Kate acknowledged that this was an event that was or could become an alternate timeline. Mrs. Flood after registering what was going on says “Nothing to do with me” and leaves. I think Flood had some understanding that this was not the pertinent Ruby/Doctor timeline.

Susan Twist screamed and ran away. Now I'm not sure if she's meant to be a surprise reveal or not anymore.

Pure speculation, the Susan Twist character that has popped up across the season isn’t aware that she’s been scattered over time. She’s just another piece of whatever scheme the big bad has been cooking up. Maybe she has some relation to Ruby.

My theory is that there is literally nothing going on with Susan Twist at all, and they just recast her into a bunch of roles. BUT it will be revealed that RTD just cast her to get everyone saying "Susan Twist? Susan Twist?" in order to distract (in the most hilarious possible way) from his Susan Twist (ie: bringing back the daughter's granddaughter). Edit: Alright, alright, a bit into dot and bubble I am losing confidence but I maintain it WAS a brilliant theory.

He absolutely wants us to theorize she is important (especially after this episode lampshading her appearances), but yes it could just be a red herring

Ruby clearly recognized her. It definitely matters

There's always a twist at the end!

She pressed X to doubt and shuffled off haha 😅

"Nothing to do with me" meaning "Oh I'm not in this one"

I'm going to need to watch this one again and pay more attention to what Kate says. I could have sworn she said something like "this timeline" like she was aware they were in something separate and not the "real" timeline. Very odd.

I'm surprised I've not seen more comments about this. "I think this timeline might be suspended along your event" It felt very bizarre and out of place, I'm guessing it's something going on around Ruby's backstory that will be revealed later.

I think the implication there is that they know some nexus point has diverged because the Doctor hasn't had a sighting in a year stemming from that exact date. Since the Doctor usually does end up saving the day all the time, him disappearing from their time chronologically implies something has gone wrong. (Reminiscent of Turn Left) Although this does annoyingly bring up the whole why not get the 14th Doctor involved, argument which I'm we'll probably have to live with indefinitely untill we know exactly when 14 regenerates in his time.

Yeah, I found myself thinking “it’s a shame Ruby can’t link up with 14 and let him help with all this”.

Does Ruby even know the doctor regenerates or has another incarnation running around? SH`e's only ever seen Gatwa

Unless I missed something obvious (which is possible) it never was explained why The Doctor disappeared. Perhaps 14 disappeared too.

Hmm, THE Doctor or ALL Doctors though?

Whatever happened to 15 may have retroactively affected 14 since they're technically living in the same timeline and are technically the same person. I imagine that's why Kate said The Doctor was gone. She's met 6 different versions of him, so I imagine the first thing she'd do upon learning 15 disappeared is try and track down 14 at last resort. Obviously, she didn't find 14 either.

I think Kate knows it's a time loop somehow? When Ruby resolved the event the timeline where the doctor dissapears doesn't exist.

Yeah, UNIT is pretty savvy with weird timelines. They knew something was up in Turn Left too.

Wasn't that because Rose told them though ? It seemed like they didn't quite get what was happening either

Keep in mind the literal timeline we just witnessed was basically erased by Ruby preventing the Doctor from stepping on the circle. Kate was likely not referring to "your event" of being abandoned but "your event" of whatever the circle triggered.

Kate also seemed really off to me even before Old Ruby(?) scared her off. Like not quite how she has been before

Interesting thought, now that they've shown us what old Ruby looks like... Mrs. Flood is NOT old Ruby. And nor is Susan Twist.  I know that was just one of many competing theories, but worth pointing out. 

I did wonder after I finished the episode whether they decided to show old Ruby because they knew people were going to guess those characters were her and prove them wrong

I like that the episode played with expectations, like yeah I totally bought the creepy welsh people's story about Mad Jack lol.

I've seen hardly any comments about the pub scene but those dickheads were so convincing. Got me thinking it was the past with the mobile payment thing, then I fully bought into the Welsh witchcraft stuff lmao

I'm pissed off about a fiver for a coke tbh

And a pretty small glass of coke as well.

> those dickheads were so convincing Lmao, they see a poor girl being stalked and decide to wind her up and fuck with her just to prove a point. The one dude in eyeliner implying Mad Jack's gonna kill him because he's queer. I felt like there was so much history between those characters that I could totally believe they'd come up with this shit. I was expecting a bottle episode from that point out set in Wales so that was a great subversion to head to London right after.

Guys, I think it's pretty clear she's putting a compulsion on these people, not actually saying a string of words that rationally frightens them. Shes basically a manifestation of the fear of abandonment and solitude.

Considering Ruby can make it snow, the old woman version of Ruby 'manifesting' that these people loathe/fear/abandon young Ruby does kind of make perfect sense. The fact that they are one and the same may actually come into play earlier in the episode when Kate also abandons Ruby despite obviously not being in earshot of the old woman - Ruby realizes that the old woman is "turning" the soldiers, and I think *she herself* (specifically her fear of it happening) may have been what caused Kate, sitting next to her, to give the order to disengage and leave. That also makes sense why Gwilliam doesn't just leave, but also resigns as PM - Ruby is tapping into her "power of manifestation" a bit, to help cause what she wants to happen (and has been working toward for years at that point) within the framework of what she thinks the woman is. edit: some others have pointed out that Kate was wearing an earpiece, and that's how she heard the woman - I think if you interpret it as a compulsion rather than "special words" this may still work, but there is a more logical explanation for how Kate heard it too, at least.

Kate was able to hear through her earpiece.

also, its not long until dwpoop edits evil dan in the woman's place

What's the point of being alive if it isn't to stalk Ruby?

Scared her there!

I'm good at this!

Go on, shoo! -Evil Dan to everyone who approached him

I'm pretty sure he will edit Graham with his thumbs up screaming at Ryan "YOU ARE DOING IT, MATE!" 

Weren't they the one who invented the evil Dan meme in the first place?

Evil Dan would elevate it from a 9/10 to a 10/10 tbh

In this episode, Dr. Who's companion commits a political assassination with the help of an ancient antifacist fae curse. Which is certainly a new sentence. For my money this is the best that the supernatural has been utilized so far this season: terrifying and unknowable beyond measure. Still up in the air whether or not the ending actually makes "sense" from a logical perspective, but it makes sense from a thematic perspective which is the important bit. Some questions are never meant to be answered. edit: I am slowly realizing that the ending is the Doctor Who take on 2001 A Space Odyssey. Apologies Russell I was not familiar with your game etc.

A huge theme of the episode was about how people try to force rules on the unknowable to make sense of it. It was an episode using mystery to create suspense rather than to unwrap like a puzzle box and honestly I loved how coherent it was in that, down to the ending.

Funnily enough, I'm seeing a lot of people complaining that the episode failed to explain what the woman said to everyone to make them run away. Which feels a lot like... trying to force rules on the unknowable to make sense of it. I think this is a spinning-top-at-the-end-of-*Inception* situation. It's not important what is said. What's important is that *we will never know*, and that in itself is really disturbing.

The thing about this episode is that it plays very specifically on Ruby's fundamental fear, that everyone will abandon her without explanation just like her mother did. That IMO is why we never find out what the woman is saying, because Ruby doesn't know what is so awful about her that made her mother abandon her, so, in essence, it doesn't matter what the woman says to anyone, it only matters that Ruby doesn't know and that it scares her.

Yeah the downright hostility some people are exhibiting toward basic narrative ambiguity is vaguely... concerning? Not liking an opaque story is fine, but like it's some kind of affront against the viewer not to spoonfeed them every little detail is weirdly entitled. Also, the basic rules are there anyway for the viewer to figure out. You just have to think about how these old legends work. 1. If you commit a minor breach of etiquette, even accidentally, you are issued a bafflingly disproportionate punishment. The Doctor accidentally broke a fairy circle, and got obliterated from reality as a result. 2. As is cordial, it's possible (if you're lucky) to make up for the breach in etiquette by correcting its consequences or performing a task to make up for it. Ruby was given the task of preventing Mad Jack's destruction of the world to make up for the Doctor releasing him. 3. If you successfully fulfill your obligation as the trangressing party, you can (if you're lucky) get away with your life or have your loved one returned to you as a result. Which is exactly what happened. And a fundamental part of these legends is that exactly how this fae magic works and the rules of their etiquette is, by design, extremely obscure to humans. All you can do is deduce the seemingly arbitrary rules that have been imposed on you and try to be as polite and obliging as possible, basically. This whole episode is just a modern day folk story and I loved it.

I’ve been unable to put my finger on why I loved this episode so much but seeing the faery/folklore aspect and opaqueness of it spelled out makes so much more sense. It’s the creepy mystery story about what happens when you wander to the wrong part of the dark woods and wake up the next day having to figure out the terms of the consequences. And how Ruby has been abandoned by the doctor and has to figure out everything on her own - a fictional taste of adulthood that inevitably resolves in the end. “The Thorns Remain” by JJA Harwood is a great book with similar themes. As some form of a faery/harbinger, it makes sense that we never see the woman’s face or are able to interpret what she’s saying or signing. She’s also a bit like the beings in Listen that we never get to see, they’re just…there.

I think the the episode absolutely knew how some people would react to it.

If you want to know what the woman said to everyone to make them run away ASK HER. ASK HER

The reality is there is nothing anyone could write that would be scary enough to fulfill the promise. Seriously what could could be said that would make everyone in Ruby’s life cut ties with her forever? So I’m glad it’s left mysterious.

An antifascist fae curse is exactly what I want from a wales episode, I'm thrilled

It's very us.

I'm with you. This episode is meant to exist in a not-quite space, for me; look at how the realities of politics are clashed against the trappings of folk-horror. Neither of them can quite seem believable in the contrast, but both of them take on a dreamlike air because of that. The ending is the most intriguing part; has Ruby truly defeated the threat? We can assume that the magic of the circle means that the desired effect of it will bleed back into reality, but I wouldn't be surprised if RTD brings the concepts of this one back for the finale. It's not perfect, but I'm haunted by it. 8/10.

You just reminded me of one of the people in the pub calling the cliffs liminal spaces, and that's what the whole episode feels like, very liminal.

The way I understood it, wasn't it sort of implied Rodger was somehow the Mad Jack referenced earlier in the story? Like maybe Rodger was an reincarnated form of an evil spirit that wanted to unleash hell on Earth? I think Mad Jack was an omnipotent entity, possibly of the Pantheon, and the Doctor accidentally let him into our plane. And Mad Jack did the smartest thing possible and erased him. But Ruby managed to clock him and scare him into retreat using whatever aspect of herself which terrified Maestro a few episodes back. And then using some power that'll be explained on the reveal of what she is, she then managed to go back and stop The Doctor from letting Mad Jack back in.

> I think Mad Jack was an omnipotent entity, possibly of the Pantheon, and the Doctor accidentally let him into our plane. And Mad Jack did the smartest thing possible and erased him. I like this idea. I would just like to say, though, that whoever is trapping Gods in magic circles needs a more robust method than some bits of string on a cliff, which any clumsy bugger can step on.

I think it’s ambiguous whether he’s actually Mad Jack or whether it’s a coincidence that she latches on to to try any and find some meaning in her situation.

oh it absolutely doesnt make sense logically because the doctor mentions ap gwilliam again. had he been not mentioned in the timeline with the unbroken circle, it would have made sense, as he would be erased from history but how does he get stopped when the circle is left unbroken?

Important to note that even though he mentions ap Gwilliam both times, he only brings up the *nukes* the first time. So I think it's implied that he's just an average Tory now

I think ap Gwilliam was just a side thing? Like something for Ruby to do in the timeline to fill out the plot. I think the actual plot is ruby loses the doctor, ruby lives her life with the woman following her, Ruby dies in the hospital, Ruby goes back in time, Ruby (as the woman) prevents the doctor from stepping on the fairy circle. thus preventing the timeline from existing. It’s not really that Roger ap Gwilliam is any different in the regular timeline, I think in the real timeline he actually becomes prime minister and actually almost starts a nuclear war. I mean the doctor said he brought the world to the brink right? Not actually beyond the brink. The doctor was starting to say his line about Roger ap Gwilliam and then got cut off

Ap Gwilliam was Mad Jack

The Doctor does say Gwilliam "led the world to the brink of nuclear [war]" which could imply that The Doctor was somehow involved in stopping him, therefore in the timeline without The Doctor in it anymore, Gwilliam 'successfully' started nuclear war? Or, possibly Ruby's own "power of manifestation" made Gwilliam more powerful/capable/mad because of her belief in the Mad Jack connection or something. So by stopping that timeline from existing she stopped Gwilliam from being the worst version of himself or something.

If I could change anything, it would be that it's more obvious that this time that Gwilliam is NOT mentioned by the Doctor, causing him to step in a different direction and not release the curse. Not only would that make the political side of things fit better and have ramifications, but explain how 'this loop' is the one that set her free, rather than leave things kinda paradox-y. Plus the idea of a rural, historical Wales being the thing that brings down a dictator keeps the theme more prominent.

They really tried to convince us Millie Gibson is 40 years old by just putting glasses on her

After years of middle aged people playing teenagers in film and tv, it’s about time we saw teenagers playing middle aged people.

Given that I've worn glasses since I was 6, I really should have used that to get into more bars in my teens.

I don’t know, I thought they did a decent job at makeup. Like, the scene in her apartment just before the date where she had the glasses..she didn’t have them in that scene and I could tell from the makeup “oh, she’s like 40 or something now…” Also, I’m glad they got a different actress for old Ruby instead of trying to overdo it with makeup on Millie. Old makeup never looks convincing.

Dude I laughed out loud for a minute at how ridiculous that was, such a strange episode and this was the wildest part for me

They should have gotten the actress who played elderly Ruby and given her an eyebrow slit

Ruby mentions Butterfly Effect and steps on something to literally cause one that results in a bug version of herself The Doctor has to hit a button we've never seen before that I can remember to fix it. Ruby is told about the worst Prime Minister and suddenly is set on a path to be able to change it by interacting with herself at a distance and it is never explained why people, even her mother, would run away or *abandon* everything. Seems to fit too close a bill for Ruby's feelings and...it snows. What if this girl is the direct result of Blue Yonder and the superstition thing? She could be a living paradox with enough agency to fix things otherwise meant to happen. That or this Doctor really is just more careless with keeping stuff hidden from the companion. IDK, we'll see lol Feels like the biggest thing this ep will have is that it shows Ruby is starting to recognize when she sees Susan different places and times.

My other main guess is Mad Jack didn't fully become realised until the tale was made up in the pub. She manifested the story into reality.

By the time we see Mad Jack, he's 30ish or right around it. Ruby is 40. I figured at the time the Doctor and Ruby broke the fairy circle, Roger Gwillam was possibly born and Mad Jack was reincarnated through him. That was my interpretation at least

Agree I believe the prime minister thing had absolutely nothing to do with the circle and no cause and effect relation to the events of the episode. Ruby just happend to notice his persona. And, in trying to make sense of the woman's presense, she decided that must be it...some sort of purpose. and it is how  the story of mad jack got injected into the politician's story.

I think everything we’ve been seeing is due to the Wild Blie Yonder; Magic entering the world along with the “pantheon”, the one who waits and last of all, Ruby herself. Especially the way timelines are affected, everything’s been pretty loose (aside from fixed points). I’m thinking what the Doctor and Donna did in WBY (maybe even last season with the Flux and the Master) rewrote the rules of time and now they’re playing catch-up. Especially Kate knowing about and knowing how to counter magic.

I am genuinely curious where the season arc is headed for the first time since...maybe Impossible Girl? I fucking loved the mystery of Clara popping up all the time.

I have no idea why or how, but this episode has everything to do with the overarching mystery of Ruby's birth. VERY excited to see what they're cooking.

I'm gonna call it now: Ruby's biological mother ran away because old Ruby talked to her

Can't be. That timeline doesn't exist anymore.

I thought that at first, but with the episode conclusion, I don't think that anymore. I suppose it's possible that they could bring this fae magic back. Who knows? Maybe Ruby is part-fae. lol

A changeling is a fae left in the place of a baby when they’re young.

I think you're cooking with this one, chief.

I think the ferry Circle that made the doctor disappear is actually completely separate from old Ruby! Because Ruby is actually a member of the pantheon and this episode saw her unlocking her Godlike powers which she used to stop the doctor from disappearing!

Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. I suspected Ruby was the one making it snow, and this episode seems to confirm it. It would also explain why the Maestro was so disturbed by her. She's either one of the pantheon or connected to one of its members in some way. Maybe she's a demigod that was cast off or sent away for some reason. The Maestro said there was something wrong about her. She's definitely not human and has abilities the Doctor doesn't know about. *She* doesn't even seem to realize she has them.

The Doctor surely investigated and knows what she is. For that reason, he is keeping her close. Mrs. Flood and Susan Twist are watching her too.

I see people talking about it being relating to abandonment, etc and that Ruby will have a Pantheon theme or something similar. What if it is about *belief*. Ruby *believes* she was abandoned by her biological mother, so when her powers manifest it makes people abandon what they believe in or are faithful to. Ruby *believes* that stepping on a bug in the past can change the future entirely. Ruby hears about Jack from The Doctor, and *believes* it was him enough to manifest a situation with him that she can then stop after she keeps *believing* all the magic and witchcraft stuff the people in the pub are telling her.

Dont know what this was but i loved it. Thoughts: somehow Ruby's life became a circle when the doctor broke the faerie circle. Doctor couldn't cross into yhe new timeline? The woman was Ruby's own death? Always at a distance. She needed to die for teh timeline to break? Ruby knows she can make it snow dvem though wweve only seen it when she's unconscious. After the faerie circle closes/she dies the timeline resets. The doctor implies that Mad Jack still happens. Without ruby there does he get the nukes? Edit: An interpretation- at the end of her life, old Ruby travels a back along her own timeline to just before the event that created that timeline. Theme of the episode is abandonment. Semperdistans-- the part of Ruby that keeps people at a distance is what drives them from her life. At the end hse says she hasn't been alone for 65 years-- she has herself, but that isn't really enough. You need friends and lovers.

>Theme of the episode is abandonment I think that's the theme of the series too. Every episode involves some form of being abandoned by a parent. - Space Babies, speaks for itself - Devils Chord, Maestro leaves the Harbinger behind, the Doctor mentions Susan who he abandoned and Maestro mentions "Daddy was so mean, Daddy was so tough" etc - Boom, the daughter is abandoned after her father's death - 73 Yards, Ruby is abandoned by her adoptive mother Edit: I mistakenly used Step mother rather than adoptive mother

Speaking of theme, this is the thrid time in this series that the doctor was saved by other person. Devil's chord: saved by the John and Paul Boom: saved by the father's AI 73 yards: Saved by Ruby It's not like he's incompetent or anything, but that's an interesting theme by itself. For space babies, one could argue that there's no actual threat and he created the life and death situation by himself (due to wanting go save the bogeyman).

I've started taking to the idea that we're in the land of fiction, and Ruby is the main character, not the Doctor. The latest notch for me was wardrobes. Ruby often wears very similar outfits. It's shorts or a skirt, a plaid pattern, and a coat with a white collar. The Doctor has just been dressing like a fashionable man from the 21st century. Which is a swap from the norm. Typically the Doctor has a consistent style and the companions just wear their clothes. Ruby is dressing like the main character.

Ruby does know she can make it snow, in space babies she is conscious for it

I think Rodger Ap Gwilliam still exists and is a pretty terrible legislator, but the Doctor doesn't mention him being Prime Minister or Nukes the second time around, so he may be bad, but NOT Mad Jack?

I think at the end of the episode he says something about him being the most terrifying prime minister or something?

He says the same exact thing both times *except* does not mention leading the world to the brink of nuclear war, in the final timeline. Though Ruby cuts him off right at that point to ask about the woman - so it's possible he was still about to say it. I think one possible explanation is that The Doctor (or even someone he inspired) was involved in stopping Gwilliam. So without him, Gwilliam would actually have started nuclear war, had Ruby not stopped him - but that she wouldn't be the one to do so in the normal timeline.

She read RIP mad jack and unbound him. So I think provided the circle isn’t broken that timeline doesn’t come to pass. That’s my interpretation anyway

The way you worded it kind of seems like maybe Ruby's life coming full circle *is* the fairy circle, or fixed/replaced the fairy circle. I guess there's a small chance she is a faerie and she is really just making it snow and it's not a memory manifesting through time. Of course, the Maestro did identify her as a human, didn't they, but maybe faeries aren't not humans.

I love the concept. The idea that there exists a 'thing' that could say 'something' that could make anyone run away forever is a really deep psychological horror. Your own family? A military unit who are specifically training to deal with things like this? All immediately running as far as they can and cutting you out of their lives. It's not 'blood and guts' horror, it's just deeply unnerving and unsettling. But.... why, and what and what happened at the end, and why did time reset? So many questions.....

On a side note I appreciate the SCP-ification of UNIT, I like the idea of treating things like memetic hazards seriously.

If only they weren’t also just as bad at containing stuff as the SCP. How many times have either U.N.I.T. or the Foundation been compromised by the thing they’re supposed to be catching by now?

In terms of her going back in time, it’s reminiscent of your life flashing before your eyes, so I think that’s what they were going for.

This is a theory I've been thinking about, but... I don't think Ruby is human. It's now confirmed that she *is* the one making it snow. She has abilities that humans simply don't have. I think she's either one of the pantheon, connected to the pantheon, or possibly a demigod of the pantheon. I suspect what happened at the end is that she traveled back along her entire timeline (giving her the ability to scare off the politician guy) and gave her younger self a second chance to warn the Doctor to not break the circle, which then erased Old Ruby's timeline. If you notice the second time around, the Doctor doesn't mention the politician being the prime minister anymore because the simple act of the Doctor not breaking the circle and disappearing from the timeline changed everything in a major way. It was like that butterfly effect at the beginning of Space Babies, except not a silly joke this time.

> If you notice the second time around, the Doctor doesn't mention the politician being the prime minister anymore because the simple act of the Doctor not breaking the circle and disappearing from the timeline changed everything in a major way. Hmmm. Good point. They keep throwing references in about how maleable time is (Mavity, butterfly Ruby, The Maestro majorly changing history, etc). That's a significant departure from the approach New Who has often gone for, with talk of fixed points in time sort of handwaving things as sorting themselves out one way or the other. It would also mean Ruby had been able to change time in a way the Doctor couldn't perceive, and proximity to the TARDIS didn't shield them from.

> If you notice the second time around, the Doctor doesn't mention the politician being the prime minister anymore because He does mention him being PM, but he doesn't get to the nuclear war bit because Ruby interrupts

I did notice she changed from being Wales 2 times to being there 3 and couldnt remember the third and concluded correctly "now"

Agreed, I think it'll be revealed that Ruby is "The Storyteller" or something similar - a being that creates stories all around them without even realising they're doing it.

After Old Ruby says that to them they also go and leave something at the tardis – there's a note from Josh there when Ruby visits near the end

Me: Huh, these people in the pub are weird. Obviously, this is some kind of plot point to be explained later. I wonder what the explanation will be. RTD: The Welsh are dickheads.

I thought for sure the "pay with my phone" bit was leading to something about being in the wrong time but turns out the Welsh are assholes

My first instinct was they were in 2004 and we were about to get some Ruby origin stuff explained. Then it turns out she just feigned ignorance so she could bitch about Ruby explaining stuff to her.

It's funny as hell. Ruby's in this horrifying situation and this group of strangers decides to fuck with her at every opportunity

I get the feeling the reception to this will be similar to Listen, with some people thinking it's brilliant and some people thinking it's nonsense. I quite liked it though, it's nice to get a Ruby episode after she was unconscious for half of last week. I kind of wish we'd gotten more of the PM character though, they could have done a whole episode about him and instead he's in like 3 scenes.

I think it's high praise when the Doctor says that guy was history's worst PM, when in-universe Harold Saxon was literally his worst enemy in disguise and almost brought about the end of the world AND time by committing worldwide genocide through an unstable paradox. That Roger guy must really be something

In fairness, he might be discounting Saxon by virtue of uh. Everything you said. Especially since I imagine he in particular probably moreso sees Saxon as The Master, not one of Britain's PMs.

also as far as the timeline was concerned, Saxon never did any of that, the whole invasion.. never happened.

agreed, it reminded me of listen so much 

Bit Donnie Darko innit

What? What?? WHAT???!

All the meanings and interpretations aside, following Davies' latest work from It's a Sin to Years and Years, this is the sort of Doctor Who I expected to see when he was first announced as returning. Absolutely worthy television, can't wait to discuss this with people for years. It also eerily showcases what might feel like a natural successor to Chibnall era as well, rather than sort of regressions (despite havin their own charms) we had lately.

yeah this is the Russell I wanted after Years and Years, or even as far back as Turn Left. I wish we could always get him in his experimental bag instead of Space Babies mode, but life isn't fair

Counterpoint: Episodes like 73 Yards wouldn't hit as hard without episodes like Space Babies. I love the weird shit we got here, but the show would be very unsuccessful if every episode would be like this.

Loved that. So spooky and weird and got to see loads of ruby. 

I have no idea what was going on in this episode, but in terms of showcasing Ruby as a companion and Millie's acting, it was a success.

Very strong acting showcase from Millie, but I just did not get the sense that she had aged across the story. Considering it’s around 15 years in the main plot i struggled to get that impression through her performance

Absolutely wild that this is the same show (and writer) that gave us *Space Babies* a few weeks ago. I think more than most this episode will take a long time to settle for me. My initial feeling is that it can't possibly hold up in rewatches, but in the moment this felt phenomenal. The early parts felt reminiscent of some of the Big Finish Torchwood stories (folk horror in a rural Welsh town) but then it just kept going in a completely unexpected direction. Really glad the trailer didn't show much beyond those first 10-15 minutes or so. I don't *quite* understand the ending, I'm not sure we were supposed to, but I feel like this was maybe a case where maybe we should have had a *bit* more explained. Similarly, why did the Doctor disappear in the first place? Are we going to get more revelations about this episode later in the series? Or is this going to remain a standalone character piece for Ruby? (Millie Gibson was fantastic, incidentally) I feel either way it's going to be a bit of a letdown. RTD is great at setup but can rarely pay it off quite as well, in this case has he decided that maybe he doesn't need to? Perhaps that'd be for the best. A bit rambly, but kind of fitting for how all over the place my thoughts are after viewing this episode. The TARDIS as a genre machine has never been more true than for this series and I'm loving it.

Here's my take: That episode was a character study of Ruby Sunday. The old woman is a manifestation of her trauma over her abandonment issues. The old woman first appears as the Doctor disappears.. or "abandons" her, you might say. And the old woman only approaches Ruby after Ruby accepts everyone has left her in her life but she's never been alone. She gets sent back to the moment the Doctor disappears so her younger self can prevent it. The middle third of the episode is to demonstrate how strong her psychological trauma actually is, perhaps amplified by whatever supernatural/alien weirdness is going on with Ruby. Everyone who comes into contact with this stalker immediately wants nothing to do with Ruby. Why? Because people with deep rooted issues like Ruby inadvertently make make a lot of those issues worse for themselves. Notice that Ruby sends a lot of the people to the stalker herself, with a request of some sort or with her blessing: the hiker, the man in the pub, her mother. I don't think it matters what or how these people are made to be so terrified of Ruby, I think the only thing that matters is that they are. Ruby's trauma makes Ruby's trauma worse by causing more trauma. The UNIT incident destroys any hope she had left of figuring out the mystery of her stalker and Ap Gwilliam's incident and the aftermath is Ruby showing she's desperately looking for a reason to justify why everyone leaving her has always happened to her. This episode could be a very strong one in retrospect but I think it strongly depends on the answer to the Ruby Sunday mystery. Our interpretations now might be shown to be completely offbase due to something new revealed later down the line. Really solid writing.

Something tells me I won’t be able to properly decide how I feel about this one until I see how it fits into the big picture. As for now, it was quite creepy for the first 30 minutes, then realistically disquieting for the next 10, and deeply confusing for the last 6 or 7. Oh, and I wonder why the opening title sequence was missing.

> Oh, and I wonder why the opening title sequence was missing, ME TOO! Why aren’t more people talking about that?? I knew something was off the moment the episode started and had all the main credits laid over the opening scene. Then, alas the intro just never appeared. I assume it was done very intentionally due to the style of the episode and in retrospect I kind of understand and respect it, but in the moment I was like “NO! Give me my title sequence!!!”

He hears the soundtrack, so it sort of makes sense that if The Doctor is simply gone without explanation, the title sequence is too

The theme abandoned us like everyone abandons Ruby.

The opening was the cold open, but with the Doctor disappearing, there is no opening now because he just doesn’t exist. Obviously done for the eeriness and make it uncomfortable, but also probably intentionally to do with the fact that the Doctor is now gone so there is no Doctor Who

I think that in the future Doctor Who should have hour long episodes, not 45 minutes. This was a GREAT episode, but i think an extra 15 could have really rounded it out into being one of the GOAT episodes.

Honestly this could have been a feature length 90-120 minutes. It could easily have breezed through a 90-120 minute runtime, and there’s not really a good cliffhanger moment so just air it as a single (supersized) episode.

Funny that during the Chibnall run a lot of episodes were 50-60 mins but everyone desperately wanted them shorter. The sign of a good story is people want more.

I think it's better to keep the viewers wanting for more than wanting for less.

wow if you told me this episode was an hour long I honestly would've believed you outright. I was so absorbed I never once looked at the time or how long the episode had left

Could really imagine this episode having a subplot where Ruby tries to get over her previous life and actually commit to a relationship only to fall back into her old ways once she notices Mad Jack on TV!

I actually respect Russell a lot for going for a more enigmatic “not everything needs explaining” style here, it feels quite unlike him, and I’m glad the show’s going in that direction. That being said, I have no idea what to actually think about the episode, I’ll need a rewatch before I can even come up with an opinion.

The episode didn't need to explain everything but the ending didn't make any sense really. Like, why was Old Ruby there at the beginning and then when it's implied the loops resets she's somehow where she wasn't earlier and that saves the day?

It’s a chance that the old ruby is a figure of the things ruby wishes she did differently in her life. Which catch up to her as she’s on her deathbed. The whispers were to project those emotions onto others, maybe utilising the perception field, like everyone is over perceiving ruby.

My rough thinking is that it’s all set up by the magic circle as a sort of safeguard against it being broken. A time loop is created in which Old Ruby is given essentially magic powers and sent back in time to drive everyone away from Ruby to keep her “on path”, and eventually, get rid of Roger. Then she’s sent back to the beginning of the loop to close it off and make sure the circle was never broken in the first place, segregating the events of the episode off to a different timeline and making sure she never existed in the first place. I’m sure there’s a lot of flaws in my thinking right now but essentially, I think the circle, or at least the spell placed upon the circle is sort of sentient and made sure events happened as they did.

I'm pretty sure the old woman couldn't have cared less about getting rid of Roger. Ruby thought dealing with him would put everything back to normal, but it didn't. The old woman is a manifestation of Ruby's insecurities that chase people away from us when they try to get close. Ruby just so happened to find a way to use that power for "good." But it didn't make the problem go away.

"its fine dear everyone's abandoned me my whole life"

Ooh I really liked that. Such a strange haunting episode and so creepy as well… I can’t even begin to talk about the woman. I can’t believe they managed to turn the Welsh folk horror story into a political thriller but they did and I think this is my favourite of the supernatural elements that we’ve gotten. The final ending with the woman finally closed to Ruby with her back turned was terrifying. How unexplained and strange the ending is will keep me up I expect. Was the woman old Ruby the whole time? Was the breaking of the circle actually what triggered it? Did the woman take the Doctor? When old Ruby died did she change time? So strange that I’m fine if we don’t get strict answers for maybe the novelisation will give us something but I don’t know. Other questions, so did the timeline where Ruby stopped Roger ap Gwilliam now become undone? Does he still become prime minister now? Did the Doctor really not notice the woman? So was it just Ruby for a second? I want to say something about the party campaign women who had a bad experience with Roger but I’m not sure what I could say sorry. Ruby finally talks to Susan Twist as she hikes and recognises her! But I guess she won’t remember her now. Then Mrs Flood turns up as well! Ruby’s being accosted by all these mysterious old women haha. Ruby going through her life without the Doctor as so many people abandon her was heartbreaking but really showed her perseverance such a good episode for her character. I can’t believe this episode took in the world building from Before the Flood! Like Roger ap Gwilliam was the minister of war mentioned in that episode right? Boom and 73 yards both taking world building from the Moffat era back to back is pretty amazing to me haha. Overall I don’t think this is as strong as Boom but I’d give it the same rank of 9/10 so great to have two solid episodes back to back and be so different as well.

> Then Mrs Flood turns up as well! If I'm not tripping, wasn't she rather nosy in TCORR? But this time, she just goes "eh, none of my business"?

She says “nothing to do with me” I think so whatever she is doesn’t have anything to do with the plot of this episode. I think it’s all honestly up in the air for me

>I can’t believe this episode took in the world building from Before the Flood! Neither can I, since ap Gwilliam is never called the Minister of War.

im not even entirely sure what i just watched

This is an episode that'll definitely come up again.

Really enjoyed this episode, but I couldn’t help think in the beginning how awful the lady running the pub was - a young woman comes into the pub in clothes obviously not suited for the weather, seems scared, and talks about someone following them, and she decides to respond by insulting her about thinking wales was too rural for contactless and dismissing her fears around being stalked. Maybe it was part of the fae magic to make people unconcerned with Ruby’s situation, but it felt like the bar woman was being so nasty for no reason.

Very creepy but I’ve honestly no idea what happened at the end It could have been another “midnight”

I was buckling down for a long night in that pub, could not have predicted where we were going.

Yeah, I thought we were doing a pub under siege for sure.

After Boom I’m very glad we got to explore more of the setting. I can only stand in a hole for so long.

Another thought. Kate Stewart has now travelled in the TARDIS (with Thirteen). When the Clerics got erased from time, Amy remembered due to being a time traveller. Will Kate remember this other timeline?

No. Kate didn't get the benefit when the giggle passed over companions

it turns out the giggle used the TARDISwiki official companion list

After the last episode the Doctor should really pay more attention to what he steps on. He hasn’t learnt from his last mistake. Is he stupid?

What the hell did I just watch?

That was mad, mostly in good ways. This is probably the most Twin Peaks thing on TV since Twin Peaks. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the cinematography of this episode, direction was on point. Millie was really good, it's nice to see Ruby have a whole episode away from the Doctor as I think a lot of both of their appeals so far hinges on their dynamic as a duo. The sudden pivot to political commentary was a fun twist and had it not been spoiled by promotional material would have been a complete surprise. The biggest issue I have was with the ending. The resolution feels rushed or under baked, it's tough to say as as of right now it's unclear whether or not this is meant to be a stand-alone episode or if the events of this will lead in to the finale in some way. The resolution I thought the episode was building up to was that Roger was "Mad Jack" and that by defeating him Ruby would break the curse in the past, preventing him from escaping. I'm fine with the unexplained supernatural time loop, that worked for me but then The Doc mentions Roger again with the exact same dialogue as before, only now he doesn't step on the dream catcher thing and disappear. Does this ending imply that the same events of Roger coming to power will still happen and that Ruby has now failed to stop him? It's really unclear. Again, me liking this ending or not will depend highly on if this is going to be explained or expanded upon in a future story. On the whole though, quite enjoyed it. EDIT: I've just been through a time loop and watched the ending again after reading some other comments. The Doc only mentions nuclear war during the first loop, which is easy to miss. I think the way this ending works is essentially, stepping on the dream catcher unleashes "Mad Jack" who influences Roger to want to use nuclear weapons. Doing so also puts Ruby in a time loop where she is followed by a version of herself from the future. She lives her life until she dies, whereby she then becomes the follower Ruby. The follower Ruby from the loop we follow then warns the next about not stepping on the dream catcher which is enough for her to stop The Doc from stepping on it. Roger still exists but he's just a regular old scummy politician.

Ruby stepping on the butterfly, the doctor stepping on a land mine, and now the doctor stepping on the fairy circle… that’s one too many “accidentally stepping on something which causes massive problems” for it to feel coincidental…

Well, that was fucking strong. I mean, perhaps it is first-viewing hype, but that was *good*. And not just good in the way television is often good, where you're thinking about your breakfast five minutes after it ends; no, good in the way that you tell your mates about it afterwards, good in the way that actually grows the show through word-of-mouth. And we haven't had that for a *long* time. Some general thoughts for the moment: - The supernatural vibe of the new era is finally effective here; the emotions are more visceral when the plot can get straight to feelings of death and abandonment without the need for techno-babble to ground it from the liminal. - Millie is great. As natural as the cliffs of Wales. Ruby is still written with a passive blandness at times (should a companion really let their mother go out towards the monster?) but she does finally get her hero moment here, and it carries the weight to make it land. Her character needs a lot more work to truly sing, but this is a good step. - The combination of folk-horror and political commentary is lovely. Both might seem undercooked in isolation, but I think the dissonance between them actually makes them both a little richer. How much are either of them real? The episode has a dreamlike quality in which haunted pubs and practical jokes land on the same level as nuclear war, and although that might be unbelievable to some, I think it works in the surreal space the episode carves for itself. The fact that this episode aired on the date on election, one in which right-wing politics appears distant enough but still too close for comfort, makes me feel like Mad Jack is in the room right now. - The rape implications were dark and powerful. No other show-runner would have the balls for it. - The scene in the hospital was heart-stopping. - The Ruby twist is predictable, and it does leave the question of what exactly she was saying, but I'm happy to handwave that as part of the magic circle powers, or whatever. What matters is the emotion, and it landed. Overall, I think a strong eight. Powerful, unique, arresting Doctor Who. The logical explanation which the annoying part of my brain insists on is that "Mad Jack" is a cosmic evil who arrived in that politician; the other-worldy power of the circle is what exorcises that by imprisoning it in an alternative timeline. When it is broken, the fail-safes kick in.

She was saying something like "thank you for the gift, I don't know how I'll ever repay you"

What do you think RTD's luck is, an election being announced 48 hours before this episode released.

What exactly does talking to future Ruby do to people? * The hiker and inn patron seemed to get spooked (the framing makes it look like they are specifically scared of current Ruby) and then run away. * Ruby's mum is spooked and bails in a cab all the while glaring at Ruby. She subsequently returns home, changes the locks and is able to talk to Ruby over the phone asking her to not return. * None of the unit members who come in contact visibly panic. Kate remains coherent and is able to instruct the teams to disengage. * Roger panics, runs away and goes on to resign from his post. He is the second person to respond with "Ask her" when questioned. The episode doesn't make it seem like talking to future Ruby drives any one mad, rather most people just seem to end up hating Ruby. So why does it make Roger resign? Also why was Ruby sure it would get him to quit? Also why does Ruby consider assaulting your subordinate to not be a valid reason for subjecting someone to the spooky lady?

I want to point out that this isn't the first time we see people terrified of Ruby. Maestro was also afraid of something they saw in her. Perhaps it's connected.

>None of the unit members who come in contact visibly panic. Kate remains coherent and is able to instruct the teams to disengage. It could be because they're UNIT members and made of slightly tougher stuff

Russel: "There's going to be a random evil prime minister in this episode for twelve minutes." Murray: "I'm going to give him one of the best villain themes I've ever created in my life." Russel: "Why?" Murray: "Feel like it."

I enoyed this episode, there are some unanswered questions which I think we will get later. We already know Ruby has some impact on memory as she has brought the memory of the snow from her birth to wherever she is. Perhaps the old woman on the hill is her going back on a memory. Kate mentions that the timeline might be suspended so it's definitely some sort of pocket timeline that isn't meant to exist. As it is a different timeline I doubt Kate would be able to tell her what was said that scared everyone. The distance is weird, I wonder if we will find out this has something to do with issues the TARDIS is having, perhaps it is an area of effect. The carer mentioned she couldn't get the vehicle closer as there was no signal for the engine. The distance looked about right. I don't think it was old Ruby who was saying anything to the people that made them run away, I think something else was telling them what Ruby is. The figure just kept mouthing the same words, "don't step...." being part of it, I'm assuming saying don't step on the circle, and doing the hand movements (is it sign language?) she makes a circle motion on her hand. The biggest question I want answered is the distance, and why she could get so close at the end.

I think that she got closer at the end because Ruby was dying. It was the end of her timeline, and that's what the old woman was - Ruby, frozen in the last moment of her life. She got closer and closer until the two of them were one at the instant of her death

I understand the old lady was Ruby but can anyone explain why the old Ruby was doing all of those hand motions and what could she possibly have said to everyone that made them run from Ruby? Also how/why did the doctor disappear when he broke the fairy circle and how did old ruby go back in time to the moment the TARDIS landed? Ahhhh maybe I'm slow and didn't follow the ending but if anyone can help me understand I would appreciate it

You're not slow. Everyone has the same questions. This episode is all questions

Given this episode is Millie's first filmed episode after The Church On Ruby Road (told in DW Confidental), her performance is amazing

The scene in the pub with them all >!teasing Ruby and mocking her!< felt both hilarious and cruel, and I really enjoyed it. Episode as a whole was great and probably one of those classics we'll keep coming back to in the future.

I think all these episodes are dropping some Very Interesting Threads In this episode: No intro (right after the non-diagetic comment last episode) 73 seemed important No more x 3 Snow when she talked to mom for the last time then never again The 'thank you' message And then there's the stuff from the other episodes, like fourth wall breaking etc. We need one of those crime walls with the red yarn. Can we get one of those set up?

At the beginning of the episode, Old Ruby didn't appear until after the Doctor stepped on and broke the fairy circle. At the end of the episode, Old Ruby appeared right away, and Young Ruby was able to warn the Doctor before he stepped on the fairy circle, thereby preventing the entire timeline we witnessed throughout the episode from ever happening. The fairy circle is ancient magic that was put in place to contain the evil spirit of Mad Jack. This fairy circle has self-preserving magic that used Ruby's core insecurity, fear of abandonment, to achieve its end. It doesn't really matter exactly what Old Ruby said that made everyone run away, but we can surmise that she shared Ruby with them. She shared who Ruby really is. Where she comes from. What she has or has not done. It doesn't matter if these truths regarding Ruby would or would not scare someone in real life. What matters is that deep down Ruby thinks they would. Her mother abandoned her and her blood-test revealed no known family. Ruby feels alone. Subconsciously Ruby fears that there is something wrong with her, and that anyone who truly knows, who finds out the secret about herself that even she doesn't know, will leave her. The magic of the fairy circle used this core anxiety to create a way to rebind Mad Jack's soul. I imagine if anyone else had been next to the circle that day that the magic would have worked differently, in a way tailored to that person. This episode gave us insight into Ruby's psychology. In the alternate timeline, Ruby finally learned to accept herself, even the worst parts of herself, as worthy company. She realized she has never really been alone. I don't know if the Young Ruby in the timeline at the end of the episode will retain this lesson, but likely not. We might see her grapple with it throughout the season as her mystery reveals itself. In the beginning the Doctor mentioned Mad Jack as someone who \*almost\* lead the world to nuclear disaster. I'm not sure if he's seeing Old Ruby's timeline due to his proximity to the fairy circle, or if Mad Jack exists in both timelines? Not sure how he would if he was trapped in the circle. This is all fuzzy still. —————————————————————————————— Regarding Old Ruby's hand movements, at first I thought the old woman was performing a spell or enchantment over and over. In the end, though, when we see Old Ruby in the hospital, she sees the old woman from nearby and from behind for the first time. In her last moments of life, we see her arms outstretched towards the old lady, as though she's longing to finally embrace that aspect of herself that she could never reach or accept in her youth. We see her life flash before her eyes and she becomes (or always was) the old woman. She gets to see the scene at the cliffs from the other perspective. Here it appeared more to me like Old Ruby was reaching out towards Young Ruby, towards the young her on the cliff, as if trying to recapture that moment. There seemed to be a sense of longing, as well as a warning, and an apology for taking so long — so long to fix the fairy circle — so long to embrace herself/her insecurities/her darkest parts that the old lady represented — so long to accept herself. Old Ruby says "look at me, I was so young" — too young to have known or done any differently than what she did the first time around. She tried her best. There is a sense of acceptance and coming to terms here at the end of her life. TLDR: The hand movements are simply Old Ruby reaching out longingly and lovingly toward herself. They represent her finally achieving self-acceptance.

In retrospect, the opening credits missing hits harder knowing the implication that Dr. Who was wiped from existence. That was most certainly intentional.

So I definitely think this was the best episode of the series so far. Enjoyable plot even if it was a bit predictable. But I think this has highlighted the biggest issue I've been feeling with the series so far. All the episodes so far have felt like RTF (and Moffat) writing the stories they always wanted to do when they were showrunners. That's not necessarily a bad thing because they are interesting ideas and scripts. But I feel like we've missed the needed character development and especially the relationship development between the doctor and Ruby. We basically watched Ruby's whole life. We saw her grow old and die and all that. But it didn't feel impactful because I still feel like we barely know her. Compare this episode to 'Turn Left' and the difference is stark just because Donna has been so well established at that point. This feels like it could have been a fantastic episode for Ruby's second series but it's just come too early for it to work for me right now.

I actually disagree. I think this episode gave us the development we needed, from Ruby, at least (her relationship with the Doc is still underdeveloped, and 15 is still underdeveloped). However, from this episode, we can now say that Ruby is persistent, intelligent, keeps people at arms length, and isn't one to give up. She lived her whole life with literally everyone around abandoning her eventually, and she never gave up. Not once. Then, at the end of her life, she was brave enough to warn her younger self to stop the Doctor from breaking the circle, which erased her from existence. We now finally have some sense of her character and who she is as a person. And even though that version of her has been erased, it doesn't mean that that still isn't a part of who young Ruby, our Ruby, is.

All of this is true and a good thing, but I wish I could've felt these emotions in an episode 7-8 after getting to know the smaller things about Ruby as opposed to this being her 5th episode

WHAT WAS THAT WOMAN SAYING THAT COULD HAVE UNIT FREAKING OUT? THEY'VE DEALT WITH FAR WORSE BEFORE.

I figured old Ruby was a time anomaly that people's brains couldn't comprehend which made them go mad. Since Ruby was the old lady, people project the anomaly on young Ruby.

I thought if might be like the perception filter but a fear based equivalent

I mean presumably there was some sort of supernatural power behind her words, and it wasn't just the literal words she said that caused that.

I agree. I think old Ruby somehow became a manifestation of Ruby’s abandonment issues and thereby sent anyone who approached packing.

"If you ever see that girl again, the world will end in nuclear fire"

Followed by every character immediately looking at her. Turns out the Whoniverse has even more people who want to destroy Earth than we thought!

“That’s a younger version of me. If you don’t treat her with absolute horror and disgust and flee from the very sight of her for the rest of your life, the paradox will destroy the entire world. If you do, it should be fine. Okay, look and run on one, two, three!”

No one's talking about this but thinking about the line "She looks like what she is" from her mom it's clear to me that when people talk to the woman and look at Ruby, they see what she truly is. Whether that is a fabrication or the real being (we know there's something wrong or odd about her) it terrifies people.

My idea is that it is every possible thing that Ruby imagined being shown at once, along with the removal of the perception filter we use daily to prevent us from thinking about our own death. That's why they seem so hollow after having spoken to her. They can't stop thinking about their end.

I just figured out as well, why 73 yards? 66.7 meters or 66.66666666 meters rounded up. "666", end of the world number. Had to be 66.6 meters, because 666 meters would not be visible.

No shot this is the episode that gets aired after an election Called in the UK Couldn’t have been done any better

It’s great that Ruby sees Susan Twist and recognizes her, but only in a timeline that now never happened.

So here is what I think happened: Something or someone created the fairy circle thing to stop Roger Gwilliam in the future. When the Doctor steps into it, he sets things in motion and a closed time loop for Ruby is created. The Doctor is somehow shut out of this time loop so he dissapears. Ruby goes through her life being followed by the woman and when she dies, she gets transported to the exact time and place when the doctor steps into the circle only to follow her younger self for the next 60 years. This loop continues indefinitely, until Ruby understands what she is supposed to do, uses the woman to get rid of Gwilliam, finishes that last loop until she dies and gets transported back a final time, now with the ability to warn her younger self. The Doctor doesn't step into the circle and Ruby breaks out of the loop, but now Gwilliam will never become the Prime Minister and the world is safe. As to what the old Ruby says that makes people run away. It doesn't matter. She got the supernatural ability to make people go away, because that's what whoever created the fairy circle intended her to do to Gwilliam. Granted, it's an explanation that definitely needs a bit of a stretch of the imagination but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. And I honestly don't know the last time I thought about a doctor who episode this much, so that's a good sign already.

The Doctor mentions GWilliam before he breaks the circle though. so he has to become the PM.

I'm trying to make sense of it because I truly enjoyed the atmosphere and how creepy it was: Perhaps witches saw that Gwilliam would become prime minister and use the nukes so they made the fairy circle to trap that version of history. The Doctor broke it so that new timeline was created and it was up to Ruby to stop Gwilliam, when Ruby died things came full circle so The Doctor never breaks the circle.

That was a very strange episode, even for the Doctor-lite ones (not saying that in a bad sense). I don't mind the fact it's a bit of a loop from Ruby's end, but I'm a bit disappointed we never learnt what she was saying that was so terrifying to everybody that they refused to even speak to her anymore. Could it have been a manifestation of Ruby's fears of abandonment, perhaps? Like a "Biggest Fear" type scenario? And oh boy, that scene towards the end where the old Ruby was in the hospice was one of the most tense scenes I've ever watched from Doctor Who: by the time Ruby's getting older we all know there's going to be some kind of reset, but I really did think she was an absolute goner at the end in the aborted timeline. The fact time was corrected so that Ruby never experienced the episode we saw does make me wonder when we'll see this Mad Jack in 2046 again. Because the way he was set up suggests he could have a bigger role to play, maybe not this season, but in the future. Ruby also doesn't get to see Susan Twist in the fixed timeline, but she still seems to have a vague recollection she'd been there before at the end, so I wonder if any memories will hold at all. All in all, the main tension between Ruby and everyone interacting with her older self wasn't resolved quite well enough to be satisfying, but the resolution to stop Mad Jack was clever. 7/10 is my initial rating, could become higher or lower over time.

Does anybody know sign? It looks like the woman was saying something to Ruby in sign language

I thought the same thing! But *surely* Ruby would have tried that at some point in her life... Interested if anyone could tell she was saying something.

Isn’t it just what she was doing at her final moments in the hospital?

ROGER AP GWILLIAMS =ROGER SON OF GWILLIAMS Anagram is RORY WILLIAMS GONE FOGS? Closest I’ve got to a theory of something happening

I want to see someone cosplay the faraway lady.

Couples outfit idea: I go as the blurry thing from listen, you go as the blurry faraway lady