Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday review: What legend?

The next comprises spoilers for “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.”

In an episode filled with misdirection, the largest one must be its title, given we’ve discovered little or no about what Ruby Sunday’s legend truly is. As an alternative, the primary a part of the collection’ two half finale is basically an hour to construct a way of dread that spills over in its ultimate moments. I may cheat and say “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” is simply “” — the primary half of the 2006 season’s finale — with an even bigger funds. Besides the massive dangerous that reveals itself on the finish is a villain from a far deeper reduce than the same old corners of Physician Who’s historical past.

The Physician and Ruby arrive at UNIT HQ to ask in regards to the mysterious girl — Susan Twist — following them across the universe. UNIT, in the meantime, has been monitoring somebody named Susan Triad, a British tech billionaire who will announce her reward to humanity later that day. Even the goofballs at UNIT work out that S.TRIAD is an anagram of TARDIS and the Physician thinks Triad, or the mysterious girl extra typically, might be his granddaughter.

However there’s additionally the matter of Ruby’s parentage to uncover, giving the Physician a purpose to not simply confront Triad. The Physician, Ruby and a UNIT soldier enter the time window — a low-grade holodeck — to attempt to see who left Ruby on the steps of the church. However the historical past’s a bit wonky, and Ruby’s faceless mom — in contrast to what we noticed in “The Church on Ruby Street” — turns and ominously factors towards the TARDIS. Not lengthy after, the TARDIS is engulfed in a black cloud of swirling evil that no person’s certain what to do about.

The Physician then meets Triad simply earlier than she will get on stage, prompting her to recollect all of her different selves. Each time Triad desires, she’s someway conscious of these myriad alternate selves. And whereas she takes to the stage, the Physician asks the crew at UNIT HQ to scan the TARDIS. It’s equally engulfed in an invisible cloud of malevolent stuff that’s threatening everybody within the space.

[ASIDE: This is the . And this is the second time that they’ve totally misunderstood how to stage one that looks even remotely evocative of what they’re parodying. I know the conventions of the tech keynote have mutated since the Steve Jobs era, but they’re not even trying.]

A UNIT staffer, Harriet Arbinger (Wait… ) begins muttering a few darkish prophecy whereas Triad goes off script. The Physician, standing shut by, watches as she turns right into a skeleton monster whereas the TARDIS is menaced by a large animal head surrounded by Egyptian iconography. Seems Susan isn’t the Physician’s granddaughter, or perhaps a key element of the story, however an harmless. An harmless who has been co-opted by Sutekh, an omnipotent Egyptian God we first noticed in 1975’s “” Cue the credit.

It’s a slender synopsis, principally as a result of these scenes are performed slowly as the strain ratchets up. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” takes its time, letting the screw flip gently till you’re nearly glad when the massive reveal occurs. It’s a gripping trip on a primary watch, though I think about it’ll not have an excessive amount of worth once you return to it a 3rd or fourth time. However, then once more, that’s typically been a difficulty with episodes penned by Russell T. Davies. It’s additionally a great way to juice bookings for subsequent week’s finale .

Was it simple to guess that we’d be getting Sutekh again after his one outing in “Pyramids of Mars?” The rumor mill definitely pulled in that route during the last month or so, and it’s not as if we didn’t get a clue or two alongside the way in which. Longtime Davies followers will recall that Vince watches the half one cliffhanger on the finish of the primary episode of Queer as People. And we’ve already had a complete scene from “Pyramids of Mars” lifted — the soar right into a ruined future — in “The Satan’s Chord.”

In case you are unfamiliar, “Pyramids of Mars” is a basic, and one other blockbuster from the pen of the collection’ greatest twentieth century author, Robert Holmes. On the time, Holmes was the collection’ script editor and had commissioned a narrative from author Lewis Griefer. However Griefer’s materials was so poor that Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe determined a substitute was wanted. So Holmes was tasked with writing a complete new episode in a tiny period of time. The completed episode was credited to pseudonym Stephen Harris, however it’s all Holmes underneath the hood. Sadly, due to numerous guidelines round writing credit, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” finish credit truly give credit score to Lewis Griefer as Sutekh’s creator and omit Holmes, which feels fairly tough.

However that one minor injustice apart, let’s convey on the finale.

Susan Twist Nook

• Properly, seems to be as if we’ve got our reply that Susan Twist was one thing of a misdirect.

• Gabriel Woolf, who voiced Sutekh in 1975, is again to provide voice to him now.

• When Mrs. Flood was left to take care of Cherry, she was clearly conscious of Sutekh’s return and appeared delighted by it. However she didn’t seem like a harbinger, so it’s probably she’s representing one other, totally different malevolent character from the collection’ previous.