Disney’s Doctor Who – Episode 7 “Legend of Ruby Sunday” Recap & Review

Legend of Ruby Sunday

Episode 7 of Doctor Who starts this two part finale with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart prepping for the TARDIS returning to Unit. It spins inside, with Rose there to greet him. There’s also Morris Gibbons, UNIT’s new scientific advisor. He’s only 13 and an accelerated genius. Finally, there’s Harriet, who will become an important character late on.

Anyway, after these introductions, we return to Susan Twist again who, as we’re reminded, shows up in every time-zone. In case, you’ve missed it through the season, and haven’t seen the pictures on-screen, the Doctor describes what she looks like too.

Now, it turns out Susan Twist is actually an IT genius called Susan Triad. She’s about to release her software worldwide free of charge. A gift from S Triad Technology. S Triad is an anagram for TARDIS. Susan is the name of the First Doctor’s granddaughter, so it all seems to be connected.

If this is actually THE Susan, the Doctor believes Susan may be the crucial clue they’re missing. Mel is there too, and she’s undercover on the media team. The surprising thing here is that Susan Triad is apparently a really nice person. They also have another mysterious person to decrypt – Ruby Sunday.

The Doctor refuses to go back and cross his own history. He’s apparently time-locked himself out of Christmas Eve 2004 so he can’t go back. He tries to deduce the snow and what this means but Harriet suggests that there’s CCTV technology from the time they could use. Alongside Unit technology, they’re going to go full on “enhance this grainy image” to try and figure out who Ruby’s mum could be.

Over at Ruby’s place, she picks up the tape and brings in Mrs Frost too, the neighbour who broke the fourth wall back at the start of the season. When everybody leaves Mrs Frost to look after Mrs Sunday, she immediately changes her demeanour, claiming that there’s a storm coming and “he waits no more”. I’m not sure why but this sudden change of character reminds me of that scene from Happy Gilmore with the retirement home.

As storm clouds seem to close in over London, Kate gives the Doctor some words of wisdom and encourages him, claiming he brings joy rather than despair wherever he goes. Eventually the pair hug, but it’s broken up by Mel showing and giving the lowdown. She points out that Susan is about to give a big speech at 3pm. With a DNA sample, it’s confirmed that she’s a human. However, Kate believes that Susan may be a chrysalis and could turn into something else without even knowing it.

When everybody shows up at Unit with the tape, Colonel Winston, head of Time Window Security, introduces the team to a special room in Unit HQ. Using the entire nuclear output of Europe, it projects an image from the past. They intend to use this Time Window to recreate Christmas Eve 2004 and figure out the legend of Ruby Sunday.

Ruby’s mother shows up too and questions how much everything costs. Just as a gentle reminder, this is the woman who doesn’t have a job. Anyway, with the tape being analyzed, Ruby and the Doc find themselves back at Christmas Eve. The window is strong and apparently memory is the great gift for time, hence why they’ve managed to get clear vision and sound.

Ruby still can’t see her birth mother though, given she’s hooded, but apparently she’s crying. The Doctor believes time keeps changing, and even more so when Ruby’s birth mother turns and seems to point at the Doctor before walking away and fading out of view.

With the memory over, something seems to change. The Tardis and the Colonel are gone and instead, a swirling mass of fiery shadow appears before the Doctor. Apparently this is the Beast, although we’ve actually seen this already in Tennant’s era so we know it’s not that. The Colonel can somehow communicate with them and whatever is out there, its been waiting for so long to get them.

The vision suddenly ends with a massive explosion, and the Colonel shows up as a stone statue on the ground. Kate believes he looks like he’s been dead for 100 years.

With the  Colonel down and 10 minutes until Triad goes live, Mel takes the Doctor in to see Susan. The Doctor learns that Susan doesn’t really sleep very much, and that’s because she had bad dreams. Dreams about all the different places the Doctor has visited. Susan is rattled and heads off to do her speech, while those at Unit uncover something at the heart of the shape. It’s the Tardis, there for a second time. It’s 20 meters to the north and whatever this is, it has wrapped itself around it.

It would appear the Tardis is a trap.. so does the Doctor show up and try to help? Tackle the fighting head-on? Well, after we’ve just had an episode where the Doctor abandons Ruby to try and get some nookie, of course he hangs about to keep an eye on Susan.

Susan steps up to do her speech and does a funky dance on stage, an obvious dig at Theresa May, former Prime Minister. She talks about how the tech billionaires have taken everybody’s money while their technology spreads lies and riots. Susan confirms all of this changes today… and then she goes off-script. She appears to be possessed.

In the meantime, everybody is evacuated from Unit while they scan the Tardis. There appears to be a lifeform around it. Kate pleads with the Doctor to show up and help but he refuses again, deciding that Ruby should be taken to the time window instead.

It soon becomes clear that Harriet is possessed, and this stems from her surname being Arbinger. So her full name is Harbinger. As the Time Window closes and goes back to Christmas Eve 2004, Susan appears to be consumed by something and it soon becomes clear that the anagram the Doctor and co. deciphered was all wrong.

It’s not Susan after all but actually Sutekh. The God of Death. This is not Sutekh’s first rodeo in Doctor Who, given he appears in Baker’s excellent run of episodes. Anyway, The Tardis appears to be captured by a strange dog that wraps itself around there, while Sutekh’s influence spreads. The Doctor is shocked and blinded by fear.

The Episode Review

In a shocking turn of events, The Doctor doesn’t cry this episode, although we do learn a bit more about Susan Twist and her influence over the season. It turns out we’re dealing with another God, Sutekh, although the episode borrows heavily from The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit with its influences, including the red eyes, the possession and the telekinesis.

Of course, this episode absolutely pales compared to that one but we at least see a bit more depth for our Doctor. He acts a bit more like the Doctor here, especially for the more serious scenes, but then it’s ruined when he decides to abandon Unit and his companions (again) for something he deems to be more important.

This is probably one of the most frustrating parts of this season, as there are clear influences and ideas here that could work in the hands of a more capable writer. But then we get little social commentary bits, like how tech billionaires work to spread lies and misinformation. Which is ironic given the lies spun about how successful this season has been, despite being the lowest rated in the entire show’s history. Anyway I digress!

The ending leaves everything wide open for next week’s finale and it should be quite the intriguing watch.