The Devil's Chord - Doctor Who review 

A playlist of videos covering the issues with the BBC and transphobic reporting: ru-vid.com/group/PLmWFOeT2jEofVIDW9X3OL7GqWuX3Dxopu Ok so people are throwing examples of Doctor Who forth wall breaks at me left and right that I’d forgotten or didn’t know about, you don’t have to provide anymore. I think the reason this one (specifically the “nondiagetic” line) hit me different in a bad way was that in my mind there’s a difference between acknowledging the presence of an audience (as in Heaven Sent and Before the Flood) and acknowledging the artifice of a TV show. While they’re both forth wall breaks, there’s a difference between addressing the camera with a little wink for a moment, and suddenly going “Hey, can we stop filming for a minute?” and walking off set, and the nondiagetic line is closer to that latter for me and thus feels more disruptive. I dunno if I’m the only one who makes a distinction like that, but here we are.

The rest of Toymaker's children have a very hard act to follow.

I kinda think the Doctor was getting ready to pull out the psychic paper but Ruby found a non-psychic paper solution before he had a chance 😂

I think the musical number was the lingering effects of Maestro being there. Like the state of play at the end of the giggle.

Maybe because I’m British, I saw this as tapping into the tradition of ‘pantomime’ rather than drag.

Headcannon: The Maestro introduced the Toymaker to the Spice Girls.

"The Lost Chord" didn't fully summon Maestro I think. They showed up in 1925, which was the same year The Toymaker set The Giggle on the first television. I assume when the Doctor cast the salt at the edge of the universe in Wild Blue Yonder, it was that same year which summoned all these gods.

The ruby playing her own theme on the piano rooftop scene and pure silent scene so maestro wouldn’t detect them was imo top top tier I loved them two moments in particular It just felt like it was in the wrong point in the season, it should be mid season imo and would explain the “you always know” randomness and the skip to the June July sentence (it felt very like they threw it in earlier than intended to fit with Eurovision night) Also the “I thought that was non-diegetic” did give me a giggle

I think the whole point of the maestro was that they didn't allow you a moment to breathe, and that's where the doctor's fear came from. He wasn't given a moment to think, and the ones he had were only seconds. It heightened the threat of the maestro imo.

The Devil's Chord is less burlesque than it is pantomime, which makes Maestro's character more understandable. They are also personifying a loud, insatiable hunger, which is "always turned up to eleven". I really didn't find this too OTT. In this episode, they're a 'dame' rather than a drag queen, and evil dames are usually driven by one or two dark motivations. I think that with 'the Lost Chord', we can step away from music theory and look into musical mythology instead. I think it goes back to Jimmy Durante and his song 'The Guy who Found the Lost Chord' and the Moody Blues made a concept album 'In Search of the Lost Chord'. The Whoniverse has become open to gods and fairies, so the whole realm of imagination has access now.

"This is not for me. But I'm glad it exists" is such a healthy attitude to have for most art (hateful propaganda excepted), regardless of medium. So thank you for saying it.

My 12 year old was listening to this just now on our way to swim team practice. He just asked if Miss Frizzle was a Time Lord and if the Magic School Bus was a TARDIS. I told him that would explain so much.

i was trained as a classical pianist growing up and i actually loved this episode lol. the music notes are the "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow" thing of the episode. the overall theme of the episode of music as a form of human expression resonated really deeply with me. maybe the fact i didn't know anything about the beatles helped too lol

Yet here I am as a Non Binary person who felt Maestro was the best villain since Missy

The Doctor and Rubys reaction to the bad music is everything to me.

They have briefly featured the psychic paper in The Church on Ruby Road when the Doctor shows it to Ruby at the club saying "Health and Safety, gin and tonic division".

I don't think this would have worked if it wasn't at 11 the whole time. I really enjoyed this episode.

About the banishing chord - it was actually the last chord from A Day In The Life. That's the only reason that The Beatles were in it, I think. Also, The Doctor and Ruby's clothes were not really strictly period correct - they were from a few years later in the 1960s, but I guess that they served as a good shorthand for the period.

So, the Doctor has broken the fourth wall a few times on television in the past, unambiguously. The first big one is in Part 7 of The Dalek's Masterplan, "The Feast of Steven", which was the first Doctor Who Christmas episode, and which ends with William Hartnell literally looking into the camera, raising a toast and saying "And a happy Christmas to all of you at home!". The episode is lost, in fact it's the only episode where every known copy was definitely destroyed, so not having seen it is a near-universal state, now. The other big one was Tom Baker in the Invasion of Time, failing to use the sonic screwdriver to open a big wooden door, looking directly into the camera, something Tom did that wasn't scripted, and saying "Even the Sonic Screwdriver won't get me out of this one", when he's alone in the room. It's pretty definite. There are a lot of other arguable ones, but those two are clear cut.

also if it doesn't lead to something, I'm headcanonising the recognition of the diegetic music as The Doctor loving adventuring so much that they create music in their own head

I'm a musician and the only thing about the episode that really bugged me in that respect is that they perpetuated the myth that the tritone (the Devil's chord) was banned by the church. That never happened. I was a bit disappointed that the Maestro was banished by a simple C major triad. I wanted it to be something more complex, but your explanation makes a lot of sense. Btw, there is no mythic lost chord, that was an invention of the DW writers. And there really couldn't be one that could be played on a modern, western instrument. Every conceivable combination of those 12 notes has been played many, many times.

I'd love to see them bring Susan back as a homicidally insane time lady. She waited, and waited, and her grandfather never returned. Abandoned in a post war hellhole, her husband dead from radiation poisoning. They bring her back as an old woman, pretending to he so happy to see her grandfather again, and when it reveals that she's gone full villian they have her regenerate, cause some chaos, and then a really great redemption arc. At the end, she tasks herself with finding all the time lords that escaped the destruction of gallifrey (because we're retconning that bullshit), and rebuilding gallifreyan society in a more harmonious, less domineering way.

I didnt see Maestro's energy as 11 the whole time. I saw her singing, playing piano and investigating during the silence as her regular energy level, like an 8. But when she growled or got frustrated and yelled, or got angry that she couldn't get the music from Ruby, that was a higher energy for me (11).

Ruby's 'you always know' either implies offscreen adventures or makes the episodes out of order imo.

I loved "my dog frank" - banger of a tune

another note i have on the beatles is that when john and paul were at the piano, they were looking at the notes as if they could read it. john never learned to read sheet music and paul didnt learn until the 90’s

I assumed to summon the Maestro you had to have a huge desire for music. You had to have both the talent to play but for it to lead nowhere which is what would summon the Harbinger to you and it's playing that chord to the Harbinger which is the Summon them.

I get the feeling this episode was mostly written because Eurovision aired immediately after, with the musical number and the importance of music on humanity. Not for me, but not too bad.

I think the Susan stuff is Checkov's Susan. In space babies, Ruby requests 2150 (the year Susan was dropped off) before adding 6 Re: 4th wall breaks - Peter Capaldi did it LOADS. The opening of before the flood plus in Heaven Sent, he looks directly at the camera while delivering the line "I love an audience". The 4th Doctor does it a fair bit, there's a moment where he looks at the camera and says "Even the sonic screwdriger won't get me out of this one", and the first doctor famously says "and a merry Christmas to all of you watching at home" at the end of the Feast of Stephen

The funniest thing about The Beatles protrayals is that John didn't even wear circular glasses at that period! Although I guess it's excusable since time has been altered at that point.

I assume The Maestro wasn't summoned previously because of 14 and the salt from WBY.

With the sudden jump from Christmas 2023 to June 2024 in 1 episode with the “you always know” line from Ruby makes me think they have reshuffled the order of this season’s episodes, it would explain why Ruby got the TARDIS key in Space Babies so quickly, so they CAN shuffle the episode order around and still have it work. To me the Devils Chord feels like it was probably gonna be episode 6 or 7 given the “June 2024” line as they typically like to lean into real time with the in universe timelines

4:58 "It's like a song, now I can hold a note for a long time, actually I can hold a note forever. But eventually that's just noise. It's the change we're listening for. The note coming after and the one after that, that's what makes it music." - Lorne, Angel season 2

The musical number at the end feels like they were originally planning to have the Beatles’ Twist and Shout as their closure. I even layered over the song on a clean audio version of the scene it works almost perfectly. So the song we got is likely their filler song they had in case BBC didn’t want to pay the Beatles.

This is such a drag cliché but: Jinx was hurt by the edit. In the behind the scenes (which I know Vera doesn’t watch) Jinx talks about how she gave a different delivery in every take. If that’s true then it’s possible that the editors only chose the line deliveries that were at “11” each time. I wish this episode was a 2-parter and we had more time to see Maestro’s calmer moments

One thing I wish someone would do with fourth-wall breaking as a concept is have a character become aware of the fourth wall and immediately have a full-on existential crisis. I mean, imagine how you'd react to learning that not only are your friends and loved ones not real, but that their continued existence, as well as yours, depends on how impressed an unseen audience is with you specifically as a person. I'm pretty sure I'd crack under that kind of pressure.

I suspect this episode was meant to air later in the season and got pulled forward, possibly because of Eurovision, maybe just because it had a big guest star, but there's a few bits that feel like they'd fit better later. Ruby saying the Doctor never hides and always knows feels like we jumped forward

Maestro is my favorite villain we've had in a long time.

Mrs. Flood started the fourth wall thing in the Christmas special. I think it's gonna be a thing through the whole series leading up to some sort of mystery-box-whatever.

The Actress Susan Twist was also in this episode as the Tea Lady in the cafe, my theory is the song "There's always a Twist at the end" is a hint at her name and her showing up by the end of the series

Haha the part where you spoke about pink floyd is hilariously accurate

I suspect it's a case of RTD's theme of superstitions and legends coming into reality; playing the chord alone isn't enough, but because that guy at the start talked about the Devil's Chord summoning the Devil, combined with playing it, with the story in the air, is what summoned the Maestro.

Thank you for introducing me to the brilliance that is Bike by Pink Floyd. Had a laugh showing it to my grandma.

God the CAMP and FUN that this new era of doctor who has makes me so happy. The dance number was amazing. I love when things are just stupid and campy, and I hope Davies keeps this energy up!

While I generally like Jinkx, the playing of musical instruments in this made me cringe. I used to play violin and piano. The faux violin playing was the most blasphemous. I freakin' hated the Doctor breaking the fourth wall. At least for now. If we get an explanation for it, I reserve the right to change my mind

Hi! Music person here. Tritones (helpfully nicknamed the Devil's Interval or the Devil's chord) were never a "lost" chord. Pretty sure that stems from a fun little historical misconception that it was banned by the Church back in ye olden days thanks to its ~spooky~ dissonance. Ironically, it was used pretty frequently throughout history, from medieval Roman Catholic compositions relating to the crucification, to Mozart's Fidelo opera, and hell, Stravinsky LOVED tritones. And we can't forget jazz! Tritones are one of the most important harmonic devices in jazz. Anyways, all that to say the thought of it being used for the first time in the 1920s is patently absurd. It can be waved off as the Maestro using this *particular* moment of it being played, combined with the composer's dissatisfaction/ "music locked in his heart" to climb through. It got an eye roll and a chuckle from me, and I was willing to forgive it because of how much the diegetic/non-diegetic music joke made me laugh.

Notice how the year the lost chord is found is the same year that the toymaker shows up to sell stuccie bill and starts the giggle. Which means the world was already in the state of play when the lost chord was used and that is what brings maestro into existence it's only the coincidence of it being played while under the state of play that births the maestro, so kids randomly banging keys wouldn't summon them.

My favourite 4th wall break theory is that this is gonna be a running theme in that this season is being watched through the memory of a character from the end of the season

I grew up in a musical family, and while my theory is extremely amateur (I never could get through the theory classes), I think I can lend some thoughts until a real musical theorist joins the comments... The devil's chord is *just* a tritone. Realistically, the fact that that's what they went for is hilarious because... like... Vivaldi would have summoned the Maestro hundreds of times. He was a big fan of the tritone in his work. If you don't know Vivaldi, it may be worth looking him up. Though a violinist, it's not incorrect to say that the phenomenon of shredding and otherwise particularly fast and technical guitar solos are inspired... at least spiritually... by Vivaldi, who was very similar in the way he played and composed for violin. I lowkey wish Vivaldi would make an appearance in Doctor Who. Would be fascinating to see how they handle the first popular musician believed to have "sold his soul to the devil" to play the violin the way he did. In other words, your point about the "lost chord"... hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions of musicians would have summoned Maestro so many times they would have rage quit. I would have to watch the show again for the chord that got rid of the Maestro. I missed it, unfortunately, and its significance. But overall the episode really relied heavily on classical music theory, which... as I'm sure no one will be surprised by... is very white, very Western and, yes, very Christian. There was no acknowledgement of quarter tones or music from China or Japan or the MIddle East or just anywhere on the Asian continent... heck... even Jewish and Muslim music would have thrown a bit of a wrench into the musical underpinnings of this episode. Given Maestro's apparent taste for Western music in particular, it's surprising that their actions ended "the entire world", rather than just... Europe. I will say... this is the second(? I think? Unless there are more?) time we get the Doctor having this big "I'm gonna defeat the baddy" moment and then failing. Rings of Akhaten is the other one where this was done and it annoyed me then, too. If they didn't want the Doctor to be the one to ultimately defeat the villain, then don't have them get that damn close. I know Moffat did it because he had to make Clara the most specialist most importantist person ever. It feels like Davies did it purely because he realized the Beatles were in the episode and needed to find a way to use at least John and Paul again. But I think it would have gone better if John and Paul had a bigger role in general and the Doctor leaned on their musical genius to do it rather than having them be a deus ex machina at the end. This incarnation of the Doctor actually being a musical genius would have been kind of perfect, TBH, especially considering Peter Capaldi's Doctor having his own musical genius, as well. So that bothered me. Finally... Bike. Yes. That's absolutely perfect. I thought of Syd Barrett, too, during that section.

The doctor didn’t say he knew Susan was dead he just said maybe she died he doesn’t know

Considering that the Maestro is linked to the Toymaker, I would guess the lost chord summoning them wouldn't work until after the Toymaker was already here. And the cold open takes place the same year that the Toymaker first appears on Earth in the Giggle.

100% agree on the villain energy level. I like the boiling rage under the surface and when a bad guy goes from calm to enraged within just a few words--and I think that is clearly what they were going for here--but if the baseline is already fully manic all the time, the moments of rage don't pop like they should. It was a fascinating villain that was just missing that edge needed to really put them over the top (in terms of threat level, not in terms of acting). I *DO* wish they'd stop with the "most powerful enemy they Doctor's ever had to face" promo stuff, though. I think if you label a threat more powerful than anything we've seen before, and then the Doctor rolls up and beats them in a single episode, and then you do that several times...it weakens what it means to be "the most powerful threat we've ever seen."

I would have preferred more accurate Lennon and McCartney, and they could have done the twist song at the end more like a Beatles song (surely not impossible to mimic even if they couldn't get an actual Beatles song?).

The song Theres always a twist at the end is sung in the same tones as the giggle, hinting at there are still something of the gods if not Maestro still affecting them

The 12th doctor broke the fourth wall a few times, for example, when he looks at the camera and says, "im nothing without an audience"

4th wall breaks - 1. So far we have seen that the Maestro and their kin like the Toymaster can break the fourth wall. 2. We were told by the Maestro that they were originally trapped by a Time based kin of theirs. 3. The Doctor is orphan of unknown origin. 4. Ruby is an orphan of unknown origin. 5. The Doctor has somehow survived any number of catastrophes that would likely have destroyed a normal time lord. 6. Ruby has been watched by her neighbor, someone presenting as older human woman who knows what a TARDIS is *and* who can also break the 4th wall. 7. The Doctor specifically breaks the fourth wall only after encountering the reality breaking abilities of the Maestro. 8. Every episode so far has hit the idea of family, of birth and ancestry *hard*, making it a significant part of the dialogue and the central plotline of both the Christmas and Space Baby episodes. You see where I'm going with this?

As a nonbinary person I agree with you so much. I had to stop watching the episode because I felt so overwhelmed (I’m autistic so it was also sensory related somewhat), to the point where the character almost felt like a caricature or one of those old Disney villains that were just drag queens/queer people. Like no hate. I think Maestro was definitely done wrong by the editors, because if there were calmer moments I’m sure I would have connected with them so much. It’s just frustrating that enby characters are never shown as capable of having different sides or emotions. Yeah. Sorry for the comment rant.

To me everything about this episode felt like a mid season reveal/story. Could be like Firefly where the executives decided to air episodes out of order. Ruby saying "but you never run" feels like a line that could be spoken after maybe 4-5 episodes of the two being together and makes me think that this episode was originally supposed to release/air later, seeing as this season's release schedule will stretch to June.

To be honest it feels like you have very specific expectations about how those episodes should look. I totally love that we have a lot of fresh air and excitement. I kind of feel like you watch with the eyes of the reviewer - "do I like that" "was that good" etc.. This is just a vibe that I get from you. I'm just happy to go for a wild ride with those episodes and have some fun. I didn't like 60th specials but this is just pure fun.

I think that Susan is alive. In fact, I think that Susan Mrs Flood is Susan.

For silent movie buffs: Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro looks eerily like Emil Jannings as Mephisto in the 1926 version of "Faust", so I immediately got the right diabolical vibes.

I had the exact same reaction to that "always" line, I was like "Girl you have barely known him for like 2 days". Then I heard the line that implied there was a six month time skip, and it has me convinced that this was originally an episode planned for later that got pushed up

Vera, it's exhausting that we live in such an over-senitive world that you feel you have to apology so much, just for having an opinion. Never apologise for having an honest and nuanced take!

The idea of the devil's chord is actually a real musical thing. In the early days of Western 'classical' music, it was thought that three certain notes played together should never be played, because they suggest the Devil's involvement. Black Sabbath famously use this chord in their titular opening song to their first album.

My head cannon is that Paul adopted a dog named Fred instead of Martha, and that was the issue that caused the world to unravel.

Weve missed 6 months of rhem travelling together i think, thats why she tells the Doctor that he always knows!

The 1st doctor also broke the first wall to wish the audience a happy Christmas

The first Doctor broke the fourth wall in the episode "The feast of Steven" by speaking directly to the audience.

I think the thing about “the lost chord” works for me at least because the scene where Maestro is summoned is set in the 1920s. Before then it’s less likely that it would’ve been played since experimental music wasn’t really a *thing* until the 1900s. Add to that the idea I’ve seen floating around a lot that it wasn’t only the chord that summoned them, it was the combination of the chord and the composer’s passion and… yeah that tracks for me.

The miscasting of John and Paul bothered me so much more than the inadequate facial expressions of the space babies.

I appreciate someone who can acknowledge that something is good in a general sense, but not specifically something they personally like, as opposed to saying “I don’t like it, so it’s bad.” I call such things “Wolverines” after the comic book character who is famously the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice. Probably the biggest Wolverine experience for me was reading the first Game of Thrones novel, and concluding that it was a very well written example of a kind of fantasy story I really don’t like. I could see the general quality of the book was better than most fantasy novels I read, but I really don’t like the “nobles killing each other over who gets to wear the shiny hat” subgenre. I can see “this is a really good drag performance, of a type of drag performance I don’t like” being similar.

I was wondering if the fourth wall breaks are a Bad Wolf. It's happening so often now that it does feel that way to me. A thing that's in the there to make us go "why does this keep happening?"

The Doctor breaking the fourth wall lessens the stakes, or removes them completely. If the Doctor knows his universe is a façade, then deaths and losses in universe don't matter. And the doctor can't believe these things don't matter.

The "earth destroyed " is a homage/ripoff of a scene in the classic story "Pyramids of Mars"-which you've reviewed-in which SJS is shown how 1980 would be if the baddie won🎩

The Doctor's suit is anachronistic it was designed in 1968.

Maybe later there's a pantheon god named the Director or the Show Runner which will basically be completely fourth wall breaky and the Doctor is acknowledging he knew they were pulling strings the whole time.

I'm a musician and a piano teacher and yes I couldnt take it seriously at all unfortunately. There's no way that lost chord has never been played. And when the doctor plays each note of a chord at the end the animated note is not the note being played (although theyre not on manuscript lines, they dont follow pitch). I did love Jinx, but hadnt really acknowledged the lack of quiet until you said. And i totally agree with your analysis on that front

I really liked the Maestro. Not as much as the Toymaker, but still very enjoyable. Personally I didn’t get tired by the performance, and something about the bombastic energy worked for me. While music can be slow and tender, something about an embodiment of music being so over the top intuitively clicks for me

Hi, I'm knowledgeable about music. Yes, the summoning and dismissal of Maestro was infuriating. The "devil's chord" is a real interval, that was really banned by the church for a long time (when the Roman Catholic Church controlled most of early Western composition), that's all really a thing. But it's an extremely common musical concept that's played all the time in loads of different musical contexts. There's nothing "lost" about it.

Why am I headcannoning now not playing the lost chord as the reason my old music teacher would seemingly materialise out of nowhere and go off at anyone who played Chopsticks or Heart and Soul?

I think the reason the Maestro was now able to be brought back is because now the cord is being played in universe where the Doctor invoked superstition. The talk about it being the "Devil's cord" before they played it. It is one of those bits where the Doctor's actions come back to bite them.

The current theory is that Susan is going to come back. So no I don’t think She’s dead.

should i revise for my maths gcse which is on thursday or shall I watch this review? I think we both know my answer

I've seen several theories about the BBC actress Susan Twist who has, so far, appeared in every episode this season (including Church at Ruby Road). Some theories suggest that she will be playing The One Who Waits or the Doctor's granddaughter. It is possible that the whole "There's always a twist at the end" is a poke or a foreshadowing of this.

I’m so glad I finally have words for why I don’t like drag kahdkshd, I’ve always been irked by it in spite of not disliking anything about it in theory and them turning it up to 11 and staying there is absolutely exactly the energy I can’t handle. Thank you!!

Speaking as a professional musician, I personally hate whenever plots hinge around finding a "lost" or "magic" chord or melody, for exactly the same reasons that you didn't like that element as well: someone had to have found and played that at many points all across the existence of music. It's a romantic and whimsical plot device, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that kind of writing, but it sadly only works if you don't know much about music. Like court or medical dramas, they don't work as well if you have good knowledge about those topics irl. Also, thank you so much for calling out The Idiot's Lantern as a bad episode! I think I've only heard people gush over that episode, so hearing you say it was bad was very validating for me. 😊

The lost chord can refer to 'lost' chords when the tuning of the piano was changed to a standardised equal-tempered tuning. But I think it’s also come to mean a forgotten or unattainable thing. The 'tritone' interval was thought to be evil. Now it’s most commonly heard as the first 2 notes of the Simpsons' theme.

I should probably bring up that this is not the first episode in which the Doctor has fully broken the fourth wall like this. Before the Flood opened with the Doctor explaining the concept of the bootstrap paradox directly to the audience and playing the Doctor Who theme on his electric guitar. One could brush this scene off as purely for the audience's benefit and not entirely canon, but at the end of the episode when the link to the opening is made, the Doctor very blatantly turns to the camera mid-conversation with Clara. I'm also glad you made the connection that "Harbinger" could be connected to the other members of the Toymaker's pantheon. I was concerned that his appearance meant Maestro would become a recurring villain, and while I really liked Maestro I feel like this episode is all you can really do with them - the gimmick has been used up, another Maestro episode would just feel like a repeat. The only way I could see the Maestro returning and it going well would be if they returned alongside other pantheon members we have yet to meet in sort of a Legion of Doom/Sinister Six type episode where they unite. That way the musical gimmick would only be part of a larger whole, so it wouldn't feel like a repeat of this episode.

Also from a literature and musical standpoint “the lost chord”: the theory I know is the lost chord was a poem about a young woman who is absent-mindedly playing the piano and without even realising plays a chord so special she believed it was sent to her from a heaven or higher power and people have spent years trying to imagine which chord that was, but what they think is the chord is got phased out over time due to musical tuning changes and that chord will not sound the same these days hence it’s “lost”. So if that is what this is based off, Im guessing if you accidentally come across the “correct version” of the chord that you shouldn’t be able to these days than a unearthly thing (maestro) comes to you

I'd have to go back and rewatch it but I'm pretty sure the chord that dismissed the Maestro was a C major which is pretty bog standard. Thinking about it, as a massive Beatles fan, I would have liked it to have been the opening chord from "Hard Day's Night" which is complex enough that it's actual structure was debated for a few decades after its release

Tom Baker looked directly at the camera and said things quite a few times and of course there’s the (in?)famous “Merry Christmas to all of you at home” from the first doctor but yeah New Who definitely hasn’t leaned into fourth wall breaking apart from a couple moments with Capaldi

I'm like 99% sure that the mention of Susan having potentially died is only in here to inform newer viewers that Susan even exists, and to reinforce the status-quo of her being an ambiguous casualty of the Time War, so her inevitable return is properly foreshadowed. Like, it wouldnt have made a lotta sense for the Doctor to be so angsty about being the last of his species if he has a granddaughter who is alive and well, living a short hop into Earth's Future. Susan's return is being so heavily hinted at (they have an actress literally named Susan Twist appearing in bit parts of every episode so far, the song at the end drawing attention to a Twist At The End (credits)), I honestly wouldnt even be surprised if they started with wanting to make an episode set in 1963 specifically to include that line, building the plot backwards from there. It would almost be a bigger twist if it ends up being like, The Rani or Omega at this point. Plus, now is the perfect time to reintroduce Susan. With the Timeless Child stuff in here, Susan being the Doctor's only remaining family (since he doesnt know Jenny is alive) would make her reintroduction hit harder than it would have at any other point in the revival. And honestly, maybe it's just that I kinda hated the 50th special, but I have no emotional attachment to Gallifrey or anyone on it at this point aside from Romana and Leela. The narrative has been flickering the lights on and off between life and death on Gallifrey for years now, I just want them to commit to one thing and do something with that!

I think they're bringing up Susan as foreshadowing for bringing her back tbh

Just wanted to let you know that, as far as I'm aware Jinkx uses she/her pronouns, but the character of Maestro uses they/them.

I love this episode. It was basically the closest the show got to a full-blown musical episode. I also felt like they could have made a Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah" reference, but it wouldn't have fit the time.

21: 24 about Ruby saying ''you always knows'' line is not that fast, is said that Ruby is traveling for about 6 months with the Doctor, is weird this time jump between space babies and Devils chord but happened. So she is already had adventures with him in off.

Gatwa is dressed and especially coiffed 70's "Shaft"ish, and Ruby has a 50's Chanel suit kinda thing going, so the period clothing thing I think is a fail.

The doctor breaking the wall and the dances I just chocked up to the weirdness of the maestro being left around like the hammer with the toymaker

Agreed. For a villain to really work well you need a balance between Power and Subtlety.

Didn't Capaldi's Doctor literally look directly into the camera and say "Google it" in series 9?