As the pre-title sequence kicks in, we are once again dropped in at the end of another unseen adventure. Once again it is one that sounds more exciting and bizarre than the ones were are used to seeing on TV; Clara is enthusing about a "Giant sentient plant thing that was about to..." when the Doctor interrupts her with "It wasn't going to eat me!" in a way that says there was a threat, but that wasn't it. The Doctor then complains that they've been to the second most beautiful garden in all of time and space and they can never go back because Clara decided to... We'll never know what, because the phone rings. It's a special moment when the TARDIS phone rings because, as the Doctor points out, very few people have the number and it's only given out for emergency use. There's no surprise then that the Doctor is dismayed when Clara reveals that it is Rigsy (you, the graffiti artist who saved the day in last year's Flatline when the Doctor was trapped inside a shrinking TARDIS) and his emergency is that he has a tattoo he doesn't remember getting!
The tattoo, however, is simply the number 538 that inexplicably changes and Rigsy explains it is counting down... but to what? The reckless fun of the unseen adventure is over and the drama and mystery of this episode is now centre stage. [Roll Titles]
I must admit, it took a moment to recognise Rigsy and my Dad even went so far as to ask "Who is he? Are we supposed to know him?" Never mind that, though. Rigsy has moved on and now has a baby. The Doctor still calls him 'Local Knowledge' though, which was something I'd forgotten about so just sounded odd! There's a nice TARDIS materialisation scene, something different, keeping it fresh; as we hear the unmistakable wheezing and groaning, we see a bright pulse of light from a window in a block of flats, cut to a closer shot so see the net curtains flapping about, then we're inside the flat with the TARDIS nowhere to be seen! The Doctor looks at the tattoo which now shows 533 and he sees it change to 532... The TARDIS is there, we see the doors at least as the Doctor invites Rigsy in for a scan. The results of the scan show that he has been in contact with alien life but his memories have been wiped, just like his phone. But then there's something else that's not good. The Doctor goes all serious and leafs through his prompt cards (The only one we see says 'I could be wrong, lets try it your way' but he passes over it) Clara has to explain that he's making an effort to be nice but the Doctor relents, there is no nice way to say "you are about to die."
No further explanation at this point, we are just left to assume that the tattoo is a countdown to his death and it's some time before it's explicitly suggested that the countdown is in minutes. The Doctor formulates a plan to sweep over the local area in search for a hidden street that doesn't appear on any maps, one that exists but is never seen thanks to a perception filter that makes your eyes just dance over it without noticing. The plan involves flying the TARDIS over London while Clara looks out with the Sonic Sunglasses tracking her eyes. A wobble and a jolt later and she is dangling from the doorway with just her feet hooked on the frame to keep her from falling and she is screaming with joy and laughing at the excitement. As Rigsy puts it "She enjoyed that way too much" and the Doctor describes it as an 'on going problem' that he is clearly concerned about.
As Steven Moffat explained, the idea behind the episode grabbed him straight away, a hidden 'trap street' and how you'd go about finding it, but there's only so much of an episode that could be dedicated to that part of the story and ten minutes into the episode things shift a gear and a new angle is revealed as Rigsy starts to remember the night before, with just 50 minutes of the count left.
The Trap Street is a holographically enhanced/masked refugee camp thanks to the misdirection circuit and Ashildr is at the heart of it, or Mayor Me as she now calls herself. An unexpected return for Maisie Williams, still putting in a great performance but slightly lacking in the gravitas that her character is supposed to have by now. Plenty of arrogance and self assuredness though. She comments on Clara's beauty and clearly holds a fondness to her despite her failing memory ("Infinite lifespan, finite memory. It makes for an awkward social life") and on permitting them all entry to the asylum doesn't blink in guaranteeing her safety "She will be under my person protection. That is absolute"
The writing is smart and clever; dramatic and funny; light but poignant, yet dark and unsettling. We see another man sentenced with a tattoo, now identified as a chronolock and we learn that Me can remove it, but she won't because it would unsettle the balance of law. We also learn that the victim/convicted can pass it on if both parties agree but of course he refuses because his original actions for which he was sentenced were to help his wife so he is never going to give her his sentence to save himself. His countdown reaches zero and a black smoky apparition materialises as a raven who, we learn, will hunt its victim across the whole of time and the universe. The raven flies into the man who dies with a terrible scream and exhales the black smoky wisps of the Quantum Shade (as the raven is actually called) before falling to the floor dead. This is the fate we know Rigsy faces unless his friends can prove his innocence and convince Me to free him. They have 30 minutes
Of course, there is another way to save Rigsy. Clara boldly, but out of the Doctor's earshot, persuades him to give her the chronolock because when the countdown reaches zero Me will save her... A cunning plan, but a reckless one as the timing will be critical. Knowing that Clara is leaving this series makes this a very scary and uncertain course of action and one that is ultimately doomed to fail. All through the episode have been mentions of deals and contracts and brokered truces when when Me learns of Clara's actions she is devastated because the they have changed the terms of the contract with the Quantum Shade and Me no longer has control over the chronolock. Despite her joyful yet solemn promise, he can no longer protect Clara. The final sting in the tail is the fact that it was all a rues to trap the Doctor for someone else and that nobody was supposed to get hurt. This is a story about Rigsy's predicament but it was all a mask for the true story that Me had an arrangement to teleport the Doctor to... somewhere still undisclosed by the end of the episode, and yet it becomes Clara's story, her final reckless adventure that sees her depart in one of the most dramatically dark, thrilling and moving ways. When the moment comes it is shrouded in Murry Gold's luscious score and lavished in slow motion with Jenna Coleman's loveliness at the centre of it, convulsing with the raven's impact and screaming a silent scream.
The Doctor sears vengeance in the heat of the moment but Clara insisted that he doesn't let this change him and he be be a doctor not a warrior. This was all her decision and she chose to go out strong like Danny, repeating her final line over and over "Let me be brave, let me be brave" she doesn't run from the inevitable, she faces the raven head on.
Just before the teleport is activated, taking the Doctor to who knows where, he strongly advises Me to keep away from him. Clara's advise was not to save him from himself, but to save Me "it's a very small universe when I'm angry with you" [Roll credits]
My only criticism of this episode is the almost throw away line that Clara has about Jane Austin. When Rigsy talks about her adventurous lifestyle, she points out that sometimes her and Jane prank each other (because apparently the Doctor always has time for frivolous trips of no consequence) "I love her. Take that how you like" insinuating that it's more than a friendly admiration, tying in with a previous reference that she was a good kisser, so presumably Clara is casually bisexual for no narrative reason. It's a minor point, but it jarred in an otherwise seamless script where everything was significant.
Finally, after the credits and before the preview for next week, we see Rigsy back at the TARDIS having covered it in graffiti, a floral tribute to Clara... but wait, the cover of this month's Doctor Who magazine has Clara on the cover dressed in blue, as a waitress in an American style diner... we haven't seen that yet. This can't be the last we see of her... but she died... again. It was my prediction at this point that the Doctor would go on to encounter another echo of Clara, like he had before as a consequence of her stepping into his timeline, only this time he'll leave her be, see her living a happy, safe life and let her have it, content that while he has lost her, she is still out there and this time she won't die because of him...
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