MovieChat Forums > Doctor Who (2023) Discussion > Thoughts on 73 Yards

Thoughts on 73 Yards

posted a month ago by peter_t_2k3 (1016)
13 replies | jump to latest

I'm probably going to have to rewatch this one as there's a lot to unpack.

I'm a horror fan so I enjoyed the concept. The idea of someone stalking you who you cannot get to as they always are 73 yards away no matter where you are is great. The fact everyone runs away who tries to speak to them is also interesting but we never learn what was said. What would make Ruby's mam stop talking to her?

Theres also the reveal that it's actually an older future Ruby but I'm slightly confused how that worked. We see Ruby seemingly die at the end but then the stalker turns out to be Ruby so are their multiple timelines?

From what I can gather, stepping on the fairy circle somehow removes the doctor and Ruby then is able to go back to stop her.

Like I said really interesting concept, really erie but also confusing

[–] capuchin (2796) a month ago

I liked it. And I'll also watch it again because I didn't quite catch everything.

For me, episodes 3 and 4 were so much stronger than 1 and 2. I was a little concerned -- especially by Space Babies -- but I've been mollified by these last two episodes. If nothing else, they have provided a welcome reminder that this show is not tonally consistent from week to week. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Still keeping a beady eye on the Mouse though.

[–] peter_t_2k3 (1016) a month ago

To be honest the first episode was the only one that really didn't work. Second hand some great concepts.

I wonder if the older Ruby is going to be unexplained or tie in to other stuff. There's been a lot of people speculating that she is her own mother and this could tie into it

[–] capuchin (2796) a month ago

There were things in Devil's Chord I did like, but overall it didn't work for me. And if all the episodes were like that, I'd have to conclude this was no longer the show for me. Musical numbers and toothy wholesomeness should be reserved for Christmas or CBeebies.

But it turns out it's just the same as it's always been (Why did I ever doubt it?): if you don't like this week's episode that much, you might like the next one more.

And I'm fine with that. I'm fine with there being episodes I don't personally like that someone else probably loves. I embrace the tonal inconsistency. In fact, that's how Doctor Who should be.

So, yeah, I'm less concerned about the direction of the show now than I was two weeks ago. Happy days.

[–] peter_t_2k3 (1016) a month ago

Yeah I do like the fact that the show can be different across multiple episodes.

I was worried that the first episodes seemed a bit too Disneyfied but the last 2 episodes haven't felt like that. Boom had the budget and looks but the story felt the most doctor who so far.

[–] capuchin (2796) a month ago

Yeah. Hopefully, the two most Disneyfied episodes were placed at the start of the series on purpose to lure in the Disney+ers who've never seen the show before. But as long as Doctor Who doesn't cater solely to that mainstream American audience, I'm not going to have too much of an issue.

[–] hurricane (1944) a month ago

Pretty much with you.

Excellent episode, up until the end which let it down a bit by being a bit confusing.

[–] KiwiJim (337) a month ago

The ending made it for me I loved the mystery of it. The episode would’ve been less effective and eerie with a neater explanation.

[–] hurricane (1944) a month ago

I don't mind ambguous ending, or endings where you get to make your own theories.

But I didn't think it made a lot of sense. If the woman was Ruby all along, how did she go back in time and stop her previous self from letting The Doctor on The Fairy Trap? And why not just do that anyway? And what about Roger ap Gwilliam? Ruby stopped him, but then travelled back and changed history. Does this mean he wasn't now foiled? What happened in him with the original time line? Because The Doctor already seemed to have knowledge of him? Why did Ruby need to stop him at all, if The Doctor already confirmed that he failed at the beginning?

I'd have preferred the woman to be left mysterious, but have slghtly better explanations of what happened at the end. Like, you never found out who the mysterious woman was, but Ruby found a way to solve it all and abolsih her.

[–] dt123 (699) a month ago

We absolutely found out who the mysterious woman was. Ruby loved her whole life, grew old, then spooked herself into getting rid of creepy PM. Id like to know about Old Ruby’s weird hand gestures, though, and what she said to everyone who tan from her.

[–] hurricane (1944) a month ago

Sorry, I probably didn't make myself clear.

I know that the woman at the end was Ruby. What I was saying was, I'd have preferred it if we didn't know who the woman was. The ending, where it was revealed to be Ruby, felt forced and confusing. Having an ending where who the woman is was still a mystery, but Ruby found a way to reset history might've been better. (But much more difficult to write, I guess.)

[–] JVM1P5 (13) 25 days ago

Yep that whole Roger ap Gwilliam is intriguing as both times the Doctor mentions him, beginning of the episode saying: He led the world to the brink of nuclear... Stops at that as he realises Ruby is from 2024 not 2046, so a whoops Spoilers (interestingly something River Song said a lot).

Then at the end saying: Mind you, Roger ap Gwilliam - that's a bad example of the Welsh. Terrifying! The most dangerous Prime Minister in history (at that point Ruby stopped him standing on the thread).

Also Ruby must have had some vague memory of her and The Doctor landing there at the start of the episode as:

At the end of the episode Ruby says: Ey, you know what? I've been to Wales three times now. I went to see Shygirl in Cardiff. And then I went to the Mumbles, cos of a boy. I think I broke his heart, but there you go. Convo goes on and The Doctor says: So, what was the third time that you've been to Wales? You said you'd been three times, what was the other one? to which Ruby replies Oh, um... No, I don't know. When was it? I can't think. I suppose... it must've been... now.

At the start of the episode Ruby says she's been to Wales twice, and basically at the end part she can't remember the third time just after she stops the Doctor from treading on the thread and "the woman" disappears.

[–] KiwiJim (337) a month ago

10/10

[–] asom (6604) 24 days ago

Mumbo jumbo time paradox. But it's the doctor.

My questions would be: why did she see herself but old?

And who created the fairy circle with the name of someone from the future (Mad Jack)?