It had a great setup and it worked really well until the end when nothing was explained. You can't just string a load of events together without at least some explanation or meaning behind it all otherwise it is just meaningless actions. For example where did the doctor go to did he disappear to another location or cease to exist. You can't just have things happen with no consequence reason or explanation that's just poor writing. Rtd sets up good situations but just can't follow them through to the end as others have said.

Easily the most frustrating of this era, but I think the best, too.

My take on it is that Ruby is a Banshee. A spirit of regret made flesh. Of course she would be an abandoned child. Her mother's regret. The song inside her that the Maestro senses is the Banshee's wail. Banshees are associated with cold and fog. Hence the snow. The old woman is basically her final form. At least in one timeline. She probably says something despairing like "Its Ruby's fault that everything you've done will mean nothing in the end...." with some kind of spiritual force to back it up.

Very enjoyable episode but the more I think about it, the more it frustrates me. It opens well and those first fifteen minutes or so are strong enough to make me want to see a whole episode focused on the pub. The Albion section makes me want to see a whole episode with Aneurin Barnard. Perhaps it could have been a two-parter. The final act, whilst having those wonderful horror-like images of old Ruby being visited up close in her bed, simply doesn't hold up or make any sense whatsoever. Now I'm aware there's a possibility that the season finale might help explain things, but right now this feels like an opportunity for a stone-cold classic missed. RTD2 seems to be struggling with endings and this change from sci-fi to fantasy appears to be nothing more than a get-out clause. "Supernatural" doesn't mean "makes no sense".

The hand gestures are honestly the most intriguing part and I NEED to know what that was all about

*I too enjoyed this episode a great deal!* If you've ever felt different, that if people knew the real you, they would run away in horror... That became my interpretation of RTD's musings on the 73 Yards Being who seemed to scare all people away from Ruby throughout the rest of her life.

I think the reason why the producers of Dr. Who Series 14 went through the time, money, and trouble to shoot this episode was because it gives the fans something different relative to the average: Dr. meets mean alien, Dr. discovers alien is about to destroy the race/planet/galaxy/universe, and Dr. has to stop it from happening. 73 Yards, in my opinion is one of the best episodes of the entire franchise. Some might have trouble understanding the episode because they aren't seeing "Mad Jack" as the non-physical entity that it is but rather as an alien up to no good. This later viewpoint does lead to a lot of unanswered questions.... The way I understood it, "Mad Jack" was a supernatural, super-powerful, mysterious entity that truly_does_not_like_it when anyone breaks its fairy circle. It's power, though, is only surpassed by its mystery. This underlying idea really explains everything that happened in the episode. I LOVED IT! 😜

You can see at 9:53 from the screenshot that old Rudy is standing a bit further back behind the leaning tree but wasn’t the mystery woman standing directly under it?

Actually really liked it loved the creepy vibe & thought it was really well written & great acting by Millie. I need to watch it again though because lots was shot in my hometown & it takes me out of the episodes

I enjoyed it, quite spooky.

I absolutely loved this one!!!

Really good episode, and very cool to have it be a Doctor-lite one to showcase Ruby. Can’t help but love a spoopy ep!

I think the old woman is not Ruby, it's her Mum. Listen to the words she says at the end, “I’m sorry I took so long… what else could I do?… I was so young”. It's an apology for her abandoning of her.

Great episode loving the new season creepy fun ❤❤❤👍👍

well, I had no idea what was going on and it was wayyyyy over my head... what happened to the doctor? what was the old lady doing with her hands? what did she say to everyone to make them freak out and never ever talk to her again.... such a confusing episode

The Doctor has no agency this season. He is clueless and keeps stepping on "butterflies" despite making a big fuss about it in the opening episode, and he is always needing someone else to save the day.

Good episode - and Millie did well.....but I missed The Doctor !!

Absolutely magnificent. Ruby is followed by a harbinger of her pre-destined lonely doom, who at the same time is her only ally to vanquish evil, as all the others have been removed and it is at the same time, herself. To stop Mad Jack, Ruby was cursed to live a lonely life where that was the only focus she was allowed. No friends, no family, no Doctor, isolated as she was outside the Church as a child. Older Ruby stands, as RTD says in Unleashed, just the right distance to see them, but not make out their facial features. Why? So Ruby cannot recognise that it is herself. Not following but actually guiding her path towards Albion. People are hung up on what older Ruby said. It’s not “what” she said. It’s “why”. They’ve completely missed the point. Older Ruby removes distractions and comfort so she can allow herself to do nothing other than become the saviour of the world, eliminating what would otherwise be a dark timeline that the Doctor caused by releasing Mad Jack. Sacrificing herself for the greater good, much like Donna in Turn Left. How Ruby was able to do all this is unclear but I believe when Mad Jack was released, Older Ruby was there, making her destiny fixed until things are put right, at which point she can thereafter prevent it ever occurring in the first place. This could be the influence of the supernatural or the universe itself, or perhaps this is tied to the larger picture of who or more aptly what, Ruby exactly is. Roger Ap Gwilliam still exists, but is no longer Mad Jack, the destroyer of worlds. This is just my interpretation. It’s beautiful that it leaves just enough to speculate. A story I’m sure many will discuss in years to come. One of my favourites ever, as a fan of open and creative classic horror. Though this really wasn’t a horror story, it was a clever red herring. It was actually a beautiful, profound story about loneliness but also companionship, independence, agency and finding peace with your reality. 10/10.

Loved it. I was also not bothered by the unanswered questions. They just add to the mystique.

It was awesome

No one is mentioning the entire part when the Doctor mentions the word 26 at the beginning. This is supposedly when he says Roger ap Gwilliam and cuts himself off. So somehow he knows about this, Ruby does not, because it is 2 years in the future, I assume this episode takes place in 2024? I am thinking this episode is supposed to be more about Ruby as the older woman then the younger Ruby. The events can not be changed until Ruby dies and the episode is taking place just before Ruby actually dies. It is obvious that the Doctor is taking older Ruby back in time to warn various other people just by happenstance and the main one she needs to warn is Kate. How else is this Older Ruby able to be in a spot at a instant notice, throughout time....Time and space none the less. For some reason yet to be explained the Doctor and older Ruby know younger Ruby must go through this torture to correct or change events to save the universe. BUT...what if it is the Next doctor, 16, that is taking Ruby back in time to fix the death of Doctor 15 and what has transpired to cause his death? Nothing in the books that says we can't have an episode, maybe once the 15th Doctor dies in season 2, a new 16th Doctor comes in for an episode or 2 and corrects events that have caused the demise of the 15th Doctor? I mean they are rewriting lore here, so???

Loved this episode… but did anyone else figure out the woman was older Ruby at the beginning?

So far I feel that we haven’t had a Grand moment of completion in a story featuring the doctor. I’m more interested in ruby and who she is in the series. Which is upsetting as I still hope gatwas portrayal truly shows us a genius level doctor rather than this clumsy figure we’ve had the past few episodes. Still a lot of potential to tap into though so far a much better season compared to the last incarnation

Spooky, scary and very RTD

It's old ruby what! SU garden

Did ruby get a restraining order against herself, she said her mum got one againt her?

I just rewatched it, and it was BRILLIANT... right up until the last 3 minutes. The woman being Ruby makes the entire episode fall apart. How? Why? Regardless of what she said to everyone, why on earth would Ruby intentionally make everyone abandon her throughout her life? And how did she gain the teleportation/non-aging powers? It's impossible to reconcile the woman's actions with her identity. Also has anyone figured out why the Doctor disappeared? Makes no sense!!

Space babies was one of the worst episodes ever. Devil's chord could have been good but was just badly executed and the musical number destroyed it. Boom was just above average but lots of questions, and the doctor was a complete pathetic wimp in it. 73 yd could have been good in fact most of it set up was really good but the final reveal did not reveal anything and made absolutely no sense really. This was definitely style over no substance. For starters where does the doctor go to and how and why. You can't just make things happen beautifully and scarily without there being a meaning behind it. It's fur coat and no knickers. I'm not really sure what the whole point of the story is apart from exploring abandonment but it's done actually realistically really really badly story wise. Maybe it will be explained later in the series? How did this old rwby time travel through her own timestream where an earth did she suddenly get the ability in power to do that and why stand 73 yards away from herself? Why scare away people close to her. None of this made sense and lots of people don't seem to care. But I think that's because we are in a time where the look is more important than the actual content and meaning.

Best episode so far, loved it 11/10

Really enjoyed it overall, a very mature and bold episode. Only thing I didn't appreciate was how poorly handled the sexual assault subplot was, made me quite uncomfortable actually.

This is the edge-of-my-seat Doctor Who I have been craving. RTD did a great job writing this one. This episode really is my favorite so far.

This episode was literally hot trash.

Were you paid for this?

I have to say I have enjoyed a seriously good laugh at the pretentious, up their own arse, self defined intellectual explainations for this piece of garbage. The old woman is Ruby, no it's her mother. Ruby's abandonment, is haunting (well only if during the previous piss poor episodes you actually came to give a rat's ass about her), the self sacrifice like Turn Left (already done, and a damn site better), the worst Prime Minister if you forget the Master.... A quick statement from Marty and this proves the PM was a monster who abused? This PM was not a character, only a cypher, like just about every other so called character in this example of how not to weite for TV. Stringing together a number of teopes, all done to death before does not grey TV make !!! The salt previously introduced freed superstition to be real. The utter lack of any real character development or depth of relationship between Ruby and the Dr, but acting as if a lengthy developed relationship does actually exsist. 6 months of an entire life overshines 60 years lived. Utter and complete crap, the writing is appalling, to call it a great piece of television is a joke of epic proportions. To call it a Dr Who episode is disrespect of what has gone before, of the highest order.....

Proof the show is better without the annoying Doctor.