Doctor Who airs game-changing villain twist in new episode
Doctor Who season 14 episode 'The Legend of Ruby Sunday' spoilers follow. The episode is available to stream now but won't air on BBC One until Saturday at 6.30pm.
Doctor Who has aired the return of one of the most iconic monsters in the classic series — Sutekh the Destroyer.
The latest episode, 'The Legend of Ruby Sunday', confirmed a popular fan theory that the villain who first appeared in the 1975 serial 'Pyramids of Mars' would return in this year's finale. The self-described "god of all gods" originally faced off against Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor and companion Sarah Jane Smith.
Doctor Who's newest episode, which is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer and Disney+, concluded with The Doctor, Ruby, and UNIT all at the mercy of Sutekh after the monster managed to attach itself to "the fabric" of the TARDIS and travel back through time.
A member of the Osiran race and self-proclaimed god, Sutekh the Destroyer sought to obliterate all life on earth in that '70s adventure but was stopped by The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith harnessing the power of a time tunnel.
The way Sutekh was destroyed in the 'Pyramids of Mars' might offer some insight on how he returned, as The Doctor and UNIT used a similar device to try to recreate the night of Ruby's birth.
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While they unsuccessfully tried to identify Ruby's mother by reconstructing CCTV footage in 3D, a dark reddish cloud appeared inside UNIT's time window device and then escaped into the corporeal world.
As for recurring guest star Susan Twist, viewers got a little more insight about why she's been appearing throughout the entire series, no matter where The Doctor and Ruby landed in time and space.
'The Legend of Ruby Sunday' featured Twist's largest role yet as the tech billionaire Susan 'Sue' Triad, whose company Triad Technologies was planning to release free software to the world.
The Doctor and UNIT both suspected this mysterious woman might actually be The Doctor's granddaughter Susan, but it turned out to be a giant trap.
The One Who Waits — a godlike entity referenced previously by The Toymaker and Maestro — purposely tricked The Doctor into thinking Sue Triad and her company Triad Technology were involved with a TARDIS.
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'S Triad' is indeed an anagram for 'TARDIS', but this was a red herring as the relevant anagram was actually 'Sue Tech' aka Sutekh.
Once Sutekh revealed itself in UNIT HQ, UNIT officer Harriet Arbringer (Genesis Lynea) was unmasked as the evil god's harbinger ('H. Arbinger') whereas Susan Triad morphed into a demonic entity while still on a worldwide livestream.
Sutekh described itself as both "mother and father" to all of the gods of chaos in the universe, while its harbinger warned: "He has hidden in the howling void.
"He has hidden within the tempest. He’s braved the storm and the darkness and pain and he whispered to the vessel. All this time, he whispered and delighted and seduced and the vessel did obey.
"The Lord of Time was blind and vain and knew nothing."
The episode left off without Doctor Who clarifying exactly how Susan Triad is related to Sutekh, or perhaps if she's another vessel for the "god of all gods".
Viewers are still none the wiser on who Ruby's mum is — though there was one additional intriguing moment early in the episode where Ruby's neighbour Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) predicted that The One Who Waits was about to reveal itself.
Given that Mrs Flood has previously shown she's familiar with a TARDIS, we'd expect more on that in next week's season finale 'Empire of Death' — along with a mysterious guest appearance from Fleabag's Sian Clifford as 'Kind Woman'.
Doctor Who debuts new episodes at midnight on Saturday, airing on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Classic episodes of Doctor Who are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
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