, of teaching a lesson that will outlast you so the world the future has a better chance of being more just because of your example ... that's a tremendously powerful message that is well-suited to a calm, rational approach rather than emotional histrionics and cheap sentiment. <br /><br />Not all the rest of it worked so well. Maisie, who had been so good in her previous portrayals of Ashildr/Me didn't sell the idea she had the force of character to broker the extraordinary truce that held that refugee camp together. The Janus heads didn't come across very well on screen, looked more old HHGTTG than I was comfortable with :P And the mechanics of murder mystery Me set up to lure the Doctor into her trap don't exactly have Christie-like precision.<br /><br />Flawed on the whole, but it delivered, exceptionally well, where it really mattered. Can you imagine if that were 11 travelling with Amy and the same scenario had been set up how that scene would have played? I feel very fortunate to have Capaldi as the Doctor, and to have had Jenna Coleman for as long as we did ... their talent, to my mind, has never failed the material, even when the material has let them down at times.cdogzillahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10329502756815335672noreply@blogger.com