The Church on Ruby Road
Story 304, 2023 Christmas Special
Doctor: The Fifteenth Doctor
Companions: Ruby Sunday
The Church on Ruby Road gives us a very fun intro to a brand new era with just as much mysteries to keep us hooked as we finally get the Gatwa era underway.
The Review
RTD’s companion introduction episodes, and his one new Doctor episode in The Christmas Invasion are episodes I’ve always loved more than most. I just am a massive fan of episodes bursting with excitement and energy, and seeing two characters become quick friends and traveling companions. I may be a bit biased as she reminds me of a close friend of mine, but Millie’s Ruby Sunday was just a delight. Adventurous and confident, but still with insecurities about her background and mysterious adoption. The Doctor admitting he was adopted too after the Timeless Child situation provided a surprisingly sweet moment. From the jump, the chemistry between Gibson and Gatwa was just superb, and this is shaping up to be a classic pairing even one episode one. Gatwa brought effortless energy, charm, and emotion, and by the end I was sold that he was indeed the Doctor. By the end of his first season it’ll be hard to imagine the Doctor being anyone else.
The plotline is pretty simple, these adorable goblins are causing lots of accidents because they dine on coincidences and happenstance in what the Doctor calls their own breed of physics. They have a very funny musical number salting the Sundays’ poor new foster newborn. The Doctor and Ruby even join in, which was unexpected and amusing. There’s a funny scene when Ruby’s mom keeps bringing up coincidences fracturing their flat, then we see how sad her life would’ve been without Ruby in it. The Doctor goes back to 2004, sorts out the goblins, and despite wondering if he was bad luck lets Ruby travel along with him. However, Ruby’s neighbor Mrs. Flood, is shocked to see the TARDIS dematerialize, and despite apparently not recognizing the police box is apparently very much aware what the TARDIS is. With a lot of mysteries in the hopper, it feels like we have the ingredients for a new era.
I’m not sure there was much I would change in this episode, it mainly exists as a vehicle to see the beginning of what is always a love story (even if not a romantic one) between the Doctor and his new companion. After the misfire of having far too many companions in the Whittaker era, we’re back to the Doctor and a companion. Can’t wait.
8.75/10: Okay fine, probably not a perfect ten, but it was so refreshing and fun. Let’s move on from the complications of Flux and The Giggle and just do some Doctor Who!
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 