Previously, on Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday encountered dedicated cosplayers and the charming bounty hunter, Rogue.
This week: The Doctor seeks UNIT’s assistance to identify two mysterious women, but things take a dark turn. Spoilers ahead!
‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ episode prioritizes revelations over intricate plotting, delivering answers that range from obvious to genuinely surprising. The major reveal, however, had been anticipated by keen internet sleuths – those sharp viewers feeling vindicated right now! For those less versed in Classic Who, a quick online search during the credits was likely in order, confirming the return of a formidable foe last seen battling the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane in the 1970s. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday face an unknown threat in Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday
Mysterious Woman Number One is none other than the familiar Twist Bingo Lady. The Doctor presents UNIT with a compilation of her appearances, including some from unseen adventures. UNIT, already aware of Susan Triad, the tech genius behind S Triad Technologies poised to launch groundbreaking free technology, had been monitoring her. The anagram of her company name, TARDIS, raised red flags, leading them to suspect a potential evil tech billionaire scenario, à la Elon Musk. Ruby, however, wonders if Susan could be the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan. Mel, undercover within Susan’s team, reports her as genuinely kind. Good old Tech Guru Sue, one might say. Perhaps less flippant nicknames from UNIT could have averted the impending surprise.
Mysterious Woman Number Two is Ruby’s birth mother, whom the Doctor also tasks UNIT with locating. Leads are scarce, but UNIT’s possession of a contraband Time Window, coupled with Ruby’s magic snow and grainy CCTV footage, provides enough to revisit that fateful Christmas Eve. The goal: to decipher the unfolding events.
While the face of the woman who left Ruby at the church remains hidden, and her true maternal connection uncertain, she does point out the season’s central antagonist. This entity is responsible for the TARDIS’s groaning, its landing malfunctions, and its overall sluggishness – a Spooky Cloud of Death lingering within the Memory TARDIS, visible through the Time Window. This ominous cloud swiftly eliminates the unfortunate UNIT soldier guarding the Time Window.
Haunted by yet another loss, the Doctor and Mel proceed to meet Susan Triad, leaving the TARDIS at UNIT HQ. It slowly dawns on the UNIT team that the Spooky Cloud of Death might also be aboard this TARDIS. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart might need to contact Health and Safety again, as UNIT HQ once more becomes a death trap, albeit thankfully not involving Toymaker-induced Spice-Up-Your-Life fatalities this time. The workplace risk assessments at UNIT must be a nightmare to write.
This episode highlights two particularly frustrating aspects, the foremost being UNIT’s consistent incompetence. While the Doctor expresses affection for Kate, UNIT often leans towards the “chocolate teapot” end of the usefulness spectrum. This begins with their staffing choices. Does UNIT even have an HR department? The organization seems comprised mostly of nepotism hires and expendable personnel. The remaining fraction are individuals clearly unfit for security clearance. Employing children as essential workers? Morris should be in school, Kate, not fiddling with forbidden time technology and using his “Admiral Akbar Trap Likelihood Calculator.” Donna Noble will undoubtedly be furious to learn her teenage daughter was not evacuated from the most dangerous room, especially given her underutilization in “proper work” yet sudden frontline deployment. Kate’s position seems precarious.
Adding insult to injury is the Harbinger reveal disguised as Harriet Arbinger. Seriously, “Harriet Arbinger”? Did no one at UNIT flag that work email address? They were quick to decipher “S Triad” but completely missed “Harbinger”? THEY BE DUMB, indeed.
The Doctor’s meeting with Susan is brief, occurring just before her public address. She confesses to sleeplessness and strange dreams, seemingly visions of her other timey-wimey iterations. This dream mention visibly unsettles her as she begins her speech. Russell T Davies and Murray Gold then playfully tease the audience with the Master Reveal sound cue, only for Susan to collapse and Harriet Arbinger to deliver a possessed speech, unveiling the true Big Bad. Susan Triad Techology morphs into Sue Tech, then Sutekh, the God of Death, and the ultimate “Daddy” to the previously encountered gods, the One Who Waits No More. Daddy’s home, and he’s not happy.
This leads to the second point of frustration, perhaps disproportionately so: “It was the wrong anagram,” the Doctor exclaims, aghast at the Susan Tech connection. EXCEPT, THAT’S NOT AN ANAGRAM.
Sutekh, imprisoned in the Void for eons, apparently spent his time devising petty wordplay schemes to torment the Doctor upon his return. “Did you think I was family?” he taunts through Techy Sue. Ouch. Back at UNIT, Sutekh manifests as a colossal bat perched atop the TARDIS. Ruby is dispatched back to the Time Window, potentially facing a Memory TARDIS and the Spooky Cloud of Death. Cue cliffhanger.
Bonus Mysterious Woman Number Three
Anita Dobson reprises her role as Mrs. Flood, Ruby’s inquisitive neighbor of “Never seen a TARDIS before?” fame. This week, she brings sass and an unnervingly accurate understanding of events. Speculation about Mrs. Flood’s true identity is rampant. Could she be the real Susan? She mentions hiding herself away shortly after the Doctor says something similar about Time Lords. Is her Clara-esque jumper and shirt a deliberate misdirection? Is this a Pond/River/Flood dynamic? Is she the God of Tea-Avoidance? Is she the third point in this Mysterious Woman Triad, perhaps “the threefold deity of malice and mischief and misery”? Have we descended too far into the vortex of theories?
Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Stuff
How long has Sutekh been lurking on the TARDIS? Susan Twist’s first appearance seems to be in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, shortly after the coffee incident with Isaac Newton. Were there earlier hints?
Maestro also had a Harbinger, similarly poorly disguised. Is there a God of Disguises needing remedial training?
The Trickster, God of Traps, featured as a Big Bad in the Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off, connecting to the wider pantheon of gods.
The nearest CCTV camera to Mysterious Woman Number Two was, notably, 73 yards away… a recurring number motif?
Rule 1: The Doctor lies. This explanation seems more plausible than RTD forgetting the Doctor’s previous mentions of his children as real individuals, not just timey-wimey hypotheticals.
Gabriel Woolf returns as the voice of Sutekh, having previously voiced The Beast during the Tenth Doctor’s era, further linking classic and new Who lore.
“How’s your uncle?” Is the Fourteenth Doctor simply relaxing while the universe faces imminent destruction? Does his TARDIS also harbor a Sutekh?
Has the TARDIS ever felt this ominous before? The stakes are clearly raised.
Techy Sue’s Theresa May dance was both bizarre and brilliant, adding an unexpected touch of levity to the terrifying God of Death.
For Classic Who Sutekh, revisit ‘Pyramids of Mars’. Nu-Who Sutekh adopts a redder aesthetic, and sports a prominent ruby on his head. A Ruby Sunday connection, perhaps?
Only one week remains until we discover the identity of the person who left Ruby at the church. Is she also her birth mother? Earlier speculation leaned towards Jenny, but that seems less likely now. The outfit does bear a resemblance to the Thirteenth Doctor’s, but the current leading theory points to a Future Ruby leaving Baby Ruby to preserve the timeline, gesturing towards the Spooky Cloud of Death as a warning to her past self. More timey-wimey complexities are surely on the horizon.
Next week: Sutekh unleashes dust and destruction, and the Doctor vows to stop him. The fate of Ruby Sunday and the universe hangs in the balance.
