Review of Empire Of Death – “a turbulent hour full of Who”

*SPOILER WARNING – This review contains heavy spoilers for “Empire Of Death”*

With its time-frame-based twists, mystery box openings and the big Sutekh reveal in the third act, The Legend Of Ruby Sunday – despite an exposition-heavy opening – ended with the promise of a rousing finale for Russell T. Davies’ first series back at the helm of Doctor WhoAnd it is safe to say that “Empire Of Death” keeps this promise well. Emotionally charged, narratively complicated and cleverly self-referential, it is a turbulent hour full of WHO Davies takes his hat off to Avengers: Infinity War And The Last Jedi while bringing his own great story of heroes and villains to a groundbreaking conclusion.

If The Legend Of Ruby Sunday started a little slow, the same can’t be said for Empire Of Death. In a blistering opener that picks up right where last week’s episode left off, we see Sutekh live up to his nickname of “God of Death” as his death dust is unleashed across the universe. In a dazzling display of computer-animated spectacle coupled with low-level human drama, old Sutes turns London – and the world with it – into an ash-strewn sandbox, laying waste to entire civilisations as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), her UNIT colleagues, Ruby’s adoptive mother Carla (Michelle Greenidge), Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) and others crumble to dust, Thanos-style. Of course, the number of shocking deaths in those breathless first 10 minutes makes it more than clear to us that the Doctor (Gatwa) will find a way to bring them all back, but the characters themselves don’t know that, and this is certainly a bold start.

With the Doctor, Mel (Bonnie Langford) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) still reeling from their first confrontation with Sutekh – where they learn that he has been hanging around the TARDIS since the Tom Baker era, creating dust-raising Susan Twists wherever the Doctor lands – Davies cleverly slows down the pace of Empire with the arrival of the Remembered TARDIS. First introduced in the Whoniverse spin-off Tales of the TARDISthe Remembered TARDIS – a knick-knack-filled vessel made from bits and pieces of old TARDISes, bound together with “hopes and wishes and happiness” – creates a space for the Doctor and his companions to reflect on the colossal scale of Sutekh’s destruction. The haunting image of Gatwa’s Doctor in the TARDIS doorway, looking out over a dying universe and screaming in agony, is another reminder of the extraordinary depth of feeling and emotional vulnerability that Gatwa brought to the Time Lord’s recent regeneration. It is also a sobering reminder of the heavy cosmic toll that the Doctor’s cosmic jaunts have taken.

The appearance of the Remembered TARDIS also complements Davies’ own metatextual reflections – on fans’ nostalgia for the series, on the series’ nostalgia for itself, and on the nature of fandom in the age of internet theory. Not only is the Remembered TARDIS a treasure trove of juicy Whovian Easter eggs (Six’s coat and tie! Bessie’s license plate! Ten’s helmet from ‘The Satan Pit’!), but its notoriety also speaks to the relationship of ‘Empire Of Death’ to WHO itself. That the finale of this great reboot revolves around a profound villain from the 70s, whose defeat is catalyzed by a highly flammable ship that is equipped with classic WHO Ephemera isn’t a mere coincidence. Neither is the fact that said villain’s fatal flaw is an all-consuming desperation to know who Ruby Sunday’s mother is. Yes, the almighty Sutekh, God of all Gods, is basically an obsessed Whovian blown up by his own fans’ theories. As for the Remembered TARDIS, it’s a wise reminder that while nostalgia can occasionally be enough to save the day, the show needs to rise above its own legend if it’s to run for another 60 years.

This simultaneous denunciation of obsessive fan theory culture and the recognition of WHOThe need to not be tied down to the past is what makes Davies’ answer to the show’s big question – who is Ruby Sunday’s mother? – so inspiring. The surprise revelation that Ruby’s mother is just an ordinary woman, Louise Miller (Faye McKeever), who fled an abusive home to save her baby and who was given cosmic significance only by the insistence of the cosmos, is a beautifully human, typically Daviesian story climax. In one fell swoop, Davies takes what Rian Johnson did with Rey in The Last of the Dead and takes it to The Last of the Dead. The Last Jedi and dares to do what JJ Abrams ultimately could not with The Rise of SkywalkerSure, this revelation raises a whole host of questions – what was that snow all about? Why couldn’t Davina McCall and her team find an NHS nurse? Who saw the cloaked woman pointing to the sign on Ruby Road to tell her daughter her name? – but emotionally and thematically, the story makes perfect sense.

Now, “Empire Of Death” is by no means an episode without weaknesses. There are leaps of logic that Davies asks the viewer to make that will be too far-fetched for some. The defeat of the great and powerful Sutekh – which largely revolves around a spoon, a pipe, a bungee cord and supposedly a few large walkies in the admittedly very impressively rendered time vortex – is even for WHO‘s standards. The explanation for all of these Susan twists and turns is reasonably sound and fits well with the plot threads of the series highlight “73 Yards,” but it leaves the status of billionaire Susan Triad somewhat unclear at the end of the story. And despite the emotional significance of the revelation of Ruby’s parentage, there will be people who look at the seeds planted around this mystery over the course of the series and feel that the resolution doesn’t match the buildup.

Still, there’s a mercurial beauty to a series finale that begins with the dust of death spewed by the God of all gods, devastating the entire universe, and climaxes with the reunion of a mother and her daughter in a cafe. Seeing the grandeur and blockbuster spectacle of everything that’s come before eclipsed by the emotional force of a lifelong search for closure that’s finally coming to an end is a testament to Davies’ strengths as a storyteller. While his vague approach to the overarching mechanics of the Who universe can be occasionally frustrating, his ability to find the human heart amid the series’ cosmic vastness – in Ruby and her mother, in the Doctor’s profound loneliness, in that exquisitely melancholy encounter with Sian Clifford’s “Kind Woman” in the first episode – is unparalleled. And the haunting performances of Gatwa and Gibson as their foundling stories bittersweetly diverge are a moving reminder of how much heart they gave these characters, despite spending far less time together on screen than the Doctors and their companions have in the past.

There is still time for Physician WHO to address the questions that remain when the dust (of death) has settled on the finale of this series: a preview of the second season, broadcast on Unleashed has already hinted at Millie Gibson’s imminent return; Mrs Flood’s suspiciously Romana-like appearance in The The gruesome ending of the episode does not bode well for our beloved Time Lord; and one senses that the Doctor is heading for a reunion with his granddaughter Susan sooner rather than later. And before that, there is a Christmas present in the form of Steven Moffat’s upcoming special “Joy To The World” starring Nicola Coughlan. But for now, this first season of Doctor WhoThe latest reboot of ends triumphantly, as Gatwa, Gibson and Davies have made the world’s longest-running sci-fi series a must-watch once again. Christmas can come, season 2 can come, and the next 60 years of time and period wonders can come.