Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Jamie Donoughue
Susan/Sutekh: "Did you think I was family, Doctor? I bring Sutekh's gift of death for you and for all your tiny, vile, incessant universe."
Are you seriously telling me that all those theories turned out to be true after all? Because the way this episode opened, it felt like Russell T. Davies was taking those popular fan theories to largely debunk them. Then he didn't.
Now the episode might have been named after Ruby, but this episode wasn't just about trying to get to the bottom of her parentage. Nope, with the assistance of UNIT, which had returning characters such as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Colonel Ibrahim, the Vlinx, Rose Noble and Melanie Bush, we also got some newbies like child prodigy Morris Gibbons (Lenny Rush) and archivist Harriet Arbinger (Genesis Lynea) in the mix too. Seriously there are a lot of characters to keep up with in this episode.
The biggest mystery outside of Ruby Sunday has been a mysterious woman popping up everywhere and in different characters. For her final/original form, we've got tech mogul Susan Triad (Susan Twist). Even without the Doctor stating the obvious, UNIT managed to figure out that S Triad was an anagram for TARDIS. On top of that, was Susan Twist actually Susan Foreman?
The Doctor certainly considered the possibility of his granddaughter being alive and his feelings on the matter came in some rather revealing individual scenes with Ruby, Kate and Melanie. However upon meeting Susan herself, it was quickly revealed she wasn't his granddaughter with a new face. I'm kind of relieved about that if I'm being honest, especially given that Carole Ann Ford is still alive and it would be nice to see appear on the show again.
Going back to Ruby though, we had the use of a VHS tape from the night of her abandonment in order for the Doctor and Ruby to use a time window to open up her memories. We didn't get to see the identity of Ruby's mother and by the end of this episode, Ruby was back in that window, reliving those memories with a lot of snow and coming face to face with her mother while everything else went to chaos in the meantime.
One of the complaints about this season has been the lack of a familiar villain and if RTD could get away with bringing back the likes of Beep the Meep and the Toymaker to cause problems, the return of Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) was very much expected. However delightful it turned out to be true after all.
The last few minutes of this episode as Sutekh made his great return veered into horror territory and in the best way possible. The frightening changes to both Susan and Harriet as Sutekh spoke through then at the Doctor and UNIT was chilling to watch. Sue Tech indeed and yes, Doctor, you got the anagram wrong. RTD certainly knows how to pull off a cliffhanger and this one was a jaw dropper. How the hell will the Doctor fix this one?
- The TARDIS groaning all season long because Sutekh has been playing the long game. He was The One Who Waits after all. Mrs Flood even hinted at it to Cherry and she was downright creepy about it.
- Melanie told Carla a bit about her own tragic backstory while the Vlinx got an upgrade and an asteroid improved Morris's IQ.
- I thought it was sweet how quickly Ruby and Rose made friends. Rose was also better written here as she took a supporting role.
- Kate was angry at the Doctor when Colonel Winston Chidozie (Tachia Newall) was killed by Sutekh. Ruby and Winston bonded over being Mancunians.
- Other guises/dreams that Susan had included being a Bleet, a Griffin and a Sloogma. Other Gods mentioned were the Trickster, Toymaker, Maestro, Mara, Reprobate, a triple deity of Malice, Mischief and Misery and so on. I expect we'll see some of them next season.
- Chronology: 2024 London as well as the memories of December 24th 2004.
I gotta handle to RTD, he knows how to do a cliffhanger and The Legend Of Ruby Sunday certainly delivered on that front. I mean there's a lot going on in this episode, but that's certainly no bad thing and if RTD can truly deliver with resolving Ruby's mystery and the Sutekh return, this will be a hell of a way to end the season.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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