Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”

“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” Is Only Plot Set-Up

“The Legend of Ruby Sunday” is the first part of a two-parter. We spend a lot of time being given mysteries, and then most of them are resolved at the end of the episode, or in the next one titled “The Empire of Death.” It’s not a stand-alone adventure by any stretch.

And this makes it remarkably hard to review. I basically have to stick to the character work. Which at least we get a lot of.

To begin, U.N.I.T. hasn’t been that big a part of this season, all told, but now we’re back—and it’s a nice change of pace. It’s nice seeing these characters. Kate (played by Jemma Redgrave) demands attention in her scenes, and one gets a sense of the stuff she has to deal with constantly and how it molds a person into that no-nonsense persona. It’s nice seeing Rose (played by Yasmin Finney) again, and knowing that she gets to work at U.N.I.T., although she doesn’t get a lot of moments to do stuff in this episode. It was also nice seeing Mel (played by Bonnie Langford) again; it’s funny how companions just sort of fall into being companions once The Doctor is around. And I really like the new addition of Morris Gibbons. First off, because the actor, Lenny Rush, lends so much fun energy to the character, and also because of the implied worldbuilding. The idea of a thirteen-year-old genius who was given enhanced intelligence from a random asteroid is exactly the sort of thing that would happen in a Doctor Who episode, and it’s not at all surprising that U.N.I.T. would have someone like that on their pay role.

Morris Gibbons Is A Great Addition To Doctor Who

It’s furthermore always nice to see Ruby’s mom and grandmother. I do not know how well the show handles its representation of “foundlings” and adopted parent-child dynamics, but the actresses are great. The scene of Ruby’s mom (played by Michelle Greenidge) trying to assure the memory of Ruby’s biological parent that Ruby would be okay almost made me cry. “Dot and Bubble” may be one of my new favorite episodes because of its relentlessly cynical moments, but I do love that Doctor Who still has so many moments of love and empathy.

Not that this episode is all cheery. We have the big, horror reveal at the end of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.” And though I will not spoil it for you, reader, it was amazing. The Toymaker (played by Neil Patrick Harris) and The Maestro (played by Jinkx Monsoon) were both menacing in that way only evil beings can be in fiction—and this episode was no different with its addition to the pantheon. The music, the shifting words, most of the monolog: it was a ton of fun. I do wish that the story didn’t rely so much on unguessable anagrams and didn’t use the word “blind” in a negative context like that, but it was otherwise mostly what I’d want from this sort of scene. 

Basically, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” achieves what it needed to achieve. It serves to hype up everything and move all the pieces into place. I couldn’t help but feel excited for the next part as soon as it finished.

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