Season 1 Episode 7 of Doctor Who (2024) brings the first part of an explosive finale that begins to unravel the ongoing mystery of Ruby Sunday.
Showrunner: Russell T Davies
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Number of Episodes: 8
Episode 7 release Date: June 14, 2024
Where to Watch it: on Disney+
Throughout Season 1 of the new Doctor Who era, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa, of Sex Education) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson, of Coronation Street) have travelled the stars – from the far reaches of outer space to the distant past of planet Earth. But every step of the way, they’ve been haunted by one mysterious woman, making surprise cameos in every single episode.
Fans of the show have been wildly theorising about the woman’s identity ever since she appeared in the 60th Anniversary specials last year, pulling on strings from the show’s past to deduce who she could be – and in Season 1 Episode 7, the answers finally arrive. In typical fashion for returning showrunner Russell T. Davies, the first instalment of Season 1’s two-part finale brings all these breadcrumbs together, tying them clearly into the Doctor’s overall story and ensuring that all the speculation and set-ups pay off neatly.
For the most part, Episode 7 feels like a typical Doctor Who part-one; it quickly sets up the concept for the story, brings back some returning characters, and starts to explain the mysteries that have been running through the season. And in this case, the mysteries are plentiful. Whether that’s the truth behind Ruby’s birth and parentage, the reason the TARDIS has been behaving so erratically, or the truth behind the recurring woman, who’s revealed to be a successful entrepreneur named Susan Triad. Everything comes together in such an exciting way, building up toward a shocking cliffhanger that’ll keep audiences going until next week’s conclusion.
What makes Episode 7, ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’, stand out from the rest of the stories in this season of Doctor Who are its numerous connections to the previous seasons of the show. Davies has clearly been trying to turn a new leaf with this so-called ‘Season 1’ and bring onboard plenty of new fans that might not have seen the original show by introducing new characters and new villains at every turn. With the exception of The Toymaker’s mention in ‘The Devil’s Chord’, there really haven’t been any allusions to the classic show at all. This new, experimental shift in form has been both a blessing and a curse for the new Doctor Who, as it’s allowed the show to move in fresh directions without being dragged down by the weight of its history, but it’s also alienated some fans that were hoping for more of the same.
Thankfully, Episode 7 effortlessly combats those criticisms and finally feels like an episode that fits snugly into the Doctor Who canon. The return of characters such as Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave, of The Beekeeper), Rose Noble (Yasmin Finney, of Heartstopper), and Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford, of Eastenders) will surely please those fans who believe Season 1 has been too disconnected, and the larger cast allows for a sharper sense of humour and chemistry between the characters. The episode is reminiscent of many other Doctor Who finales, like ‘Army of Ghosts’ and ‘The Stolen Earth’, which spend their entire runtime bringing everybody together to solve a long-running mystery that’s ultimately revealed just in time for the second part. It’s Davies’ strongest area as a writer, and it’s such a relief to know that he’s keeping to this tradition despite the strongly changed format.
Additionally, bringing The Doctor back to present-day Earth and having Gatwa interact with the show’s most beloved recurring characters feels like such a necessary step in cementing him as the next interaction of this character. While Gatwa’s performance has been excellent and he’s fully made The Doctor his own, this season’s more disconnected approach to storytelling has left many fans unable to really connect this version of the character with the one they know and love. Episode 7 strives to fix this issue, bringing him together with characters like Rose, Kate, and Mel from previous seasons and capitalising on those existing relationships to prove that he is the same character that older fans have grown up with.
Overall, ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ is an excellent start to Doctor Who’s two-part finale that answers all the questions fans have been discussing since the beginning of the season, raising the stakes higher than they’ve ever been and building anticipation for the upcoming final part of the story. While it delivers on most of the big questions, setting the stage for a more action-heavy conclusion, there are still some areas left cloudy and uncertain to maintain that air of mystery that makes Doctor Who so great. It’s not the show’s most mind-blowing or high-risk finale, but it’s a very solid episode that serves every purpose it needs to.
Season 1 Episode 7 of Doctor Who (2024), named “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” will be released on Friday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Disney+ where available.
