History Recap / DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven

[[caption-width-right:350:[[TonightSomeoneDies Who will]] [[TitleDrop face the raven?]]]]

* HilariousOuttakes: The Capaldi era doesn't go in for releasing gag reels, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3t-pRunxKM this miscue]] from the filming of the raven attack scene was considered funny enough between Jenna Coleman's {{Adorkable}} reaction and Peter Capaldi's bird impersonation for the BBC to officially release it online right after the broadcast. No gag reel was ever released for Series 9, rendering this (and a couple of behind the scenes moments captured for other episodes) as one of the only outtakes of this nature circulated.

--> '''The Doctor:''' I'll bring UNIT, I'll bring the Zygons, give me a minute, I'll bring the Daleks and the Cybermen.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Clara's death scene resulted in complaints from parents who felt it was to disturbing for young viewers.

* BiTheWay: Clara/Jane Austen comes back, and she even says "I love her", telling Rigsy winkingly he can interpret that any way he likes.

* BatmanGambit: Ashildr (or, and more likely, the people behind her) engineered Rigsy's FrameUp to lure the Doctor to the Trap Street, because she knows he can't resist a mystery. It's all so she could deliver him to some unknown party. However it backfired -- because Clara took Ashildr's JerkassFacade at face value and took the deathlock off Rigsy, being confident Ashildr would never let her die, she unwittingly made it impossible to remove the deathlock and doomed herself needlessly.

** The Doctor's chilling threat to Ashildr at the end also counts: "You'll find that it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you."

** Clara tells the Doctor that she will accept her fate and die -- "and no one else will suffer." This is to talk him down from seeking {{Revenge}}. When he asks "What about me?" -- after all, he's not only losing his dearest friend but being sent to an unknown fate -- she says that she would do something about that if she could, but she can't and he'll just have to be strong. Thus she sees his suffering as a sadly necessary price to be paid for everyone else's well-being. (If she doesn't regret this later...she should.)

* TooHappyToLive: The Doctor and Clara spent the last two-plus seasons growing closer and closer to the point of being, at least, PlatonicLifePartners who found joy in traveling the universe, righting wrongs, and caring about each other; as this episode begins they've come back from their latest wacky adventure smiling and laughing. The entire remainder of Series 9 tears their happiness apart, but also plays with the trope in that, as previous episodes pointed out, they could never be happy forever anyway -- and unless they accept this sad reality, accept their codependence on each other as unhealthy, and move on to other people and adventures they'll never be the best people they can be.

** Clara was seen on two occasions wearing a raven-shaped necklace, most recently in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived The Woman Who Lived]]", but amazingly in her ''very first full episode'', "[[DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn The Bells of Saint John]]". An earlier episode also established that her mother's maiden name was ''Raven''wood.

** Clara is fearless in her efforts to save Rigsy, even taking on his death sentence as part of her plan, sure that she'll be able to get it lifted. It helps her case that Rigsy was effectively her companion in "Flatline", where she had to be the Doctor for the day while he was trapped, and Rigsy calls ''her'' when he needs help now. Clara's not just a PluckyGirl, she's the Impossible Girl who survived the Doctor's own timestream and endured myriad perils and traumas with him. Clara can stand as the equal of the Doctor, down to his ChronicHeroSyndrome. And by the end of this episode, she is desperately whispering "Let me be brave..." as she faces her death, and goes to her grave fearing that her demise will turn her dearest friend and the greatest healer in the universe into a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.[[spoiler: Cranked UpToEleven when viewed in concert with the later episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]", in which we discover that the Clara we see who faces the raven, screams and dies is an untold number of years older than the one who walked into the street, who has experienced untold adventures... yet something in her future makes her eventually decide to return to meet her death.]]

** Acceptance: But '''only''' for Clara. [[spoiler: Tragically, because he's immediately sent off to the lonely, deadly world of the confession dial in the next episode, the Doctor ends up cycling through Anger and Depression for a long, long time to come. It ultimately drives him to Denial that there is no way he can ''safely'' save her, so in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" he tries Bargaining again... '''with the universe.''']]

* HeartbrokenBadass: As Clara's final story sees her [[BreakTheCutie broken]], so too does it break the Doctor's hearts. She reminds him to keep to the mark, be a doctor, take care of others... but ''who will take care of him?'' All she can tell him to do is "Heal yourself." She doesn't tell him ''how'', [[spoiler: and in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" she'll learn that his way of doing so is ''not'' what she had in mind.]]

** Clara takes Rigsy's death sentence on herself -- she thought they would find a way out of it, but in the end it's both this and a SenselessSacrifice. Worse, it's effectively incomplete: While she demands that the Doctor not take revenge, that "no one else, here or anywhere, will suffer" when she dies, he points out that '''he''' will suffer for her loss. All she can do is tell him to heal himself and be brave. [[spoiler: As it turns out, once he's DrivenToMadness in the next episode the only way he thinks he can heal himself -- by saving her from this death after the fact -- will risk the safety of the entire universe...]]

* ItsAllMyFault: The Doctor blames himself for not stopping Clara from becoming so much like him that she dared to risk her life to save Rigsy. ([[http://io9.com/doctor-who-this-was-all-the-doctor-s-fault-1744012457 io9's review of this episode]] also points out that he was responsible for making Ashildr immortal, so...) Rigsy isn't free of guilt either, feeling awful that his calling the Doctor for help and agreeing to pass on the tattoo has led to this. Clara defies this trope for both of them and shoulders the blame herself, nearly uttering the trope name, for taking such risks in spite of common sense. [[spoiler: (The next two episodes make it clear that the Doctor still blames himself as well as the schemers who trapped him for this disaster, and his desire to make amends will prove tragic.)]]

* ThisIsUnforgivable: How the Doctor regards Ashildr's actions once they result -- accidentally or not -- in Clara's death; only Clara herself can stop him from dishing out punishment. [[spoiler: As noted above, he never does openly forgive her by the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]".]]

** Acceptance: But '''only''' for Clara. Tragically, because he's immediately sent off to the lonely, deadly world of the confession dial in the next episode, the Doctor ends up cycling through Anger and Depression for a long, long time to come. It ultimately drives him to Denial that there is no way he can ''safely'' save her, so in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" he tries Bargaining again... '''with the universe.'''

** The Doctor and Clara watch an elderly husband and wife share a last, tearful goodbye before the former faces the raven for stealing medical supplies. The wife tries to convince him to confer the death sentence on her, but can't, and since it has to be given willingly by the bearer she can't take it herself. At the end of the episode, the Doctor and Clara are in a similar last goodbye situation. (This is probably why the Doctor doesn't volunteer to take the sentence upon himself: he knows Clara would ''never'' allow him to die in her place.)

* HeartbrokenBadass: As Clara's final story sees her [[BreakTheCutie broken]], so too does it break the Doctor's hearts. She reminds him to keep to the mark, be a doctor, take care of others... but ''who will take care of him?'' All she can tell him to do is "Heal yourself." She doesn't tell him ''how'', and in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" she'll learn that his way of doing so is ''not'' what she had in mind.

** Clara takes Rigsy's death sentence on herself -- she thought they would find a way out of it, but in the end it's both this and a SenselessSacrifice. Worse, it's effectively incomplete: While she demands that the Doctor not take revenge, that "no one else, here or anywhere, will suffer" when she dies, he points out that '''he''' will suffer for her loss. All she can do is tell him to heal himself and be brave. As it turns out, once he's DrivenToMadness in the next episode the only way he thinks he can heal himself -- by saving her from this death after the fact -- will risk the safety of the entire universe...

* ItsAllMyFault: The Doctor blames himself for not stopping Clara from becoming so much like him that she dared to risk her life to save Rigsy. ([[http://io9.com/doctor-who-this-was-all-the-doctor-s-fault-1744012457 io9's review of this episode]] also points out that he was responsible for making Ashildr immortal, so...) Rigsy isn't free of guilt either, feeling awful that his calling the Doctor for help and agreeing to pass on the tattoo has led to this. Clara defies this trope for both of them and shoulders the blame herself, nearly uttering the trope name, for taking such risks in spite of common sense. (The next two episodes make it clear that the Doctor still blames himself as well as the schemers who trapped him for this disaster, and his desire to make amends will prove tragic.)

* PowerfulAndHelpless: The Doctor has no means of removing the chronolock from Clara, nor can he destroy the quantum shade. He threatens a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Ashildr and the trap street if ''she'' can't undo it, declaring he'll call on all his allies and even his worst enemies to do so, but Ashildr is just as helpless -- and Clara doesn't want her mistake turning him into a villain who would slaughter innocent refugees in her name. In the end, he has no choice but to watch her die and be handed over to the party Ashildr made the bargain with. The Doctor spends the next two episodes desperate to find ''some'' way to escape his enemies and bring Clara back from the grave, but this trope continues to apply to him throughout.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: How the Doctor regards Ashildr's actions once they result -- accidentally or not -- in Clara's death; only Clara herself can stop him from dishing out punishment. As noted above, he never does openly forgive her by the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]".

** Clara is fearless in her efforts to save Rigsy, even taking on his death sentence as part of her plan, sure that she'll be able to get it lifted. It helps her case that Rigsy was effectively her companion in "Flatline", where she had to be the Doctor for the day while he was trapped, and Rigsy calls ''her'' when he needs help now. Clara's not just a PluckyGirl, she's the Impossible Girl who survived the Doctor's own timestream and endured myriad perils and traumas with him. Clara can stand as the equal of the Doctor, down to his ChronicHeroSyndrome. And by the end of this episode, she is desperately whispering "Let me be brave..." as she faces her death, and goes to her grave fearing that her demise will turn her dearest friend and the greatest healer in the universe into a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. Cranked UpToEleven when viewed in concert with the later episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]", in which we discover that the Clara we see who faces the raven, screams and dies is an untold number of years older than the one who walked into the street, who has experienced untold adventures... yet something in her future makes her eventually decide to return to meet her death.

* DeaderThanDead: Though at least the outside of her body is intact, Clara's lifeforce/soul is ripped from her body by the raven. Thus, there's nothing anyone -- not even the Doctor -- can do to revive her; even the events of the finale episode do not actually change this fact.

* KilledOffForReal: Clara. The events of later episodes ''do not'' change this fact. This is a Fixed Point in time and so she cannot be truly revived.

* PeacefulInDeath: Clara.

* StalkerShrine: According to Clara, there's a secret room inside the TARDIS where the Doctor collects information and references to Ashildr. He thinks Clara doesn't know about it. Borderline squicky when remembering that Ashildr is forever trapped looking like a teenager, so the dialogue quickly establishes that this is purely for surveillance purposes, given he created her immortal state.

* StupidSacrifice: Ashildr all but utters the trope name when she realizes Clara has doomed herself. Clara also realizes her error and takes ownership of it.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Sam Swift, from the last time Ashildr appeared. While the Doctor did say he didn't know if he was immortal or if the second Mire medical kit was used up, it's still odd that there's not so much as a single mention of him.

The one where Clara [[TheLostLenore went the way of Lenore...]] [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe doomed to the fate of NEVERMORE.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/92201.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/HarryPotter Diagon Alley]] this ain't.]]

* AlienGeometries: A {{Whoniverse}} "trap street" exists ''between'' the streets ordinary humans see and use -- "folded away", as the synopsis puts it. (Real life trap streets are false streets placed on maps by cartographers to identify stolen work. Both concepts are discussed in the episode -- the writer's jumping-off point for the plot was "What if the fake streets on maps were actually real, just hidden?")

->''"Let me be brave . . . let me be brave . . ."''

It's a race against time to prove Rigsy's innocence . . . and find out what Ashildr's ''really'' up to . . .

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Defied. If it weren't for Clara, the Doctor would've brought Hell down on Ashildr but he doesn't. At the episode's end he tells Ashildr to make sure they never meet again because he's still ''very'' angry at her, which might be harder than it seems since the universe is a smaller place than most people think it is . . .

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]], Clara prevented Rigsy from making a StupidSacrifice to save a handful of people. Now it's Clara's turn to commit a StupidSacrifice, only this time Rigsy is unable to prevent it.

** Possibly a coincidence, possibly not: in (the original) Clara's first episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]], she is seen wearing a raven-shaped necklace. Now, in the episode depicting her final death, her life is ended by something that looks like a raven. The maiden name of Clara's mother, by the way, was ''Raven''wood.

** Clara is fearless in her efforts to save Rigsy, even taking on his death sentence as part of her plan, sure that she'll be able to get it lifted. It helps her case that Rigsy was effectively her companion in "Flatline", where she had to be the Doctor for the day while he was trapped, and Rigsy calls ''her'' when he needs help now. Clara's not just a PluckyGirl, she's the Impossible Girl who survived the Doctor's own timestream and endured myriad perils and traumas with him. Clara can stand as the equal of the Doctor, down to his ChronicHeroSyndrome. And by the end of this episode, she is desperately whispering "Let me be brave . . ." as she faces her death, and goes to her grave fearing that her demise will turn her dearest friend and the greatest healer in the universe into a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. Cranked UpToEleven when viewed in concert with the later episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], in which we discover that the Clara we see who faces the raven, screams and dies is an untold number of years older than the one who walked into the street, who has experienced untold adventures . . . yet something in her future makes her eventually decide to return to meet her death.

** The ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' amnesia drug Retcon turns up as the reason for Rigsy's memory loss, making this the second reference to the spinoff in Series 9 after the mention of Captain Jack Harkness in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]].

** The Doctor has renounced his name before ([[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor "The Night of the Doctor"]]), and has threatened to do so before ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]]). This is the first time we've seen him do it as a full-out threat.
** Clara preventing the Doctor from saying "I love you" (or anything resembling this statement) is reminiscent of the Tenth Doctor's difficulty saying it to Rose in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]].
** Clara was seen on two occasions wearing a raven-shaped necklace, most recently in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]], but amazingly in her ''very first full episode'', [[DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]]. An earlier episode also established that her mother's maiden name was ''Raven''wood.

** Clara's actions and fate are the culmination of her character development since Series 7, from the Doctor's latest Earthly friend to coming very close to being his DistaffCounterpart. She even goes to her grave making a sacrifice for a single innocent, as the Doctor has done on multiple occasions . . . but unlike him, she can never come back, at least not by any means that wouldn't potentially do great harm to space and time.
* ChekhovsGun: Clara left Rigsy an emergency TARDIS number at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]] -- and now he has a reason to use it.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: Clara is KilledOffForReal when her overconfident plan to save Rigsy costs her her life, and the Doctor, who is ''enraged'', is teleported away to who-knows-where, with no way to trace him and no TARDIS, all at the hands of an unrevealed hostile third party who will be getting his confession dial as part of the deal. His death is the ''only'' thing that will open that dial. The DespairEventHorizon is looming . . .

** When counting his footsteps while looking for the entrance to the street, the Doctor says "Remember 82". 1982 was when [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock "Earthshock"]], the last ''Doctor Who'' story to have a companion (Adric) KilledOffForReal, was broadcast. (This one is so obscure that it comes very close to being a BigLippedAlligatorMoment as the Doctor seems to just randomly grab some passing young boy in order to tie his shoe, asking him to "remember 82" for no apparent reason.)

** Clara acknowledges that she has been taking risks recently, reflecting her behaviour for much of Series 9. Her statement about wanting to be reckless like the Doctor puts a bow on this, while directly recalling episodes in which she acted like the Doctor, most notably this episode's direct antecedent, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]].
** The Doctor is prevented from [[TheILoveYouStigma saying anything approaching "I love you"]], just as he was in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], though this time his companion stops him; this is followed up by her invoking a sentiment similar to "Does it need saying?", much like [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]]. The fact Clara herself does not say the phrase reflects the promise she made to Danny Pink in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven "Death in Heaven"]] that she would never say "I love you" to anyone else.
** The post-credits scene recalls Rigsy's skills at graffiti art, as last seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]].

* CrucifiedHeroShot: Clara stands with her arms out to her sides, wracked with pain, after the raven flies into her. It may or may not be coincidence that she adopts a similar pose to what some past Doctors (specifically the Ninth and Tenth Doctors) entered when they regenerated . . . minus the regeneration part.

'''Clara:''' Nobody did! I did! Rump said . . .\\

'''Clara:''' He said the death is locked in. You can pass it on, but . . . but . . . (oh, crap . . .)\\

* FamousLastWords: "Let me be brave . . . let me be brave . . ."

** Acceptance: But '''only''' for Clara. Tragically, because he's immediately sent off to the lonely, deadly world of the confession dial in the next episode, the Doctor ends up cycling through Anger and Depression for a long, long time to come. It ultimately drives him to Denial that there is no way he can ''safely'' save her, so in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] he tries Bargaining again . . . '''with the universe.'''

* HeartbrokenBadass: As Clara's final story sees her [[BreakTheCutie broken]], so too does it break the Doctor's hearts. She reminds him to keep to the mark, be a doctor, take care of others... but ''who will take care of him?'' All she can tell him to do is "Heal yourself." She doesn't tell him ''how'', and in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] she'll learn that his way of doing so is ''not'' what she had in mind.
* HeroicBSOD: Although he breaks out of it momentarily to deliver the {{Freakout}} described above, the Doctor is in a state of Heroic BSOD during Clara's farewell, at one point even uttering "This can't be happening". He breaks out of it just before the transporter kicks in . . . long enough to utter words to Mayor Me that chill her to the bone.

** Clara takes Rigsy's death sentence on herself -- she thought they would find a way out of it, but in the end it's both this and a SenselessSacrifice. Worse, it's effectively incomplete: While she demands that the Doctor not take revenge, that "no one else, here or anywhere, will suffer" when she dies, he points out that '''he''' will suffer for her loss. All she can do is tell him to heal himself and be brave. As it turns out, once he's DrivenToMadness in the next episode the only way he thinks he can heal himself -- by saving her from this death after the fact -- will risk the safety of the entire universe . . .

** As in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]], Ashildr makes a deal with another party without being fully aware of their intentions -- although for much less selfish reasons this time around. She has no idea what this other party, whom she does not identify, wants with the Doctor and his confession dial. It's possible she doesn't remember how badly things went with Leandro, or she ''does'' but doesn't care what happens to the Doctor at this point, as when the deal is made and the plan to frame Rigsy hatched, he looks to be the only one who might suffer. She might even be assuming that whatever happens to the Doctor, he'll find a way out of it ''before'' he suffers. Clara's choice, however, not only leaves her dead but completely ruins any hopes that the Doctor will forgive Ashildr's actions, given he initially threatens to have her ''and everyone else'' brutally killed as vengeance. Ultimately, it's never made clear whether he forgives her or not when all is said and done.
** The Doctor told O'Donnell, who greatly admired him, to stay behind in the TARDIS when they traveled back to TheEighties in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E4BeforeTheFlood "Before the Flood"]], but she was hot to go with him and Bennett and the Doctor didn't force the issue. For her recklessness, she ended up dead, and the Doctor (being a PragmaticHero) made the best of it, as it were, by having this confirm his theory on the message his ghost in the future was sending. Clara's death here is also attributable to recklessness inspired by the Doctor's example, and the Doctor not doing enough to discourage it though he was aware of it -- [[SenselessSacrifice and it doesn't even serve a greater purpose this time]], since Ashildr's plan could have wrapped up with no one dying at all had Clara not interfered.
* HopeSpot: Clara says to the Doctor, "We can fix this." Only for the Doctor to say "No." She tries for another after the Doctor's meltdown by asking Me if she's certain there's nothing that can be done. For the Doctor, for Clara, and for the audience when the Doctor threatens to "rain hell" upon Ashildr if she doesn't remove the chronolock . . . only for all three to realize nothing can be done.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: The Doctor clearly feels this way about Clara's fate. After all, "What's the point of being a Doctor if I can't cure you?" In the next two episodes, his anguish will spiral out of control and mutate into insanity: He believes that while he is choosing to become TheUnfettered rather than the Doctor by trying to undo her death, he is maintaining his "duty of care" to her. In truth, he is only becoming the monster she ordered him not to become -- she wanted him to move past his pain and stay the Doctor. But she didn't know what horrors he was doomed to experience when she told him that . . .
* TheILoveYouStigma: The Doctor is clearly about to say something to this effect, but Clara asks him not to say anything because she already knows what he's going to say, and she already is a victim of bad timing. Translation: if the Doctor were to say "I love you" to Clara it would make it even more difficult for her to face the raven. Clara, for her part, does not say it because of the promise she made to the (just-invoked) Danny Pink in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven "Death in Heaven"]].

* InHarmsWay: Not once, but twice in the first act of the episode Clara clearly gets off on the adrenaline rush of this trope, worrying both the Doctor and Rigsy after the second occasion . . . and leading to Clara's fatal mistake when she puts herself in harm's way a third time later.

* ItsPersonal: The Doctor may well hold a grudge against Ashildr ''for all time'' over her role in Clara's death; he never does outright forgive her by the end of this story arc. And heaven help whoever is ultimately responsible for the entire affair . . .

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: the portrait of Clara seen on the TARDIS at the end of the episode (and more clearly seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]]) is based upon a publicity headshot of Jenna Coleman taken for a 2013 Guardian article about the actress (and which she often uses to promote convention appearances).

* LoveMakesYouEvil: When the Doctor freaks out at Ashildr over Clara's impending demise, not only does he threaten to destroy her and everyone she loves (implying everyone on the trap street), he says he'll do so using the military (clearly indicated over the previous two series as ''not'' being his favourite people) ''and'' the ruthless Daleks and Cybermen who are his mortal enemies. To put a bow on it, he even momentarily denounces his own name, "The Doctor", which in the mythos of the series is A. Huge. Thing. (the last time he did so, he became the War Doctor and did things that made him try to bury the memory of that incarnation forever). Clara literally spends nearly all of the rest of her (natural, anyway) life talking him down . . . and once she's gone and he's teleported away there's literally ''no one'' to encourage him not to become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.

* MeaningfulEcho: Clara's plan to take on the death sentence herself is, at its core concept, identical to what the Doctor did with the Foretold in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]].

* MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave: Given her final speech, Clara clearly hopes to be this to the Doctor -- she knows he doesn't handle being alone well and has committed atrocious acts in his lives when in the throes of despair. She specifically calls back to her climactic speech to the Eleventh Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]], urging the Twelfth to be a doctor, not a warrior. The Doctor's final speech to Ashildr, before he is teleported away, suggests that though he wants to honor Clara's memory by not giving in to anguish and rage, living up to his chosen name will be ''very, very'' difficult for him in the immediate future.

** If the Doctor had let Ashildr die in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied "The Girl Who Died"]], ''none'' of the events leading up to this episode would have happened. To be fair to him, it was a SadisticChoice: save her or fail to live up to his chosen name and leave a family bereft, resulting in a different kind of guilt. He chose ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight, and it went awry.

* TheNicknamer: As he did in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]], the Doctor calls Rigsy "Local Knowledge". When the Doctor addresses him (Rigsy) by his real name he has a quite justified freakout and pleads with the Doctor to not call him that because he knows it was SeriousBusiness.

** [[http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/face-the-raven-review-78229.htm This review points out]] that if the Doctor told Clara about how Ashildr's personality had changed since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied "The Girl Who Died"]], Clara wouldn't have trusted her so much.

* RealTime: This is easier to determine when watching the original non-commercial version of the episode, but from the moment Clara tells Anahson there is only 12 minutes left on the countdown until Clara is struck by the raven and dies . . . is indeed 12 minutes. Similarly, when Clara reveals her neck to Ashildr and it shows eight minutes left, Clara dies eight minutes of screen time later.

* SequelEpisode: To both [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied "The Girl Who Died"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]], with Rigsy from the former story and Ashildr from the latter.

** The trap street has a ''strong'' physical resemblance to [[Franchise/HarryPotter Diagon Alley]] (and both are hidden "magical" worlds within London). In an [[http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2015/11/exclusive-sarah-dollard-face-raven_18.html interview with Blogtor Who]], writer Sarah Dollard explained that her script described the street's appearance quite differently, but designer Michael Pickwoad had other ideas . . .
** The episode has a moody setting and involves a supernatural corvid and the notion that one should come to terms with a beloved person's death by other means than seeking and enacting revenge on the people responsible. [[Film/TheCrow Hm . . .]]

* ShrineToTheFallen: The TARDIS exterior becomes one for Clara in TheStinger, since the Doctor's not going to be using it for a while . . .

* TheStinger: In addition to the Next Time trailer for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent "Heaven Sent"]], this episode has an additional scene after the end credits roll: Rigsy painting a memorial to Clara on the front of the currently-abandoned TARDIS. This is the first time such a scene has been included in a ''Doctor Who'' episode -- which backfired slightly as many viewers of the later [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] evidently never saw the stinger, and were confused as to why the TARDIS was covered with flowers and Clara's image. BBC America airings move its placement to between the "Next Time" trailer for "Heaven Sent" and the end credits, due to their CreditsPushback format.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: How the Doctor regards Ashildr's actions once they result -- accidentally or not -- in Clara's death; only Clara herself can stop him from dishing out punishment. As noted above, he never does openly forgive her by the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]].

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The official BBC trailer and the Next Time trailer at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E9SleepNoMore "Sleep No More"]] revealed that this is Clara's farewell episode and even included her final words as she walks towards the raven. The trailer also spoiled Ashildr's return. Fans cite this (and similar spoilery promotion for the season finale) as examples of the BBC ruining too many surprises.
* TranquilFury: After Clara's death, right before he's teleported, the Doctor tells Ashildr that, despite him trying his best to not seek revenge upon her, she should avoid him at all costs. "You'll find it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you." All without raising his voice. And it's utterly terrifying to watch. (UpToEleven when one recalls [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]] in which the Doctor points out that, despite being functionally immortal, it ''is'' possible for Ashildr to be killed.)

* YouExclamation: When Ashildr arrives to take charge of matters in the trap street, this is the Doctor's response; he had the same reaction when she took off her Knightmare disguise in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]].

The one where Clara nearly goes bungee-jumping... cordless.

* {{Edutainment}}: The series briefly returns to its roots when Clara takes a few moments to explain to the Doctor - and us - the real-life definition of "trap street" (echoing how writer Sarah Dollard was inspired to write the episode after similarly learning of the practice).

* HilariousOuttakes: The Capaldi era doesn't go in for releasing gag reels, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3t-pRunxKM this miscue]] from the filming of the raven attack scene was considered funny enough between Jenna Coleman's {{Adorkable}} reaction and Peter Capaldi's bird impersonation for the BBC to officially release it online right after the broadcast. No gag reel was ever released for Series 9, rendering this (and a couple of behind the scenes moments captured for other episodes) as one of the only outtakes of this nature preserved.

* ItsAllMyFault: The Doctor blames himself for not stopping Clara from becoming so much like him that she dared to risk her life to save Rigsy. ([[http://io9.com/doctor-who-this-was-all-the-doctor-s-fault-1744012457 io9's review of this episode]] also points out that he was responsible for making Ashildr immortal, so...) Rigsy isn't free of guilt either, feeling awful that his calling the Doctor for help and agreeing to pass on the tattoo has led to this. Clara defies this trope for both of them and shoulders the blame herself, for taking such risks in spite of common sense. (The next two episodes make it clear that the Doctor still blames himself as well as the schemers who trapped him for this disaster, and his desire to make amends will prove tragic.)

* LoveMakesYouEvil: When the Doctor freaks out at Ashildr over Clara's impending demise, not only does he threaten to destroy her and everyone she loves (implying everyone on the trap street), he says he'll do so using the military (clearly indicated over the previous two series as ''not'' being his favourite people) ''and'' the ruthless Daleks and Cybermen who are his mortal enemies. To put a bow on it, he even momentarily denounces his own name, "The Doctor", which in the mythos of the series is A. Huge. Thing. Clara literally spends nearly all of the rest of her (natural, anyway) life talking him down . . . and once she's gone and he's teleported away there's literally ''no one'' to encourage him not to become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.

* ComplexityAddiction: Ashildr could have just invited the Doctor for tea and drug him or something -- he has no real reason to suspect her. Instead she stages an elaborate deception, endangering several people's lives, because she needs to separate him from his TARDIS key and get his confession dial.