Doctor Who: “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” / “Empire of Death” – Spoilery Thoughts

*Spoilers abound!*

Since the season finale was a two-parter, I decided to discuss them in one post. It might seem like I’m being fairly down on the finale, but that’s largely because the biggest spoilers contained most of my biggest quibbles, so I’ll be focusing a lot on those today.

First of all, I wish the show hadn’t gone with the reveal that Sutekh has been clinging to the TARDIS all along (all along, or just since “Pyramids of Mars”? From the explanations, it sounds like the latter, but some of the times and places the Doctor brings up feel like references to stories that came before that.) After all, Susan Triad only started popping up everywhere in the Doctor’s timeline during the 60^th anniversary specials, the same time the TARDIS started making odd noises and freaked out after Donna spilled coffee on the console. I’d have appreciated any of the following: 1) a reference that, after the damage to the TARDIS in the coffee incident, it’s been struggling to cope with the effects of Sutekh riding it, 2) a few clips of Susan Triad greenscreened into episodes from before 2023 (a la Clara in “The Name of the Doctor,”) and/or 3) a note that, whenever Sutekh latched himself to the TARDIS, he started using the Time Vortex to seed his “angels of destruction” both forward and backward along the TARDIS timeline (which would explain why he’s able to kill every where/when the Doctor’s ever been, not just the ones since he stowed away.)

For a moment at the start of “Empire of Death,” I thought, “Holy shit, are they actually going to kill Kate Stewart?” (Side note: I hadn’t seen whether Rose had escaped or been dusted, although I figured they weren’t going to permanently kill Donna’s daughter when Donna was offscreen.) But then they killed Ruby’s mom and gran, and the dust of death swept across all of London, the entire world, and beyond. And I quickly understood that, okay, none of these people were dead for good. Which isn’t necessary a bad narrative choice—it can instead become about waiting to see how our heroes are going to reverse it. But it does have that catch-22 of the stakes being so high that there’s actually less suspense. RTD has always loved a big ol’ bombastic finale, and personally, I could’ve gotten behind Sutekh’s dust of death spreading more slowly (although still in multiple times/places at once,) so the universe is still in mortal peril but not everyone is dead yet, making our heroes race to stop Sutekh as quickly as possible.

Since I knew everything was going to be reversed, I didn’t worry about Kate, Carla, Cherry, or any of the others. The only character I really did worry about was Mel. Even though her death is telegraphed quite a bit before it happens, seeing her get turned into an angel of destruction made me nervous. While I pinned my hopes on telling myself, “They wouldn’t kill off a classic companion like that!”, I still feared that we might be following Infinity War / Endgame rules: everyone who’s dusted is going to come back, but anyone who dies in a different way might not. I was super relieved to see Mel get restored at the end.

By the way, I appreciate how much Mel really does feel like a proper companion in this story. She’s not just a returning companion to trot out and wave hello to, she does proper companion stuff—investigating, providing support to the Doctor, high-stakes running, and so on. It still warms my heart so much to see how they’ve used her since the 60^th anniversary! And speaking of nostalgia, the “remembered” TARDIS is an utter delight! I love all the callbacks and the wonky interior dimensions.

Then, of course, there’s everything with Ruby’s birth mom. I don’t mind that she turns out to be ordinary—I really don’t. It reminds me of The Last Jedi and Rey’s parents (please tell me we’re not in for a Rise of Skywalker-style reversal!), which I liked. A parent doesn’t have to be “important” for them to mean the world to the child who’s longing to see them. And I kind of like the idea that it’s Ruby’s longing that imbues her birth mom with so much importance that even Sutekh wants to know who she is. I don’t need any further explanation for who Ruby’s mom is, but I do want an explanation for how that importance manifests throughout the season, from the snow to the “secret song” that shocked Maestro. I’m not sure what Ruby’s status is for next season, and I’m trying to avoid seeking out info on that, but I really hope we haven’t closed the book on this topic yet.

And even though, again, I’m not sure if Ruby is coming back, I have to say I really loved her departure scene. Both Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa play it soooooo wonderfully (but Doctor, just say you love her too!) And after all the tragic companion exits of the RTD and Moffat eras left me begging for another companion who decides to stop traveling on the TARDIS instead of having that decision made for them, Chibnall’s companion exits are almost nonchalant by comparison. But this scene is everything I want to see in this type of exit. Ruby hasn’t been irreparably lost or killed, and she’s going back to something that’s genuinely great—it’s literally what she’s been dreaming of her entire life. Still, that doesn’t make parting any easier, and her goodbye with the Doctor is both heartwarming and heartbreaking (fitting, since the Doctor has two.) It kills me that the Doctor realizes before she does that she has to leave. So, so good!