The Missed Opportunity of Ruby Sunday

Since Ncuti Gatwa made his official debut as the Doctor in The Church on Ruby Road alongside Millie Gibson, a key mystery has been floating around his companion for nine episodes. Who is Ruby’s mother?

Gibson’s entire character arc revolves around this question and explores some pretty deep themes for these time-travelling buddies, who are both orphans. There were some of the best character dynamics I’d seen on this show in a while, and therefore, I had many theories about who left Ruby on that church doorstep as a newborn.

Naturally, I thought this would link to a bigger story and possibly see an iconic actress from the Whovian universe reprise their role. Yet, the season finale subverts all these expectations and not in a good way.

With all the flashbacks and foreshadowing, the question was finally in the Empire of Death. Ruby’s mother had evaded DNA searches, UNIT backlogs, and TARDIS technology. Yet, her mother was revealed to be…

Completely ordinary, teenage pregnancy and an abusive family home forced Lousie Miller to leave Ruby. Louise Miller, not River Song, Mrs. Flood, Susan, or anyone else that fans have theorised over the past few weeks.

The payoff was very anticlimactic for a mystery that has kept the vast majority of fans intrigued. Rather than feeling like a satisfying conclusion, the writing felt incredibly clumsy and not planned out. The only redeeming aspect of this reveal was the performances of both actresses in the final scenes.

Why wasn’t this foreshadowed, though? It seemed they wanted to write Gibson out of the show, which I hope is not the case. Instead, the flimsy reveal was justified by the “idea” of Louise being more powerful than the God of Death…

The concept of the power of thought was tackled much better in Doctor Who’s Class in the episode "The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did." Here, it feels like a cheap ploy that is only saved by the cast's stellar performances.

Again, Louise’s backstory should have felt more integral to the story. We should be able to rewatch this season and see the clues that led the characters to this conclusion, but I don’t think you can. Even her creepy moments in the Christmas episode were hastily brushed aside. So many other characters could have had more of an impact as Ruby’s mother. For most of this season, I held onto one theory: River Song is Ruby’s biological mother. Alex Kingston was the most logical choice to play this role.

The Doctor’s Wife had such a non-linear narrative that its storyline spanned the eras of David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi and even had its own spinoff with Big Finish Audio Productions, which ran for twelve seasons. Now we’re set to get a follow-up series, The Life and Death of River Song, set after the Library storyline rather than before, as we heard in the Diaries of River Song series. Truth be told, I am already looking forward to that series as I’m currently making my way through Big Finish’s River saga in chronological order.

Did I think River Song found a pocket of time to save her newborn daughter before going to the Library? Of course! If we’re looking at River’s arc in chronological order, she spent a single night on Darillium with the Twelfth Doctor. He uses time travel to ensure a perfect date, gives her the sonic screwdriver that she had in "Silence in the Library", and comforts her by revealing that the nights on Darillium last "twenty-four years", giving River a happy life spent with the Doctor before her impending death in the Library.

Twenty-four years. Let that sink in. Did Russell T Davies not consider that during that time period, River and that incarnation of the Doctor could have conceived a child before they are parted for the final time — and he meets her for the first time? Steven Moffat’s era had so many plot threads to remember.

It’s more a shame than anything else. Not only did this storyline completely ignore the already established canon that Ruby could have easily been introduced into, but the Louise storyline was not given the layers or plotting it deserved.

I will write a more in-depth review of Gatwa's first season with much more praise and positive points. However, this was one story aspect I could not squeeze into one review. Millie Gibson did a superb job this season. I just wish her story had been given the time to breathe over two seasons rather than being wrapped up already. It may not be, but we don’t even have the mystery of Ruby’s dad to carry over into Season Two, as that was resolved in the final scene, too. I enjoyed many things about this finale, but this wasn’t one of them, I’m afraid.

What did you think of the reveal in the Empire of Death? Let us know in the comments below!