***The following contains major spoilers for the season finale***
Tonight’s all-new episode of
Doctor Who, “Empire of Death,” brought an end to the season, as well as the storylines surrounding both the mystery of Ruby (Millie Gibson)’s mother and the arrival of Sutekh, while also posing some new questions. In the episode, Sutekh revealed his plans, which was to turn everyone on every planet the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) ever visited to dust. It started out as a bit of a shock when first Kate (Jemma Redgrave) and everyone at UNIT, and then subsequently, Ruby’s family, as well as even Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) were killed. Eventually the whole planet was wiped out, leaving it up to the Doctor, Ruby, and Mel (Bonnie Langford) to find a way to bring them back. It all culminated when the Doctor realized that Sutekh wouldn’t kill them until he learned the secret of Ruby’s birth mother’s identity, which Ruby used to lure him close enough for them to hook him to the TARDIS and pull him into the time vortex, where the Doctor could use death to kill death and therefore bring back life.
First let me say, the beats of the episode and the way it was shot made it feel very exciting, and as always, Gatwa and Gibson were a treat. Bringing Mel into the mix to round out the trio made it even better.
The set of the Remembered TARDIS was extremely cool and one of my favorite parts of the episode. I absolutely loved how it was filled with memories from the series, like pieces of the Doctor’s old costumes, and many other little references for fans. There were even some other outright references to old episodes outside of it, with the Doctor saving the world with a spoon, as well as Mrs. Flood calling him a “Clever Boy.”