Doctor Who
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Whos ready to put the UNIT in unity?
This weeks episode ofDoctor Whois a team mission on Earth.
The Doctor is hoping UNIT can help him look into two women.
First, theres Susan Twist, whose face weve been seeing all season.
On this planet, shes Susan Triad, an IT genius who goes by the nickname Sue.
UNIT also hasnt found anything alien in her software.
Then theres Rubys birth mother.
Flood is recruited to watch Cherry, who beams and hints that shed like a cuppa.
Well, wed all like a lot of things that arent going to happen, Mrs.
Looking out at an approaching storm, she ominously adds, He waits no more.
The Doctor wants to analyze Rubys tape with a Time Window.
Rubys hooded mother walks toward the Doctor and Ruby, but its as if theres TV static over her.
She speeds by in a surge of energy, and no one catches a glimpse of her face.
In contrast, when the TARDIS arrives, it appears almost solid.
If time is memory and memory is time, then what is the memory of a time machine?
While the past Doctor saves baby Ruby, her birth mother stops walking and breaks down in tears.
Carla also starts crying, wishing she could tell this woman that she took Ruby in.
And now weve arrived at the part of the memory thats been changing for the Doctor.
Chidozie moves out of sight behind the TARDIS.
According to Morriss readings, its hot, cold, radioactive, and dead all at the same time.
So … something outside the laws of the known universe?
Sounds like another god is on the way.
Chidozie, who has vanished, responds to Ruby after she brings up their Manchester connection.
He says hes lost in hell, and that something ancient and waiting has seen into his soul.
The Window explosively powers down, and Kate rushes in to see Chidozies dust-covered corpse.
The Doctor decides its time for Mel to take him to Susan.
There are only a few minutes before Susan is scheduled to give her speech.
She doesnt respond, but the Doctor can tell she remembers.
When rewinded, the recording reveals that the TARDIS is at the heart of the cloud.
Looks like the time lock didnt apply to this time machine.
The TARDIS parked in UNIT HQ groans.
The Doctor, listening in over comms, says hes heard that noise before.
The Doctor chalked it up to Rogues moral void last week.
But the sound also reminds me of a certain classic serial … could it be?
The Doctor suddenly asks what Harriets full name is.
Weve got another harbinger of the gods.
Meanwhile, a sinister voice interrupts Susan Triads speech.
She starts rambling about her dreams, and the words on her teleprompter change.
I am returning, one line reads.
Harriet is speaking in unison with the same deep, echoing voice.
After name-dropping a bunch of gods, she declares that the ultimate one has returned.
The cloud around the TARDIS shows itself and transforms into a giant, dog-like creature with red eyes.
And there it is.
Susan Triad Technology is short for Sue Tech … Sutekh.
(And yes, Gabriel Woolf reprising his role as the original voice of Sutekh.)
If you havent watched Classic Who, Sutekh was introduced in the four-part 1975 serialPyramids of Mars.
He was described as the last of the Osirans, an alien race whose wars inspired Egyptian mythology.
His goal is to destroy all life.
Or so we thought!
The reveal of Sutekh as a villain doesnt answer everything, of course.
Also, its still not totally clear how Sutekh returned.
Why did Susan need to be scattered across time and space?
Does she have anything to do with the taken-over TARDIS?
The Doctor doesnt have time to ponder these questions, though.
Susan has collapsed and risen with a mask-like face and red eyes.
After turning a staffer to dust with a touch of her hand, she approaches him.
Did you think I was family, Doctor?
Sutekh says through her.
I bring Sutekhs gift of death.
For you, and for all in your tiny, vile, incessant universe.
How is he gonna get out of this?
Since we end on a cliffhanger, weve got a week to wonder.
Cut for Time (Lord)
Ruby has really found her footing as a companion.
I almost forget that shes so new to this that she still needs to have regeneration explained to her.
Morris checks the probability of a trap throughout the episode.
Jemma Redgrave is so funny when shes disgruntled.
The Doctor says that due to timey-wimey reasons, he can have a granddaughter before a daughter.
I mean, his family treehasalways been complicated; Jenny was born solely from a tissue sample of Ten.
Nothing can stop the devastation … except, perhaps, one woman.
Who do we think that woman is?
The Doctors daughter or granddaughter?
… Cherry Sunday, because shell never get her cup of tea if the world is destroyed?
