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The following contains spoilers for “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.”
In a misleading episode filled with episodes, perhaps the biggest misunderstanding is the title, as it barely reveals anything about what the legend of Ruby Sunday actually is. Instead, the first of the series’ two-part finale is essentially an hour dedicated to building a sense of dread that will spill over in its final moments. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” is simply a “It made “The Last of Us,” the first half of the 2006 season finale, with a bigger budget, but the big bad guy who emerges at the end is one who comes from much deeper than the usual TV show villains who pop up from the corners. Doctor Who history.
The Doctor and Ruby arrive at UNIT HQ to inquire about Susan Twist, a mysterious woman who has been chasing them across the universe. Meanwhile, UNIT is watching someone called Susan Triad, a British tech billionaire who is due to announce her gift to humanity later that day. Even UNIT’s dorks realize that S.TRIAD is an anagram of TARDIS, and the Doctor thinks that Triad, or more generally the mysterious woman, may be his granddaughter.
But the identity of Ruby’s parents must also be uncovered, giving the Doctor a reason to do more than just confront the Triad. The Doctor, Ruby and a UNIT soldier enter a time window (a low-quality holodeck) to try to find out who left Ruby on the church steps. However, history is a bit inaccurate and Ruby’s faceless mother, not unlike the one we saw in “The Church of Ruby Road”, turns around and points ominously at the TARDIS. Shortly thereafter, the TARDIS is engulfed in a swirling black cloud of evil and no one knows what to do.
The Doctor meets the Triad just before going onstage, who remind him of all his other selves – the Triad are somehow aware of these countless other selves every time they dream – and while he goes onstage, the Doctor instructs the team from UNIT HQ to scan the TARDIS, which is likewise enveloped in an invisible cloud of something malevolent that threatens everyone around it.
[ASIDE: This is the . And this is the second time that they’ve totally misunderstood how to stage one that looks even remotely evocative of what they’re parodying. I know the conventions of the tech keynote have mutated since the Steve Jobs era, but they’re not even trying.]
The Triad goes off script when UNIT staffer Harriet Arbinger (wait for it…) starts muttering about dark prophecies. The Doctor, standing nearby, watches as she transforms into a skeletal monster. The TARDIS is menaced by a giant animal head surrounded by Egyptian symbolism. Susan is not the Doctor’s granddaughter, nor is she a key component of the story. She is an innocent person. 1975’s “” Let the credits roll.
The synopsis is short, mostly because these scenes unfold slowly as tension builds. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” takes its time, slowly turning the screws until it’s almost satisfying when the big reveal happens. It’s riveting the first time you watch it, but I don’t think it’s worth rewatching a third or fourth time, which is often a problem with episodes written by Russell T. Davies. It’s also a good way to build up bookings for next week’s finale. .
Would it have been easy to guess that Steph would return after only one appearance in “Pyramid of Mars”? Rumors have certainly been leaning in that direction over the past month or so, and we haven’t had a hint or two along the way. Longtime Davis fans will remember that Vince is looking at the Part 1 cliffhanger at the end of the first episode. Queer as FolkAnd already the entire “Pyramids of Mars” scene has been incorporated into “The Devil’s Code,” jumping straight into a doomed future.
For those of you who don’t know, “The Pyramids of Mars” is a classic, another big hit by the best screenwriter of the 20th century, Robert Holmes. At the time, Holmes was the script editor for the series and had commissioned a story from writer Lewis Griefer. However, Griefer’s script was so bad that Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe decided they needed a replacement script. So Holmes was tasked with writing an entirely new episode in a very short time. The finished episode was credited under the pseudonym Stephen Harris, but with Holmes behind the scenes. Unfortunately, due to various rules regarding credits, the end credits of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” actually credit Lewis Griefer as the writer of Steph, omitting Holmes’ name. This seems pretty harsh.
But that slight injustice aside, let’s get to the final episode.
Susan Twisted Corner
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Well, it looks like the answer is that Susan Twist made a slightly misleading statement.
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Gabriel Wolf, who voiced Stettek in 1975, will reprise his role as Stettek in this version.
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Mrs. Flood, who was entrusted with Cherry’s care, was clearly aware of Sutek’s return and seemed pleased, but she didn’t seem like a foreshadow, so it’s more likely she represents another villainous character from the series’ past.