Doctor Who: Empire of Death – season one finale recap

Millie Gibson with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor going through his PE teacher phase in Empire of Death. Photograph: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios

Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor nearly went full Nietzsche – “battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster” – in a universe-destroying whirlwind of an episode that revolved around family, time and memory.

Sutekh’s undoing in the end relied on him having become obsessed with the origin story of Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) which has played out across the season, and was resolved with her mother being just an ordinary woman who had given up her child as a vulnerable 15-year-old mother. A million complex social media fan theories were shattered.

The fact that the “remembered Tardis” was being lashed together with intelligent rope was funny, and it was nice to see the set used for the links in the Tales of the Tardis adventures make its way into the main show, complete with vintage props and costumes. So much of this story was about time and memory that it felt like an appropriate setting, and the way echoes of Ruby Sunday’s (Millie Gibson) solo alternate timeline episode 73 Yards played a role in the resolution of this plot tied it to the rest of the season.

Less appropriate was the strange interlude where the Doctor met the kind woman who gave him the spoon (Sian Clifford). In look and feel, it was the most Chris Chibnall-era throwback of this whole season – a dreamlike segment that didn’t seem to connect with the main narrative.

If there was one criticism of structure, it would be that Sutekh meeting his demise came too early, leaving an over-long family soap opera coda. It may have been that scheduling The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death as a double bill, as Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord were to open the series, would have served the pacing better.

The decision by Ruby to go and greet her birth mother (Faye McKeever) in the coffee shop against the Doctor’s advice characterised her headstrong impulsiveness which has made her a fun companion this season, and also gave this episode its emotional core. There was the Doctor outside the cafe alone, his foundling status still a mystery to him, his granddaughter somewhere out there. He warns Ruby that her mother has had 7,000 days to find her and hasn’t tried. How many centuries has he had but failed to return to Susan?

Sum it up in one sentence?

One of the Tardis crew finds the secret of their foundling status, while the other becomes a monster to bring down a monster.

Life aboard the Tardis

That may have seemed like a final goodbye to Ruby, but all the pre-publicity for season two suggests we will see more of her. Back in April when the BBC announced that Varada Sethu was joining the cast as a companion, Russell T Davies said “Right now in the studio, shooting for 2025, we’ve got Ncuti, Millie and Varada fighting side by side – we need all three, because the stakes are higher than ever.”

Fear factor

Some of the stakes were taken out of this week’s episode early on, however, as once whole swathes of the recurring supporting cast had met their sandy end by Sutekh’s minions it seemed obvious that there would have to be a great big reset at some point. “Just this once, everybody lives!” as the Ninth Doctor once observed.

The scenes with Sutekh being dragged through the time vortex did make him look more like an evil incarnation of Scooby Doo than the most powerful being the Doctor has ever faced, but the fear factor was well and truly delivered by Bonnie Langford. She was genuinely chilling as she portrayed former 1980s companion Mel slowly slipping under Sutekh’s power.

Mysteries and questions

Gatwa’s first full episode ended with Anita Dobson’s mysterious Mrs Flood breaking the fourth wall with a wink about the Tardis. This ending went even further, with her dressed up like the white witch of Narnia cosplaying Mary Poppins. Closing the series with narration that made it sound like a storybook begs more questions about reality since the Doctor encountered the Toymaker in the Giggle. Not least of which: who is she?

Deeper into the vortex

Spoons have been important for the Doctor before. Jodie Whittaker’s sonic was made from melted Sheffield spoons, Peter Capaldi’s Doctor fought Robin Hood with one, and the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, played them to entertain the Rani.
The Doctor reeled off the names of a lot of planets from across the show’s history, but sadly we didn’t get to find out how Gatwa tackles the pronunciation of the tricky Slitheen homeworld Raxacoricofallapatorius. Or Metebelis III, which Matt Smith famously mispronounced in 2013’s Hide.
The Doctor specifically mentioned landing the Tardis on the Earth in 1999 (the 1996 Paul McGann TV movie), 1066 (William Hartnell story The Time Meddler) and 2005 (Rose).
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart’s (Jemma Redgrave) face was a picture when all Unit’s bullets were useless against Sutekh. “You know, just once I’d like to meet an alien menace that wasn’t immune to bullets,” her father once told the Fourth Doctor.
Morris Gibbons (Lenny Rush) having weapons in his mobility scooter echoes his Unit scientific adviser predecessor Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley) having weapons in her wheelchair.
The hint of a developing romance between Lethbridge-Stewart and Col Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient) isn’t the first time we’ve seen people on relationship manoeuvres within Unit. During the Jon Pertwee era, the repeated attempts of soldiers to try and date his companion Jo Grant became a running joke.

Next time: Joy to the World

Presumably sandwiched somewhere between new Wallace and Gromit and new Gavin and Stacey on Christmas Day, we get a Steven Moffat-penned festive special with Nicola Coughlan as the guest star! See you then. Vworp vworp!

Season 1

Episodes 1 & 2: Space Babies / The Devil's Chord

Episode 3: Boom

Episode 4: 73 Yards

Episode 5: Dot and Bubble

Episode 6: Rogue

Episode 7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Episode 8: Empire of Death

Christmas special: Joy to the World

60th anniversary specials

Special 1: The Star Beast
Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder
Special 3: The Giggle
Christmas special: The Church on Ruby Road

Flux / Series 13