DID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who [73 YARDS REVIEW]
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- Lovely locations, Welsh oppression and more lead this BIZARRE episode of Doctor Who: 73 Yards
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Take a shot every time geezer wrongly asserts this is a dream
my liver.
Perfect game for just before a stag do
How on earth did you come to the conclusion this was a dream.
The dream idea really holds this review back, I don't think this is the main/proper interpretation, it's an alternative timeline not a dream.
It being an alternative timeline is your interpretation, there’s no answers on if it’s a dream or not dream.
So much is left unanswered for interpretation leaves reviewers having to base their review on their interpretation
@@MightyMattithere’s nothing in the episode to imply it’s a dream all only inside rubys head. There is evidence that is simply an alternate timeline that gets reset
@@MightyMattihow does she accurately dream up people, who are real, that she's never met?
@@MightyMatti Kate literally says it's a timeline bending around Ruby.... So it's not as much of a stretch
Now imagine this is fully a ploy of Trickster. Especially this episode gave me such Turn Left vibe and it would make sense for Trickster to be at least part of the final villains - fitting Toymaker and Maestro storylines.
This is the weirdest interpretation of the episode I have seen since the episode aired. How did you get the to the idea that it was all a dreamstate and Ruby was just dreaming?
I don’t think it’s a dream at all
It is a bit of a jump.
It makes no sense for it to be a dream, especially with continuity error of Kate and Ruby meeting for the first time
It makes more sense for it to be an alternate timeline
@@ChaosCreator4395 I see it as an orphaned timeline, like in Donnie Darko. It's a timeline that collapses once the inciting event is corrected. It's how the 'fairy circle' protects itself.
Definitely very Donnie Darko.
I think it’s something similar to the episode where Donna had this strange Bug thing attached to her back
Pretty sure it wasn’t a dream. That would also require Ruby to dream that her and the Doctor would be arriving on a cliff in Wales, and that the fairy circle existed prior to her having any knowledge of it.
Definitely wibbly wobbly timey wimey shenanigans.
A dream also doesn't explain her meeting UNIT for the first time. If Kate had turned up and it turned out they met earlier... Maybe. But her turning up and introducing herself means Ruby didn't know who she was.
It wasn't a dream, but a separate time line
It being an alternative timeline is your interpretation, there’s no answers on if it’s a dream or not dream.
So much is left unanswered for interpretation leaves reviewers having to base their review on their interpretation
@@MightyMattiit’s not a dream…
@@MightyMatti I'm pretty sure Kate says something about timelines
There isn't a dream episode.
because Ruby's memory is altered after the event is resolved.
I like how despite the episode leaving it open enough for interpretation, nearly all the comments are in agreement thag this was not a dream.
it wasnt tho
I interpreted it as an alternate timeline forged by a schism in reality seen as black magic rather than a dream. Interesting take still.
Same, not sure why he assumed it was a dream sequence.
Yeh that’s what I got to
To be fair with how we got Toymaker and Maestro - they easily could go with different member of the Pantheon and have this me long run ploy made by Trickster to come back. This had the same energy as Turn Left - including the memory alteration, which was caused by a Beatle from his "Brigade".
It’s not a dream, it’s an alternate timeline.
Also in response to people claiming Ruby didn’t stop Roger Ap Gwilliam due to the time reversal, she did.
The Doctor mentioning Roger toward the end of the episode happens when future Ruby is still haunting young Ruby, before she tells the doctor not to step on the fairy circle.
Once young Ruby changes time by getting the doctor to not step on the fairy circle, Roger Ap Gwilliam is never mentioned again. He was stopped and Mad Jack remains sealed in the circle.
In the timeline the Doctor breaks the seal then he is gone. So he wouldn't know who Mad Jack is. You can't say that its an alternate timeline but also Ruby defeats mad jack
@@CCrohny May I remind you that the Doctor is a time traveller? He was talking about Mad Jack in both timelines prior to breaking the circle.
What OP pointed out is that the Doctor stops talking about Mad Jack when Ruby prevents him from breaking it, implying that by keeping the circle intact Ruby prevents Mad Jack from ever being released, retroactively removing him from the Doctor's memories.
Doesn't the Doctor mention him before he steps on the fairy circle? (The first time around)
@@mw56101 He does. It's how Ruby knows to watch out for him. The point is that he *stops* talking about him the moment Ruby averts his breaking of the circle.
It being an alternative timeline is your interpretation, there’s no answers on if it’s a dream or not dream.
So much is left unanswered for interpretation leaves reviewers having to base their review on their interpretation
I'm not sure where you're insistence that it is a dream comes from. In my understanding this season of doctor who as gone into a more fantasy route since the doctor spilt the salt at the edge of the universe. To me it seemed like the fairy circle was powerful in its own way and banished the doctor with ruby taking all this time to get back and warn herself by seeing the figure (herself) before they break the fairy circle. I think that also ties into the PM plotline as the power that they both have is the power people believe they have.
I'm really not sure how, even after Kate Stewart (a character Ruby has never met or heard of) talks about *this* timeline, you still think it's a dream? In this, the show about time travel and timey-wimey stuff, your default answer is it was a dream. Come on, my brother ahahaha.
The whole 'dream' reading feels a little too certain on your part.
I'd say way too certain, there's nothing actually clear enough to take that stance for certain
You never actually explain why you think it’s a dream
I mostly enjoyed this episode because The Doctor and Ruby both touched grass after stepping out of the TARDIS!!! ❤
Based and grass-pilled
have you dedicated your entire RUclips account to that one thing Ncuti said. Hilarious😂😂
@blablaklingklang8311 what Ncuti said was absolutely BASED too.
@friendlyotaku9525
No, what Ncunti said was a form of gaslighting! 🤬
@@Sir-Cuntington not hiding the racism are you? And calling out Bigots IS based, bigots are not fans. Simple as!
How did you manage to make 73 Yards more confusing than it already was?
Here's my interpretation of what happened:
The Circle has a self defense mechanism, a way of stopping itself from ever getting broken. It does this by creating a splintered timeline around the breaker of the circle with the absolute worst life they could ever imagine with all their fears coming true. For Ruby its her fear of abandonement and people leaving her for seemingly no reason. It gives her this life and then at the end of her life has her go back and stop herself from ever breaking the circle.
The reason we never know why people run is to feed Ruby's trauma of not knowing why she was left as a baby. The reasons we cant see the old womans face even through cameras is because its Ruby's only companion in life and its "always distant" feeding her loneliness even more. The reason the Doctor disappeared and the tardis didn't is because as another breaker of the circle he also went through his own 73 yards storyline where even the tardis abandoned him.
One of the best episodes of the show ever. Up there with Blink, Midnight, Turn Left, Heaven Sent.
I think it's a solid interpretation!
I’m pretty sure this was not a dream. More like what happened in Turn Left
Wow, you didn't understand the episode at all.
He gave heaven Sent a 4/10, his media literacy is borderline non existent
@@RobbieMartin745 missed that, but now I remember why I stopped watching.
@@derekledzep I just find it bold that he charges for these reviews, yet spends so little time trying to decode the messages, themes and intent of the stories. His whole raiting system is crazy backwards and essentially pointless
That’s because it didn’t make sense lol
I've never heard someone refer to a paradox time loop/stream as a dream so frequently before...
"I think this timeline might be suspended along your event."
This line *alone* means it's not a dream. It's a parallel timeline. She stepped on a fairy circle, and they punished her. She earned her freedom by preventing Mad Jack from rising to power. I'm actually curious where Harry got the dream idea from.
Was it ever stated that this was a dream? I thought its a parallel timeline like Donna's in Turn Left mixed with a Curse like Clyde's in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Then again, I suppose this could be one of those episodes like Midnight where folks could to their own separate conclusions. ☺️
It wasn't stated it was a dream, but it was heavily implied it was a parallel timeline as you said.
It's certainly an episode to draw your own conclusions on, but this is one I'm a little confused about.
Aye. Kate's appearance here, reminds me of Martha's appearance in the resolution of Turn Left.
Alternate timeline for sure, I think he may have based a lot of his criticism around an incorrect assumption that it's a dream
So glad all the comments are what they are, I was lost watching this review and was thinking am I seriously the only person who understands this episode and how good it actually was? Thankfully all the comments agree hahaha
I didnt take it like a dream more like a turn left situation, the doctor steps on the shrine, ruby has a life of loneliness then when she dies she becomes this enity, but instead of haunting and looming like the death she repersents she clings to young ruby and eventually changes her fate by stopping the priminister thats why kate is in the episode, becausee this universe is real its only when ghost ruby scares the president do we go back to the original universe
I never viewed it as a dream sequence, not that it makes much sense as reality, doctor steps on a fairy circle and is fine until he's just gone, then ruby is followed by a future version of herself, uses this 'supernatural' being to stop a nuke happy prime minister, gets old, goes back in time to become the woman in the distance, but also present day ruby now has a little bit of sub concious knowledge of whats gonna happen.... is roger still stopped, did just her conciousness get put into the future, is his a dream or an alternate timeline (which is what i'd say based on some things like kate being unknown to ruby), but i'd say the episode was great until the timeskipping started happening, and then was good until we got to old woman ruby
what gave you the impression that this all occurred in a dream? it's an alternate timeline surely?
hang on, why have you gone into this episode assuming it’s a dream? you’re talking about it as if it’s a given, but i’ve never heard anyone suggest it was a dream before.
and the plot holes you brought up about her not knowing kate are only plot holes if this is a dream.
edit: it’s definitely “dream-like” but i never interpreted it as literally being a dream.
I don’t think it’s really implied that it’s a dream as much as it’s a timeloop/branching timeline, which unfortunately makes those underdeveloped elements shallow as a result of poor writing imo
yep, you have to be a really eagle-eyed viewer to notice there was no title sequence this time. only the biggest brains notice that.
Did nobody on patreon tell you how insanely wrong your dream interpretation was? Like you got through three stages of production, script, audio, and video and not one person was like "hey dude, you're misinterpreting the core of the episode"
I saw this episode as a paradox timeline where - because the conversation that the doctor had at the start changed due to ruby’s interference in the future essentially created a loop with 2 outcomes.
This was more of a Turn Left scenario than anything else, not a dream.
I fear you may be the only one who interpreted it as a dream. To me it's just another timeline, akin to Turn Left.
You're honestly the first person I've seen that thinks that this whole episode was a dream - no idea how you even got to that conclusion and ran with it for an entire review, but okay 🤷♀
Don’t know where you’ve got the idea that it’s a dream from, but the impression I got was it’s an alternate timeline - hence why unit and Kate featuring makes sense
Man, am I getting tired of these Trump allegories.
Mr. Saxon was a unique character based on a “what if?”, not a real person. I know there are people here who want the Trump = bad message, but can’t they base the big bad man on Putin, Hussein or Ping? Isn’t it getting boring Trump = bad and they never base anyone on Biden? None of these politicoids are good people.
Didn't really see any parralels between him and trump tbh. He wasnt developed enough and from where he was described it didnt make me think of trump. Thats just my perspective though
Yeah, I was expecting Trump parallels - more likely a Boris or Farage standin - but there just weren’t any. Roger is just really horny for nuclear weapons for some reason, which is unlike any politician, unless you’re insanely biased and want to read Roger into them but you’d probably do that with Saxon too.
He's not a Trump allegory lol, he's just a maniac politician
Literally no one has mentioned trump except you.
Gwilliam wasn't particularly trumpish? Wouldn't Putin literally be a more apt comparison?
It’s not a dream, it’s a closed time loop
I don’t think it’s all a dream, and I also don’t think the old woman was ruby all along
They were even portrayed by differed people
That was likely just because the woman who played old Ruby wouldn’t have been capable of playing the role of the Woman due to mobility issues.
@@Sparx632 so why not get the woman to play old ruby ?
@@fenntelfer because she’s probably not suited to the role, she didn’t look enough like Millie, she didn’t have a Manchester accent and considering her lack of presence on the internet she’s likely not even an actor.
It's not being presented as a dream. Also we don't know how many adventures Millie has had with the Doctor by this time so it is possible she's met Kate before. There is a Unit story upcoming. We shall get a good idea then.
To be fair in this episode kate introduced herself to ruby as if this was the first time they have ever met "I'm kate lethbridge stewart and i think i can help"
I didn't think it was a dream at all? That's why Kate can appear etc shes introducing herself to Ruby so she's never met, so she wouldn't be able to dream about her
Honestly the butterfly in episode 1 and this here - I have a theory the different worlds and timelines are converging into one or something… not fully fleshed out yet but it’s an idea
Where did the dream bit come into it? Is Doctor Who about supposed ' magic' now, rather that plausible science. If now we are told magic is real then that is an easy get out for any problem. That episode treats its viewers as brain dead. On a more positive note at least the Doctor was absent. Probably running away from something and crying.
Why are you saying it's a dream?
It's an alternate timeline
This is just like your Heaven sent review when you didn't pay attention and was confused about the Doctor's mind palace
Where did you get the idea this was a dream of Ruby’s?
Did I somehow watch a different version of the episode?
I'm mostly disappointed with this review because it didn't really analyse the episode in a way that respected it for what it was: a highly interpretable piece of avant-garde storytelling.
I love the interpretation that this episode is a dream of Ruby's, but you don't really delve into why you think that. There are so many interpretations as to what the monster is supposed to represent, and I feel like "it could have been a lot better" needs more evidence from your part to fully justify.
A lot of interpretations I've seen, for example, hinge on the idea that Ruby's isolation actually becomes a non-issue by the end of the episode - she learns to live with her fear of abandonment. While I wish her character arc could have been made a little more explicit, the theme of isolation is reinforced constantly throughout the episode. To say that the latter half could have used more of it kind of makes no sense.
99% of the comments: it wasn't a dream
1% of the comments: doesn't exist
Not gonna lie - the first half of this episode with the whole pub having laugh at Ruby genuinely made me hyped for the rest of this season. It was scary, it built-up so much tension, it felt extremely British (strong accents were also helping), it also made you wonder if Ruby wasn't suddenly locked in past before mobile transactions and she was making a time-travelling faux-pax.
Like that whole build up - single-handedly almost wiped out the whole Chibnail's run out of my head. It probably would have been the best episode we had in like a decade. Vibe wise - akin to standalone stories like Blink or Midnight, similar to Turn Left as well. It showed the aura RTD gave us in season 4 and I fully enjoyed that part.
If only not for the very abrupt, fast-paced and unexplained ending to the story, with so much stuff not addressed. Like, I hope this isn't really just one of those surreal one-offs - but that this actually has some impact and relevance in the final plot for Ruby and her whole character arc. Then I could easily give this 10/10 (would have been like 12/10, if this was a two-parter with fleshed out disturbing finale to it). I think it's still a solid 8 or 9, just for how good the build up is for it.
2:00 It was very SCP/Black Mirror-esque episode tbh. I did kinda laugh, when she straight up used her monster of the week to do politics...
Especially ironic with how Rishi Sunak called for the elections in the UK. Almost feels like a conspiracy... Yeah he totally did it, because Doctor Who is actually real and he talked to an old woman SCP.
12:20 It is kinda maybe a reference to the goblins from the Christmas special? They also used ropes to do their machinations. Maybe it's akin to how the witches used magic like technology, but this time with knots and stuff. We are totally in the state of those godly villains like Toymaker. For all we know - this could have been a trap made by Trickster or someone like that.
I also think it's a real alternate timeline. The dreaminess is just a stylistic choice imo, since it fits the folklore tone. I do think one really cool idea is that the old woman approaches Ruby on her deathbed because that's what it would look like if she was moving away but backwards in time. Like watching someone walk away from you but played in reverse so it looks like they're walking towards you.
I don't know why people are saying it's an alternate timeline, but it definitely isn't a dream.
I've seen two very good takes on what this episode actually is- The literal meaning, and the metaphorical meaning.
The literal meaning is simply what actually happened in the Episode. The Doctor steps on the circle and Ruby Read the letters within the circle that is supposed to respect someone who is dead. This means that, whether intentionally or not, both The Doctor and Ruby had disrespected the meaning behind the circle, which, thanks to The Fourteenth Doctor having sprinkled salt at the end of the universe in Wild Blue Yonder, allowed the vengeful spirits to creep in. Since The Doctor technically did the greater disrespect for breaking the circle, he gets erased from existence as his punishment, while Ruby is doomed to be stalked by the spirit who makes her greatest fear, that of being abandoned, to be a reality. When Ruby uses this against Roger, who mentioned Mad Jack by pure coincidence which triggered Ruby to remember what The Doctor said about Roger back then, is Ruby using the spirit to do something good, and since she doesn't do anything bad throughout the rest of her life, the spirit decides to forgive her and send her back in time to give a second chance to her younger self and The Doctor. It's really messed up, but apparently this is what happened.
The metaphorical meaning behind it is that the spirit is a manifestation of Ruby's greatest insecurities. It's a sad truth of life that when someone opens up about their innermost insecurities, it can often lead people to run away from them, even if they were interested in learning more about them. Thus, when people go to talk to the woman, it's a representation of them talking to Ruby's innermost insecurities, which chases them away, no-matter how attached they were to her before.
@carealoo744 Kate says "I think this timeline might be suspended along your event", implying there are other timelines and this one that 73 yards takes place in might be one of these alternate timelines.
@@kronikfam I don't mean To be a pain here, but I would genuinely like to criticize this line from a writing standpoint. Unless if this line is explained well in a future episode, it is literally so out of left field that I don't really have a choice but to ignore it entirely. I know that makes me sound stupid, but hear me out-
What possible reason does Kate have to say something like "This timeline is fixed around your event." What does that quote mean? Ruby isn't the only person who exists in this timeline. There are other people who are living their own lives. It's not like they disappear when they're not in the episode anymore. Am I supposed to believe that the woman was telling Kate, and everyone else, that they were trapped in an alternate timeline and the only way to escape was to abandon Ruby and thus not be involved in the timeline anymore?
1:48 this location reminded me of 60s who the moment I saw it. Specially Enemy of The World and The Abominable Snowman takes place in a very similar looking hilly snow mountains.
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.
Being Welsh we used to make protection rings as kids
I was going to only comment "Wasn't a dream" or something along those lines, but seems like everyone else has already hit the nail on the head. So I'll elaborate. Your review hinges on the idea that this was a dream, but the odds that is right are really really low. This isn't the doctor who we're used to, it almost certainly wasn't a psychokinetic dream state. It was magic. We've established magic exists, whether it was the fairy circle being broken or something to do with ruby's bloodline due to the traumatic event of the doctor's disappearance, it probably was just another closed loop timeline. My interpretation as well of her asking the hiker if she had seen her before would be because she had repeated this before already in another loop where she had failed to warn the doctor. We've done this type of episode in the past, just usually with a more scientific explanation.
It gave me much more Left Turn vibe than a dream one. Like an alternate timeline.
It's less of a dream and more of an acid trip.
( 6:31 ) UNIT technically did in Turn Left with Capt. Erisa Magambo and Rose. 👍🏻
"It being a dream excuses this"
Lol it wasn't a dream
0:56 Dark ages!? Metric wasn’t taught in schools until 1974, that’s only 50 years; hardly an ancient practice known only to the elders and lost to mists of time. 🙄🙄
Tut, tut, young whippersnapper. Just popping to the shops to buy some bread and 568ml of milk. 😁😁😉😉
I'm starting to just skip to the scores on these videos. C'mon Harry, you can do better.
Harry was on the strong stuff with this one, we must forgive him and pretend it was a dream
I dont think it was a dream because if it was she wouldnt have been able to go back in time and interfire with what the doctor did.
cracking video - but you seem very certain this was a dream, and I disagree. More of an alternative timeline situation
"Harrys moving media" Pay attention to an episode you review Impossible challenge!
There are so many mistakes in your reviews that could be avoided if you just watched the damn episode, its like you review these while scrolling through tick tok
It's not a dream, it's a splinter timeline. Kate pretty much acknowledges it as much. I'm not sure what made you so confident it was a dream to be honest but I liked your thoughts on it.
Really liked the episode but the stuff with cartoon villagers nearly derailed it for me.
I really loved this episode, but i think we could have done with just a smidge more explanation, either that or less. Lean into the mystery or give a little more explanation. Plus the scene in the pub was weird.
Edited to add: i don't think its a dream, I believe it's an alternate timeline, the loop closing as old Ruby tries to stop the doctor from stepping on the fairy circle. The questions then become who made the fairy circle, what's going on with the paradox here, how did old Ruby achieve any of this?
Agreed. The pub scene went on way too long. And the racism line was a bit odd 😭
I really loved this episode. Gets a bit muddled and rushed towards the end but a genuinely intriguing story. 8/10 for me.
Definitely more of a "feel" than a "think" type of episode.
This is the first time I've heard the theory of it being a dream, but Harry seems pretty certain of it...
However, he spends a bit of time questioning why and how certain things could happen in this dream, not even considering that the theory might just be wrong in the first place.
L take after L take. bro has no media literacy - so he'll probably have a successful youtube career as a professional nitpicker
MORAL OF THE STORY: DO NOT GO TO WALES!!!!
Seriously, did they really think slapping a pair of glasses on her made her look 40?
She still looked like she was born in 2004
While there are some loose ends which aren’t unambiguously explained, here’s my take on the meaning of the episode, of which, there seem to be multiple meanings. I feel, there is a deceptively deep, almost philosophical meaning to this episode. I felt as perplexed as everyone else after my viewing of it, but a comment by someone in another thread provided the key to the meaning of the mysterious woman for me. Which I expand on below.
That mysterious woman is Ruby’s future ghost, haunting her living self within this alternate time-line created by the Doctor's clumsy disturbance of the Fairy Circle. The woman also represents something much more terrifying than that. She is death, personified. At least, she personifies Ruby’s death. So, she unintentionally (I believe) scares away everyone who tries to speak to her. Her purpose in the episode is primarily as a metaphor for the eventual death which awaits us all. Stalks us our entire lives, just as it stalks Ruby in the form of the woman. While our own death is rarely at the forefront of daily awareness, neither is it ever far away. You might say, that death is always 73 yards away. Close enough to be visible, but not so close as to be clearly so. The best that we can do is to ignore our self-knowledge that it is always there. Always waiting, and that we will one day, die.
Soon, living Ruby simply accepts the woman as an inevitable part of her daily existence. Realizing, that there’s nothing she can do about her anyway, Ruby decides to do something meaningful with her life. Utilizing the mystery woman for an extremely constructive purpose in that endeavor. Until, finally, Ruby is at the end of her life, and the mystery woman manifests closely in her room. Ruby’s death is closely approaching her. In the last moment of life, when the medical monitor in her room that had been reassuringly making a regular beeping sound suddenly starts making that dreadful flatline tone, the woman turns to face Ruby. As she does, Ruby loses all anxiety, and embraces her death with outstretched arms, and a smile of relief. Ruby passes, and then becomes the ghost which had been haunting her. Chills.
Throughout life, Ruby has felt abandoned and isolated. Alone. Which is sad enough, but she also ends up dying alone, as well. A feeling, and an ending, for too many of us. Davies appears to touch on that.
The episode’s main fault is that it’s too ambitious for a one-hour. Further complicating matters is the ‘Mad-Jack’ sub-episode. 73 Yards could have, and probably should have been made into a two-part episode. As for the time-paradoxes, such as how Ruby’s future ghost could haunt her living self, those have been explained by Tenant in the famous ‘Blink’ episode, Wibbly-Wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. In other words, don’t let paradoxes interfere with the message of the story.
Mad-Jack, seems to be a destructive spirit/entity which corruptly influences a young Gwilliam, once it is unbound from the Fairy Circle when the Doctor disturbs it. A disturbance which then launches the alternate time-line centered on Ruby, and which Kate, of U.N.I.T., cryptically asserts has happened. That alternate time-line is erased when Ruby’s ghost, whispering “don’t step”, warns young Ruby in time to prevent the Doctor from disturbing the Fairy Circle in the first place. BTW, apparently, ghost Ruby is repeatedly signing; “bless you, thank you”.
I don’t think it was established as a dream at all.
I think they should have ordered the episodes differently. Having two Doctor-lite episodes in a row really lessens Ncuti's impact on the role so far, and having a reduced episode count means we have even fewer moments to explore his range as the Doctor. Also, Devil's chord was definitely meant to air later, considering the Maestro's final warning.
Hot take (it seems?) but Harry having his own interpretation of it being a dream isn’t an “incorrect” interpretation. The whole point of the episode is spelled out when Kate says “we see something inexplicable and invent the rules to make it work.”
I don’t personally think it’s a dream, I think it’s a punishment / purgatory in the form of a time loop, the time loop itself being a fairy circle (since a loop is a circle). If you disagree with either of us, I think that’s literally the point, it’s vague enough you can create any rules that work best for you to understand the episode. Personally I love the dream interpretation, even if it’s not my interpretation
I don't think it's a dream, i think it's a time loop.
I am strangely starting to believe dream theory. What, if Ruby is just a dying infant that got full-blown life and adventures, by Doctor as a sort of fairy tale, told to her akin to the Girl with the Matches. And her seeing and creating the snow is nothing more than reality peeking through. Maybe a paradox being - not ever really existing, but at the same time actually having a full-blown life that impacted the world, through a twisted Time Lord technology.
Or maybe she is being pushed into that by one of the Trickster's Brigade entities? This feels like Turn Left all over again. Is her existence a ploy for Trickster to come into the world all altogether? Now that actually would be good plot-twist.
Bro is desperate for the episode to be a dream
£5 for a Coke was the scariest thing in this episode 😛
However, as everyone else is saying, this wasn't a dream.
I've gotta ask Harry and any other commenters, which is better in your opinion, Boom or 73 yards?
73 yards, but Boom is like a hair behind it.
Harry buddy, it wasn’t a dream it was an alternate universe, a bit like in turn left 😭😭
6:25 I think they saying when the doctor gets a new companion, it forks their reality and makes a new timeline. UNIT realized they were in a reality where the doctors companion didn’t return. To me that means they go they whole lives knowing its… a lie? In a way? Bit weird but not to bad
Why would you think it's a dream? Like at all?
I feel like this review is kinda hampered by Harry being so convinced it's supposed to be a dream despite multiple hints that's it's just not
Ngl i actually like the idea of the dream aspect as a split second of her realising what might happen in her subconcious if the circle is broken, flashing all the way back to the start, allmost like the 12 days of christine, although im not sure why it would continue on once the "problem" is solved. Also that and i thought it was pretty well executed that this was an alternate or split timeline event, despite the episode having vague or unanaswered questions, imo that was definitely one that felt justified in its answer.
I think Harry dreamt that this was a dream episode 😅
Please rewatch it with some more context and I think you’ll love it, you can tell he wants too.
A video by dwfan91 gives a great understanding of this episode and shows it is truly a bulletproof script. If you understand what it’s doing then it’s literally a 10/10 for 73 Yards!
This is the earliest I've ever been to a Harry video
Same
Where did you get the idea it was a dream? The episode never said anything to make you think that…
Brilliant setup, chilling vibes, really great directing/cinematography, a truly scary premise, amazing characterisation for Ruby to show she's intelligent enough to use her situation to help, a really great metaphor for her abandonment issues, genuinely S Tier Who content up there with the best...
And then it fell flat on its face with the ending which explained nothing and only left needlessly unanswered questions and drags the episode down so much. No matter what way you cut it, this just isn't a case where you can have vagueness as a substitute for intelligent writing, you have to make the ending as impactful as the setup. It just drags the episode down so much, so needlessly. 73 yards had everything going for it then it absolutely fumbled the ending. No, this isn't a case of the mystery being vague enhancing the story when the mechanics of the curse are a key plot point as it's how Ruby - ingeniously - takes down the PM. We need to actually understand how it works given it is the only thing driving the plot, in comparison to Midnight where the human reaction to the monster is what drove the plot. So it not being explained is an active detriment to the storytelling and the audience's investment in/enjoyment of the story. It’s still without a doubt the best episode of RTD2 by a long shot but there is absolutely no question that the ending was fumbled and fumbled hard. Why was Ruby transported back at the end of her life? What actually happened to the Doctor? How was "Mad Jack" being mourned in the circle if he wasn't born yet? Why did everyone get afraid of Ruby and run away?
Why was she waving her hands the same way over and over?
There are just so, SO many unexplained and unanswered questions about how this thing exactly works that it's just frustrating because you had one of the best pieces of Who in years only to absolutely fall down at the finish line.
Most of the episode I wanna give an 9, but that ending drags it down to a 7.
I suppose we can all interpret the episode differently as the episode left a lot of questions, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a dream. I thought she was just a time travelling ghost.
The assertion that it's a dream sequence is interesting. I assert that this is more of a cosmic horror story, where old Ruby had to spend a life of misery in order to return the Mad Jack entity back into the string trap.( After defeating his bid to do whatever function his god-like deal is. I also like to think that the string trap and the TARDIS were working together to keep another fantasy being from the universe.)
I don't think Mad Jack is important at all. Kate tells Ruby that we get these weird circumstances and we try to find meaning - Ruby sees the guy on TV and decides that must be why she's there... But it's not, she asks the Old Ruby figure if that means she'll leave her alone now, but she doesn't - and she also doesn't approach until Ruby is on her deathbed
Which means the actual 'meaning' of the Old Figure is to merge with Ruby to stop the circle being broken.
Weird I never got the idea that it was a dream at all. But this episode is so empty of answers, I suppose we are filling the gaps, just like Kate said.
The premise of this story reminds me of the Twilight Zone tale "Spur of the Moment," the 21st episode of the 5th season. Thought Dr. Who takes it in a different direction.
Been watching this series for 7 years now, super surreal to see my name scroll past at the end 😂
This episode reminded me of the curse of clyde from the Sarah Jane adventures
wait it just hit me, the old woman that has appeared in the Christmas special and the same old woman hiking in Wales is Ruby's long lost mother, this is just a hunch and theory that I just thought on the spot right now
its interesting you took it as a dream, i took it as real world
Wealth subjugation. ✊
I think this is my favourite episode of the season so far. It has an incredible grasp od mystery and horror and a great start for a doctor lite episode. I can’t say I agree with your dream idea as I think that this is all happening in a new timeline created when the doctor broke the circle. The penance for the crime of firstly breaking it but then reading the notes is that she must attone in a life time of her biggest fear of abandonment and isolation. The notes are spells that she inadvertently casts. I also think that the lack of explanation can be fine because it created the mystery of what has happened all the stronger. I think with the toy makers introduction this idea of mysticism will be much bigger aswell.
I watched so many reviews from you now I can literally tell the point you give before you do.
Ruby saves the world in her dream, right? Or does she? With UNIT being there, and they've never met before, is it really a dream? So since she stopped the Doctor from stepping on the circle, thus stopping the "dream," is the world now doomed? I don't know, the whole thing just didn't make sense to me. Not enough for a 7 rating for sure. It's funny that one of the best episodes so far this season barely had the Doctor in it.