Yeah in spite of my minor problems with the ending, this was an excellent showcase of Ruby. Really sold me on the character in a way that hadn’t quite happened yet.
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No clue wtf just happened 10/10
After little hints of Ruby being not normal throughout the previous episodes we get an entire episode of: “there is something really strange about this girl”. And aside from the political commentary, that woman following Ruby being a metaphor for learning to live with something chronic that will keep following you for the rest of your life and those heartbreaking moments of people leaving her, it was mostly atmosphere. Make everything feel as uneasy as possible. And I ate it all up. It was beautifully executed. I wouldn’t have minded a little bit of explaining, but I’m sure RTD will get to that in the season finale.
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I really enjoyed that episode, but I’m left with more questions than answers… Surely in going back and stopping the doctor from breaking the circle, there’s no Older!Ruby in 2046 ready to stop nuclear war??
I love timey-wimey stuff, but I’m not sure what the point was? Still fun though!
The Welsh Village, the sort-of-acknowledgement of Susan Twist being seen before, the ideas of what the not so distant future might be like…
I just hope we get more Doctor next week.
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To my understanding, they never broke the circle, so Mad Jack, who is Gwillam, is presumably ‘trapped’ or dead or whatever so there is no threat now. Because breaking the circle started everything. At least that’s what I took away from it!
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I really enjoyed this one. Although there were a couple of moments where I was feeling like screaming into the void.
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Yeah, I thought it was utterly brilliant.
Mind bending, thought provoking, intelligently written, intelligently acted, just, intelligent. It felt like a story trying to say something, which is what I come to Doctor Who for, not just the fun, family friendly TV romps. Ruby earns her stripes as a companion, the cinematography is downright beautiful and it parades this dark, foreboding and haunting feeling throughout.
I will note that if this episode doesn’t come back in some way, I will be disappointed. I love unanswered questions in fiction, The Thing is my favourite film of all time for that exact reason, but if left as is, 73 Yards is not ambiguous, it just doesn’t have any answers. Maybe I’m not smart enough or I’m missing something but I am unable to even begin to draw my own conclusions on whatever was happening in this episode, which I personally think defeats the point of ambiguity.
It’s still utterly brilliant and I still give it a 9/10 and if it does come back, I might even up the score depending on how well they handle it, but either way this my favourite episode of RTD2 so far.
If you’re interested in a longer review, here’s one I just posted:
> Season 1 (Series 14); Episode 4 — “73 Yards” by Russell T. Davies
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I can only say this for this episode:
“Five stars! Flawless! Greater than great!”
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I have a feeling I’m going to be alone in this (that’s okay, sometimes an episode just isn’t for you), but the more I think about this the less I like it. I really enjoyed it while I was watching, and I don’t mind unanswered questions and things not entirely making sense, but I’m trying to think about the episode more but it kind of feels like there’s nothing really there to mull over except trying to make sense of the plot. Like what was 73 Yards about, what was the point being made, that nuclear armageddon is bad?
I do want to get it, I do want to like the episode but ultimately right now I feel like it was confusing for the sake of it
(and to briefly get back on my trickster train, very trickster like to have someone live a life that they never should have gotten)
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Absolutely loved that. Horribly beautiful and magical. I love that we got no explanations at the end—it felt perfect. I also felt some shadows of Years & Years (my favourite RTD project) with the Gwilliam plotline, which combined with the off-putting weirdness of this episode put a real dread into me. Really excellent!
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Sorry - I went to bed LOL!
I had so many questions after getting to the end:
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How did Kate know that this was a divergent timeline? She also seemed a bit off throughout her scene, not just at the end.
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The Doctor mentioned Roger Ap Gwilliam before Mad Jack was “released” so he didn’t just exist in the divergent timeline - so how will he be stopped in the main timeline?
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The whole episode had a dream-like unreality about it - like Ruby was being filmed in front of a backdrop a lot of the time.
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I watched this with an old friend who has been wavering out of Who since the 13th Doctor but is enjoying Ncuti.
We both thought it was brilliant, and so creepy.
Like others have said, I do wish we knew more about what it meant. Why people ran away and left her. Especially Kate.
But it felt like a really good horror film. Loved it!
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This was like Doctor Who does Inside No 9 crossed with Years and Years.
I usually hate things that avoid answers but for some reason I’m forgiving this.
I do think we might get some answers later but I also think part of this episodes ‘point’ was not to.
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I really liked this episode. At first the ending felt a bit disappointing/confusing but I’ve watched it a second time now and I’m still confused but in a compelling way.
I think Millie Gibson’s acting is absolutely amazing and is ultimately what made the episode properly scary and sad.
I wonder if we’ll understand it better once we have an answer to the Ruby mystery because all the people were only running away once they looked at her.
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Sign language. I clocked it immediately, but I don’t know any BSL. Apparently she was saying “Bless you. Thank you so much. That’s so kind of you. When you gave me that little thing, it was just so precious. How am I ever going to repay you? But we’ll think of something.”
I’ve see theories saying Ruby is the one to leave her own baby self at the church, and the old lady being Ruby receives this little thing (a baby). I don’t think I’m explaining it well but it is compelling.
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I’d assume UNIT by now has the tech to detect when a timeline is getting messed up… although the very conspicuous shot of her red fingernails like the hand that picked up the Master’s gold tooth might indicate that there’s something else going on… 
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The fact that Mad Jack ended up being a normal dude scared off by the woman instead of something more mysterious bugged the crap out of me
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How did Kate know that this was a divergent timeline? She also seemed a bit off throughout her scene, not just at the end.
I noticed that too! I kept waiting for her to do something sinister as part of some twist or something.
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Well, that was quite an episode!
I did like it a lot, but I think ultimately how it sits with me is going to depend on how Ruby’s arc wraps up as a whole, because I’m finding myself feeling like some of the answers are going to be there.
The episode was very tense and gripping… while in Wales. I think that lowered a bit for me when it went from going on for a few hours or days to years. I’m also a fan of things like Stones of Blood, Image of the Fendahl, and such, so that may have added to it.
Loved having Kate in it, but between this and the time she succumbed to the Giggle, think I could do with having her succeed a bit?
Overall really good episode. Am kinda expecting something like Ruby’s half god, and when the mortal part of her died, the god part sort of echoed back down her timeline to fix things, and was the woman? Or something like that. It’s probably all wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, and, you know, ineffable, or such.
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Thought I’d mention Jessie Gender’s had some interesting thoughts on the themes of the episode…
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I’m not sure that it was, I think that might have just been something the actor used to remember the gestures
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