We have finally arrived at the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the finale. Like always with Russell T Davies, we got ourselves a two-part finale that had a lot of questions to answer: who is Susan Twist, who is Mrs Flood, who is Ruby’s birth mother, and who is the one who waits? So many questions, and surprisingly, half of these questions already have answers with just the first part alone, leaving a lot left for the second part.
This episode of Doctor Who is titled “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and follows The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and UNIT as they investigate Ruby Sunday’s (Millie Gibson) past using the Time Window, but unfortunately, it reveals horrifying secrets from Christmas Eve, while the mysterious Triad Technology has unleashed the greatest evil of all.
There were some worries in the lead-up to this episode, but fortunately, Russell has made all those worries clear away thanks to this episode. It provides us with the best cold open of the season yet and, thankfully, doesn’t waste any time laying out the answers to some of the questions we’ve been asking all season. We see The Doctor rush to UNIT to let them know about this mysterious woman that he’s been seeing across time and space. We know her by the actor’s name, Susan Twist, but to The Doctor’s surprise, she’s also in their time as Susan Triad and runs a company called Triad Technology, with her name S. Triad being an anagram for, of course, Tardis.
We also get the return of Rose Noble (Yasmin Finney), who seems like she’s followed after her mother and is now also working at UNIT. This raises a few questions, as wouldn’t Rose be too young to work at UNIT, a secret government organization? She also mentions that it has been so long since she has seen The Doctor, though The Doctor does ask, “How is your uncle?” and, as we know, the Fourteenth Doctor was made her uncle back in The Giggle. If that’s the case, where did the Fourteenth Doctor disappear? It’s all a bit confusing, and while we know things never happen in order for The Doctor, I do hope we get some sort of explanation. It’s known from the novelization of The Giggle that he ended up getting his own house, but that isn’t made clear at any point in the show, and Russell seems to have missed out on that vital bit of information. There’s one more question to ask: What is the Fourteenth Doctor up to? That wouldn’t allow for him to frequently visit Rose Noble; if he hadn’t seen Rose in so long, he might likely not have seen Donna in a while, which is quite sad to think about. Aside from all those questions that rushed into my head, Yasmin Finney still shines as Rose, though we don’t get as much of her as we did during the 60th-anniversary specials, so it’s hard to tell if her performance has really improved, but it didn’t bode an issue for her short screen time in this episode.
That isn’t the only piece of information revealed in this cold open, but two of the Susan Twist characters’, which we caught a glimpse of in the Next Time trailer, were actually red herrings and unfortunately aren’t tied to Sutekh as fans theorised. While that may have some fans upset, don’t get upset now as Ruby makes the connection between Susan Triad having the same name as The Doctor’s granddaughter. It’s a lot of information to process, and yes, this is all just from the cold open, and I think it’s wonderful that Russell T Davies decided to go that route without continuing to hide some plot points. This allows for the episode to move at a smooth and consistent pace, which it successfully does.
While it doesn’t get answered straight away if Susan Triad truly is The Doctor’s granddaughter or if she’s a human Tardis as some people have theorised, we step away from her to focus on our main girl of the season and of the century, Ruby Sunday. There is still the mystery of Ruby Sunday’s mother and UNIT has agreed to use their technology to enhance the footage on the VHS tape of the camera footage from 2004 Christmas Eve.
What could go wrong?
Well, a lot of things could go wrong. Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) takes The Doctor, Ruby, Carla Sunday (Michelle Greenidge), and Mel (Bonnie Langford), who has been undercover spying on Susan Triad, to the Time Windows so they can finally see who Ruby’s mother is. This is a scene that’s just filled with so much tension, and Murray Gold’s score only helps elevate moments like this in the episode. Unfortunately, they’re not able to discover the identity of Ruby’s mother, but something new has appeared—a dark, terrifying cloud that was never there before. Disney’s budget comes into full force this episode as The Doctor and Ruby are sent out of the Time Window in a scene that just leaves you with your mouth open, and it won’t be the last time either.
Before continuing on, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) makes an appearance earlier in the episode to look after Cherry Sunday (Angela Wynter) as Carla has decided to go with Ruby back down to UNIT. We’ve had our eyes on Mrs Flood ever since the Christmas Special when she directly asked us “Never seen a Tardis before?”. She has made an appearance earlier in the season during “73 Yards” and while that was a mysterious episode, she didn’t say or do anything suspicious but that’s all changed. Russel has created numerous mysteries and finally is making it all tie together in this first part of the finale, truly sending us back to the days of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Once Carla and Ruby have left, the tone of the show and the room completely shifts, with Mrs Flood warning us that the one who waits, “Waits no more”. While Russell is giving us more to work with her, It’s still cryptic and we still can’t say for sure what her role is in all this, except that she’s working with the main villain.
It has to be noted how well-paced this episode is due to the fact that the Time Window scene lasts roughly 10 minutes, with 20 minutes of the episode remaining, but it never feels like it’s overstaying its welcome. Every scene holds its purpose all through the lead-up to the big reveal, with The Doctor contacting Susan Triad, trying to discover more about her, only to find out that she has been having dreams about the various Susans across time and space. Back at UNIT, it’s revealed that Harriet, who works there, does indeed have a last name, Arbinger, creating the real name, Harbinger. Murray Gold once again sells this scene with his music, as the tension rises, as we get closer to discovering who the villain of this season is, who has been causing the Tardis to make those groaning sounds.
Sutekh. “It was the wrong anagram” is the most haunting line that The Doctor has said this season, and it matches the score and the reveal of Sutekh, who has an insanely terrifying but marvellous design that I’ve not seen the likes of on this show before. All of this before we’re hit by the dreaded TO BE CONTINUED.
“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” will not disappoint fans who want to feel the touch of RTD’s finales once again. He’s known for writing amazing two-part finales, and this first part is nothing less than the start of an epic story. The pacing is just right, and it delivers all the answers you need while still leaving some unanswered for its second part. While this first part was a joy to watch, with notable performances from Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, and Jemma Redgrave, the budget is used to its full advantage, with insane VFX and designs that are unmatched compared to anything we’ve seen in the history of Doctor Who.
It’s easy for the second part to mess up, but after this, I have faith in Russell.
Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 7 “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” releases June 15 on BBC IPlayer and BBC One in the UK and June 14 on Disney+ internationally.
