S14 E8

S1 E9

S1 E8…… any other choices?

Spoilers

“Empire of Death”

I’m not worrying about numbering this. This is the finale.

Doctor Who ended its first season available on Disney + with the second part of its epic finale, following up on the amazing reveal last week of Sutekh, the God of Death who had been hitching a ride on the Tardis for years after the 4th Doctor believed that he had destroyed Sutekh.

After an amazing reveal last week, expectations were huge for the final episode, and I am happy to say that the finale reached them… mostly.

The episode certainly revealed a lot of truths and when that sand started swirling around, killing everyone in its path, my mouth started to drop. Now, when it started crossing the entire earth, it became pretty apparent that things were not going to stick. When it was just UNTIL, I thought maybe that would be the end, but that became clear qquickly.

I enjoyed the two specials with David Tennant, but I have truly come to love Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. I have seen a very few Doctors over the years, but Ncuti Gatwa is just amazing. He is an emotional performer. He showed the tears of the Doctor across this entire episode.

I am sure that the interior of the memory Tardis that Doctor, Ruby and Mel escaped in was filled with unbelievable Easter eggs. I saw the scarf of Tom Baker in there. I did not know much about the history of Doctor Who and I can just imagine those breakdown videos on YouTube will be going crazy with this scene.

Sutekh looked awesome. The giant dog gripped the Tardis with a passion, the lifeline that he held for so long.

The episode did feel like there was a lot of exposition, but I guess that was necessary. And I did love the Doctor showing that he was smarter than you would think when he realized that Mel had been compromised and set Sutekh up.

The truth of Ruby Sunday’s mother was an interesting tweak, with the Doctor saying that they had given the woman the specialty by assigning her that importance. I’m not sure why Ruby can make it snow, but I hope that means we’ll get more Ruby down the road.

It sure seemed as if Ruby’s story was done, but I am not so sure. I think she will be back next season.

And how about Miss Flood talking to the camera at the very end with a scary message of the future of the Doctor? Who is this woman and what does that mean for a second (or 15th) season? I don’t know, but I will be watching.

Spoilers

S14 E7 or 8, S1 E8 or 7 or ah, who knows….?

“The Legend of Ruby Sunday”

Good god this was intense.

I am a brand new Doctor Who viewer. I mean, I have seen an episode or two of previous variants, but that is about it.

This feels like a pay off for LONGTIME Doctor Who viewers, and I think it is awesome.

A couple of season long mysteries are addressed in this penultimate episode for this new season on Disney +. The first was, as the title indicted, what is up with Ruby Sunday? The second mystery is the reason that there is a recurring cameo made by woman played by Susan Twist. And I guess the mystery of who or what is “The One Who Waits” hinted at by Toymaker and Maestro in previous episodes is revealed too, and it seems to tie all three together.

The name meant nothing to me, but the dramatic reveal still gave me goosebumps. The name was Sutekh. It meant nothing to me and I suddenly felt like those people who saw the post credit scene in Avengers and wondered who that purple guy was. I knew that one, but Sutekh was a mystery to me.

It was still an amazing reveal.

The whole Ruby Sunday mystery is still up in the air, but I get a feeling that will be addressed fully in next week’s season finale.

Apparently, Sutekh was also known as Sutekh the Destroyer and faced off with the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker with the iconic scarf, way back in 1975. According to my Google search after the episode ended, Sutekh was the last of the Osiran race of godlike alien beings. He is a god of death, the brother, apparently of Horus. When he confronted Tom Baker he had apparently been destroyed, but it turned out that he hid his essence with the Tardis and had been riding along since.

Absolutely amazing episode. I was on the edge the whole time because it just felt as if something huge was going to happen, and it certainly did not disappoint. As I said, I did not know this Sutekh character, but it seems like an outstanding villain, tapping into the cannon of the character’s history. Next week is the season finale and it has come way too soon for my tastes. I have really loved this series and I found every week something new to love about Doctor Who.

S14 E5, S1 E6???

SPOILERS

“Dot and Bubble”

Wow, what an ending.

At first, I thought this was going to be an episode with a theme about the dangers of social media, but it became so much more in the last five minutes.

Lindy is our main protagonist in this world called Finetime. She was very unlikable but the Doctor and Ruby tried their best to help her avoid being eaten by a large bug-monster creatures. These bug-creatures are just really creepy and seeing them devouring the people of Finetime was unnerving.

Most of the episode had the Doctor and Ruby appearing on screens inside the ‘bubble’ , the screen-like function that went around their heads and allowed them access to the social media world. They did a great job without being in much of the episode.

Lindy became even more unlikable as the episode progressed and when Ricky September showed up and she tossed him to the wolves, I really started to want to see her pay for her meanness.

Only it got even more.

The last five minutes revealed that Lindy was a racist and she made implications that she wouldn’t go with him because he was different. It did not come right out and said it was because he was black, but that is absolutely what she was referring to in that ending.

Going back for a minute. In the Bubble, the Doctor and Ruby see whom Lindy said was her mummy, but it was the same actress who has been in all the other previous episodes. She is played by Susan Twist, and this episode, the Doctor and Ruby realized that they recognized her face from previous episodes.

I think this is an episode where a second watch, after knowing the ending, makes the rest of the episode look differently than it did on the first view.

Another strong episode with a very creative story.