The Legend of Ruby Sunday - first thoughts

Not going to review or rate this properly yet as the story is only halfway
through - but my impressions overall are very positive if only the plot can
stick its landing.

But a few notes -

When did the smoke of Sutekh attach itself to the TARDIS? And how? Clearly
it was before The Church on Ruby Road, as an image of it was able to
manifest and kill a UNIT soldier in the Time Window.

Was it when the Doctor visited the edge of the universe and invoked the
salt superstition? And if so are BOTH the TARDISes that now exist wreathed
in the essence of death?

For all that this episode was called “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”, we
learned nothing new about the mystery of Ruby - except possibly that the
person who left Ruby at the church may have known about Sutekh. So is that
a human? Or the H. Arbinger of a God? Is Ruby an incarnation of the god of
Life, destined to oppose Sutekh (and become human in the process, in an
echo of Rose Tyler)?

Nice to see that the Trickster got a mention as part of the Pantheon. But
what an odd pantheon it is - Games, Trickery, Music - and Death. (Should
have added Fiction and tied the Mind Robber into this bunch imo - ah well,
maybe another time).

It would have been nice to have a throwaway line saying that Osgood, Donna
and “the other one” (Tennant’s Doctor. Don’t tell me he could resist being
one of UNIT’s ever-expanding legion of scientific advisors for long) were
busy checking out something strange elsewhere. The absence of all three is
a clear gap in the UNIT narrative.

And how many harbingers does Sutekh get? Maestro got one. Here we have
definitely two, (Susan Triad and Harriet) possibly three - Triad after all
implies three - (Mrs Flood?) - in which case Ruby’s granny might be toast.
Or despite her sinister lines, maybe Mrs Flood is the harbinger of Ruby
Sunday and was the one who deposited the baby all those years ago, and will
be protecting dear old Granny.

Is Mrs Merridew in Wild Blue Yonder also an aspect of Triad, and was her
instruction to Isaac Newton to “have a very good idea” the reason why
gravity is now mavity? That would suggest that the salt superstition thing
did NOT start this alteration in reality, as the changes pre-date the
Doctor’s faux pas. Or is this just one of those classic cases of Doctor Who
re-using supporting cast, as we will get with next year’s new companion?

Speaking of companions, who ever would have thought that the wet girly Mel
Bush from season 24 would be the strongest supporting companion of this
episode? She did more to move the story along than Ruby did.

OK, enough smoke and mirrors for now. More to follow next week.

Trajectory - 9/10. But let’s see.

--
“Most of the Universe is knackered, babes.”  - The Doctor