Doctor Who – Empire of Death Review

After the epic close of last week’s episode, I expected an equally epic conclusion to the story. Alas, what we got was a mixed bag from a storytelling perspective, with our heroes defeating the seemingly undefeatable villain with very little effort on the part of The Doctor. The Ruby reveal, while anti-climactic in the end, was a strong piece of storytelling – letting the audience know that just because you come from humble beginnings, you can still be extraordinary (and that loving someone sometimes means you have to let them go for their sake). And then there was the Mrs. Flood reveal, which likely only hit for you if you’ve been watching the series for several Doctors.

Let’s get into the Sutekh of it all first. Well, that wasn’t quite as high octane as I was expecting for the destruction of one of The Doctor’s most deadly adversaries. And, really, that’s fine – there were some lovely emotional beats to the story, with Kate’s “death,” the turning of Mel, and Ruby’s realization that she’s lost everyone she loved and still didn’t know the identity of her birth mother. But when you set-up a showdown with the one villain who can potentially defeat him, you expect the fight between The Doctor and Sutekh to be one for the ages. The choice to make Sutekh’s one vulnerability his need to find out the single piece of knowledge in the universe he doesn’t know – the identity of Ruby’s mother – was an odd choice. I understand the inclination the use this as his Achilles heel, seeing as it will allow the two major story arcs to dovetail into one, but man, I really don’t get it.

The writing never tries to offer the “why” for this revelation – save to hand wave and say it just is. There’s no indication that this is a common element of Sutekh’s character – a thirst for knowledge of everything as a prelude to destroying it all, so it left me scratching my head. With all the misdirects regarding Susan Twist, the reveal that Sutekh has been hanging out on the TARDIS since their first encounter (which, ok, but why strike now?), and how ultimately easy it was to dispatch Sutekh – just use that memory TARDIS that conveniently was available in the Time Window to get where you need to get and save the day – the episode felt so neatly tied up I was a bit disappointed it in all.

But this is Doctor Who, so at some point, you have to just shrug your shoulders and say ok and move on. Which is what I’m going to do. As for the revelation that Ruby Sunday is just an ordinary young woman from two ordinary parents, I really enjoyed that. Sure, it has a bit of the Rey in Star Wars revelation that she’s nobody special (which, of course, was ultimately walked back in one of the choices I absolutely hated about the sequel trilogy), but it linked that revelation with the statement that just because she doesn’t come from some mystery box assembly line, she’s truly exceptional because her mother loved her so much she was willing to give her away so that she’d have a better life. That’s a hell of a message to send to the world. And it’s a message that links beautifully to The Doctor’s choice to let Ruby spend time with her family rather than take her on another adventure – at least for right now. Loving someone and letting them go is one of the hardest things you can do – but also one of the most wonderful. Letting another person grow in ways you know you can’t be there for? That’s a true gift. And that’s what The Doctor has done, time and again, over the years. It breaks their hearts to do it, but it allows the companions a chance to live their lives to the fullest.

And finally, there’s the revelation of just who Mrs. Flood is. For some reason, once I started writing these reviews, my social media algorithms decided I needed to see all of the Who theories online, so I’ve read up on the various Mrs. Flood theories, and I’m happy that so many folks were right about who she is – an elder version of Clara. At least that’s what appears to be the case, judging from her sweater/collared shirt combo (which matches what Clara wore while on the series) and her use of “Clever boy!” when commenting on The Doctor’s ability to stop Sutekh. What that means (I have to admit, I wasn’t a regular viewer of Who during her years on the series) for the series overall, well, I’m not all that sure. She definitely seemed ready to head out on her next adventure, after declaring the story of Ruby Sunday closed for the time being (the logistics of how much Ruby will appear in the next season of the series have been pretty confusing, with folks who work on the show swearing she’ll be around, but no one willing to comment on how much). It was a nice revelation and one that paid off the laser focus of the fans in a lovely way.

So, that’s it for this first season of The Fifteenth Doctor. Overall, I really enjoyed nearly every episode – but then again, I’ve always been partial to Russell T. Davies’ writingn and his vision for the series. Ncuti Gatwa has been an utterly charming addition to the cannon and I absolutely love his lighter take on The Doctor. Plus, that man can really turn on the tears in a truly effective way. I also enjoyed Millie Gibson’s work as Ruby and I’m disappointed that we’ll see less of her next year. If I had one complaint with the pair, it’s that the writing never fully managed to flesh out their friendship to the point where I truly believed it was as deep as the series wanted us to believe it to be. But that’s not a major complaint in the grand scheme of things. The final big bad was a bit of a letdown – all that lead up to a disappointing conclusion was a bummer – but again, there were enough lovely stops along the way with some fun, scary, and complicated characters that again, I can overlook that the season didn’t really hit a home run in the close. I’m excited to see what’s in store in the next season of Doctor Who.