And now it's time for "Empire of Death" (so sorry, David Bishop, your fifth Doctor book is no longer the main "Empire of Death"), which demonstrates that even after 14 years away from the show, Russell T Davies still has trouble sticking the landing.
Part of the issue is just how big the initial "death wave" event is; when it kills Kate, it feels shocking, as the audience wonders if they're really killing off her character. But when everyone dies shortly thereafter, including Carla, it feels like, "Oh, so clearly this is going to be undone by the end of the episode." This has the unintentional effect of robbing the episode of some of its drama, since it just turns into a waiting game at that point. How exactly Sutekh will be defeated becomes a bit less interesting, because the stakes have gotten so high that, perversely, they've been lowered for the audience. There's no longer a worry that some people might not make it out alive.
It's also mildly annoying, as a long-time fan, how the events of Pyramids of Mars get changed to fit the narrative, with Sutekh now expelled into the vortex instead of just travelling down a space-time tunnel to his eventual death. There was also something terrifying about the power of Sutekh in the original story, how he could compel the Doctor to obey him simply with the force of his will, that is missing here. Instead we get a sandstorm of death, which is still scary (and perhaps more cinematic), but it doesn't quite have the same effect. The fourth Doctor became a helpless pawn of Sutekh, released only when Sutekh believed him dead; the fifteenth Doctor yells at Sutekh for a while: "I damn you, Sutekh. I damn you in the name of life itself! And I swear to you, with both the hearts of the last of the Time Lords, I will stop you. I will defeat you. And I will turn back death." And Sutekh lets him! Without even a "rant all you want, little man, it will do you no good"-style line. And then he lets the Doctor escape into the remembered TARDIS down in the time window room. (Which, it seems, is also the memory TARDIS from Tales of the TARDIS.) If this is part of Sutekh's master plan, he's doing an excellent job of keeping his cards close to his chest, since it never seems like letting the Doctor escape is deliberate. (Mind you, we learn that naming his death avatar "Susan" was apparently an intentional reference to the Doctor's granddaughter, instead of a coincidence, so maybe Sutekh's plan is more convoluted than we thought.)
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| Ruby, the Doctor, and Mel look out at the devastated Earth. ("Empire of Death") ©BBC |
And we're rushing because we also need to tie up the mystery of Ruby's mother. After all that, we learn that her mother is in fact... just some random human. Which would be fine if they hadn't kept making such a big deal out of it. I understand that making her a regular person is a subversion of the "chosen one" storyline (and is apparently a reaction to the Rey "actually you're a Palpatine" reveal from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but now is not the place to get bogged down in the problems with that choice), but it would be perhaps a bit more believable if it hadn't built into such a mystery. As it is, it's just another shaggy dog story, only stretched out over a season. And why does it snow around Ruby at key moments? No idea, just go with it, I guess. It's also darkly funny how they spend all this time screwing around with a 20-year-old VHS tape and a time window trying to learn something about Ruby's mum, and then at the end UNIT apparently runs a DNA test and finds her, no problem. As an independent thematic event, the reveal of who Ruby's mother is works -- it's only in the context of the whole of series 14 that it really becomes an issue. Still, it does give closure to Ruby's storyline and actually provides a compelling reason for her to stay behind, so that's something at least. (That said, she's apparently going to be showing up at some point in series 15, so we haven't seen the last of her yet.)
And we're left with one unresolved question for (presumably) next series: what's the deal with Mrs. Flood? What were the plans she had that she references here? And why is she dressed in white furs on the rooftop at the end? Something for the future, it seems...
In theory bringing back Sutekh is a nice idea (although, again, this relies on people remembering who he is, which may be a bit risky), and it's a move that I don't know the Davies of series 1-4 would have chosen. In practice, though, what we get is rather messy, with things happening because Davies thinks they would be fun or cool-looking, rather than because they make logical sense, and with too much rushing through important moments in order to fit everything in. As such, this is probably the weakest story of series 14.
Overall, where series 14 really shined was its characterisation of the Doctor. Ncuti Gatwa hits the ground running, being full of joy and energy and willing to be much more emotionally open than we've come to expect from the Doctor. It's a fabulous performance, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the future of this Doctor. In the face of that, it's honestly impressive just how well Millie Gibson manages to hold her own, being adventurous and spunky without being overbearing or, conversely, fading into the background. Ruby is a fun companion who complements this Doctor well, and hopefully she comes back for more than just an episode or two.
But in general, series 14 is a bit difficult to really get a grasp on. In some ways this is the most experimental series of the 21st-century run, with a number of episodes seemingly designed to push against the limits of the show, to expand what Doctor Who can be -- and in fact, it tends to be the more "typical" episodes that let things down. I'm not convinced that Davies's desire to push the show into more fantasy realms really needs to be addressed with plot points about the fabric of reality and the Doctor invoking superstitions at the boundaries (as seen in "Wild Blue Yonder") -- Doctor Who has dabbled with fantasy elements before without needing to justify how, say, the Kinda shared dreaming works, where the Land of Fiction is, or even how the Toymaker's realm was possible back in 1966. In some ways it's a bit of an intrusion, a sign that Davies doesn't quite trust the audience to roll with it. Where series 14 has really succeeded (beyond, again, the performances of its two leads) is those moments where the show gets out of its own way and just lets the episodes get on with pushing the format. Time will probably be the greatest judge of how well this series ultimately holds up, if it ends up being considered as a transition period or a peculiar path not ultimately taken. But setting aside concerns of how history will judge series 14, what we ultimately got was a set of stories with more successes than failures, and that's ultimately the goal. Everything else is just a matter of degree.