“The Legend of Ruby Sunday”
Doctor Who: Series 14 – Episode 7
Written by: Russell T Davies
Directed by: Jamie Donoughue
Synopsis: The Doctor and UNIT investigate Ruby’s past. But as the Time Window reveals horrifying secrets from Christmas Eve, the mysterious Triad Technology unleash the greatest evil of all.
The job of the first part of any Doctor Who season finale is to raise the stakes to almost impossible levels, leaving audiences scratching their heads as to how the Doctor will triumph in the end. Spoiler alert – usually some last minute ‘deus ex machina’ that reverses all the devastation in the final act. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” went heavy on the exposition straight from the start, bringing together all the plot threads that have been present throughout the preceding six episodes and also some of the anniversary specials as he explained to UNIT the dual mysteries of Susan Twist and Ruby Sunday’s mother. For some reason, the Doctor decided the two were linked – and also, we didn’t really get a sense of what drove the Doctor to suddenly call upon UNIT to answer this question. I mean, he’s known about Ruby’s mysterious birth for a while, and we never got a real discussion between the Doctor and Ruby about Susan Twist’s character. I appreciate Russell T Davies thrusting us straight into the narrative, but the sudden urgency contrasted against the end of “Rogue”. Perhaps some kind of stinger at the end of that episode – the discovery of the portrait, perhaps – would have made the transition to UNIT make more sense.
The majority of this episode was set in the UNIT Tower with a lot of the recurring cast from “The Giggle”, making it feel like a sequel of sorts to that episode. Given the focus on this particular crack-team of UNIT operatives, I wonder whether Russell T Davies is planning some sort of UNIT-themed spin-off. Much like how the TARDIS can appear small, but hide an expansive interior – I find UNIT to be the opposite, it presents itself as this huge organisation, but feels tiny once you’re inside with just a handful of characters – consisting mainly of a mix of children and data scientists. It was nice to see Kate Stewart again, and Jemma Redgrave does a brilliant job at running the organisation with a stern stoicism. When she appears worried or emotional, it adds a huge weight to the threat and she has enough history with the show that it adds tension when she might be in danger. I could see Russell T Davies killing her off to establish the severity of this threat, although I think that would be a massive loss to the series.
Yasmin Finney reprised her role as Rose Noble, and while it was nice to see her and establish some continuity with the anniversary specials, she had no real bearing on the story aside from presenting UNIT as a ‘family unit’ (pun intended) to the Doctor. I’m glad there wasn’t any reference to her transgender identity and she was allowed to exist as her own character instead of a political statement, even if she was mainly background dressing. Lenny Rush was enjoyable as Morris Gibbons, seemingly replacing Shirley as the quippy scientific advisor of the team. I enjoyed his background as a child genius augmented by a meteorite, which feels like something from 2005-era Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was also great to see Bonnie Langford back as Mel, further establishing links to the original series and adding a sense of family to this current iteration of UNIT. I like the idea of former companions dropping in and out of UNIT to guest-star in adventures, especially the likes of Ace, Tegan and even more recent companions like Martha, Graham and Yaz.
Looking back at the episode as a whole, it felt like it was just a series of conversations dissecting the various theories surrounding Susan Triad and Ruby’s mother. There was very little action or movement, aside from a brief moment of threat within the Time Window, but the main source of drama came from the slow unpeeling of the mystery. I loved how Russell T Davies immediately addressed the fact that S TRIAD was an anagram for TARDIS, mocking the Doctor’s revelation by pointing out that everyone had figured it out. The fact that the actual anagram was the homonym Sue Tech (Sutekh) was a clever misdirection, although unfortunately, I’d seen someone else figure that one out on social media in the days leading up to the episode. It’s a shame as I’d love to have gone in totally unspoiled to get the genuine thrill of the reveal. At the moment, it’s still unclear what Susan Twist’s many iterations throughout time had to do with Sutekh – was she a physical manifestation of Sutekh possessing the TARDIS – perhaps this is why the TARDIS anagram is also hidden within her name. Maybe she was the TARDIS’ way of trying to warn the Doctor? Russell T Davies is usually a bit lax for details on some of these mysteries, so we might not get a definitive answer as to why Susan Triad was spread through time, but hopefully we get a clearer idea of Sutekh’s plans, and how and when he managed to get hold of the TARDIS.
The biggest set-piece of the episode was the sequence in the Time Window, and it was frustrating that we didn’t get any closer to discovering the identity of Ruby’s mother – I do hope we get answers on this in the next episode and this mystery doesn’t carry over into the next season. Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson and Michelle Greenidge were impeccable during these scenes, conveying the emotion, anticipation and disappointment of that near-reveal. I must admit that I felt like they were setting up Carla Sunday to turn evil at some point – it seemed very suspicious to me that she was at the UNIT tower, and to be honest, she has been depicted as cold-hearted just as much as she has been presented as kind-hearted. The episode also reintroduces Mrs Flood, with another dose of fourth-wall breaking to reaffirm that as a character trait and not a directorial flourish from the Christmas special. I’m not sure who she might be, perhaps she is the Doctor’s grand-daughter Susan, given all the conversation about her in this episode – although I’m not sure how much is Russell T Davies’ misdirection and how much is foreshadowing. He seems to be enjoying playing with audience expectations, and quite accurately predicting their theories and speculations. The one thing I did find fascinating though was how the Doctor talks about his grand-daughter, hinting for the second-time that he had a grand-daughter before he had a daughter. This is an interesting wrinkle, and suggests that perhaps Susan was a foundling too. I wonder whether we’ll get a reveal of the Doctor’s daughter as a switcheroo instead of Susan – perhaps it is Ruby or even, Mrs Flood.
With so much of this episode reliant on the big secret at the end, it is one of those episodes where future viewings will be completely different experiences to that first watch. The experience of sitting on the edge of my seat to discover the answers is a one-and-done thing, and cannot be recaptured. On that basis, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” was a huge success – I was utterly gripped throughout and was impatient to find out more as each little tidbit moved us closer to the big reveal at the end. Much of the future success of the episode revolves around “Empire of Death” and whether Russell T Davies can craft a satisfying conclusion to this two-part adventure. Ultimately, I think “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” suffers from an exposition overload and a lack of movement/action throughout – perhaps a more tangible threat ahead of Sutekh’s reveal would have balanced the episode out a bit better and prevented it from feeling like a series of conversations in different locations. Better viewed in combination with its second half, it will be interesting to see how “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” ages over time.
Score – ★★★★ ½
Next Episode: “Empire of Death”
The Doctor has lost, his ageless enemy reigns supreme, and a shadow is falling over creation. Nothing can stop the devastation… except, perhaps, one woman.
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