This is the first part of the 2-part finale, so we only have half the story. I won’t do a proper review until I’ve seen both parts.
However, at this point I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this including the very silly bits. The episode throws everything at everything else and keeps going. Some genuinely spooky bits, some funny bits, some cute characters introduced for no reason other than why not, lots of rumours and speculation confirmed and no actual answers. Very much what you want out of a big stupid Doctor Who season finale part 1.
Landing part 2 is the tricky bit!
Camestros Felapton 
16 responses to “Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [initial reactions]”
Enjoyed the episode. A few thoughts:
(1) Shirley Bingham didn’t last long as UNITs scientific advisor.
(2) Wasn’t expecting a Pyramids of Mars callback.
(3) It’s never Susan
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(1) apparently she wasn’t available
(2) I’d be spoiled by fan speculation – indeed El Sandifer laid out the possibility in the comments to her review of last week’s episode
(3) It might be Mrs Flood
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I read that Davies said Shirley was in Geneva (in-universe), and would be back. I hope so, though the new science advisor was nice, too. Maybe they’ll find a spot for him as well.
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I’m less enthused because I’ve been so disappointed this season, I nitpick more. And I don’t expect them to pull off the landing.
That said, I did not see the big twist coming. The cast were great. Loved Ruby’s mum. And it was entertaining.
Downside: “We have footage of nearby on Ruby Road so we can extrapolate what was happening at the church!” is the most Computers As Magic thing I’ve seen in a long while. And I’d have preferred Sutekh stay a one-and-done.
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I also loved “Tech genius with evil alien software. Number one on our list.”
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It was nice to see Rose again. Wish they’d had a bigger part though. Also, in this one you can really see all the money Disney has thrown at Russell Davies.
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So UNIT spotted that “S. Triad” was an acronym (even if they got the details wrong), but didn’t think there was anything sus about “H. Arbinger”?
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Did they know about H.Arbinger from The Devil’s Chord?
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It’s what I refer to as the I. Namtab School of Disguise (“See this, Joker? A guy named I. Namtab is exhibiting his priceless gem collection at the Gotham Museum tonight!”).
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Marvel Comics editor Tom Brevoort has been making the point all season that the Doctor’s too ineffective and not enough of a fighter/problem solver. I think he has a point though with this episode it may be just that it’s Part One.
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That was certainly the main complaint about 13 (the Whitaker Doctor.) Personally, I’m fine with it, and I think it’s overstated anyway – one of the joys of watching characters like this is their ‘reactive’ nature: seeing how they escape from the hole they have been put in (see also: James Bond.)
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I didn’t feel that with Whitaker. And I don’t mind the Doctor being forced to react, I don’t think this one does it well (character, not actor). As I think I said in another comments thread, he feels like a Disney sitcom adventure character as much as he does the Doctor.
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Still enjoying the throwaway joke about the CCTV camera being, well, 73 yards away from the ‘incident’.
(My speculation is that Doctor has already set-up his counterplay by sending Ruby to the timewindow so that she can get to the “real” TARDIS. And yes, that neither Mrs Flood nor Ruby’s ‘secrets’ will be the centrepiece of the last episode; RTD is a teaser of the highest order.)
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Pyramids of Mars is one of my favourite episodes of all time. I love both the villain and the fact that the Doctor only defeats him at the end because of a little quirk of science. Very excited to hear Gabriel Woolf again. I ‘m just hoping they have come up with some moderately believable reason for Sutekh to escape again.
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in other news, Jon Del Arroz has started doing Dr who reactions, I just saw his reaction to the legend of ruby Sunday pop up in my YouTube feed for some reason. It does make me wonder if we’ll see more of these hair brain takes from the woke Disney crowd, it seems that Doctor Who flew under their radar for awhile, but now I’m not so sure.
I wonder what his reaction to the curse of pellidon would be
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