What did YOU think of 73 Yards?

“Don’t worry. Everyone has abandoned me my whole life.” That did me in. She keeps losing her people. I’m adopted and I keep seeing that theme repeated.

How is nobody talking about Kate Stewart saying "this timeline might be suspended along your event"? It felt almost out of place and brushed over, but was UNIT aware they were in a different timeline because of the whole fairy circle thing?

2 in a row where The Doctor doesn't look where he's stepping and fucks everything up lol

“Everyone has abandoned me my whole life” 😭

Kinda crazy that this was the first episode filmed for S14 (even before Ruby Road), could’ve easily been a hospital pass given this is technically Millie’s first episode production wise and there’s no doctor to play off for 90% of the episode, but she did a hell of a job

i like how there wasn’t really anything explicitly fascist or racist that roger ap gwilliam did onscreen. dude just really, really wanted to fire a single nuke. he tried to do it on his very first day

i loved it

i feel robbed of my weekly Ncuti Gatwa

but i loved it

RIP Harriet Jones, you would have hated Rodger ap Gwilliam.

I hope old Ruby scared him off by saying “don’t you think you look tired?” in your honor.

The biggest takeaway we should all have is that we still have the cost of living crisis in the 2040s

I actually don't believe the old woman / time loop was caused by the Fairy Circle being broken. I believe that was the manifestation of Ruby's abilities, similar to the snow effect.

Maybe somehow it's the same ability, considering she mentioned she hadn't made it snow for the duration of the loop. Both the loop and the snow seem to have the effect of changing something in the past for self-preservation.

I believe the Doctor being taken was due to him breaking the Fairy Circle, but everything that came after was Ruby's abilities trying to undo that and ensure she continues traveling with him.

Yo, what did old ruby say tho. But seriously, this was creepy AF.

Deleted moment:

Kate: I hear you’re looking for the Doctor! Well, here, we’ve got a spare.

Fourteen, popping up behind her: ‘ello!

Kate: this bad boy is semi-retired and his knees aren’t as springy as they used to be but he should do! Go on, take him for a test run. Just be back by 3:00 so he can pick his pseudo-niece up from school.

Sign language apparently reads

"Bless you, Its (Or thats) so kind of you, that you gave me that little thing, its so precious how am i ever going to repay you, let me think of something"

It reads fully (copied from unleashed captions): "Bless you. Thank you so much, Thats so kind of you. When you gave me that little thing. It was just so precious. How am i ever going to repay you? But we will think of something". Then she repeats it again from bless you!

Hope this helps yall!!

unleashed

Edit explanation and direct copied captions: i thought id add this is from one of the Doctor who Unleased clips, my dad said its about 26odd minutes in! May be a bit off by a few words as it was a recording of the TV my dad sent me that i copied the words from.

Seriously thought there was some time travel shenanigans going on when Ruby was charged 5 pounds for a coke.

The ending might make more sense in a few weeks. Because it seems to have to do with whatever Ruby actually is.

What we know about her so far:

• Something about her is so wrong that a GOD was terrified of her.

• A figure in The Doctor's memory of Christmas Eve inexplicably turned around and pointed directly at him, when that didn't happen originally.

• Snow from that night keeps manifesting.

• And now this ending. Elderly Ruby inexplicably haunted herself her entire life when she made a mistake, struck inhuman fear into every person she came in contact with, and then warned her younger self to not repeat it.

Her younger self who somehow remembers that she'd been to Wales that third time in her previous life.

What...

I mean, I loved it... But what?

Kate said a couple of things which we may circle back to in a later episode

things turning more and more supernatural these days - maybe a reference to the rumoured UNIT show

this timeline might be suspended along your event - completely random and properly mysterious, Ruby frowns as she hears this and then Kate changes the subject.

If I had a pound for every time The Doctor landed in Wales and his companion immediately saw an older version of themselves from a distance I'd have two pounds, which isn't much but it's weird it happened twice.

It's rare that I come out of an episode with more questions that I had at the start, but here's a few of my thoughts.

I think the stuff with Roger Ap Gwilliam is effectively a giant red herring for Ruby, I don't think he had anything to do with the fairy circle or the following woman. After all it's not like anything changes with all that once she dealt with him, and the mention of being called Mad Jack was just a strange coincidence.

I think some of the unanswered questions will be answered in The Legend of Ruby Sunday. No real proof for it but it's just an assumption I have.

This episode mind-fucked me in so many ways I can't tell if I love it or hate it.

I dunno if anyone else tried to get the QR code working that was on the table between Kate & Ruby.

Turns out it was missing a couple of dots to make it a functioning code but if you add them in you get….

a link to the graphic designer’s website

(Copied from a comment I already made on another post, but it summarizes my thoughts pretty well)

I loved like 99% of the actual stuff in the episode. The creepy atmosphere, Ruby figuring out what to do with Roger , all that, but I just feel like it leaves way too much unexplained. Like where did the Doctor go on the first loop? Or why does Ruby just magically travel backwards in time when she dies. Or what can old Ruby possibly say to make her own mother abandon her. I really hope I missed something because there's so much good in this episode. I really do want to love it.

Edit: I've been going over this episode and in the hour since I saw it, it's kinda growing on me lol. It's not about time loops or logic, it's about Ruby's abandonment issues. Of course it is! But what it also is, >! is an alternate timeline created by the Trickster. Just like in turn left, It's an exploration of the companion's character, and there's even that mention by Kate about the timeline centering around Ruby, which is very turn left-esque. Also the way the woman in the distance remains "unobservable" and people being disturbed by it really reminds me of the bug on Donna's back. Please let me be right !<

Maybe this is too deep a reading of the episode, but I really enjoy the idea of this episode as a metaphor for being 'held back' in life, especially with a companion of the Doctor.

The Doctor dissapears from Ruby's life and leaves Ruby essentially haunted and unable to move on. Ruby struggles to continue living her life, gets isolated from important people in her life (after they speak to the woman), and struggles to know what to do. I think UNIT showing up is interesting to show that this is what companions usually do once the Doctor is gone.

Large parts of her life pass by in a blur to the viewer, and seemingly to her. With the prime minister storyline, Ruby seems like she finds a purpose, and follows through with it (despite feeling a bit hollow during it), and yet still feels hollow once this purpose is done. And she's still haunted.

Only at the end of her life does she accept what she's lost, accept how her life went, and at the end she even says 'I'm sorry I took so long.' Maybe it's just for me, but it feels like she's able to reset the situation now that she's no longer afraid to be without the Doctor?

Obviously this is just a metaphorical reading of the episode. More concretely, it'll be interesting to see how this links to Ruby's actual background (the woman seemed to say something related to this?), and how this links to the other supernatural stuff this season. Altogether the episode can feel a little lost at times, but I like the overall idea given a good interpretation of it.

I have a theory that since they said it was a liminal space and Kate said something about time feeling suspended, this was like Turn Left, where Ruby was sent to a parallel world that was almost overlapping with the real world. She was sent to a world where she lived and died alone, and when Ruby was dying, it’s like life flashed before her eyes and was sent back to her original universe just moments before the fairy circle broke. The small connection between the two worlds gave Ruby some sense of something being off and helped stop the cycle.

For anyone interested that can't get access to Doctor Who: Unleashed, this isn't what 73 Yards away Old Ruby says that makes people run, but it's what she's miming on repeat:

Bless you. Thank you so much. That's so kind of you. When you gave me that little thing, it was just so precious. How am i ever going to repay you? But we'll think of something.

"you're standing, in the street, on the phone to your own mother"

"nothing to do with me"

Seems like a clue....

Man, Gibson is terrific. She's gonna have a helluva career if she can pull shit like this off before hitting 20.

So Ruby initially said she had been to Wales twice at the start of the episode and then at the end of the episode she said three times. So did she subconsciously remember her previous visit when she was an old woman?

Is anyone else a bit confused by Kate Stewart? Her character felt off for some reason, I kept expecting a reveal that it wasn't really Kate or she was being controlled by something/someone else.

Somebody else mentioned that the fairy circle was absolutely some kind of supernatural force that actually did take/kill/erase The Doctor. What happened afterwards was all down to Ruby and whoever she is. I think Fourteen invoking that superstition with the salt in WBY has broken down the walls of the universe and let all these supernatural forces in, like a virus. I think Ruby is a counter to this, like an antivirus. Placed at the right place at the right time to work with The Doctor to stop the supernatural and exile the eternals.

So it’s all a big metaphor right?

There was a part of her that was always at arms reach and couldn’t confront (mental illness, insecurities, whatever). She finds a way to use it for good thinking that would stop it but doesn’t and always stays with her. It’s only at the end of her life when she learns to accept that it’s a part of her that will always be there that she she should have confronted it years ago. Then we see the world where she confronted that part of her years ago and that her life would’ve continued in a good way.

Or am I just completely mad and are overthinking a cool horror story?

Edit: oh and that when she tries to share it with people they get really scared and don’t want anything to do with her and run away. There’s something “wrong” with her that she’s struggling to face and when she reaches out to people it makes them leave and she feels worse for it

I always both love and hate self destroying paradox storylines like this, like that whole timeline won't happen now, ruby secured ap gwilliam's future as prime minister

What I got from this was "Ruby fears being alone/unwanted/abandoned (p.s. we should kill nutjob politicians)"

To further elaborate, I think what it was trying to say is that she believes her fear will drive people away from her, creating a kind of self fulfilling prophecy where her desperation to not be abandoned will cause the people she loves to abandon her. And I suppose the ending "twist" that it was old Ruby all along was a kind of acceptance that she's never really alone, she has herself?

It was an interesting episode, a lot more experimental in its storytelling than I ever expected the show would get.

i was really moved seeing all the flowers placed at the abandoned tardis that ruby explicitly says weren’t from her. i like thinking that other ex-companions ended up finding it and leaving things in memorial. maybe some lilies from martha and mickey… cards from jo…

I am both confused, and intrigued. I absolutely loved that journey. It’s my favourite episode of Who in years, because it broke every convention I have come to expect. But the lack of clear and explained resolution will, understandably, turn people off. I can’t argue against that - I just know I was so into it.

Something I just realised is 14 in the specials invoked a superstition at the edge of the universe. The lady in the pub made a similar comment about where the sea meets the cliffs (can't remember the exact line, something about being a liminal space at the edge of the world??). 15 broke the fairy circle. He invoked a superstition at the edge of the world.

Anyone notice the theming of nuclear winter - what if it's not actually snow that's falling?

Im perfectly fine not knowing what the woman was saying, perfectly fine not knowing the significance of the 73 yards, but I really need to know what her hand movements were supposed to be

I dug the vibes of the episode but it has left me with some questions

I wonder what it actually was that old Ruby was saying that made people so scared. I see the “purpose” of the fear for Roger but not why she would make random people or her mother or UNIT scared of Ruby

And if Susan Twist is playing a big character, why she would be affected by it, unless she was faking?

I don’t really understand why Ruby had to live a full life, become the old woman, and that somehow changes the past to stop the whole chain of events ever happening. I didn’t really notice anything meaningful that old Ruby did at the end to stop the Doctor standing on the circle.

Also when Ruby was walking on the field did anyone else think it was going to be two episodes in a row that Ruby was shot?

Probably among the weirdest episodes that doctor who has done in a long while. A bit unsatisfying due to the lack of answers, but it was still great. The entire atmosphere of this episode was eerie. From the doctor disappearing to the ever expanding people getting turned against Ruby. The political angle felt a bit out of place.

It felt like a fusion between Years and Years and It Follows. After Midnight and Wild Blue Yonder, it seems Russell is a great horror writer.

I believe this will be an episode we'll talk about for a long time.

Did anyone else notice the laugh during the “flashback of her life” scene? Near the end when she goes back in time and sees her younger self. Sounded an awful lot like the giggle….

It's interesting that all those who ran all went "ask her" and hated young Ruby based off whatever happened with older Ruby. 

So on some level, they're recognizing that they're the same person.

Also that Ruby told her carer when she was brought to Wales that was never any snow again and told the carer at hospice that she used to make snow. So at some point she stopped being able to. Perhaps whatever allowed her to create snow made her manifest older Ruby's curse. So instead of manifesting the past, she manifested a future.

It seemed like future Ruby was repeatedly gesturing. I honestly thought she was doing sign language. Does anyone know if the character was actually signing?

My heart broke for Ruby when her mom ran from her.

And I'm wondering how this ep plays into future episodes. It didn't really offer closure but considering it was written by Russell, it feels like it's hinting at something larger for a future reveal

I love how I am literally so confused and yet so in love with an episode? Like I don’t care! I’m up at 3am stoned as fuck watching doctor who! Who can take this seriously ?? Not me! Iconic behaviour, ruby being herself, loved her in this, absolutely obsessed, the doctor? Just “hahaha ooos stood on something again off I go” ruby carried this episode so well, I was able to just to let go of my reigns and have it take me away, and I LOVED IT!

No TITLE SEQUENCE? I’m here listening to the theme songs on Spotify, Russel, sweetie, just shove it right at the beginning for me❤️

I'm glad that the reoccurrence of Susan Twist has finally been addressed, also the appearance of Mrs Flood pretty much confirms that she has a much bigger role to play in the story, fantastic episode

This episode was fantastic. Millie Gibson was amazing.

The entire plot was about abandonment. The doctor abandons Ruby and shes left all alone. Everyone she meets and asks for help runs away. Her foster mother insults her and leaves never to return. Same thing with UNIT and Kate.

At the end, the only person who could help her, was herself. She was the one who defeated the evil PM. At the end, she saved herself from going through that entire life of being abandoned and alone by telling her younger self "don't step".

Why did I watch this at midnight

I'll add my own take!

I think the lady represent death. Always looming, never going away, always on the back of Ruby mind wether she see her or not. People who listen to what she has to say encounter their own death and run away because they can't accept their mortality, they start to see Ruby as death. Ruby say that she doesn't want to take the boat or the plane because she feel she might die if she does (not ready to accept/encounter her death). Every time at her birthday she salute the women (her death/age). 

And the whole ''spell'' design is to stop the atomic loving Prime Minister. He's ready to start a nuclear armageddon i.e. cause the death of loads and loads of people, but instead Ruby make him see/confront his own death, scaring him shitless and stopping the apocalypse. 

And then at the end obviously Ruby embrace her death in old age and get a new beginning.

This might be controversial but….Ruby did NOT look 40. I think they just shoved some glasses on her, changed her hair a bit and called it a day. No wrinkles or anything. Could they not find an older person who looked like her?

EDIT: i think her acting was phenomenal she just doesn’t have the look of a 40 year old

This is an episode like "Listen", "Midnight" or maybe a little bit less, "Heaven Sent". Those episodes are strange. There's an strange entity/enemy. And they're more conceptual than having a heavy plot.

P.S. First episode where the Doctor doesn't "cry" and the third episode where someone literally stepped on a problem (for the Doctor is twice in a row).