TW Reviews Doctor Who The Legend of Ruby Sunday S01E07

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

So here it is; the penultimate episode of the season where we are promised answers to Ruby’s identity and the reveal of the Big Bad. He Who Waits is coming and judging by the trailers, the Earth is up against it this time for real. We have faced the gods Toymaker and his daughter Maestro. As far back as the Meep we knew there was someone waiting to face the Doctor, someone that scared even the Toymaker.

Now while we didn’t get to find out who Ruby’s mother was (at least not this time, maybe the finale), we did discover who the Big Bad was. Did you figure it out? Did you click on that the Devil’s Chord told us who it was? did you figure the same episode laid out a huge red herring for us to distract us? I didn’t until we were almost there and realised we had already been told. I said in my review of The Devil’s Chord that the scene where the Doctor shows a devastated Earth if they leave Maestro to her devices was a lovely throwback to the fourth Doctor story, the Pyramids of Mars. There, the Doctor faced the same question from Sarah jane as to why they didn’t just leave because they knew the world didn’t end.

Earth was a husk and now we know why it was done. But before we get to that we have to look at the rest. So the mysterious woman that keps appearing is in fact solved in the first minutes of the story. She is Susan Twist head of S Triad Technology about to launch a free software upon th world in a matter of hours. Of course, it is an anagram of Tardis and UNIT has been watching her for the last two months. New scientific adviser Morris Gibbons, a genius 13 year old who had an encounter with an asteroid, says it is almost certainly a trap. We love Lenny Rush and we want to see him back. In fact he needs a trip in the Tardis. Morris fits right in and looks like he has been there forever regardless of his Segway. Plenty of room on the Tardis for that.

Harriet, the new head of the archive helps with the Ruby mystery. Rose Noble is back and she is very welcome. But the problem is the only Susan the Doctor knows with knowledge of Tardis tech is his granddaughter that he left behind in the 22nd century after the Dalek Invasion of Earth.

It seems the big bad is the Doctor’s own family. Now to be honst I never fell for that one. It didn’t make sense. Unless Susan was possessed and transported through time then she would never turn on her grandfather. Add to that when Paul McGann returned in the Night of the Doctor he mentioned all of his companions from his Big Finish adventures. He wishes them all well before taking the regeneration potion. Technically that made them all canon. The problem with that is that he returned to battle the Daleks once again with Susan and his new great grandson, Alex. Alex along with Lucie Miller were killed. But did she die in the Time War or was she protected? Watching the Doctor being afraid of facing his lost granddaughter again and potentially having to put her down was great to watch. The Doctor and Kate share a beautiful moment where they discuss the Brigadier and family. It is compelling how the Doctor sees himself in comparison to others.

Ncuti’s Doctor fits right in with UNIT and his delight at seeing an undercover Mel working alongside Susan adds to the character compared to poor Rose who only gets to watch shoplifters in Catford.

But the Doctor has a second use for UNIT. They need to find out who Ruby’s mother is. Using an old video cassette and a time window that the Doctor forbid UNIT to create they are able to recreate the past in a simulation type environment but cannot see who Ruby’s mother is. But things keep changing as something else arrives in the simulation, a cloud of fire, dark and billowing. When a soldier is killed inside the time window it is the start of the reveal.

Whatever it is has woven itself to the Tardis itself and cannot be seen by the naked eye. The mysterious groans we have heard are in fact the baddie. But who is it? How is it connected to Mrs Flood who suddenly changes from a nice chatty neighbour to a spectral wraith with Ruby’s bedridden grandmother trapped in the flat as a storm billows over the city? I’ve been a fan of Anita Dobson since her Angie Watts days and still have her signed Angie official Eastenders photo. Is Mrs flood a part of Susan Triad or something else? Is she a servant of ….? Well let’s not say the Big Bad’s name just yet.

The Doctor and Mel are facing Susan Triad while Ruby remains at UNIT with Rose. The reveal is brilliantly done on two fronts. By the ay did you notice the Master reval music from Utopia when Ruby enters the time window again? Another thing to throw us off. Kate demands the invisible being that has been attached to the Tardis all this time show itself. The black cloud solidifies while Susan falls to her knees. The autocue screens fill with Susan’s words as Harriet in UNIT recites some kind of ancient text. The god are named as He Who Waits reveals himself.

The reveal to the 15th Doctor is as powerful as Fenric’s reveal to the seventh Doctor. The phrase “It was the wrong anagram” will go down in history. Sue is short for Susan and add that to tech the big bad shows himself. Perched aboard the Tardis is a huge anubis type creature.

Sutekh, last of the Osirans, the god of death, is back.

Harriett’s surname is Harbinger who is a servant of Sutekh and whirls round on Kate, her face part skull. Ruby is trapped inside the time window in 2004 in a snowstorm with her mother. Susan begins remembering all the places the Doctor has seen her before being turned into a terrifying skull creature that dissolves people by touch. This is pure horror especially the nice touch of the creaking bones as Susan moves. The Doctor and Mel are helpless as Sutekh manifests once again promising to bring the gift of death to all humanity. Sutekh is once again voicedd by Gabriel Woolf and his voice is still as terrifying as it was back in the original. He is now in his nineties and it really is a thrill to have him back.

That was a great cliffhanger and beautiful red herring placement . Gatwa’s terror at Sutekh’s return is brillaint. The only other thing I would have done is when he tells Mel to get back from Susan, he should have yelled it to betray his absolute terror, not just said it. Somehow Sutekh has played the long game. he latched onto the Tardis having survivd death and planned. Sutekh deliberately lured the Doctor and his allies in by playing on the family connection and he fell for it. Now the god of death is manifest, all the terror of Pyramids of Mars floods back to the Doctor. He barely beat this enemy before and just by the skin of his teeth. By throwing Sutekh into an eternity corridor he thought him long dead; not even Osirans live forever.

Things are grim. The Doctor is helpless. Sutekh reigns supreme again. There is no next time trailer but all we know is that the Doctor nd Mel speed through London on a motorbike. The city of London is consumed by a massive billowing cloud so how is this going to end? Tune in next week. For now I need to go lie down.