Sutekh’s Revenge

Story: Empire of Death
Written By: Russell T. Davies

Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2024

The main storylines of this series come to a conclusion as the Doctor must somehow defeat a monster which has already won. As we saw in last week’s cliffhanger, the Doctor has been lured into a trap by Sutekh, who has returned from his banishment to the time vortex at the end of the Fourth Doctor adventure “Pyramids of Mars.” It turns out that since his banishment, Sutekh has been building up his strength and biding his time, hanging off the TARDIS for ages. The Susan Triad figure was just part of the trap, a figure created everywhere the Doctor lands, so that when Sutekh is ready a version of her can unleash death upon the planet they are on. 

Essentially…anywhere the Doctor has landed since “Pyramid of Mars” will now be laid waste. Sutekh’s plan basically means the Doctor’s fun adventures have all doomed various worlds. Sutekh kills everyone but the Doctor, Ruby, and Mel…because the God of Death couldn’t figure out who Ruby’s mom was, and it is just bugging him like crazy. Who was this mysterious woman, why can’t the god know?

Eventually they use this against him, tricking him into thinking he has won, having killed Mel and turned her into yet another minion, they come to Sutekh claiming they have the knowledge of Ruby’s mother, but they don’t and Ruby shatters the screen that allegedly had the info, and leashes Sutekh to the TARDIS. The Doctor then travels through the vortex dragging the beast behind, basically killing it, and as it dies, being death itself, the opposite happens…it brings life…restoring the universe. Yay!

The ending of the episode gives Ruby some closure finally. UNIT is able to track down her mom, and it turns out she was just a regular girl. 15 and scared when she had Ruby. And Sutekh’s obsession over the mystery was just built up in his own head. He didn’t see her, couldn’t know her in that moment, and it absolutely fucked him up. He couldn’t handle it. What a dope. 

Ruby connects with her long lost mother and has this family time with her adopted mom and grandma and her real mother, and they’ve even tracked down her biological father…and so she just can’t hop around the universe with the Doctor right now. She needs this time. And so the Doctor must go on alone again. 

Oh…and just who is Mrs. Flood? She is clearly some kind of mysterious being. She knows of the TARDIS as seen in her first appearance. She seemed quite sinister right before Sutekh killed everyone but then she was killed too. And at the end of tbe episode she appears all in white hinting of more dangers facing the Doctor. At the moment, my best theory is that she is the White Guardian? It seems certainly implied by the all white get-up, but who knows. Suppose that is for the next series. 

I thought the finale wrapped up the season well. It wasn’t the best storyline for a series, but how can RTD ever top his finales of yesteryear, when he was bringing back one of the big three monsters each year. I mean Daleks and Cybermen and the Master…he struggled to top it in year four! But I thought Sutekh was a nice villain to bring back. He was unexpected but welcome, and it was a good ride.  

NEXT TIME: Series 14 Recap