I feel like the mystery woman found a way to use the perception filter malarkey to make people run from her so they didn't realize it was her. It might have blown the gaff if someone recognized her. Her own person Watcher.
Spoilers 73 Yards grade and discussion thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
RTD says we will never know what the old lady was saying
https://twitter.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1794166834587172996
https://twitter.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1794166834587172996
Putting big glasses and a wig on a 20 year old doesn't make them look like a 40 year old.
I enjoyed most of it, I thought Millie did a very good job carrying the episode. The part where she defeate the "I just want to nuke someone" PM using her knowledge of Scary Woman was very satisfying. The line "don't worry, I always end up alone" (or whatever it was) when she was 85 really hit me. But I was hoping for something more satisfying when Scary Woman finally approached Old Ruby. Something that would make a bit of sense of everything that happened. But we got nothing. And I'm sure it'll make a bit more sense after the finale, but for now I have to judge it as an episode in its own right and I don't think it holds up, sadly.
I enjoyed most of it, I thought Millie did a very good job carrying the episode. The part where she defeate the "I just want to nuke someone" PM using her knowledge of Scary Woman was very satisfying. The line "don't worry, I always end up alone" (or whatever it was) when she was 85 really hit me. But I was hoping for something more satisfying when Scary Woman finally approached Old Ruby. Something that would make a bit of sense of everything that happened. But we got nothing. And I'm sure it'll make a bit more sense after the finale, but for now I have to judge it as an episode in its own right and I don't think it holds up, sadly.
That's because he doesn't know either. And there's logically nothing she could've said to the Mom that would've made her run away like that. At most, she would've told Ruby what she said and asked her to explain it. The same with UNIT, a group of trained professionals. Even if they bought into whatever she said, they'd question Ruby.
I don't have an issue with not knowing what she said. In fact, that's the one mystery I don't want an answer for.
I'm just stuck on the point of the episode. I loved eerie atmosphere of the first half and people losing their shit after talking to her. Even the deeply unsettling nature of both Carla and Kate reacting the way they do was fantastic.
But the combination of the lack of effort of making Ruby look older, the very vague nature of Gwilliam, and the reveal that no one remembered this alternate future made the second half of the episode land very flat for me.
I'm just stuck on the point of the episode. I loved eerie atmosphere of the first half and people losing their shit after talking to her. Even the deeply unsettling nature of both Carla and Kate reacting the way they do was fantastic.
But the combination of the lack of effort of making Ruby look older, the very vague nature of Gwilliam, and the reveal that no one remembered this alternate future made the second half of the episode land very flat for me.
Showrunners/writers really need to stop doing 'Doctor Lite' episodes because they almost never work.
Yes, I know that those types of episodes get made for real-world production reasons, but they're still not very good episodes more often than not.
Yes, I know that those types of episodes get made for real-world production reasons, but they're still not very good episodes more often than not.
Hard disagree. The mere absence of The Doctor isn't why such an episode doesn't work, rather it's the writing itself. "Turn Left" and "Blink" are fantastically written while "Love & Monsters" is decidedly not.
And that I find one of my bug bears from the OG RTD era (in things never getting an explanation/leaving up to audience interpretation).
I just find it lazy writing.
If that was my only issue with the episode, I could overlook it. But, it's not.
Also, making it worse is that it's impossible. She just couldn't have said anything having such a strong effect on such a wide range of people so quickly. Maybe a stranger like the hiker. But not her Mom, or a professional like Kate. Perhaps, there's an additional explanation, such as magic powers or something. But the episode is already overloaded with unexplained magical powers and stuff. So, I'd be hesitant to add one more!
I guess my frustration is more that something like that was built into the plot as the solution when it seems like RTD didn't give it much thought. Such a major plot point is just
. If it was a side thing it would be easier to overlook.And, why would Mad Jack resign as PM by talking to Distant Ruby? The effect on others was that they avoided Ruby like the plague. Wouldn't Mad Jack just exclude her from his campaign? The whole thing really doesn't make sense.
I do agree that given it was all undone, there doesn't seem to be much of a point.
I'm right there with you. Not knowing what the old woman said would be a much more impactful brain teaser if the script for the rest of the episode made any kind of sense. As it is, it's just one more bit of messiness in a messy episode, and I just don't care what she said.
In the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, they have that machine which shows you the entire universe, and then explains to you how irrelevant you are in comparison to infinite space and infinite life, until your ego pops like a grape.
Ruby was the only person that mattered, and everyone else who thought that they were alive, were fake, and only there to temporarily support Ruby come to a bog standard unamazing epiphany that grave bothering is wrong, so every time she rang her mum who was far away Mrs Sunday was partially drawn back into existence as a voice on the phone, and not a real person any where that was real, with a face or feet.
I think that the universe only extended 73 yards from Ruby. Anything beyond that was an optical illusion, or back story that didn't actually have to physically play out to be added to the worldstory.
Ruby was the only person that mattered, and everyone else who thought that they were alive, were fake, and only there to temporarily support Ruby come to a bog standard unamazing epiphany that grave bothering is wrong, so every time she rang her mum who was far away Mrs Sunday was partially drawn back into existence as a voice on the phone, and not a real person any where that was real, with a face or feet.
I think that the universe only extended 73 yards from Ruby. Anything beyond that was an optical illusion, or back story that didn't actually have to physically play out to be added to the worldstory.
That might work. That it was Ruby reading the note that put her in a pocket universe, rather than the Doctor being gone etc. like Remember Me in TNG (which this episode clearly lifted a fair bit from too, arguably)
I think its just a matter of fact that, these days, 40 year olds do look younger in their 40's than they used to. The age limit has moved up after all, and it makes sense that younger people will look young for longer periods of time as it goes on. So really, a non-existant irk to have.
If Blink and Turn Left didn't exist, I'd agree. However, they do exist. And the former is consistently ranked as one of the show's best, if not the best ever.
"Don't you think she looks tired?'
Honestly, the thing that took me out of the age makeup was that either Ruby is very committed to current fashion trends, or she really does have a scar on her eyebrow. Though I did briefly consider, after Kate’s remark about Ruby being the locus of the timeline they were in, that she just wasn’t aging. That got disproven.
It's a scar.
From an interview back during her Corrie days:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/14952982/coronation-street-millie-gibson-kelly-eyebrow/
I enjoyed the episode even though it was a giant reset and made not one whit of sense. The nods to the movies An American Werewolf in London and The Dead Zone were obvious as was the character based on Dafydd from Little Britain.
I also experienced another Mandela effect as in my previous timeline, Siân Phillips died two years ago. It's heartening to see she's still around in this one. This also happened for Bill Beaumont and the Duchess of Kent, but not Nelson Mandela, oddly enough.
I also experienced another Mandela effect as in my previous timeline, Siân Phillips died two years ago. It's heartening to see she's still around in this one. This also happened for Bill Beaumont and the Duchess of Kent, but not Nelson Mandela, oddly enough.
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Blink is, speaking honestly, an average episode that the rest of the fandom treats like some holy trail masterpiece when it's not.
Turn Left is honestly the only 'Doctor Lite' episode that works, but it works only because it focuses on Donna and her family and gives us as audiences a reason to care about it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much better than Blink.
Love and Monsters is bad because it doesn't give us a reason to give two shits about its characters.
73 Yards fails because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever despite being focused on Ruby.
So, I stand by what I said: 'Doctor Lite' episodes almost never work and showrunners/writers should stop making them.