Mysteries have been building up throughout this season of Doctor Who, and with the first of a two-part finale upon us, we’re finally getting some answers. Who is the mysterious woman, and what is the real story of Ruby’s birth? We just might get answers in this week’s episode – so join me for a spoiler-filled recap of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.”
The episode begins as the TARDIS arrives in quite a dramatic fashion at UNIT headquarters, where the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is reunited with many old friends, and some new ones. This is Ruby’s (Millie Gibson) first time meeting UNIT (as the events of “73 Yards” don’t exist in the timeline). They meet UNIT Chief Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Donna Noble’s daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney – who now has a job at UNIT), new chief of the UNIT Archive Harriet (Genesis Lynea) and boy genius Morris Gibbons (Lenny Rush), who is UNIT’s new scientific advisor.
The reason for the Doctor’s visit quickly becomes apparent, as he tells UNIT of this mysterious woman (Susan Twist) who he has seen throughout time and space. UNIT knows her as Susan Triad, the head of S TRIAD Technology, an IT genius who is releasing her new software worldwide, free of charge. The Doctor and UNIT quickly realize that S TRIAD is an anagram of TARDIS. Ruby points out that the S stands for Susan, the name of the Doctor’s granddaughter – which brings us to the title sequence.
Ruby, not knowing about the Doctor’s ability to regenerate, explains that it is possible that if Susan is indeed his granddaughter, that she may have regenerated. We then find out that the Doctor’s former companion, Mel (Bonnie Langford), has gone undercover to work with Susan, and that she’s actually a really nice person. Of specific note that will be important later, Susan tells Mel to call her Sue.
The Doctor then brings up the other reason why he has visited UNIT – the mystery of Ruby’s birth mother. The Doctor explains the mystery to them, and Harriet notes that there was CCTV surveillance of the area. Ruby has a copy of that on a VHS at home, so she goes with Rose to retrieve it. We then cut back to Mel, who manages to take a DNA sample of Susan via a handshake before hopping on a motorbike to head back to UNIT HQ. Ruby arrives home where her mother Carla (Michelle Greenidge) finds the VHS tape, and decides to go with Ruby back to UNIT. They have their neighbor Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) come over to look after Ruby’s grandmother Cherry (Angela Wynter). The mysterious Mrs. Flood seems to change when Ruby, Carla and Rose leave, as she refuses Cherry’s request for a cup of tea and warns her that there’s a storm coming in, as the skies around the house get dark.
The Doctor and Kate share a touching moment together, sharing how her father told stories of the Doctor, yet never mentioned a granddaughter. He explains that he was “a different Doctor back then” and he is now trying to shake off the “great enigma” that he was. Kate asks if the Doctor looked Susan in the eye, would he recognize her as his granddaughter, to which he says yes. He doesn’t want to potentially ruin his granddaughter, especially with the TARDIS anagram equalling a likely trap. Kate gives the Doctor a hug, something we’ve rarely seen between these two in their many meetings. Mel then returns to a warm welcome from the Doctor, and they run her daily DNA sample, confirming that Susan Triad is indeed human.
Ruby and Rose return with the VHS tape and the team head downstairs to UNIT’s “time window,” which through some technological advancements is able to project the video tape around them, almost as if transporting the Doctor and Ruby back to 2004. They’re unable to properly see the mysterious woman thought to be Ruby’s mother. But something far more concerning does happen. A UNIT soldier disappears, and in his place is a cloudy storm of what appears to be sand or dust. A voice comes from the entity, saying that it has been “waiting for so long” before the machine overloads, leaving an empty room once again. The poor UNIT soldier is seen dead, almost looking as if he’s made of sand, with Kate remarking that it looks as if he’s been dead for 100 years.
The Doctor decides that he must go and meet Susan Triad, as these two situations have to somehow be connected. Following a touching and emotional moment with him and Mel, she introduces him to Susan, who seems to not recognize the Doctor. He asks if they’ve met before, and she realizes that she doesn’t get a lot of sleep, and that she has a lot of dreams – dreaming about being in random places, all those we’ve seen her in so far in the season. Her face seems to confirm that this is true, before she goes off to launch her software. Meanwhile, Kate and UNIT discover that the entity is currently surrounding the TARDIS at HQ, although it is invisible. All non-essential staff clear the room, with Ruby staying behind as she is a part of the events.
As Susan begins the launch of her software, she suddenly becomes distracted, talking of the dreams that the Doctor mentioned. At the same time, Harriet starts reading from a creepy text and we realize that she has been possessed. Her name is revealed to be Harriet Arbinger, or a harbinger – for the god’s bring harbingers to warn us of their coming. Meanwhile, this same text that Harriet is reading begins to be read by Susan. The god of all gods has returned, with a different anagram, that of “Sue Tech” being revealed to be the grand return of Sutekh, a villain that has not appeared in Doctor Who since 1975. He arrives in the form of both Harriet and Susan, with their faces becoming more skeletal – while a large, Egyptian dog-like creature forms from the entity surrounding the TARDIS.
Sutekh is the god of death, and by his hand all creation will fall into ash and dust and ruin. Sutekh awakens within Susan and touches an employee, who immediately turns to dust. Susan then stands up, saying “I bring Sutekh’s gift of death to all humanity.” While the Doctor is confronted with the horror of Sutekh, Ruby is once again inside the time window trying to see behind the cloak of her mother. And with Susan’s hand stretched out to the Doctor, the episode comes to a close.
What a thrilling penultimate episode this was! Everyone is in top form here and the stakes really have never felt higher. I feel as if some of the mysteries of the season have been paid off quite well, with a few held over for a possible answer next week. The return of an enemy as beloved by Doctor Who fandom as Sutekh is incredible to see, and I talk more about the significance of his return in this article here. Join me next week for the final episode of this season, as we find out Sutekh’s plan and hopefully the answer to the mystery of Ruby Sunday.