Doctor Who heads to the end of series 14/season 1, and it’d be fair to say that Russell T Davies has let some fireworks off. Spoilers.
Huge spoilers for The Legend Of Ruby Sunday lie ahead.
Remember that cycle of Doctor Who, where it felt like the show had to go between the Daleks, the Cybermen or The Master to roll out as the big end of season foe? Going into the start of the two-part finale of this series – The Legend Of Ruby Sunday – I confess that I was expecting something along those lines.
Instead, I found myself vaguely harking back to the Tom Baker story Pyramids Of Mars, and marvelling that a series which began in full-on recruiting new viewers mode with Space Babies is concluding with a foe from the 1970s era of the show.
That’s where the Doctor – I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong – first encountered the hugely powerful alien Sutekh. And, I’d imagine, when his name is decoded on the screen before our eyes, all but the most ardent fans of the show will be asking: who? Not a criticism, more an observation: a huge build up and reveal to a character most won’t have heard of.
Long story short: Sutekh is someone you don’t want to mess with, and it’s a genuine surprise to see him resurrected here. Expect fireworks next week.
Mind you, we got plenty this week too.
Russell T Davies’ initial run heading up Doctor Who was not short of brilliant penultimate episodes: energetic, almost blockbuster-movie levels of escalation building up to a I’d-better-not-miss-next-week’s level of cliffhanger. Same again here, I thought. I felt like I was back in 2005, in a good way, just with extra money.
There’s 15 minutes or so of The Legend Of Ruby Sunday, where the past is being interrogated via a very expensive Time Window, that I found absolutely superb (coming back to it shortly). Furthermore, as Davies peeled back his onions, I was never less than totally invested in this. A lot of hard work and track laying had gone into getting the story here, and Davies’ script was not going to waste it.
Let’s get down to it, then.
At the launch of this series, Davies was talking about how his finale was a proper Doctor Who two-parter, and time was not wasted setting it up. The TARDIS arrives in UNIT’s fancy headquarters, and the Doctor is mighty pleased to be there. Kate Stewart makes her second appearance of this run in charge of the place, and among the personnel now are Harriet (yeah, watch out for her), Rose, Morris the 13-year old (thought he was hilarious) and Latest Robot Voiced By Nicholas Briggs. Top work there from Lenny Rush as the youngster who knows more than anyone else in the room.
We’re straight too into one of the key underlying mysteries of the current series: who is the woman whose face we keep seeing? In this iteration, she’s Susan Triad, looking like she’s going a bit Harold Saxon and addressing the UN. Interestingly, when we get time with her, she’s a soft, gentle woman. Friendly, no obvious threat… and possibly the Doctor’s granddaughter. Her appearance and demeanour went against expectation, and wrong-footed me a little, again to the episode’s credit.
I did wince when we were told that she was releasing a piece of free software into the world. I’ve seen Terminator: Genisys and had no urge to revisit that. But that plot idea appeared to have tempered by the end of the episode. It may yet return.
Then: we’re into the second mystery. That of Ruby Sunday and that very particular Christmas Eve in 2004. Turns out there was a CCTV camera 66 metres – yep, that’s 73 yards – away from where her mother left her. The 73 Yards reference did make me wonder if Ruby had left herself there, but we’ve the Time Window that UNIT definitely didn’t build is suggesting other ideas.
Accepting that the Time Window is a fancy Star Trek holodeck crossed with a video playback system, and accepting that Captain Chidozie had Star Trek redshirt written all over him when he was introduced as security, here’s where Russell T Davies really delivered on his setup.
It’s a terrific, mind-boggling sequence. I recently re-watched the James Bond movie Casino Royale, a film with the confidence to – at a point the audience expects full on action – simply slow down. The Legend Of Ruby Sunday did that too, much to the episode’s benefit. With the skillful direction of Jamie Donoghue and backed by a clearly strong production team, this whole scene gradually offered reveals, and gradually upped the tempo too. I found myself really gripped by it. When it turns into a swirling collection of smoke, perhaps less so. But bonus points to everyone who figured the groaning TARDIS was core to what was going on.
Problems to solve, and a misdirected Doctor to try and solve them. Lovely stuff. Not for the first time, the casting of Ncuti Gatwa really paid off. The man’s eyes are extraordinary, and he’s tackled the role of the Doctor – a part that involves a fair range, all in one ever-changing set of clothes – with aplomb. I thought the moment where he met Susan, and tried to evaluate whether they were related, was surprising
I’ve been a little tough on Millie Gibson at times during this series, and also not entirely sold on the dynamic between the Doctor and Ruby. Here though I though Gibson was strong, putting in her best work of the series, and the dynamic too burst into life. On game day, both Gatwa and Gibson were very much there.
A very welcome return (again) too for Mel, back on a motorbike and instantly bringing back a fond memory of Delta And The Bannermen. It feels very much like she’s one of the grown ups in the room, and given how shortchanged Bonnie Langford’s career was at points, I’ve greatly enjoyed seeing her return.
If you can’t tell, I really enjoyed The Legend Of Ruby Sunday.
Where does this leave us? Good question. We’ve been left with Anita Dobson’s TARDIS-aware Mrs Flood going all sinister. We’ve still got the threat of this software being released. We’re still not entirely sure who left Ruby on that Christmas night. And there’s still a lot of snow. What there isn’t, is a Dalek. This is not a series that’s following the obvious path.
Bring it all on. And one more thing: treat yourself to a viewing of Pyramids Of Mars if you haven’t already. It’s sat on BBC iPlayer waiting for you…
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