After eight episodes and a whole lot of fanfare, we finally discover the secrets of this season, like Ruby's mother's name and Sutekh's long-standing plan to destroy the Doctor. Still, other secrets (like just who is this Mrs. Flood person?) will have to wait until next season.
Sutekh has won, and his minions are busy bringing his gift of death to the planet. The Doctor and Mel and Ruby escape in the "memory Tardis" from inside the videotape (the same Tardis from the spin-off series Tales of The Tardis in a nice callback.) We learn that Sutekh has been attached to the real Tardis, following the Doctor, and spreading decoy Susans across the universe since the events of "Pyramids of Mars" in 1975, meaning Sutekh has been on his revenge mission for forty-nine years, encompassing half of the original series and all of the new show.
Sutekh's a formidable villain, and I'm so glad they got the original voice actor to play him (despite him being in his 90's.) You can sense the unrelenting hatred in his being with each syllable he utters. After he takes over Mel's mind psychically, the Doctor and Ruby hatch a plan to defeat him which is too goofy to describe here, but it works.
After trapping Sutekh with a "living rope" to the outside of the Tardis, he drags him throughout the Universe, causing it to regenerate. (The death of death is life, y'see.) The Doctor cuts the rope loose and Sutekh flies unprotected into the Time Vortex, supposedly destroyed.
As for Ruby's mother, she is....no one in particular, just a very average person. Somehow it was the collective interest and desire for story that powered Ruby's odd powers. No it doesn't make any sense as a satisfying answer, but whatever. She is reunited with her parents and the Doctor leaves her on Earth to get acquainted with them, returning to his solo travels.
Did you forget about Mrs. Flood? She pops up at the very end, holding a suitcase and ominously saying that Ruby's story is over, but the Doctor's will end in torment. It's clear we should have been paying more attention to her than the whole Ruby story, which turned out to be a red herring. We can hope for some resolution to this (maybe) in the upcoming Christmas special before the next series starts sometime in 2025.
All in all, a great finale with a masterful villain. Some of the writing is a little dopey in spots (especially the stuff with the explanation of Ruby's powers being "everyone just really, really believed in it") but this was a solid ending to the first Disney-fied Doctor Who season. Now you can watch all the reruns since 1975 and imagine where Sutekh is in the story, if that's your thing.
Recap of Series Fourteen, or Disney Season One:
The Church on Ruby Road A-
Space Babies C+
The Devil's Chord B+
Boom A-
47 Yards A+
Dot and Bubble A+
Rogue A-
The Legend of Ruby Sunday A-
Empire of Death A
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