Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday

June 15, 2024 3:14 PM - Season 1, Episode 7

The Doctor and UNIT investigate the snowy night when Ruby was abandoned as a baby, as well as the rise of a mysterious tech CEO.

First of a two-part series finale.

posted by Pallas Athena (37 comments total)

I loved the lampshading of the "hey! 'S Triad' is an anagram of 'Tardis', everyone!" moment.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:16 PM on June 15 [2 favorites]

"Just call me Sue. Everyone does."

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:21 PM on June 15

I was curious why they were convinced it was Susan just because "S Triad" is an anagram of "TARDIS" when it's also an anagram of "SIDRAT."

I had a vague inkling we had seen Sutekh before and had to look it up. Looks like the last time was Tom Baker's era (it's been ... most of a decade since I watched what I saw of his tenure, and if I remember right I stopped halfway through--not because it was bad but just because I had been trying to watch everything extant, in order, from Hartnell onward, and eventually I tired of it).

On the whole, I'm liking this season a lot. I feel like it's been one of the more consistent seasons I've seen (Doctors 1-3 and half of 4, hopscotching through 5, 6, and 7, then the movie and 9-14).
posted by johnofjack at 3:32 PM on June 15

Oh, if you haven't seen the Tom Baker serial Pyramids Of Mars, it's one of the best of his era! And there have been multiple shoutouts to it this season. wikipedia, iPlayer
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:35 PM on June 15

So, when they said the closed circuit camera was 66 meters from the church, I did the conversion and interestingly that’s just shy of 73 yards.

If they end up doing something to contextualize some of that episode (73 yards), I will take back some of my grumbling about it.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:58 PM on June 15 [5 favorites]

According to a friend who's a big fan of classic Who, the voice of Sutekh in this episode is the same person who did the voice back in Pyramids Of Mars. Now that's continuity!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:08 PM on June 15 [8 favorites]

The original Pyramids of Mars writer Lewis Greifer got a shout-out in the credits.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:06 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]

I loved the lampshading of the "hey! 'S Triad' is an anagram of 'Tardis', everyone!" moment.

Okay, so I did respect this, since I saw S Triad in the preview and thought I knew where it was going. But then later when it's revealed the clue is Sue Tech = Suhtek, the Doctor says "It was the wrong anagram!" And I'm like, that's not an anagram, though. But it does feel very much like the hand-wavey RTD finales of old. Dr Yana turns out to be The Master because YANA stands for You Are Not Alone, which is what the Face of Boe said? Total nonsense. Totally.

But then they spend a lot of time thinking the woman is the Doctor's granddaughter, because they share a name? Like, come on. That's the silliest thing.

After enjoying all of this season, give or take a Space Babies, I was hoping the finale would pull everything together in a satisfying way. But the woman was everywhere because she just was? She's the physical equivalent of Bad Wolf, a portent of doom that doesn't actually mean anything? That's truly disappointing.

I guess next week could make this all make some more sense, but this episode feels powered by vibes more than story logic. Why after figuring out that Susan Triad was a nice person did they pivot to using the Time Window to try to figure out the mystery of Ruby's mother again? What was the connection there? I'd rewatch to figure it out, but most of this was just things happening because RTD thought they'd be cool.

And then the villain is revealed to be one from a 70s Doctor Who episode and I'm sure that's fun for people who have watched classic Who, but if you're being introduced to this show through Disney+ or you're a new Who fan, you'd be completely lost.

It's still more coherent than most of Chibnall's later stories, but that's a very low bar. But I still don't know why one scene led to the next here. And introducing us to a handful of new people at UNIT plus the return of Rose and Mel and Kate - plus the ongoing mysteries that might be connected but might also be giant coincidences. Very overstuffed. Perhaps more overstuffed than the end of Season 4, which pulled in characters from two spin-off shows.

Sigh. Hopefully next week's episode makes more emotional sense and the reveal of Ruby's mother explains some of this.
posted by crossoverman at 7:42 PM on June 15 [2 favorites]

Wait, there's not a secret episode next week is there? I thought it was an 8-ep season. This won't be concluded until the Christmas special (to finally tie off the Ruby reveal), right?
posted by rikschell at 3:36 AM on June 16

Oh, nuts, turns out I just can't count.
posted by rikschell at 3:38 AM on June 16

We had to leave before we finished the episode (got as far as the black vapor appearing in the time window), but after reading here, I feel better that my initial reaction to the episode was that it felt a whole like episodes of yore, where it was a mess of being led along by the nose, and everything might be critical, or not, and not knowing why.

I mean, the very first scene was the TARDIS crash landing at UNIT. Why a crash/skidding landing? Something amiss on the TARDIS? Nope. Nothing wrong. I guess the Doctor just wanted a dramatic entrance, instead of just materializing normally?

Mind you, I didn’t hate what I saw. Still entertaining. But, to me, this series had been really strong and original, and this episode felt like a throwback of sorts.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:17 AM on June 16

The Tardis landing might just been Rule of Cool, but I wondered whether UNIT is using some kind of tech that keeps...Tardii? from materializing inside their headquarters. That could be useful both in the event of evil Time Lords and a Doctor gone bad, an idea I'm sure they would have contingencies for.

I did laugh at "wrong anagram," and I truly, deeply love the line "the Phoenix is just a bird until it burns" (or words to that effect); chills, really nice stuff. Sutekh...well, Rule of Cool, and I can only imagine that anyone who's steeped in original Who is thrilled to see him realized with a big budget. It's been a long time since I've seen any of the Tom Baker episodes, and I haven't seen "Pyramids of Mars," but I'll fix that this week! (It's funny that, in the US at least, Disney's acquisition of Who may cause a number of viewers to subscribe to BritBox.) It may not have been a terribly satisfying Big Bad reveal for anyone who expected their theories to be confirmed, but I honestly prefer this to some angsty thing or big puzzle box "payoff" (I'm looking at you, Steven Moffat). Big scary bat god, I'll take it.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:07 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed this episode while I watched it - but it does suffer from a lot of fridge moments afterwards (moments after experiencing a thing, where you stare into the fridge and say 'but wait! that doesn't make sense!' - as opposed to characters being Fridged which is an entirely different trope).

I would dearly like to think that next week will be a satisfying finale, BUT I have bitter experience of seeing that RTD just doesn't know how to end stories.

I would dearly love to be proven wrong on this though.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:47 AM on June 16

BUT I have bitter experience of seeing that RTD just doesn't know how to end stories.

I think it's safe to assume the finale will be a cliffhanger setup for the next series, rather than the end of anything. RTD has implied as much with his "the most devastating finale" comment.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:21 AM on June 16

Asa matter of interest, what did US viewers make of Susan's little dance move as she walked on stage for her broadcast? Because that was a very specific reference to recent British politics.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:38 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]

"Awkward white woman dancing on stage" is enough of a famous meme that I recognized it immediately, although I didn't remember that the original was Theresa May.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:27 AM on June 16

I'm a USian who watches a lot of British chat shows, so I knew of the Theresa May meme; but I didn't recognize it at the time when watching this, and didn't even make the connection until reading reviews later.

Honestly I don't think that it detracted if you didn't get the connection. I'd compare it to some of the Catholicism in-jokes Kevin Smith threw into Dogma - those of us raised Catholic got some bonus nuance, but the film was plenty funny on its own so you still could enjoy it without getting those references.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:47 AM on June 16 [2 favorites]

I didn't get the Teresa May reference but also in retrospect, what? Sue isn't a politician. What was this allusion supposed to mean? But it doesn't matter if you don't get it. It's not important.

What is important is that the big bad only means anything to someone who has watched Pyramids of Mars. That's a reference that needed to mean something.
posted by crossoverman at 1:51 PM on June 16

Disney are numbering the episodes from 1-9 starting with the 2023 Christmas episode, so they are one ahead of the BBC's numbering and the UK reviews etc. (So it's not us, rikschell, it's Disney. Is that what the plus sign is for? Plus 1?)
posted by Coaticass at 2:03 PM on June 16

Well, as a Who-loving kid in the '70s and '80s whose three scariest storylines—in no particular order—were Planet of the Spiders, The Seeds of Doom, and Pyramids of Mars, I was very pleased to see this reveal, incoherent plot or not. So thumbs up, RTD. (And a cliffhanger! How I miss them.)
posted by rory at 2:33 PM on June 16 [3 favorites]

Stuff I liked:

- Scary Tardis
- Scary Demon Cloud
- UNIT seeming to beam in from a spinoff that doesn't exist, obligatory Computer Alien and all
- Hologram Time Machine
- The tiniest Segway
- "We were straight on to her. Even without the TARDIS anagram, evil genius with secret alien software? It's the top of our list. God know we've stopped enough of them. Well, except the obvious." "We'll get him!"
posted by BungaDunga at 6:52 PM on June 16 [2 favorites]

Morris bringing that Billy Quizboy energy.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:09 PM on June 16 [6 favorites]

Oh, that reminds me:

"We were straight on to her. Even without the TARDIS anagram, evil genius with secret alien software? It's the top of our list. God know we've stopped enough of them. Well, except the obvious." "We'll get him!"

Who was this referring to?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:40 AM on June 17

The Master/Missy?
posted by rory at 4:19 AM on June 17

BungaDunga: UNIT seeming to beam in from a spinoff that doesn't exist, obligatory Computer Alien and all

Hey, you’d better put some respect on the name of The Vlinx!
posted by dr_dank at 4:25 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Who was this referring to?

I assumed they meant Elon
posted by wilberforce at 4:38 AM on June 17 [10 favorites]

The thing about Sutekh is that he's probably the biggest threat of the classic series; certainly of the Tom Baker era. Daleks, Cybermen and their ilk want to rule or dominate. Sutekh just wants to destroy, and has the power to do it. He also mind-controls the Doctor at one point, for longer than many other adversaries have been able to do.

Sutekh is significant to me because Pyramids of Mars was the favourite serial of the person who got me into Classic Who. We watched it with my dear late speedlime, who loved it too. So Sutekh feels oddly like an old friend, because the ghosts of old friendships cling to him.

It's odd, how I'm back there but also here. Closest I'll ever get to having a TARDIS, I suppose.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:14 PM on June 17 [10 favorites]

Seconding BungaDunga; there's certainly some good creepy horror here.
posted by porpoise at 8:06 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

there's certainly some good creepy horror here.

Agreed. I was slightly surprised the BBC decided to air it quite as early as 6:30 in the evening. Pleased, but surprised all the same.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:07 AM on June 18 [1 favorite]

We also got a little pay-off re: Mrs. Flood, the fourth-wall breaking neighbor. I suspect she'll have something to do with the return of the Master, since she didn't seem to be part of Sutekh's crew -- or at least, we didn't see her go all Deadite like Sue Triad and Harriet Arbinger, so my guess is she's been watching Sutekh's plan from the outside, waiting for her moment.
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:47 AM on June 19

UNIT gets all uptight about S TRIAD but has failed to notice that one of its senior officers is called H Arbinger? That was a proper FFS moment.
posted by Hogshead at 12:18 PM on June 19 [3 favorites]

I think the reveal of who Mrs Flood is will be left until next season. I don't think she has anything to do with Sutekh.
posted by crossoverman at 9:07 PM on June 19 [1 favorite]

Finally finished this one. It kind of left me feeling a bit, I dunno, unimpressed? It ended up feeling like a lot of earlier Nu-Who...a lot of "I don't know, I don't know," and confusion, and running around, and shouting. And, yeah, without knowing long-ago Who, the big reveal of the baddie's name was a real "So?" moment.

I did like angry/frustrated Doctor, pounding on the walls. I can't recall ever seeing a Doctor taking-out his frustrations so violently. Definitely a shock, which I suppose was the point.

And, why in the hell was Ruby's mom (Carla) brought to UNIT in the first place? Overall, UNIT seems to be about the least secure place in the world.

And, seriously, I am already tired of Morris and his Segway. And, I don't know if it was the audio mix, but I couldn't understand a word he ever said in this episode.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:14 AM on June 20

I felt the pacing was off given the amount of ground to cover. The plan is to wrap up the Ruby's mom line, the Sutekh line, the Mrs Floodand Susan Twist lines AND set up next season? In 45 minutes? I'm mean rue, some will continue on but still...

Also would have appreciated at least back flashes to the previous Sutekh story. I'm completely unfamiliar with the character and the dialogue from Harriet and Sutekh was completely unintelligible on my system and the captioning kept dropping.
posted by beaning at 8:29 AM on June 20

I think the only reason Carla was brought in was to avoid the fan bitching if she hadn't been brought in for what Ruby thought was going to be a big reveal to a long-time mystery.
posted by beaning at 8:31 AM on June 20

Random musings: Carla's (Ruby's adoptive mum) was there so that Russel could have Ruby do the 'I'm a big girl making my own decisions' chat.

This is a recurring thing with him. Parents being told 'I know you're trying to protect me but you can't protect me from the world or myself' - is a running theme in his work.

Imma speculate that the Doctor is Ruby's Mum OR that Ruby is the person who left Baby Ruby at the Church - but is in fact not her own 'mother'..

I also suspect that we won't' find out the identity of Ruby's (birth) Mother at the end of this series - perhaps next series.

Also it will end on an annoying cliffhanger.
posted by Faintdreams at 5:08 AM on June 21

Not having seen Pyramids of Mars, I didn't realise we were looking at a recurring villain. I recognised Set and Seth as names of a somewhat sinister Egyptian god, and took Sutekh to be another name variant that I just wasn't familiar with.

Honestly, I was expecting it to be "Satan", just because of the similarity of the names, and was already rolling my eyes. Glad that's not where things went.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:52 AM on June 22