I wasn't sure what you'd think of this but I agree. I didn't even like Ruby UNTIL this episode, she got to show what she can do and actually ends up playing the darker role (which is what I like about Doctor Who) without Ncuti there. And then I liked it up until around the mother/unit bit where we're now just constantly repeating the same thing. And the ending....oh boy the episode now gets worse the more I think about it because of the ending. It actually retroactively ruins everything I liked.
I'm largely guessing this episode will be explained by a future episode. Since some weird kind of "fairy magic" is obviously at play here since the Doctor vanished it stands to reason there's more to this mystery box BUuuut who knows
Also, the doctor should have an incredible amount of sensitivity to time shenanigans, and he didn’t feel or become aware of something like a time loop? He might look human, but he’s not, he would be aware of these things.
@@Goremize i really dont care if him did s ed it was still a good ep een if it dont me too much sense unless you think of the 3 letter as a magic rule that one much follow to repair the trap
Yeah, really. I can just imagine the 4th Doctor's response. 4th: "What? An old lady over there?" (peers over) "Oh...that's you! Probably from the future or something." Ruby: "She's saying something..." 4th: "What?... Oh yes....... (chuckles) Probably telling you not to step on that." (points at the hoop on the ground.)
@@Goremize yes, that's why he wasn't in the episode. But that doesn't really address the comment you're replying to They think that the Doctor should have been able to tell that something went funny with time, that's all. The writers could still have written him out of most of the episode. They just needed to have him shiver a bit when he came back, and maybe say something about things feeling a bit off or whatever
"why was she always exactly that far away" Don't think about it "why or how did she become magic and teleport" Don't think about it "how did she get stuck in a time loop" Don't think about it "why was a magic circle just there" Don't think about it "what did she say that made people run away or get angry" Don't think about it Wow being a writer now a days seems so easy.
Sounds to me like dumbasses wrote themselves into a corner and didn't know how to finish the shit so in order to save face they just chalk it up to a mystery. Shitty ass writing.
The maddening thing is: the Doctor, a Time lord who should be privy to Time-loops, and was involved in one two regenerations ago for thousands of years, did not pick up on the trap.
No he wouldn't do you know why because Russell T Davis said he wants to focus on Magic so this is outside of the doctors world you see how stupid it is
@@wolfbane7497 What baffles me is why does he think its a good idea to focus on magic with an IP that's spent decades showing all magic is really just science concealed and if you are going to chuck that out then you have to face the fact the doctor has done magic before. Look at when Morgan Le Fay invaded and he stopped her and was implied to have been merlin in her universe. Either do a different spin off with a timelord who deals with magic or don't make the titular character of your show a bumbling buffoon because you wanted to suddenly have magic fantasy instead of science fiction.
The reason why Doctor was absent is because he was busy filming sex ed. To quote Russell T. Davies: "The whole setup of this is partly because Ncuti was busy filming Sex Education. We had to start filming, so we kind of happily embraced the opportunity to say, let’s focus on Millie as Ruby. And that gives you a chance to explore her character. It gives us a chance to explore her as an actor. And it’s really rewarding. It’s really paying back. She’s doing the most brilliant job."
But... what did we learn about her? That she has zero rizz with any man because she likes staring at an older version of herself? Or that by her changing the past, she allows nukes to go off because she no longer stops the guy.
@@MajorSmurf Thats the acceptable face he presents, his real interest unfortunately was in excising his own personal prejudices - associating certain types of political candidates with all the 'correct' bad associations - everything else is just window dressing that he doesn't care to properly think through.
I've seen people saying, "Sometimes magic doesn't have to make sense, where is your sense of mystery?" The problem as I see it is, the mystery was the focus of the story, and it ending with a nonsequitor reveal creates a huge anticlimax. Better stories with unsolved mysteries still have a growing sense of conflict, a climax, and a resolution. Things like Doctor Who's "Midnight" episode, or the creepypasta "The Left-Right Game" have a mystery that is largely unresolved, but there is still a resolution and a conflict that comes from the events of the story itself and not a "magic" asspull. On the other hand, "Groundhog Day" has a magical effect with no explanation that ends very suddenly, but the focus is on the character himself and how he matures. In "73 Yards" the focus is still largely on the mystery itself, so having it come to nothing is not rewarding for the viewer.
Everything has rules. It's annoying the defense of this is to literally turn your brain off and stop trying to make sense of it. That line about god was dumb, people being wrong and making assumptions doesn't mean everything doesn't have rules and can't always be explained with enough investigation.
Imagine if you would: the woman scares the daylights out of everyone she talks to, bystanders, scp foundation, EVERYONE right up to Gwilliam. Then as Ruby springs the trap to mess with him the woman talks to him and he… laughs. He just looks at Ruby, laughs and goes about his business. Whatever it was that made Rubys mom abandon her, makes Mad Jack LAUGH. Nothing changes and he goes about his business, All for the loop to mean nothing *for a reason*. Thus you get the spooky 73 yards and setting him up AS A THREAT.
Good idea, especially if you lead into it with Mad Jack seeming to be a very kind and considerate politician beforehand. Then give the audience a flash of what happens that runs completely contrary to the character introduced so far insinuating that this entity has done something to 'infect' him.
This would unironically have been a much better version of the episode. Especially since by not stepping on the circle Ruby did allow the Mad Jack of her own timeline to run around rampant.
So funny how Ncuti tells Doctor Who 2024 audience to "Touch Grass", then in this episode, British Authorities were warning, over and over, "GET OFF THE GRASS"! TOO FUNNY, yo'! So far, the "doctor" hasn't been any sort of hero, runs away easily, and doesn't watch where he's going any more. What in the world is up with this show?!? I like having to think for myself about things. I don't always have to be beat over the head with what's happening. HOWEVER, good writing doesn't have to spell everything out for the audience, as the clues given answer what needs to be answered. HERE: there are no clues or hints, just things happening without rhyme or reason, it seems. No clues given and apparently, no f**ks by RTD. I still growl when thinking of this episode, especially since parts were interesting and had me pulled in until half-way through. SO many things doesn't connect or make any sense. gGGRRRrr!
I have been triggered to incandescent fury to see the pomposity, the patronising up their own arsedness of some of the cretins spending 100s of words in comments to tell you how obvious the truth is that you missed but they were "special" enough to see as obvious.... And the word salad garbage they spout is quite frankly as bad as the writing of this episode.... I don't know what this is but it is not Dr Who and I will never forgive RTD for shafting generations of fans to grift Disney, fill his pockets and drown us in this tsunami of narcissistic fascist wokeism 🤬 I've been watching Dr Who since Pertwee and it has always pushed the envelope without giving up on telling a ripping yarn.... So far we've had "space babies" creating a snot monster, Widow Twanky climbing out of a piano causing the man who has saved the Universe countless times cower in a basement, the same Dr Coward mindlessly run onto a battlefield because someone screamed and now disappear for the entire episode 😶
@@MKR5210 EXACTLY! We're half-way through a video on this episode, ourself. We'll be breaking down WHY elements of this doesn't work, as well as offering examples of when similar attempts actually work, in other works and in previous eps of Doctor Who pre-Jodi and Ncuti, along with some funny edits and references, while highlighting feelings of long-time fans and others hoping for a better show. :)
To clarify, I don’t hate representation in my TV shows. It’s just that it’s so blanketed and fake. It’s there to get the points. And it mostly comes off as preachy. I just want a good show and that’s all I want. That’s all I want to ask for. Apparently Russell Davis. Really doesn’t like shows. Because his words. If I’m remembering correctly. He said he was gonna abandon good script writing specifically for politics
My thought exactly. The worst part is that plastic representation does not make any progress: stories about marginalized groups are still not being shown or heard.
Like most DEI (didn’t earn it) comes at the cost of everything else. Like when recently they complained about no black people in the Shogun show 🙄. Placing modern world ethics/demographics onto old time period pieces. Then it can be taken to bonkers stupidity with a 5’ woman fighting a 6’5” man as if he is a pile of straw.
@@mikebalentine The small woman vs the tall man isn't as much of a problem if they were smart about it. But they usually start trying to force it into the dumbest ways possible. Like having Black Widow go toe to toe with the hulk being stronger than hulk. And often they go out of their way to make the point that the girl boss is not only better in every way, but she didn't even need to train for it. Like Luke vs Rey, Echo vs King Pin, and so on.
@@chrimsonphantom Just imagining the thing being physically dragged along by some "tether", slamming into hedges, bouncing along the ground, always looking bedraggled and irate.
@@chrimsonphantom They establish that she teleports. That said, it's sort of ridiculous that Ruby doesn't notice her teleporting as she walks towards her--SHE is looking right at her but because the CAMERA switches angles, it lets the old lady move between cuts. That's just jarringly-bad cinematography.
Yeah its literally magic, thats what RTD is going for this season so he doesnt have to coherently make sure things make sense. He can just say because it did lol
Anyone remember when "Doctor Who" was "Science Fiction" and NOT "Magic Fantasy"? Plus, what is the deal with stepping on things to start an episode? Butterfly, mine, string? Like EVERY time with them. BUT, less Ncuti Gatwa = Better Ratings!
The Doctor invoked superstition at the edge of a devastated reality. It changed the rules and made things thin enough for actual magic to return. Which before Rassilon anchored the thread of reality, true magic did slightly exist in our early Universe’s Dark Ages.
@@helperdude8205 It's okay to go the God route, or "science so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic" route, but this Doctor Who simultaneously says believing in God is stupid, but magic is believable. Worst of all they now leave everything unexplained. It's just bad writing.
@@AttakusZakus Ah, ah, ah, this isn't connected to that old, patriarchal, "white mediocrity" Doctor Who. In all seriousness though, I'm more than fine with something being beyond even The Doctor's understanding, but there is having a touch of that in a Sci-Fi show and then abandoning it and it's history all together for pure fantasy. I don't even understand why they are bothering to call this "Doctor Who" anymore since like so many other Sci-Fi shows they have thrown it's entire history away because they want to make it something "new". Well then just make something NEW, don't go destroying what Doctor Who is and has been for decades just so you can use it's name because it's not fooling it's audience.
8:15 But she didnt save the world. by stopping the doctor treading on the cotton she stopped her younger self having 73 yards Ruby, so couldn't stop Mad Jack in 2044. The nukes still happen.
It's so funny that I was saying ALL of this to my friends last night and then I come across this video and I do the will smith presenting meme like "see! I'm not crazy! other people thought it was nonsense too!" you've made my day, thank you 🤣
Also also, this is like the third episode where someone doesn't pay attention to where they are stepping, a butterfly, a mine and now this magic BS. You think an old Timelord like The Doctor would have learned his lesson, but I guess this incarnation of The Doctor has the same continuity mental problem that the characters in Gotham Knights have where they forgot what they just did in the previous episode.
This conceptually is the same as the timeline syphoning beetle. Also, since the toymaker, the series has gone a lot more fairytale whacky stories instead of scifi/history stories.. I had a really eary feeling that the fairy circle has home of the mechanics as the time-beetle
Why 73 yards? RTD explains this in the bts episode. He did research and found that it's apparently the sweet spot of being able to see a person, but not make out any of the finer details of that person. That's it. That seems to be the WHOLE reason this episode exists, to make a story about an entity you can see but not perceive. The plot takes an entire backseat to serve this fascination. Sometimes this can work, DW can be a masterclass of taking a mundane idea or concept and making is creepy/scary. But not here. Apparently this might have payoff in the finale from what I'm hearing, but I won't believe that till it happens.
The thing that frustrates me is they explain nothing they explain nothing what do that woman say and at the end of it it makes no sense none of it makes sense nothing nothing they don't explain nothing about this entity that is her and that she went through a Time loop we're supposed to fill in the gaps and the thing that pisses me off the most is that Russell T Davis says that this is a fantasy series and he wants to introduce magic basically so he doesn't have to explain anything
It’s called ambiguity, they don’t need to explain everything. Sometimes a mystery is all you need. Her fear of abandonment is a huge part of the episode, she doesn’t know why her mother abandoned her, and she also doesn’t know what her cursed self was saying to make people run away. It prays on her fears and anxieties.
The problem is that that isn't how good fantasy works. In good fantasy the author does world building setting out how magic functions in that world - what magic can do and most importantly what its limits are. This allows magical elements in the story but still keeps the story following a logically consistent path.
@@DangerVille no no no no no no no no no that's wrong in this case this deserves an explanation. You can't just throw out the ambiguity card and we have to fill in the blanks ourselves not in this situation of a story. No we deserve answers we have questions about how this happened. What if in The Lord of the Rings. What if in The Lord of the Rings the whole movie Frodo is traveling to Mordor and then all of a sudden he just gets there. Some some sort of distortion happened some something weird and strange is happening but he just suddenly gets there how what happened what's going on. Maybe Frodo uses his reasoning to explain what's happening or maybe Gandalf is with Frodo and can explain what's happening. We have questions we want answers and in this case this episode is warrants some answers. This is just lazy writing in Russell T Davis just saying a wizard did it and that is the height of lazy riding you can't just wave your hand and say a wizard did it even in fantasy There are rules for a reason so that the magic just can't do everything and solve all the problems.
@@wolfbane7497 I think in a high fantasy situation the explination would be Either a. It was a fairy trap and she was the one who broke the circle. Sending her into a her worst nightmare until the seal was fixed. With the words I miss you being the trigger for what befell her. I think the local pub would tell tale of it. No one knows where it came from, speculations about who made it, and no one knows what to do about it. With everyone who comes into contact with the apparition despising ruby driving everyone away from her. Until she fixed it. B. An entity was released from the ring and the doctor took it's place within the ring until she could get the entity back. Meaning all she had to do was get it to to be 73 yards away from her an onto the ring, Following her because she read the note. Magic does have rules and establishing the rules is privy to world building. Like cost and equal value. Or have it be like the master, just the ability to effect the world on a molecular level.
@@chrimsonphantom your explanation is invalid because if the writer is not willing to explain it and you have to come up with it in your head that you failed explaining the magic system. The person who creates the magic system is supposed to give you little hints and details of what's going on none of that happened. Russell T Davis did not give you an explanation you yourself right now are coming up with your own explanation it is the writer and the authors duty to explain what's happening not just come up with head Cannon
Basically this episode should be a few minutes long due to the paradox of this episode. Does no-one understand that if a future version of yourself tells a past version not to do something because it would lead to that future self than that future self would never exist in the first place and therefore can't tell the past self to not do that so... yeah paradoxes people. Isn't one of the rules that were set down as far as I remember that the Dr and partner can't help past versions of themselves as it screws with space time too much. Like he can't go and interact with say Rose while she's with a past Dr. Also Rose wasn't allowed to save her dad in S1 of the reboot. So where are those wasps now? Huh?
Absolutely. In the older good episodes the Master literally has to build a Tardis black hole driven universe ripping paradox engine to fulfil his plan of capturing the Doctor and dominating earth. He needs that extremely difficult to maintain and control device to keep certain time paradoxes from resolving themselves an ruining his plans. And the paradox collapses as soon as the device shuts down anyway.
@@Virtualblueart That's not the same concept of merely talking to yourself while near the TARDIS. The Master needed the paradox machine to have future people go around killing everyone. They should stop existing if their ancestors died and thus the machine is needed. But as we saw with The Dr. he can talk to and get ideas from other variants of him. It doesn't make a vast paradox where something goes wrong, because the TARDIS prevents such a paradox. The Master didn't force the TARDIS to do something it didn't already have the power to do so. He just made it on a wider scale and against it's will. Because if you don't know, the TARDIS is alive.
@@Adventist1997 So Paradoxes where information is passed really only rely on intent. For instance if you never intended to travel back to a certain time but then ended up there anyways by accident you could potentially find your former self and tell them anything you want because the time travel is no longer depending on you meaning to tell your former self the information.
this was an episode that showed they never watched any of the old ones, nor cared to obey the paradox rules of previous dr who. just further proves this is alternate reality non canon, and not alternate reality like Void ship.
no if you follow he magic rule then this is alternate reality magic trap to trap mad jack soul to rip basic that as not her the 73 year but the magic telling to grow old and dead in peace or rip so where the doctor him was in reality one when she was in two basic spell pick up the doctor time enery like a angel and cut two point in time i guest it a seal point in time like only way in is by magic but the time energy stilll there that why the tardis slay but she cant open it there time energy but no before or after just two point basic like that at it alive and death at the same time basic it follow the new magic law of doctor who and let be real classc did have magic as god toy master and other thing but only one thing make sense she muc be the time person kid as from the last season or the snow and memory she was is not possible i dont know magic that strog that it snow by memory
@@ginjaedgy49 Oh, and again in that episode where Amy grows old and the Smith's Doctor has to lock her out of the Tardis because he can't have both old and young Amy existing at the same time, because it'll be a paradox.
What this episode teminded me of was 'Dont Blink' actually. The doctor is 'missing' and now a non-doctor character is the focus dealing with a threat that seems supernatural. But this time the only answer is magic, opposed to having some nonsensical time lord scifi answer to what the weeping angels were
Plus, with Don't Blink, the Monster's biggest asset (being indestructible and harder to detect when bring seen) was their biggest weakness. They had to be lured into s trap where multiple angels would be looking at each other to lock them in perpetuity
there was also the episode with the creatures from the 2nd dimension. Where the doctor is trapped inside a shrunken tardis and his companion/everyone they come across have to face off against these 2d monsters. Ending with the doctor coming back at the final moment to deliver a powerful line. There was also an episode of Sarah Jane chronicles where one of her companions end up getting cursed by an alien entity. Everyone that hears the kids name, or see's it immediately despises the kid. Which in turn was going to let a powerful alien escape from its cage for some reason. Yet everyone he loved had to be reasoned with to bypass their new logic on why they hate him.
Blink still contained the Doctor doing 'Doctor Stuff' via the message on the DVDs. It is still a story driving by the actions of the Doctor. This one? Yeah, the black gay character is deleted completely after accidentally stepping on something... AGAIN. He is a McGuffin in this episode.
For this episode in particular, you have to be thinking about it, else you are likely to get little out of it. I loved it, but I can accept it might not be for everyone - and I am one of those who will say that any particular answer a mystery show like this one could possibly give you is likely to be much less satisfying than any of the possible answers you could come up with for yourself.
HAHAHA I also got a "It Follows" vibe. "Mad Jack" was built up to be a dangerous antagonist, but runs from an Elderly woman like everyone else. HAHAHA I have a sinking feeling that Ruby will be revealed as another Timeless Child... For me, this ep' was a HUUUGE Nothing Burger PERIOD. Even if some things are explained down the line, there is no excuse in a bottle episode that doesn't hint at that in any way. Even, last episode Ncuti winked at the camera beyond the fourth wall. Lazy, but that wink and statement about always a twist at the end, was more than is given in this fourth episode! For a bottle episode, this should stand on its own instead of relying on episodes afterward to do what is the job of this bottle episode, IF there are any answers coming about things in this ep'. This wasn't a part 1 of another ep', it's the only part for this story. OY! So TERRIBLE and FRUSTRATING! I didn't think they could go much lower than the Chibnall era, yet...I think things are progressively getting far worse than Chibnall...
I watched It Follows alone in the dark and was.... Bored at best. It had some creepy parts sure but wasn't much of anything. C- passing but not by much.
Thought of a better ending in literally ten minutes thinking about it. What if Ruby created an isolated time loop outside reality and everyone who talked to the old woman realized they were fake, their world was fake, their memories were mere copies of the original self and their existence was a lie. That would be terrifying. It’s an ending inspired by the novella Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson. It follows the same concept where a copy of reality is created and what happens when a person realizes they are not the “real” one.
All of Doctor Who currently is making me mad. I will say that boom was a little bit better than the rest. And I’m starting to think that Stephen Moffett is actually the saving grace that will never have a chance at showrunner ever again. He’s still politically biased, but I feel like he could still touch on topics. In a different way while also still being pretty entertaining and not ruining script quality to pander to politics.
@@miller-joel it’s what we like to call apathy, We’re not watching it because we’re hoping it’s gonna get better. We’re watching it because we’re sad that it’s not good anymore. It’s kind of a form of disappointment. Which by the way I haven’t watched anything since boom. I was trying to give the new guy a chance. Because as you know. With any new doctor that comes in. It usually takes a bit to get acclimated. But in this case it’s not about getting acclimated to a new doctor. But by this point, we all know. That Russell T Davis is sacrificing the script quality for political pandering. I’m just hoping some rich Doctor Who fan. Buys up the rights or something. And starts producing it. I mean, it’s a very unrealistic expectation. But it’s there
In the 1981 story Logopolis, the 4th Doctor is followed around time and space by a mysterious ghostly figure called The Watcher. This being is always far away when the Doctor observes it, and doesn't interact or even speak with anyone outside the Doctor. This Watcher character turns out to be a manifestation of the 5th Doctor's future incarnation. An Echo reverberating backwards through time if you will. I think the woman is Ruby's Watcher. A future version of Ruby who has travelled back in time upon the point of Ruby's death. Hence why the woman playing the figure looks different from Ruby. But why does Ruby have a Watcher? Well, I think that Ruby is (potentially) a Timelord, or at least half-Timelord.
i dont think that her but the magic spell telling her 3 thing one i miss you two rip and 3 mad ack basic people run away to make her miss them and 2 she need to death a old age and 3 she need to find mad jack
Has anyone noticed - over 4 episodes, the Doctor ISN’T the hero and has to be saved: ep 2 by John Lennon, ep 3 by a sentient AI program and ep4 by Ruby. THIS Doctor just cries and acts sassy and, so far, nothing else. Jesus H. Christ, Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor was at least proactive! Lol.
I absolutely do not go with the "it was all a dream or all in her head" as a possible interpretation of this story. It definitely happened. It was an alternative timeline - or something weird affected by all the Toymaker entities that the Dr let into the universe. The welsh guy bad PM must be a real person, because the Dr knows about him before he steps on the circle. And if you want to *really* hone in on "those movements couldn't possibly be a warning not to step on the circle" well, there is the movement where the old lady does a circle on her palm. If you are insisting on ascribing meaning to those movements, that could easily be a reference to the charm circle on the ground, though I personally don't insist on deciphering a specific meaning to those movements - the actor who portrays the distant woman was just given a cycle of movements to repeat that I think were just meant to strike someone as odd and unsettling. This was my favourite episode of the season so far. So, I guess it's a shame that you got so little from it because you were focussing on explanations so much that it was frustrating that no definitive explanations were ever given here. How are you so sure that "Don't step on the circle" is what the distant entity says to everyone who comes close to her? Honestly, I got really irritated with the way you said "Don't step, don't step, that's what she's fucking saying" over and over again towards the end of your video. She doesn't say that to Ruby, though - young Ruby hears a voice in her head saying "don't step on the circle" at the end of the show, but she doesn't physically say that to her younger self, we hear a voiceover of Old Ruby saying to herself "I was so young back then". I also don't believe that "knowing what she says to people" to make them run away would be an explanation for anything - I don't think there's any one thing that anyone could say that would have this kind of effect. Especially on Ruby's mum. Maybe it's like the effect that Captain Jack had on the Doctor and the Tardis back when Rose resurrected him so that he couldn't die any more? Doctor 10 got a feeling about how wrong he was that the Tardis shared to such an extent that it tried to get away from him and went to the end of the universe in Utopia. Maybe everyone in this alternative timeline gets an eerie, horrifying fear of that kind whenever they get too close to the distant woman?
The only two reasons that I can think of to explain this episode are (1) It happened the way it happened because that's the way it had to happen and (2) It's magic. IMO both piss poor excuses for a dull episode that makes no sense. The worse part is that all the things in these NuWho episodes that make no sense will be forgotten and never explained.
No even in his older stuff he suffered from the same problem of starting a story and not being able to end it. Only difference was he had several people collaborating with him on most scripts who probably helped him tone down the nonsense he has free reign to stick in now which makes the stories feel even more unsatisfying.
Not gonna lie, I actually like this episode over the last episode, and while there’s bits and the ending twist could’ve done better, it’s probably my favorite out of the four, maybe cause it reminded me of the Donna Noble episode where she finds herself in a alternate universe where the Doctor died and the world suffers the consequences without him.
Its hilarious seeing you guys try and do the "new thing bad old thing good" shtick all the time. Keep acting like classic who is pure gold, we all know youre coping
There is a rule when it comes to writing mysteries. You the writer MUST know the answer, or the rules. That way everyone can understand what will happen when things occur. In this case, having the companion loop back at the end, is in and of itself what destroys the story, as it smacks in the face of the rules. Much like with the donna companion episode where the time insect has her turn a different way and the doctor dies as a result. The rules were clear and obeyed. In this episode the finale breaks the rules. Why did the nuclear man, talk to her? Up until now no-one takes note of her. The companion straight up states that she once positioned the old lady in tradfic, and thpugh others were aware of her presence, moving to avoid her, they never took note of their action. What did the old woman say? Unclear, it was fine for that to be unknown. By making both parties the same it suddenly becomes incredibly strange, as in what could she have possibly said? It worked best when the old lady was not the companion. That way the mystery was maintained, and the rules consistent. I hate how people don't seem to get that magic has rules, they are self consistent, and unique to the magic in question. A wizard did it, or it was magic! Is increadibly lazy.
Sad thing that people like you will call peak television like this garbage in an attempt to glaze a png-tuber. Youre acting like this content is good. Most of it being an annoying voice recapping the episode, and the rest being an even more annoying voice nitpicking ambiguity. The only ones taking a hit are people like you who completely lack the brain power to create their own opinions.
I don't see DW anymore, but between trying to one up Moffat and Doctor being mostly missing, and the name of the episode, makes me think this is "wanna don't blink"
Man, this episode sounded like such a cool concept. It is disappointing to see how completely it fell apart at the end. They were building up to something (kind of like Lost) but didn't know where they were going.
73 yards is the minimum distance where you cant fully make out who a person is. The person will appear blurry. So when the photo is taken and its also blurry its because the woman will always appear as if shes 73 yards away.
I would like to point out something that has been a theme for the last few seasons. who was the "bad guy" in this episode... the straight, white, man... this episode they made sure to qualify this man as straight cause there was ZERO REASON to ask about the intern (Martin), then show signs that he was put off by the name being a "mans name". they could have given her any name, they didn't even need that character at all.
6:05 What an interesting plot point that would have been. Once again, we have shown that embracing the challenges created by a story makes for better plot points than whatever other darn point they're trying to communicate.
They had something in the first half with the mad jack, but then they did a whole u-turn turning him into a politician. If they stuck with the horror story in the welsh village, the whole thing would be insane.
This is a poor man’s version of the Midnight Entity and the Tiki statue from the Sarah Jane series that made everyone hate Clyde by uttering his name combined.
i'd have been happier if they did it in two parts if thats what it took to get a better story. part one i'd have done as a horror. they arrive, doctor steps on the shrine he vanishes. tardis shuts ruby out. strange lady following her everyone who talks to her runs in horror, even loses her own mum. her last hope unit come to save her only the lady has them running too. end credits and no next time on, to keep you in suspense. part 2 i'd do as a mystery thriller. previously on followed by black screen and "10 years" later shows one word at a time then all the answers come together.
Wait, so Ruby changed the future by scaring off NotBoris Johnson, but no Langoliers showed up like in Father's day, time didn't collapse like Moffat wrote during season 6 finale, and no grave consequences for messing with a timeline showed up, like in Waters of Mars, nothing? Doctor can now just run around and fix timeline with no consequences, or what?
Nothing was fixed - it reset. In the final timeline Ruby didn't lose the Doctor, was never haunted by a woman who stayed 73 yards away (though she briefly saw such a figure once), never worked for and stopped Roger ap Gwilliam.
She didnt change anything since she went back to the beginning snd stopped the inital event. So the world was still almost brought to the brink of nuclear war
I really wanted to like this episode; it had lots of likable moments, any one of which could have been developed into a better plot. If the goal was to make Ruby feel isolated and abandoned, then everyone who spoke with the woman could have had there memories of Ruby erased and simply gone on their way, leaving Ruby uncertain of what's going on. The Welsh pup patrons having a laugh at Ruby should have cut the tension and made her think she was imagining things. Telling her mother could have been when she realized people were losing their memories, and how devastating would that have been. Ruby's relationships could have been established as beautiful and loving before being eroded by her increasing paranoia about her partner speaking to strangers and getting more embittered and hopeless as she loses loved ones to her own personal monster. Enter Roger ap Gwillem (sp?) a charismatic and charming young man whose name vaguely rings a bell but she would never place from an off hand comment that her possibly imaginary friend made more than twenty years ago. She forms an unlikely friendship, bitter middle aged woman to bright eyed idealist. At first her pessimism clouds his idealism, reminding him of all the evils of humanity, but then she begins to hope again, she may be destined to be forgotten, but she could help this young man save the world. But that bright eyed idealism is hiding a mania and Ruby gets her first inkling when she finds Marty terrified and weeping in a back hallway. She confronts Roger and sees the gleam of madness in his eyes as he confesses that humanity needs to be destroyed for all the evil it has done and begs her to join him. Horrified at what she's done through her bitterness and pessimism, she finally turns willingly to her monster and begs it to remove her from Rogers memories. Fade to white and come back in to Ruby stepping out of the TARDIS onto a cliff with no fairy circle and the Doctor exclaiming "Roger ap Gwillem, now there's an example of a Welsh excellence, held the line against corruption and stabilized a society nearly pulled apart by war in the mid 21st century." It would have been like a "Turn Left" bottle episode, but it could have been really intriguing. The main thing I found frustrating in the episode as it was, is that the tension level never shifts. Even when UNIT tries to intervene, there's no relief or corresponding increase, it's just a sort of "welp, that didn't work".
"His security can clearly see the apparition, despite the perception filter. So why aren't they more concerned?" But that's exactly what a perception filter is. Everyone can still see the TARDIS, and the woman. It's right in front of them and they can see it. They just don't really register it, they kind of forget about it and don't notice that there's anything odd about it being there
Hmm, Amy literally didn't even know the room with a perception filter in her house existed, while these folks are absolutely registering what they are looking at and taking steps to avoid it, so that certainly doesn't seem consistent to me.
@@billjacobs521 Fair point. I guess perception filters vary in strength, or in their precise effects. They can probably be tuned to a spectrum of different options Besides, even the perception filters in Amy's House didn't actually make the room invisible. It's not like Amy looked directly at it and saw a blank wall. The filter made sure she never looked directly at it in the first place, that she never realized there was anything there to look at
@@billjacobs521 Come to think of it: do you remember the Jodie episode where the master was working with the Nazis? The master had a perception filter in that one. It didn't make him invisible. It just made the Nazis fail to realise he wasn't white So we know that perception filters can work in more then one way
Mad Jack was DEAD. The Doctor brought him back and was taken awy from reality to bring mad jack back. Now Mad Jack is back INTO THE LAND OF THE DEAD! Cuz old Ruby told young Ruby after # single loop to tell the Doc not to step on the string, So timeline is back... Like most people You didn't understand the episode :P But no wonfder it is not an easy plot explanation to decipher
This episode is actually just a few min long since the only part that continues is from when Ruby stops the Doctor from stepping on the circle. Hey we're in Wales! Watch your step Doctor The End
I think the episode is basically a Schrodinger's cat, and Ruby's whole life after the Doctor steps on the circle is a possibility that didn't happen, or did happen, but only for a moment, and old Ruby is something like a time ghost from an outcome that almost happened, and everyone says that they can't make out what old Ruby looks like, what if thr reason why everyone runs, is because up close they still can't make out her face or it's as if they can't see a face on her, and talking to her feels completely wrong, just imagine trying to talk to an old woman with no face that just makes you feel like everything in the world is wrong, that would definitely make people run away and avoid whoever the woman is following, I think this was the whole concept of the episode but it wasn't conveyed the best way by depending too much on mystery and not showing what happens to the people that talk to the old woman.
It's 73 yards cause Russel did "research" on how far someone has to be away for you to kinda recognize them, but kinda not... And what she said to the people, he said he didn't come up with as to leave it ambiguous... as for the hand signs, the old ruby actress said she just made them up on the spot... could be lying because it might tie in to the finale... or not... as for where the doctor was, reddit theorizes he's in the "prime timeline"... since he's a timelord, when the timeline breach happened, he didn't split with the timeline... for me, this was the opposite of boom.. boom bored me till the end and then I went "ok, this was kinda nice" This, I was with it till the end and then I went "oh... it's one of those 'it was all a dream' episodes, so it was all pointless" If you're writing a mystery, the payoff needs to be there... and it wasn't... you can leave some thing unanswered, like what she's saying to people, if Russel really wanted it... but then the rest of the payoff needs to be good... else, you'll just start to think about the episode too much and your brain will hate it more and more, the more time passes and you reflect on it all...
I'm like 99% sure this episode was the result of a multiple episode arc that was never brought to an end because the writers couldn't find a good way to give it a conclusion. So they decided to just cram it all into a single episode and weave any inconsistencies away with "Well that's just how it is". don't get me wrong this ain't the first time it's happened and probably won't be the last. but this episode will stick out like a nail because the bad reception of the entire season so far and by it actually having an interesting concept
I love how the Not-Tories, when their PM resigns, picks a replacement that is NOTHING like him. It's like the entire party resigned when he did, and Labour chose a PM instead or something. They didn't even need to discuss his replacement, but they did and it just introduces more questions.
"The ending falling apart" is RTD's specialty. Something I'm constantly frustrated by, and completely expecting with this season. He's great with the setup and then handwaves the conclusion every single time. He's been doing it since 2005.
I don't agree at all. I think he used to do fine at concluding his stories. It was Moffat who sucked at it; dropped plot lines, contradicting earlier rules, random BS--it always seemed like he just got bored by the end of his own stories and waved them off.
What it really means is that the artist wants to get paid but doesn’t actually want to do any work. Like an art exhibit that turns out to be someone pouring mustard on an ice cube.
It is an intriguing story, but as stories go, this story is not a solid brick wall story, but rather a large fish net story, made mostly of plot holes, but good enough to catch a few more viewers. The faerie circle could be a trap set by the doctor, to lure Ruby into a parallell time line, while the doctor prepares for an inevitable confrontation of whatever dangerous being Ruby actually is. There is much about Ruby that is signalling villain in disguise. The snow, her messed up timeline, the way other people sometimes talk about and to her, or react to her, things the doctor said in his BOOM rant, and that the previous villains have a super evil boss villain. In my opinion, it all points to a confrontation with super evil boss villain Ruby at the last episode (possibly a manchurian candidate). Ruby is definitely evil. She ended a timeline in which she prevents WW3 from happening. The doctor probably knows what the writing on the paper said, and weather, animals, and people would have destroyed the circle, so it must have been set up just before they stepped outside the tardis, so I'm guessing it is a trap set by the doctor for Ruby. Otherwise, what was it, and why was is put there?
I loved It Follows too! It is one of the scariest movies to me. I am afraid to watch it at night still. I highly recommend it to anyone who has not seen it.
i dont understand. her future self is trying to make sure that her past self doesnt step on the thing right? what does she gain by making people hate her past self? Like with her mother, couldnt her future self just tell the mother to tell her ''dont step on the thing''. WHAT DOES SHE GAIN BY MAKING HER MOTHER HATE HER PAST SELF?? I didnt watch this show. so i dont understand this episode. so if there is someone that understood why, please explain it to me.
@@onyx6774 Yea, the writers are basically throwing out the full foundations of what made Dr. Who. It's no longer a science fiction show, so they'll come up with mystery macguffin bullshit and use magic as an answer so they don't have to think of something even vaguely scientific.
Oh! And that scene where UNIT is trying to capture the old lady? Kate outright says to Ruby that they have started investigating the Supernatural, admitting that there are now elements in the world that cannot be explained scientifically
Wouldnt it have been sweet if the reveal was actually something along the lines of "thats not ruby" and when someone hears those words from this woman they see a hidious grotesque monster in the place of ruby. You couldve had the reveal be ruby finally hears the phrase and catches her reflection in the glass screaming. Couldve been great horror.
The problem with writers thinking in scenes and not rules. Thinks happens because the autor said so. Not only a problem with Who its sadly a common problem now.
Right. We're seeing tons of it. It's why we'll get super-serious and sad scenes and then, slap!, a jokey ha-ha scene--there is no concern for the overall product really, it's just how to make each scene or even part of a scene cause whatever emotion they want.
73 yards is the focal distance of someone with 20/20 vision according to the episode. I was also disappointed by the ending of the episode. So I guess she didn't stop Roger ap Gwilliam and he still ended up being PM since the entire episode reset?
11:30 It's so weird because in the early seasons, Russell T. Davies was a name synonymous with adventure. If you saw that name come up on the opening credits, you knew you were in for a good one. I mean, every last one was a banger! Nowadays it's like the complete polar opposite. There are glimmers of hope, but they're generally stinkers. This one could have been great. It was giving me Watcher vibes from way back during the 4th Doctor's regeneration. Didn't stick the landing though. The ending kind of made no sense.
My guess is they want to have an axiomatic story, so that Ruby has her own "fae" story while the Doctor is on his own "time" story. Something like Bad Wolf, Clara as a Dalek, River Song, Flux, the Crack in the wall, sic. I don't really care about Shuti or Ruby, why would making Ruby into a Fae Princess with other Fairy descendants through time make more or less sense than bringing back other immortals like Jack Harkness or Me/ashildr , sic. The idea probably only makes sense because they need a reason for the Snow/Christmas theme to exist. Tying Ruby to the actual sacrificial magic of Christmas is something they probably can't articulate on the show, since the 'god' of christmas is something extremely pagan and feudal in nature, i.e. Christmas used to be about sacrificing for the harvest to begin, an offering is presented to bring forth summer and end winter. That offering varied, but it required blood, hence the various legends involving the winter, butchering and offering a feast to end the winter. Problem is, you have to telegraph these kinds of stories well in advance of the plot being written down. And, putting Ruby on her own perpendicular story, means the audience has to be split when following "her story" vs "his story". This is the kind of thing you do when you want to make a female doctor who, is to splinter the show off into "weak MC and Strong FMC" in order to branch the side character off and reinforce the branch / sideplot so there's a solid fanbase and commercial interest in a spinoff. If the side characters could replace the Doctor, they would replace the doctor. This is not a wise idea, nor has it ever worked in any other series or example. The problem with this kind of setting is that Doctor Who as a Time Lord (pending), is that he should have some cautionary sense of being manipulated by magic, but ... that could also be why he travels with humans as companions, he's weak/immune to the ephemeral 'danger' of magic, it would require a larger type of catastrophic magical event. But ... they don't explain it, and this also creates an intangible gap.
When I read the quick description of this episode my first thought was, "So this is 'It Follows' Ruby." And then the ending is taken straight from 'The Dead Zone.'
stepping on a butterfly just outside the tardis door. was already done. by these two. it altered time. it made a new girl. this is the literary equivalent of leftovers being served in a restaurant. tell me you cant be bothered to try without telling me you cant be bothered to try.
ALTEORI I LOVE IT FOLLOWS! I know it had its cliche moments but nothing has made me feel dread like that movie did. Thank you for mention it! And thanks for the thoughtful review as always
Why do people runaway from ruby when meeting the old lady. And what does breaking the string actually do and why. And how does not breaking it fix the problem. What is the problem.
i miss you letter it the magic making people who know her run away they not good bye letter but spell rule i miss you mean she will lose the people then rid mean the spell end by dead of peace and mad jack was who the spell have make to trap
Great review as always, but I died when you said, "What in the pigeon backshot." I'm happy you're sticking out trying to give this season a shot. It does seem like everything so far has been hashed together without a plan.
