Doctor Who - Empire Of Death

Sutekh And
The Banshees

Doctor Who -
Empire Of Death
Airdate: 22nd June 2024
BBC 1

Warning: More spoilers.

Well that was... okay. Better than the set up episode and not a real clunker like a fair few in this season of Doctor Who have been. Empire of Death is the second of a two part season finale, carrying directly on from last week’s The Legend Of Ruby Sunday (reviewed here). It has a lot to do but the exposition is fairly light handed and it does have time to go off and explore other story ideas as it sets about mostly resolving questions and threads brought up in the current series. There’s also a big problem right from the outset here but I’ll get into it that in a moment.

Okay, so this episode sees The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and former Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) on the run from Sutekh and his gift of death. They are on their own in the universe now because almost everything is now dead worlds and dead suns (Earth and all life on it is destroyed very early on in the episode... and therein lies the problem) but they find someone who has a bit of metal they need to get their ‘get out of jail free’ gadget back, so they can regain the upper hand and set to putting things right.

Which they do... and then we finally find out who Ruby’s mum is... who turns out to be nobody of any importance (which, in Marvel comics terms, would be the equivalent of what Steve Dikto wanted to do with the reveal on the Green Goblin, as opposed to what Stan Lee actually did, causing the rift between them). Which is a bit of a let down in some ways but, I like the idea that this simple matter of identity, which is the only reason Sutekh has allowed these three fugitives from death to live, has become important because of the way certain life forms value things and people... and so that’s what they become. Which is a nice idea and, yeah, almost certainly true.

So most of the mysteries are tied up and The Doctor and Ruby Sunday part company (although I suspect she may be back to guest star in the odd UNIT episode or two at some part in the next series). If Disney don’t decide to just write off the already completed next series as a tax loss, that is. However we still have the mystery of next door neighbour Mrs. Flood and the way Anita Dobson is scripted and plays the character makes me think that I was on the right track thinking she’s an important villain from some point in the Doctor Who universe... especially when she breaks the fourth wall again at the end of the episode to tell the audience that The Doctor’s story ends in terror.

And I thought the episode played pretty well and the memory TARDIS from the, not so good I’d have to say, Tales From The TARDIS streaming show is given a practical use, of sorts, in this episode (although everybody kind of recognised the background of a memory TARDIS through the open doors in a shot in the early trailers for the series so... no real surprise there).

The big problem for me with the episode was that, most of the regular characters, UNIT or otherwise, die near the start of the episode (as does all life on Earth) so, you kind of know there’s going to be a huge ‘reset button’ of a resolution to the story, to get everybody back to life again, at some point. So The Doctor trapping Sutekh in the time vortex to bring death to death (which, by the way, would mean everybody in the universe should now be immortal... so that would be a huge problem in itself) seems a bit of a cop out ending, to be honest. Still, it got the story back to where it needed to be and although this new incarnation of The Doctor kept crying again (as he has in every bloody episode this season, I think)... it was an okay end of season finale and I totally didn’t mind it.

Not much more to say about Empire Of Death. Murray Gold’s score was great, it was nice seeing Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen in footage from The Pyramids Of Mars on the viewer as part of the story and I’m still looking forward to seeing this year’s Christmas special, I’m pleased to say. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting the producers to learn anything much from the reception of the show in the next season because, well, they’ve already shot it before the first series aired, I believe.

Here’s my ranking of the episodes in this year’s series, from worst to best, if anybody wants to know (because that’s what people seem to be doing these days, it seems... personal rankings) now that I’ve had time to reevaluate them (click on the titles for the corresponding review)...

8. Rogue
7. Space Babies
6. The Devil’s Chord
5. The Legend Of Ruby Sunday
4. Empire Of Death
3. Boom
2. 73 Yards
1. Dot And Bubble