⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Dir. Jamie Donoughue, 2024
For nine episodes, Russell T. Davies penned a mystery at the core of this new season of Doctor Who, seemingly sprinkling clues like snowflakes as he did so. Though the supernatural and mystical elements were incorporated in David Tennant’s specials at the end of last year, it is in this episode that they came to the forefront.
Ncuti’s first season as The Doctor acts very much not only as Russell T. Davies’ second tenure as showrunner but also as a soft relaunch of the show akin to its 2005 revival. This is evidenced by its dual title as Series 14 OR Season 1, depending on who’s asking, the geographical area of viewership, and the streaming service chosen to watch it.
The season was marked by its three-pronged mystery. Each of the questions surrounding new female characters on the show.
Who is Ruby’s mother?
Who is Mrs. Flood?
Who is the woman whose face appears in every episode this season?
Each of these questions will be answered to varying extents in the finale with the last of the three being answered (in part) with the apt name of Susan Triad.
Within the first few minutes of the penultimate episode, The Doctor and Ruby reacted in much the same way the audience have reacted to the name of Susan. It would be difficult not to take the bait of associating her name with that of his granddaughter when it was mentioned numerous times over the past few weeks. The mention of Susan Foreman itself isn’t notable but as UNIT leader Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) points out, he had hardly mentioned her in the past. Frequently doing so now appeared like (and should have been) a conscious choice from the writing team to lead up to a semblance of relevance in the final episode. It did not.
Susan Triad (Susan Twist) was instead a manifestation of this season’s big bad planting seeds of recognition throughout The Doctor’s adventures until his frequent visits to Earth made Susan Triad a fully sentient tech billionare leading Susan Triad Technology. Upon rearranging S. Triad into Tardis, The Doctor is convinced Mrs. Triad is the new face of his kin. It is only in the climax of the penultimate episode that the new version of the big Bad Wolf is classic Who villain Sutekh. Voiced to great gravitas and effect by original actor Gabriel Woolf.
The Doctor exclaims in horror that he found the wrong anagram as letters SUE TECH rearrange on UNIT screens to form SUTEKH and the Egyptian God of Death appears in its titanic canine form.
Along with a realm of other issues in the season finale, this terrified line of dialogue falls flat because SUE TECH and SUTEKH are in fact NOT anagrams. They are hom*ophones.
One would think Russell T. Davies and the wider writing team would know the difference but this exchange of accuracy and common sense for supposedly snappy dialogue should have been a sign of what to come in the final episode.
The return of Sutekh after 49 years was a welcome one to viewers and the tension throughout the penultimate episode rose to a truly shocking climax as the deity’s dust spread around the cosmos at the start of the finale. This spectacle resulted in the death of all life on any planet The Doctor had visited since they last met. All within the first few minutes of the midnight screening of this television event.
Similar to the Tom Baker serial Pyramids Of Mars, Sutekh struck fear and unease into viewers, albeit this time on a much larger scale due to advanced visual effects. These aspects were key in delivering the story, states Russell T. Davies, who has wanted to pen The Return Of Sutekh since he watched its debut all those years ago.
As a ubiquitous force, the threat of death itself works well for a final boss of this season, particularly with the visual prowess of its appearance. This persists up until its final moments of deathly walkies through the time vortex, reversing all its destruction. But after 49 years, why reappear now?
This is when the other mysteries started to unravel in an increasingly flimsy manner and what led to the impression of Davies loading Chekhov’s Gun with damp squibs.
Sutekh’s return was (apparently) because of the mystery of Ruby’s mother. Something which The Doctor, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and UNIT attempted to answer with the help of a rudimentary version of Quantum Leap’s imaging chamber and a VHS tape in the penultimate episode. This episode being perhaps misleadingly titled The Legend Of Ruby Sunday, given it was in Empire Of Death where more answers, even disappointing ones, were given.
Despite the embodiment of Death seeing all creatures in the known universe, it, like the viewers, couldn’t see the face of Ruby’s mother. Why it couldn’t see her isn’t explained, but BECAUSE it couldn’t, Sutekh assumed there MUST be something supernatural and beyond universal laws about Ruby’s lineage. There isn’t.
Her mother was a pregnant 15 year-old and wanted Ruby to be safe from an abusive home. That’s it. They reunite at the end of the finale.
It’s sweet and heartfelt but by no means a logical or even plausible explanation for all the supernatural abilities and occurrences surrounding Ruby’s life. A flimsy explanation given that even in the first episode with Ruby (as reviewed here), no blood relatives could be found.
By giving Ruby supernatural elements solely because characters believed there SHOULD be, characters and audience alike fell for the trap. Except where The Trickster is the god of mortal traps, Davies instead earned the moniker of an annoying court jester.
While this season has delved into the mystical due to events in Tennant’s specials The Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle, one can’t help but feel that Sutekh’s return is a race of chicken and egg. And it ends in a photo finish of paltry quality.
Which brings us to the final mystery and the identity of Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson). This isn’t answered directly in either part of the two-part finale, but from what we can gather about her sense of grandeur over humans, her comments about hiding away (like a timelord) and her costumes matching that of former companions, this reviewer assumes she is the Rani.
Another classic character from the Tom Baker years, this would fit with Davies’ feelings of nostalgia, as well as RAIN leading to flood. Rain IS an anagram of Rani, and perhaps this is the elusive “wrong anagram” that The Doctor misidentified a hom*ophone for.
It also aligns with characters Amy Pond and River Song having aquatic names as relevance to their family and the TARDIS.
Overall, Ncuti’s first season as The Doctor has been worth watching as the cast and crew experimented with new stories under a higher budget. Particular highlights include the creepily enigmatic 73 Yards, tension-loaded Boom, and Bridgerton-inspired romp Rogue.
It has been rewarding seeing the returning faces of new beloved characters and classic villains. However, despite the terrifying return of a monstrous yet entitled villain and strong performances from Gatwa and Gibson throughout, the finale itself was a let-down. Partly due to flimsy explanations of the season’s mysteries. Partly due to the writing team’s deliberate misunderstanding of fate and coincidence. A notable example being Ruby tearing up when she realised her mother pointed at the sign for Ruby Road to name her, seeing it as a miracle that she has her mother’s chosen name. It isn’t a miracle or a coincidence. It’s a deliberate geographical choice from the mother. Ruby would have been found on Ruby Road whether her mother pointed at the sign or not.
Not since Alanis Morisette asked “Isn’t It Ironic?” has this reviewer been as baffled by writing that both refused to satisfactorily answer questions it set up, while simultaneously using incorrect terminology to express itself.
This however, won’t stop the reviewer from watching the upcoming Christmas Special and beyond as Davies, Gatwa and co. enter a second season with a hopefully better resolution.
