Doctor Who (2024) Ep7 Review – “The Legend Of Ruby Sunday” – Of Time And Death

If you couldn’t tell from “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” Doctor Who is getting ready for the final episode of its current season. As such, it was going to be interesting to see how the various narratives from the 60th-anniversary special ending to now’re going to connect and what twists would be shown at the end to make everything worthwhile. As my Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 7 Review will note, they did a mostly good job of it…with some key bumps along the way.

So, let me set the stage. The Doctor arrives (in hilariously Doctor-ish fashion) at UNIT where he asks for their help solving not one but TWO mysteries considering key women in his life. The first is the mysterious “Susan,” who has appeared in every episode this season so far. Then, he wishes to find out the truth behind Ruby’s mother using UNIT’s vast resources.

On the surface, that sounds fine, especially as The Doctor reveals that in between “Rogue” and now, he’s met “Susan” multiple times beyond what we already know (remember, he and Ruby didn’t see her in the Beatles episode as their backs were to her). We even get to see the return of Rose and meet new members of UNIT. However, even in those opening moments, something feels off.

First, The Doctor using UNIT to try and find Ruby’s mother now rather than…you know…any other time? That felt off. Then, multiple members tried to make it seem like there was a connection between Ruby’s mother and Susan. That’s a leap even by Doctor Who logic standards. Then, there was a weird flip-flopping of what was the “priority” in the episode. At times, it was clearly Susan…and then they drop everything to focus on Ruby…until they suddenly feel the need to focus on Susan again…only for Ruby’s storyline to suddenly become vastly more important…it was very oddly balanced. I promise this isn’t going to turn into “73 Yards” or “Dot and Bubble.” There were good things in this episode, it just wasn’t stacked properly.

For example, one of the positive elements was the question of whether “Susan Triad” was indeed The Doctor’s granddaughter, which, for the record, has been one of the most lingering questions in Whovian lore ever since her not-confirmed appearance during “The End of Time” saga that ended Tennant’s run. While it was a bit on the nose that it could be her, seeing Ncuti Gatwa act the heck out of the mystery, including wondering whether he would “know it was her” and whether he should see her at all, was deep. This is a deep and complicated relationship, even without remembering it’s a TV show, and there’s a reason she wasn’t on forever, even with regeneration. Even with the twist ending, you still have to wonder if the REAL Susan is out there.

Furthermore, one thing I appreciated about this episode was bringing back Rose and Mel, as they added small bits to the scenes to help make things feel both connected and fun. Such as when Mel had to tell The Doctor to “fix it” instead of moping around, which made him smile, as that is what he would expect from his “trouble” maker.

There were also some great bits of comedy, such as the “Do you have a time window?” banter that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at. Furthermore, that time window scene was rather beautifully rendered, and I’m curious where things will go with that.

Plus, and most importantly, the arrival of Sutekh was incredibly dramatic. For those who don’t know, “The One Who Waits” has been in Doctor Who history before via the Tom Baker era. He was the villain of the special, “Pyramid of Mars,” and The Doctor defeated him then…but apparently not permanently. The Doctor has dealt with various gods in the past (both in the show and in technically non-canon stories like the comics and audio dramas), so I look forward to the fight between them.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out Ruby Sunday. After all, the episode is named after her. While she had a smaller role in this episode, it did hurt to see her go through the time window only to not see her mother’s face. Again, we kind of knew it would happen, but it still hurts because of how Millie Gibson acted. Again, her chemistry with The Doctor is great, and their hugs and back-and-forth in the episode were great.

Sadly, I have more down elements for my Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 7 Review. For example, there were several oddities that were clearly shown that honestly didn’t make sense. For example, is Ruby JUST finding out about regeneration? Really? Even after The Doctor told her previously about his granddaughter and past lives and “having my soul split in half”? Second, the UNIT crew made a big ruckus about seeing the anagram for the TARDIS, but didn’t see that one of their own team was “Harbinger?”

Just as weird was the Ms. Flood “reveal,” which wasn’t much of a reveal as a bigger question mark. Remember, she was the one who encouraged Ruby to go join The Doctor; she broke the 4th wall to talk to the audience, and yet she’s apparently one of the harbingers of Suketh, too? Why? What role does she play in all this?

That was another problem with the episode; they intentionally tangled numerous loose threads that didn’t get answered or might not get a clear answer. Susan was one of them. She’s not the Susan that was teased but was a vessel of Suketh’s. But…why did the god create this person, only to scatter her throughout time and space? What point did that serve? Not to mention, how DOES this now connect to Ruby Sunday, the tape featuring her mother and The Doctor, and so on? And why did The Doctor feel it was important for Ruby to go back into the time window at the end of the episode? Or why didn’t UNIT notice that a MASSIVE storm was heading their way? We better get answers to all of these, or else it’ll feel like a major example of “it makes sense because the plot ordered it to make sense.”

In the end, while my Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 7 Review is full of questions, it also is full of possibilities. I’ve been harsh on this season at times, but this could turn out positively if they stick to the landing next week. But will they? I honestly don’t know…but there’s usually a twist at the end.