In true Russell T Davis tradition he makes the next to next to last episode a lighthearted one before hitting us over the head with a gripping finale. This penultimate episode ends on a thrilling cliffhanger.
The episode opens with the Doctor landing the Tardis in UNIT and asks UNIT to work on a mystery for him, why is there a woman ever present wherever he goes? They identify her on Earth as Susan Triad and he begins to wonder if it is his granddaughter. Additionally, he decides to try to track down the origin of Ruby's mother, by using a CCTV footage of Ruby Road on Dec 24, 2004. The Time Window machine is able to show in hologram form, the whole scene and the Doctor comments that he keeps remembering it differently suggesting that time keeps being rewritten even though he refers to it as a fixed point.
When Susan Triad makes her speech live to the world, it is at this time that Sutekh, the God of Death makes his entrance and threatens to destroy the known universe. At this point the show ends on a cliffhanger.
Members of Unit
- Vlinx
- Harriet, Head of the archive, Arbinger -
- Morris Gibbons, UNIT Scientific Advisor - Thirteen years old, accelerated genius, thanks to a passing asteroid. Easily my favorite character of Unit, he represents a geeky lovable nerd from a bygone era.
- Mel
- Colonel Ibrahim
The different faces of Susan Triad
- Comms officer in a planet called Pacifico Del Rio
- Penny Pepper-Bean in Finetime
- Ambulance
- Portrait in 1813
- Planet Sloog, she's a sloogma
- Planet Varsitay, she's a Griffin
- Fivefold configuration she is a bleet
Introduction of Sutekh
He is hidden in the howling void. He has hidden within the tempest. He has braved the storm and the darkness and the pain. And he whispered tot he vessel. All this time he has whispered and delighted and seduced, and the vessel did obey, for none shall be more might and none shall be more wise than the king Himself. And the Lord of Time was blind and vain and knew nothing.
Trivia
Apparently this is a direct reference and homage to the Pyramid of Mars episode of Doctor who in the 1970s.
The Time Window is a method to show slivers of the past based, using most of the nuclear power of Europe to generate a small image.
List of Gods in Doctor Who
- The Toymaker, the god of games
- Trickster, the god of traps
- Maestro, the god of music
- Reprobate, the god of spite
- The Mara, the god of beasts
- the threefold diety, of malice and mischief and misery
- There are gods of skin and shame and secrets
- There is Incensor, the god of diaster and her children doubt and dread
- The mother and father and other of them all, and its name is many: Set, Seth, Setekh, Sutekh, the God of Death
Analysis
It appears the birth and parents of Ruby Sunday are central to the invasion of the Gods and what is strange is that every single one of these gods are bent on destroying the universe, not a single beneficent God.
The introduction of Sutekh where it speaks of the vessel obeying, could it be that Sutekh was sending the Tardis to all the needed places to complete a summoning of Sutekh to the universe sine the night Ruby Sunday was born?
The Doctor does not seem to be puzzled or the least bit alarmed that Ruby inadvertently makes it snow.
Is Ruby Sunday an unknowing God?
DNA analysis seems to be employed several times in this show. I wonder if it can figure into the finale, especially since we never get the final readout on Ruby Sunday in the space babies episode.
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? Mrs. Flood
- 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 challenge?
- 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?
- Will we ever see Rogue again?
- Is Mrs. Flood a god? If so, which?