Doctor Who - s14e04 - 73 Yards

After landing at the top of a cliff in Wales, the Doctor trips over a circle of wool string and Ruby reads some of the notes of the circle. After Ruby vocalizes a note's words, "Rest in peace, mad jack," the Doctor vanishes.. At this point, the episode focuses solely on Ruby Sunday and an ominous woman who follows her around but is never very close to her. Rose is unable to approach her as every time she tries to, the woman maintains a distance, even if by surreal means.  If anyone tries to speak to her, the person becomes a recluse and shuts out Ruby from their life with the only explanation "ask her." Vaguely and unclear referring to either Ruby or to the older lady.

Most of the episode centers around how Ruby deals with having this person in her life and the effects she has on her life. It interferes with her ability to form relationships as Ruby always seems pre-occupied with thoughts of her stalker. After seeing a political ad on television, she gains purpose and joins the political campaign of Roger ap Gwilliam and ultimately steers him off course by using her apparition to spook him into being a recluse.

Having made peace with her apparition, she lives the rest of her life and on her death bed, the apparition comes to her and it is revealed that the apparition is her.

Trivia

• The Great Russian War in 2031, not a single nuclear missile fired
• It never snowed again when the older woman appeared.
• The Fairy Circle is what kept Mad Jack imprisoned.
• semperdistans - latin for always distant

Characters of Interest

Doctor Who - was not in this episode much.

Ruby Sunday - birth date of Christmas Eve. Really carries this episode and we see more of her personality and character as she basically lives her normal life, as normal as it can be with an apparition like stalker, that is.

Roger ap Gwilliam - worst prime minister in Wales history, mad jack

Marti Bridges - a seemingly abused woman in the Albion party for Roger ap Grilliam

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart - makes another appearance, representing UNIT, and certifies to the audience and to Ruby that she is sane.

Analysis

Ruby possesses some sort of power and if you recall, at the end of the first episode Space Babies, the doctor suspects something with her genetic make up and runs a DNA analysis on her, though we never see the results.

We have so far seen this power potentially manifest in two ways:

Snow as a theme - Ruby, towards the end of her life states that it never snowed again at one point. It was also mentioned that it snowed on the night of her birth as well as was snowing when she was dying in Episode 3 Boom. It certainly has some supernatural significance. 

Persistence and limitless travel as she is basically the old apparition that follows her in this episode, able to keep her distance and always be present as well as be hidden in plain side via perception filter or something similar.

The mysterious neighbor who exclaimed It's like she's "never seen a Tardis before?" makes another appearance, admonishing Ruby for using a phone to talk to her mom, she was originally in the episode The Church on Ruby Road.

Lingering Mysteries and unanswered questions

• They are still using the term Mavity, will this be a gag that runs all season but then becomes important in the final episodes?
• Will the wonder of Ruby Sunday's parents be a theme in the show and perhaps spawn episodes dedicated to it?
• Who is the lady who jokes about never seeing a Tardis before in the preseason show?
• Who is the boss that the Meep mentioned in the first episode of the 60th anniversary show?
• Who is the one player that the toymaker dares not challenege?
• What legions are coming that the toymaker refers to?
• Will we see the Master again this season?
• The Doctor and Ruby were able to think their thoughts into existence. Was this the result of the parthenogenesis machine or something inherent to them?
• What is the significance of the Snow coming and staying still in mid air?