The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death are the last two episodes (seventh and eighth respectively) in the latest series of Doctor Who. It stars Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. This post may be a long one as I cover both episodes in this two-part finale.
Spoilers ahead!!
General Thoughts on the Finale
I thought that while The Legend of Ruby Sunday felt like two separate stories squished together. However, it had great set up and tension for Empire of Death. However, I didn’t really like Empire of Death. I don’t hate it, but as a season finale, I was mostly disappointed. There were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me but I will get to that later.
In these episodes, there are lots of sections and ideas and individual pieces that I like. I loved having Mel in it and playing a large part. Something I didn’t understand is why Susan Twist was thought to be Susan Foreman, since all they have in common is their first name and some talk about Susan in previous episodes. I did not thing she was the Doctor’s granddaughter, and was kind of relieved that she wasn’t.
I would also like to add that all the actors have been amazing in the finale.
UNIT
First, I want to talk about UNIT. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is amazing as always, and I like that she cares when a soldier goes down. It’s nice to see Rose present as I can totally imagine Donna getting Rose some work experience or an internship. Lenny Rush as Morris Gibbons is brilliant, and I liked the inclusion of more different UNIT advisors.
UNIT being more present in this newer series is something I love. With a possible UNIT spin off, I hope all of these characters make an appearance in it. I hope that this spin off doesn’t include whatever weird flirting there was between Kate and one of the soldiers because she would be his boss and there’s too much of a power difference for me to find that romantic in the slightest.
Sutekh
Sutekh is an interesting choice to be the finale villain. This series of Doctor Who had branded itself ‘Season 1’ to new fans, and it seems strange that they’ve bought a villain who appeared once decades ago to be the big bad at the end of it all. While I haven’t seen many new fans massively upset about it, I have seen them confused. Still, Gabriel Woolf has a phenomenal voice and is brilliant as Sutekh.
73 Yards
If you’ve been reading these blog posts, you’ll know that I have mixed feelings on 73 Yards, but in this finale, knowing who Ruby’s mother is hinges on Roger ap Gwilliam DNA testing anyone. There’s also a mention Ruby knowing information from 73 Yards without remembering the events themselves. Overall, I liked this as it feels like the episode isn’t completely skippable as while the events in it no longer happen, the information and character become somewhat important.
Ruby’s Mum
I do not hate that Ruby’s Mum was a normal person. I like that her mum is not expected to change her life but doesn’t shut Ruby out. It feels realistic that Ruby’s Mum is interested in Ruby and her life, but isn’t going to drop her current life and pretend that it doesn’t exist.
What I hate is that there is such obvious build up to there being something that makes Ruby different. None of it was said to be her mum, but it leaves me wondering why the snow? Not only that, the video of Ruby’s Mum leaving her has her dressed in an old fashioned cloak and pointing and a sign in heavy snow when there was no one there. I hope that it resurfaces as it mentions the father not being interested or not knowing about Ruby, and that he may be the reason for the snow.
Another thing I don’t understand is why Sutekh cares so much about Ruby and her mother’s identity and is happy to not kill her to find out why.
Issues with the Finale
My issues with The Legend of Ruby Sunday largely revolve around the story feeling like two separate stories pushed together. I’m not sure if it was intentional, or if it was a result of a shorter season, but it felt jarring to switch from ‘Who is Susan Twist?’ to ‘Who is Ruby’s mother?’. The two stories are largely linked together through the Time Window and Sutekh revealing himself, which is towards the end of the episode. I also feel like Ruby’s mum plot could have easily had its own episode.
There is an issue with Sutekh as well. If he has been clinging on to the TARDIS since his first appearance, what happened during the Time War, or when it was almost destroyed by the Daleks in Journey’s End, or when it exploded or was duplicated? What was happening to Sutekh in those instances? I know there is a lot of memes, but it was an easily solved plothole by saying he clung on when the Doctor did the line of salt at the edge of the universe.
Empire of Death Issues
One of the problems I have with Empire of Death is how rushed it felt. We spent no time in the desolate wasteland as death travels up the family tree. The scene with the woman remembering her baby is dead before dying is haunting. I wished we had more of that to reinforce what has happened all across the universe.
Another problem I had with Empire of Death is that in the end, everything is undone. Of course it was, when they killed Rose, I knew that there would be a way for everything to be undone like nothing ever happened because they were an important character. Sutekh’s consequences were so universal that everything had to be undone otherwise there would be no show. There is no way to continue a show like Doctor Who if everyone is dead. There just wasn’t any fear or worry that there would be any permanent consequences, outside of the implications of some kinds of afterlife.
Overall Thoughts on the Finale
Overall, while I enjoyed The Legend of Ruby Sunday, I was largely disappointed by Empire of Death. Still, I look forward to seeing the next season of Doctor Who, since I enjoyed this season overall.
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Want to read another of my blog posts about Doctor Who? Check out my thoughts on Rogue here.