Empire of Death
Jun. 23rd, 2024 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcWell, that was certainly something that hapened.
Honestly, I enjoyed most of this. But I'm not convinced that any part of it makes any sense. In fact, it makes so little sense that I think it manages to go back and make "73 Yards" make even less sense than I thought it did at the time.
There are so many things that don't make sense, but the main ones are Susan Triad, defeating Sutekh, and the truth behind Ruby. So it's kind of unfortunate that that's what the episode's actually about.
Susan Triad: So Sutekh was creating Susan Triads everywhere the TARDIS stopped. Since when? Ever since "Pyramids"? So how come we never saw one before "Wild Blue Yonder"? Okay, fine, never mind that, let's say it's just been since then, for some reason (it can't be because of Ruby, because that was before he met her). Either way every time the TARDIS materialises somewhere, Sutekh creates a Susan Triad and gives her a backstory, and sometimes this backstory is that she's a robot ambulance, and sometimes it's that she's already dead, and sometimes it's that she's already dead and on a completely different planet. But all these dead, robot ambulance Susan Triads can still activate the dust, possibly?
Sutekh's defeat: Okay, let's accept, for the purposes of argument, that dragging Sutekh back through the vortex undoes everything because two death waves cancel each other out ... somehow. I don't entirely accept that, but it's an RTD season finale, so I accept something like that was probably going to happen. Any reason they couldn't have done it sooner? Any point at all to bouncing through time, in order to trick Sutekh into bringing them exactly where they were to start with, so they can leash this all-powerful being, reclaim the TARDIS, and solve the problem while his minions stand around like lemons? And I wasn't exactly convinced by the Doctor's "You've won, because I hate killing, but you've forced me to cross a line I never cross and ... er ... do exactly what I tried to do to you last time."
The truth behind Ruby: I want to love this. I want to think "Yes, Ruby's sense of her mother's importance has been shaping this whole thing, making the Doctor think there's a great mystery, which prevents the memory room from showing her, which convinces Sutekh that he needs to know this as well, but the whole point is that they're just ordinary people, because ordinary people are important." But she fricking made it snow! The Doctor's memories changed! Flippin' Maestro, an ancient god from beyond the universe, said that the secret Ruby held was unlike anything they'd ever encountered before! Basically, if you want your pay-off to be "Ruby is ordinary, and that's the most special thing of all" maybe don't give her actual supernatural powers!
Whew. There's many other things I could complain don't make sense, but lets focus on the things I liked. I liked making the MemoryTARDIS canon. I liked most of the characterisation, including that the real Susan Triad is just as nice as she appeared to be. I liked Gabriel Woolf returning as Sutekh, even if I'm not convinced about reworking him as an actual godlike being rather than an Ancient Astronaut (wouldn't Fenric have been a better choice? Or if you really want Gabriel Woolf back, The Beast?) I found the scene on the forgotten planet so moving, even if I can't see why it needed to happen. And I liked the idea that Mrs Flood has her own Sinister Plan that got completely disrupted by Sutekh, although I guess we'll have to wait to Christmas to find out if that makes any sense.
Like I said, I actually liked most of it. I just wish I felt it actually worked.
Honestly, I enjoyed most of this. But I'm not convinced that any part of it makes any sense. In fact, it makes so little sense that I think it manages to go back and make "73 Yards" make even less sense than I thought it did at the time.
There are so many things that don't make sense, but the main ones are Susan Triad, defeating Sutekh, and the truth behind Ruby. So it's kind of unfortunate that that's what the episode's actually about.
Susan Triad: So Sutekh was creating Susan Triads everywhere the TARDIS stopped. Since when? Ever since "Pyramids"? So how come we never saw one before "Wild Blue Yonder"? Okay, fine, never mind that, let's say it's just been since then, for some reason (it can't be because of Ruby, because that was before he met her). Either way every time the TARDIS materialises somewhere, Sutekh creates a Susan Triad and gives her a backstory, and sometimes this backstory is that she's a robot ambulance, and sometimes it's that she's already dead, and sometimes it's that she's already dead and on a completely different planet. But all these dead, robot ambulance Susan Triads can still activate the dust, possibly?
Sutekh's defeat: Okay, let's accept, for the purposes of argument, that dragging Sutekh back through the vortex undoes everything because two death waves cancel each other out ... somehow. I don't entirely accept that, but it's an RTD season finale, so I accept something like that was probably going to happen. Any reason they couldn't have done it sooner? Any point at all to bouncing through time, in order to trick Sutekh into bringing them exactly where they were to start with, so they can leash this all-powerful being, reclaim the TARDIS, and solve the problem while his minions stand around like lemons? And I wasn't exactly convinced by the Doctor's "You've won, because I hate killing, but you've forced me to cross a line I never cross and ... er ... do exactly what I tried to do to you last time."
The truth behind Ruby: I want to love this. I want to think "Yes, Ruby's sense of her mother's importance has been shaping this whole thing, making the Doctor think there's a great mystery, which prevents the memory room from showing her, which convinces Sutekh that he needs to know this as well, but the whole point is that they're just ordinary people, because ordinary people are important." But she fricking made it snow! The Doctor's memories changed! Flippin' Maestro, an ancient god from beyond the universe, said that the secret Ruby held was unlike anything they'd ever encountered before! Basically, if you want your pay-off to be "Ruby is ordinary, and that's the most special thing of all" maybe don't give her actual supernatural powers!
Whew. There's many other things I could complain don't make sense, but lets focus on the things I liked. I liked making the MemoryTARDIS canon. I liked most of the characterisation, including that the real Susan Triad is just as nice as she appeared to be. I liked Gabriel Woolf returning as Sutekh, even if I'm not convinced about reworking him as an actual godlike being rather than an Ancient Astronaut (wouldn't Fenric have been a better choice? Or if you really want Gabriel Woolf back, The Beast?) I found the scene on the forgotten planet so moving, even if I can't see why it needed to happen. And I liked the idea that Mrs Flood has her own Sinister Plan that got completely disrupted by Sutekh, although I guess we'll have to wait to Christmas to find out if that makes any sense.
Like I said, I actually liked most of it. I just wish I felt it actually worked.
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Date: 2024-06-24 01:14 am (UTC)