Doctor Who Episode 8 Recap/Review: “Empire of Death”
(⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Director: Jamie Donoughue
Writer: Russell T Davies
Cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, Bonnie Langford, and Gabriel Wolfe
Streaming Service: Disney+
The ride to “Empire of Death” over the course of this season of Doctor Who has been a wild one. Thanks to returning showrunner Russell T Davies, the show is once again an energetic ride across time and space. We reach the end of that ride for now fittingly with an episode confronting both the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) with mortality. While some of the resolutions leave a lot to be desired, it’s an enjoyable ending to a memorable season.
As is standard for Russell T Davies, once again the fate of humanity is at stake for the final episode. Fans of the revival likely remember Davies enjoys to close seasons with villains plucked from throughout the history of Doctor Who. Last episode ended with the reveal Sutekh (once again voiced by Gabriel Wolfe) masterminded most of The Doctor’s troubles this season.
The villain became a parasitic organism on the Tardis after the Fourth Doctor thought he sent him into the void. They spent their time since that encounter planting themselves on every planet and time period the Tardis landed. Their long game allows them send their dust of death to kill everyone across time and space. While the visual of people turning to dust is a little reminiscent of Avengers: Endgame, the dust of death cloud that consumes the earth is still a great visual.
Sutekh is a bold choice to pick for a season’s big bad. They only ever appeared once in the show’s history compared to villains like the Daleks or The Master. Clearly though the character imprinted on a young Davies. The Sutekh in this episode has the head of jackal on the body of a death shroud. Their massive form surrounding the Tardis like a dragon guarding gold. If the original version scared him, he pays it forward to the youth of today with a genuinely scary visual.
But the Doctor won’t stand for the death of the universe. Hopping into the Memory Tardis (we get an origin for the Memory Tardis from Tales of the Tardis!) with Ruby and former companion Mel (Bonnie Langford), they attempt to reverse Sutekh’s plan. For an episode so steeped in death, Davies does an incredible thing. His writing and the always excellent performances of Gatwa and Gibson suffuse the episode with hope. The Doctor is life and brings that with him wherever he goes which is what’s he’s done this whole season.
Which makes the resolution feel a bit weightless after a whole season of building it up as a BIG mystery. Not the defeat of Sutekh which is a very Doctor Who ending. The Doctor beats the God of Death by dragging them through the Time Vortex outside the Tardis as they use a double negative to restore life to the universe. That’s all very fun.
No it’s the resolution to the mystery of Ruby Sunday herself that feels like a bit of a cheat. The whole season built up a massive mystery as to who was Ruby’s mother and consequently what Ruby was. In the end though Davies can’t help but make a twist that feels like a cheat. The writer loves “ordinary people” and that’s who Ruby and her mom are. Ordinary folks given significance by other people.
The logic pretzel the show concocts to make it work really doesn’t. Sure the audience was fed red herrings with the mother’s obscured face and the snow that followed Ruby throughout time and space. The season was full of misdirects. Being told by the Doctor that those things weren’t really that important in the end feels a little like a Nelson Muntz point and laugh. Gatwa almost sells it but really if you think about it too much it all falls apart.
Still all three Tardis travelers really shine in this episode. There’s a reason Ncuti Gatwa has quickly become a favorite among Whovians. He’s truly made an energetic, empathetic, and unique take on the Doctor. This Doctor is willing to admit his failures. It’s hard to imagine at a moment of personal victory, that David Tennant, Matt Smith, or Peter Capaldi’s Doctors admitting they’ve actually lost to an enemy by killing them.
Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday ranks among the great modern companions. Her portrayal of Sunday is smart and courageous. The faith she has in the Doctor is absolute. She knows that even when things are at their worst, the Doctor can save the day. These are two people who throughout the season have proven to each other just how much they mean to each other as friends.
It’s Bonnie Langford though who really deserves a mention in “Empire of Death.” The later years of the original show have slowly gone through some rehabilitation over the last few years and Langford as Mel is certainly worthy of reappraisal. Mel gets some wonderful moments. Whether it’s saving the Doctor via Vespa or taking a moment in the Tardis to touch her old hair bow and the Sixth Doctor’s coat, Langford digs into all of her scenes. The episode mentions memory as being a time machine and seeing Mel getting a moment to shine is wonderful.
That’s the fun of Doctor Who though. It’s more about the journey than the destination. This season has been a wild ride with some real standout episodes in “Boom”, “73 Yards”, and “Rogue.” For all its faults, “Empire of Death” is still a lot of fun to watch. There’s still mysteries to be had with Mrs. Flood (it’s probably not The Rani) and who else constitutes the Pantheon now plaguing the Doctor. The Doctor is back and that Christmas Special can’t come fast enough (or new companion played by Varada Sethu).
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This felt a lot like a retread of the Bad Wolf framing subplot from 2005.
And the ability to hit the reverse button with zero consequence is beginning to wear thin as a trope.
Lastly, if some find this actor “energetic”, for others it’s translating more like “unnecessary agitated” and “annoying”. I like my Doctor to know and be confident in what he’s doing, everything else is superfluous drama, as we all know how it’s going to end.