Ruby Sunday Doesn't Need a Big Mystery on 'Doctor Who' (2024)

Ever since Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) was introduced during the latest season of Doctor Who, the companion's origin has been treated as a crucial piece to the puzzle that is the narrative of this installment. But after years of the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) running around the universe trying to figure out why one of their companions became an unsolvable enigma, perhaps Ruby shouldn't be turned into the next case that needs to be solved. The fact that this young woman wants to figure out who she will be by traveling in the TARDIS should be enough to elevate Ruby Sunday into the character she's meant to be.

Doctor Who

TV-PG

Action

Adventure

Sci-Fi

The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord, “The Doctor,” who is able to regenerate, and the Doctor’s human friends. The Doctor and his companions journey through time and space in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – saving the universe with a combination of wit, bravery, and kindness.

Release Date

March 17, 2006

Cast

Jodie Whittaker , Peter Capaldi , Matt Smith , David Tennant , Ncuti Gatwa , Christopher Eccleston

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

14

Studio

BBC America

Streaming Service(s)

Disney+

This Would Not the First Time The Doctor's Companion Has Some Sort of Mystery

The first argument against turning Ruby Sunday into yet another question the Time Lord needs to answer is how the modern iteration of the series has repeatedly done it in the past. The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) was surrounded by signs that were trying to warn him about Rose Tyler's (Billie Piper) return as the Bad Wolf. After that, the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) had to do everything in his power to figure out why the wall on Amy Pond's (Karen Gillan) wall had an interdimensional crack in it. And jumping forward in time, the trend doesn't slow down.

By the time Peter Capaldi was introduced as the Twelfth Doctor, his predecessor already had to investigate why Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) continued to appear at different points in space and time without using the TARDIS, before the character was frozen in time in order to prevent her death. The companions are present for the audiences to feel empathy for the Time Lord who has done it all, but when these human characters turn into powerful beings or abstract concepts, they lose the spark that makes them approachable. Sure, accidents happen for the Doctor to learn from. But how many more does the audience need?

It's fun to watch the Doctor using his skills as a detective to get to the bottom of a mystery, but after so many of his companions have become victims of traveling with him, it becomes repetitive. When Ruby Sunday was introduced as an orphan who was abandoned by a mysterious character, it only made sense for the Fifteenth Doctor to become emotionally invested in figuring out where the girl came from. But as Doctor Who enters a new era of its history, it might be time for the series to step away from companions with complicated origins and focus on the bright adventures they want to go on while on the TARDIS.

Ruby Sunday Is Better as a Fresh Face

With the main cast of Doctor Who changing after the brief return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the series had the opportunity to introduce new charismatic characters who would cross paths with the Doctor. Ruby Sunday was the very first one to be a part of this journey, with the Fifteenth Doctor bumping into her a short time after his bi-generation took place. It's hard to split one's consciousness into two people, but becoming friends with a stranger is even harder. Thankfully, a dangerous situation that involved singing goblins ensured that Ruby trusted the Doctor almost immediately.

And that's what makes the dynamic between Ruby Sunday and the Doctor interesting. Sure, a big mystery surrounding the companion's origin might become an intriguing premise, but a young woman who leaves her entire life behind by trusting the Time Lord should be at the center of this season's storytelling. During one of their first adventures together, the Doctor explained to Ruby how the butterfly effect was completely capable of changing things across reality. It would be more fascinating to see how that theme is related to Ruby's decisions throughout her journey, instead of finding out how it ties to her past during the last episodes of the season.

While the antagonists from this season haven't been as dangerous as the Daleks or the Weeping Angels, Ruby Sunday has had to deal with multiple threats on her own. This woman has proven that she doesn't need someone from Gallifrey to rescue her at the last second. Allowing Ruby to grow into an independent traveler instead of spending so much time thinking about where she came from could offer a more emotionally satisfying conclusion than turning her entire existence into a plot twist. Hopefully, the first season of the new era of Doctor Who will allow this companion to become her own heroine.

Some Mysteries Are Better Left Alone

One of the best episodes from this season of Doctor Who has been "73 Yards", the terrifying tale of how Ruby was left alone after the Doctor mysteriously vanished. By breaking a circle that looked as if it was guarding a spell, Ruby quickly realized that she wasn't alone. An unknown woman kept delivering a message to her, standing seventy-three yards away at exactly all times. It wasn't until Ruby lived her whole life haunted by the woman that she realized she had actually been stuck in a time loop meant to prevent nuclear war from taking place in the future.

But the logistics of the plot twist were never explained. Where did the Doctor go? How exactly did Ruby break the time loop? How many times did she fail before she managed to do so? The fact that viewers didn't get many real answers related to the episode's mystery is what made the plot of "73 Yards" so scary. In fact, some of the scariest monsters from Doctor Who have been the ones without many details provided about them, such as the Weeping Angels and the creature from the Twelfth Doctor adventure titled "Silence". If Ruby Sunday's origin was a mystery without an explanation, it would establish a haunting aura around the character without making her story about finding out who she really is.

Regardless of what has already been established, it's clear that Russell T. Davies and the team behind the new season of Doctor Who are very much in the business of making Ruby's past a vital part of her future. One of the final episodes of the season is titled "The Legend of Ruby Sunday", and it could be directly tied to the plot line the Fifteenth Doctor has been following since his introduction. Let's just hope that the next time someone is invited to the TARDIS, their inexplicable past doesn't become the "mavitational" center of their adventures.

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