Empire of Death sucked. | Doctor Who Review & Prediction | 

Its just clear to me the RTD and the whole production team has had 0 goals for this series, and it shows.

As soon as Kate died, all the tension drained away and never came back. Because I knew, like you, that this story would end in a huge reset, so there was no threat any longer. It just became an exercise in waiting for the inevitable reset, instead of worrying whether anyone would survive. And a Doctor Who season finale that doesn't work is hardly 'subverting expectations'--it's practically a tradition. Buuuutt.... now we know that predictive tools don't work. So that's useful, at least.

about 90% of the fandom are saying it sucked! REALLY sucked. I think RTD needs to go back to the drawing board.

Never have i felt so much catharsis from a youtube video's title before...

You're a real one for the subtitles

Everyone's comments about the bi-generation allowing 15's incarnation to be free from the anxst of previous Doctors and just have "fun" haven't aged well - this has probably been the most emotionally overwraught Doctor we've seen!

It is possible this episode was a meta-commentary on 'subverting expectations', but I don't like it! With "Oh we only thought Ruby's mother was important" [what a cop out indeed] or, and this is a weird one "We already reported Millie Gibson is coming back, but let's have this farewell that not only doesn't make sense for the whole season with the Dr and her not interacting much as we would want, but hey she's coming back, it's not goodbye forever". What if the media didn't report Millie was coming back? All the disappointment.

It's evident Davies has lost any dramatic sense in his writing. If I didn't know any better I'd think I was watching Dr. Who on The Lifetime Channel known for their superficial and weepy films which leave viewers like myself feeling nothing for the characters and their difficulties. It's not because I don't care but it's done in such an unconvincing and unrealistic manner that one doesn't care at all and worse is bored in the process. But to be fair, even the worse Lifetime film would have dealt better with an absent mother reuniting with a daughter she not only gave up but hasn't searched for. And now they are all hugs and kisses? What?! Madness, pure madness. What happened to Davies?

Yeah... wasnt as bad as Space Babies but it was pretty bad, especially for a season finale. Its really hard for me to internalize that the same person who wrote this as a season finale wrote the first 4 seasons of the revival era.

I agree. I defended Daleks in Manhattan, which should speak volumes... and this finale made me angry. We only thought there was a mystery because we were TOLD that there was! The big reveal... GOTCHA! No there isn't! There were ZERO stakes, I wanted to care but at the moments we were told to care... I didn't. Screaming into space... I made a mocking scream because I was not invested and I didn't believe any of it. MAYBE, if they had sacrificed Space Babies in the name of filling out the story and characters a bit, there could have been a satisfying moment. Ruby finding her Mum SHOULD have been really powerful but I was so taken out of the whole story by everything that came before. In the final scene, I said out loud, "OH, Mrs. Flood is going to be vague and wink and the camera... SUSPENSE!!! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!!!" I've been upset about this since Saturday and I could probably vent for a while... Anyway... Good video.

I rewatched Pyramids of Mars on DVD. A programme that I saw back in the 1970s when it was first shown on BBC One on a Saturday afternoon. Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as the lovely Sarah Jane Smith, with Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh! Mid 1970s Doctor Who as Gothic Horror!

If only I had a time machine to take me back to the euphoria of the first part of this story !! Spot on review, Ivy: it felt like we went from a peak of the season going into Empire of Death, and then we were 'driven away' at speed as far away as possible from all our personal investment; and just treated to a 'everything ended happily ever after' tag on. No explanation, no logic, no consequence. Science fiction and fantasy writing deserves the same level of care, craft and affection that the fans give it back - it's a co-dependency.

It's tough to disagree with any of this. And bits of it are becoming more annoying as time goes on. It was great to watch and the ending was very moving (as indeed is 'Long Lost Family' - from whence it largely draws its inspiration), but things haven't clicked together. The only excuse I can think of is that the Doctor is holding back something about the mystery and wants to investigate by himself, because everything about Ruby's ancestry implied something much more intriguing. And perhaps the clue to that is in Anita Dobson's character, that appears to be outside of the action and simply cosplaying. The trouble is, a large amount of trust has been used up and that's difficult to recover. But we'll see.

Kate died for no reason and all tension went away, ruby is just a normal girl and it snowed for no reason, memories where not linked to Suteck so there was no reason for him to attack there and no reason for him to wait for that moment to attack and then, after making him up to be this mastermind, he just died in the dumbest way possible by being dragged by the collar like a dog being dragged by the leach after falling off a truck and them everything just magically turned back to normal again for no reason. the whole season was lethargic the doctor cried every single episode and acted submissive, incompetent and helpless. I give up, this show belongs to Disney now and will never be good again

If Sutekh was on the TARDIS, then why didn't he show interest in things like Bad Wolf, Donna's coincidences, the universe's nightmares of the Master, the cracks in time, or Clara's multiple selves? What was he doing during the Time War, and how didn't the Time Lords detect his presence whenever the Doctor landed on Gallifrey or the battlefield? Why didn't Idris bring him up, either?

Yeah even the people who have been loving this season had problems with this episode. I thought this season had a very weak first and last episode. Im still interested in next season and the special but I'm definitely a bit worried 🫣💙

We didn’t see nearly enough time to see relationship growth to be able to believe that the Doctor and Ruby are now besties. In contrast we were constantly bombarded with evidence of the specialness of Ruby which then came to nothing. RTD presents this as us the viewer making these assumptions, but it wasn’t us, it was his writing that did that.

RTD basically wrote terrible scripts this season and the worst was the finale. Never apologise for feelings. I believe negativity is only a bad thing when being unfairly critical otherwise its simply a sense/thought of not liking. Not liking does not equate with being wrong or inappropriate. Can't have the ying without the yang. Excellent review.

Great review. Always palpable when a show lets us down and it's a real disappointment when it does.

“Find a spoon and do an ancestry kit” 😂😂

Yeah you may need to get some new tools ngl. I also felt like Samson said yes at first until he got to the ending. It was actually hilarious seeing the prediction and then just cutting straight back to future you😂

My sister was born mid December in New York. I've never experienced snow just because her name gets mentioned. I'm sorry, but this is not the RTD of old.

This is what I think should have happened. The Doctor found out that Sutekh was coming back. But he found out reasonably early on in the series. This is why (in my version) he chose not to appear in two episodes. This was because, in my version, he was making deals with the devils - Cybermen, Sontarans, Krillitanes. He wanted help in defeating a literal god who would destroy everyone. Maybe UNIT is involved, but even if they are, I wouldn't place Rose Noble and Morris in there. Kate, I doubt that Daddy or Sarah Jane would be too happy about using children. While this would put him in their debt, they would be able to see the benefit in stopping Sutekh. When the Doctor finally meets face-to-face with the god again, he puts on a brave face. Maybe Sutekh didn't cling on since Pyramids of Mars, but still an awfully long time. Perhaps since the end of the Time War, or since the walls of universes became weaker when the Earth was stolen. I like the idea of the events of the Series Five finale being partially Sutekh's plan. Despite the efforts of all of the Doctor's enemies, Sutekh starts dissolving the universe. But the Doctor and Ruby still go ahead with their part of the story. Eventually, after they've defeated Sutekh, Ruby asks the Doctor what he found out about her mother. Doctor - Nothing. Ruby - Nothing? What do you MEAN, nothing? Doctor - I looked at the scanner from every possible angle. I found nothing. Ruby - But - I CAN'T - I CAN'T be from NOTHING? Can I? Can people come from nothing? (The Doctor is silent for a moment.) Ruby - Doctor? Doctor - I looked at all possible options. I ran your DNA through the TARDIS. Scanned it against every lifeform across the universe. There were no matches. Ruby - So I'm...What AM I, Doctor? Doctor: I have no clue. Ruby doesn't say anything. The Doctor jokes that maybe the two of them are more alike than he originally thought. But he can't tell what Ruby is. The only thing he can do is take her to UNIT and drop her off. As the episode closes, the Doctor stares wistfully at his TARDIS console. He briefly opens a drawer and finds a picture of Susan. He hears her voice in a recording from a Hartnell episode. He asks himself aloud, "CAN people come from nothing?" The final shot is of both Susan and Ruby's photos in the drawer, side by side. I came up with most of this in under 20 minutes. And I wasn't drunk this time.

given the scope of the finale with death now happening on a universal scale how can we up the ante from here for future series.

Anyone else playing "Dr Who Series 1 Finale Bingo"? I swear every review I've heard says all the same things

There's also a _big_ difference between something having _reason_ and something having _cause._ Some things _do_ just happen without reason, but they're still _caused_ by something else, and _that's_ what needs to be explained.

I was a huge fan of the end credits. It meant i could go throw up and forget that this show ever tried (and failed) to come back from the dead.

Great review and comedic timing. Loved the cat clip.

It was trash. The best thing about the episode was this review. Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Really good review - I think you nailed it, frankly, in terms of how it was… well, an utter letdown! Excellently put 👏

Just dreadful from start to finish. Plot holes and more plot holes, a Doctor who isn't the Doctor and the unforgivable attempted retcon of Pyramids.

Great review!

I like seeing Mel again. Gatwa cries too much, I don't buy him as a Doctor. Ruby is pretty bland

for me empire of death wasnt to bad it wasnt good wasnt terrible. There has been worse times in doctor who. In the last few years there has been worse times to say your a fan of the show

another story where death can be reversed too easily without explaining how, is called the Gospel.

Watch Legends of tomorrow... Much better storylines

After I watched it 3 or 4 times, I find I really like Empire of Death. It was epic compared to classic Who.