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| The Doctor investigates Ruby's past - and falls right into an old enemy's trap! |
1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 46 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Jamie Donoughue. Produced by: Vicki Delow.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor comes to UNIT for help in identifying two people: the mysterious woman (Susan Twist) who keeps appearing wherever he and Ruby go, and Ruby's mother. The first is no problem. The woman is Susan Triad, head of S. Triad Technology, and she is preparing to unveil a remarkable piece of new, free technology. All of that would have been more than enough to put her on UNIT's radar, even if her company's name wasn't an obvious anagram for "TARDIS."
For the Doctor, there's one more issue involving this woman, aspects of whom keep appearing throughout time and space. Her name is Susan - a common name, yes, but also the name of his granddaughter!
The mystery of Ruby's origins is more complicated, but Ruby does have a copy of the 2005 CCTV footage from outside the church where she was abandoned. As expected from a twenty year old VHS tape, it's extremely grainy, the details impossible to discern. But with UNIT's technology, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is confident that they can enhance it enough to see the woman's face.
But as the Doctor observes, memory is time - and whatever force is behind this, it clearly can travel or at least project itself through time. And UNIT's newest scientific advisor (Lenny Rush) feels certain that all of this is a trap!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: This incarnation's emotional openness also leaves him feeling guilt more strongly. He confesses to Kate that he feels like he brings disaster everywhere he goes. This really isn't true - It's more that he tends to arrive just in time to reveal and fight the disaster that would have happened anyway. Still, he can get tunnel vision when he feels close to solving a mystery, which in this episode leads to a moment of carelessness.
Ruby: Despite the episode's title, I think this might be Ruby's weakest showing as a character. She's reduced entirely to a plot device, left to react to events rather than actually doing anything. I suspect it's no coincidence that Millie Gibson, who has been quite good for most of the season, is much worse here as well. If you assume she's putting a little squeak into her voice, often while softly crying "Mum? Mum!", then you really won't be too far off. Given some of the excellent material she received in Boom, Dot and Bubble, and particularly 73 Yards, this is a severe disappointment.
Mel: I'll admit to feeling some pleasure in observing that Bonnie Langford, one-time bane of Doctor Who fandom, gives easily the best performance of the episode. As in The Giggle, Mel retains her Classic Series positivity. Even as she investigates Susan Triad, she reports back to UNIT that the woman is not only human, but actually quite nice. She has absolute faith in the Doctor, reassuring Ruby's mother that she is safe with him. She also refuses to let the Doctor paralyze himself with guilt. When he has a moment of despair, she looks down at him and says: "Finished? Now stop grizzling and fix it!" As with Langford's Big Finish audios, her modern-day television appearances reinforce that neither Langford nor the character brief were the problems with Mel at the time; the writing was.
Carla Sunday: When Ruby comes for the tape, Carla decides that she's going to return with her. To the highly secure, top-secret government installation. To the episode's credit, she at least gets stopped by security, with the Doctor having to intervene for her to be allowed in. Once inside, she... doesn't do much of anything, more or less standing around until the Doctor sends her away again. It's still more than Yasmin Finney's Rose Noble gets to do (Rose's role: Present); but given how much of a point the script makes of Carla going to UNIT, it's odd that she contributes almost nothing to the actual story.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart: She was raised on her father's stories of the Doctor; and though she's sometimes clashed with him, she argues against his claim that he brings disaster. She does get angry with him later, when his carelessness puts one of her men in harm's way, and Jemma Redgrave delivers a glare that would make a desert cactus wither. But she still defers to him. When he orders Ruby back to UNIT's Time Window, Ruby asks why - at which point Kate snaps, "You do not question. You move!"
THOUGHTS:
My biggest criticism about The Legend of Ruby Sunday is that it feels mechanical. Everything here revolves around two scenes: the scene in which the Doctor, Ruby, and UNIT look at the night Ruby was abandoned through a "Time Window"; and the big reveal at the end. The rest of the episode is designed to get to those two scenes. I was suitably gripped by the Time Window scene. Still, I can't quite escape the feeling that this central piece of the story amounts to the characters studying a blow-up of an old photo.
On the plus side, Davies and director Jamie Donoughue do a good job of filling the time. The episode establishes a sense of urgency early on, and momentum carries the viewer through. The plot amounts to an extended build to the big reveal, but script, performances, and direction do a fine job of making you feel that things are about to go badly wrong.
The reveal itself is a strong scene, particularly for those who watched Doctor Who's original run, and the cliffhanger has me ready for the finale. That said, I've been disappointed with Russell T. Davies's finales more often than not, and that tempers my excitement.
OVERALL:
I'm torn assigning a score, as The Legend of Ruby Sunday is less a story than a lead-in to the next episode. It does a good job with pacing and atmosphere. Ruby, however, is reduced to being little more than a plot device, and the thread involving Carla's visit to UNIT comes to exactly nothing.
The hour goes by quickly, and I wasn't bored. In the end, though, I'm left thinking that my final opinion on this episode is going to very dependent on the success or failure of the next one.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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