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| Doctor Who • 73 Yards, Season 1, Episode 4 | 25th May 2024 |
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 21st May 2024, 04:49 PM
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#1
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 nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,641 User: 18,316 
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 All the reviews so far seem to be indicating we're in for another incredible treat this week in the form of 73 Yards! RTD has described this episode as one of the best things he's ever written and unlike any episode of Doctor Who we've ever seen before. Ruby has some time to shine on her own with it being a Doctor-lite episode too. Really looking forward to this episode, seems like RTD's trying to give Moffat a run for his money after Boom 
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25th May 2024, 12:44 AM
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#2
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nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,641 User: 18,316
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I... really don't know what to make of that
 It started off brilliantly, but I think the entire episode was let down by the final five minutes or so rendering the whole thing totally pointless? It makes sense (seeing people confused how it would all have happened anyway/'the woman' would have even been there, but it does make perfect sense really) but I just... ??? I'm totally fine with the ambiguity and leaving a lot of things unanswered because it added to the unsettling nature of the episode and it just being a weird, unusual episode unlike anything they've done before, but Kate/UNIT appearing definitely felt shoehorned in to progress the timeline, and the political element was just unnecessary? Inserting Ruby into an event that she didn't really need to be a part of to shoo off a villainous politician with 'the woman'? I'll definitely need to watch this one again, but I think for me this is one that both RTD and the fans have overhyped from the beginning and probably just won't be for me because of how it ended when it could have just... not done it in that particular way. The fact that we revert back to Ruby having not even known she experienced the events of the episode either just leaves a sour taste in my mouth? Zero character development in an episode dedicated to giving Millie time to shine and Ruby to grow into the [independent] companion role. Millie was amazing on her own though and really carried the episode. The trailer for next week's episode has me excited, looks like a good one!! |
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25th May 2024, 09:52 AM
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#3
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 electric butterflies
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 7 March 2006 Posts: 49,128 User: 70
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I thought this episode was excellent. It was creepy and clever... it kept me guessing and engaged like no other Doctor Who episode has done for YEARS.
Nearly every series has a Doctor-lite episode and they are so often one of the standout episodes. I loved it. |
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25th May 2024, 02:02 PM
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#4
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rip in peace Dickston
Joined: 29 January 2017
Posts: 9,641 User: 25,045
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I loved this, but also, what is this?
 It’s the most Turn Left episode we’ve had since Turn Left and is easily my favourite of the new era so far. It’s a mindf*** of an alternate timeline, and Kate acknowledging that it’s a different timeline adds a whole other layer as well. Implying that UNIT, at least, knows more about the wibbly wobbly-ness of time and can be conscious of branching timelines. But with that, it’s not necessarily a separate timeline. At the end Ruby says she’s been to Wales more times than she has because she does have a vague memory of coming to Wales with the Doctor previously in the other timeline. She can’t remember why but it drips through. The same will happen with Susan Twist, Ruby recognised her here but convinced herself it was nothing because it was a different era. She’ll show up soon again and Ruby will recognise her “from Wales” despite the fact that she didn’t show up in the ‘real’ Wales. I feel like the Doctor breaking the fairy circle made him disappear and the rest of the episode was Ruby / her future self dealing with abandonment. Whatever powers Ruby has are allowing her to subconsciously twist reality which very well could hint that she isn’t a real companion? There was theories about the Doctor being a being from another dimension akin to the other villains we’ve seen but perhaps Ruby is some kind of amalgamation of these sub-dimensional creatures? This show has gone nuts but I’m kinda here for it tbh |
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25th May 2024, 02:40 PM
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#5
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 22 May 2020 Posts: 2,965 User: 106,739
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Definitely my favourite episode in a long time! Probably because of the Turn Left vibes but this is exactly what I expected a post-Years and Years and It's A Sin RTD era to look like. Obviously there's a lot of unanswered questions but I think that heightens the fear of the whole thing - I mean, a thing that can scare your friends, family, and even UNIT into staying away from you? Also incredible timing to get this episode out right after a real-life general election is called. Towards the end of the episode I was starting to expect a Last of the Time Lords-style 'let's just rewind time and everything's fine!' but the time loop concept tied in and felt more natural here imo. Agreed it's a shame Ruby's big independence moment essentially gets erased but it seems like she 'remembers' it to an extent from the way she mistook how many times she's been to Wales.
Also, Shygirl is Doctor Who canon 
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25th May 2024, 07:56 PM
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#6
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Radical Pink Troll
Joined: 11 March 2006
Posts: 26,677 User: 177
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I loved it. Probably my favourite so far, I was hooked throughout. I’m sure this will come back by the finale when we discover what Ruby’s story is all about. I don’t care what the haters are saying, I’m loving this series so far.
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25th May 2024, 08:06 PM
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#7
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 The owls are not what they seem
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Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,343 User: 9,232
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Well I'm gonna need a bit of time with this one, but wowowow, what an episode, a potential new classic!
I mean yeah, it's essentially this era's equivalent to Turn Left and Gibson/RTD2 was never gonna match Tate/RTD1. But there was clearly some other themes going on here that could make it even better or worse in retrospect depending on the conclusion to Ruby's arc. I can definitely see that ending being divisive, but I think it works in a metaphorical sense that reveals a lot more about Ruby as a character - Her following and draining herself of everyone in her life is an embodiment of her psychological fears. She's scared of being alone, abandoned by the Doctor and everyone she cares about for a reason that isn't clear (it also would make sense as her using her 'powers' to save the world from the nuke politician, she learns to love it and live out a silly fantasy that gives her a purpose yet still doesn't satisfy). Now this is purely metaphorical and assuming it's meant to be a standalone, we don't know how this links to her overall background (although certainly makes the adoption storyline make sense) or the wider supernatural narrative yet. It's certainly introduced a darker and more psychologically complex side to her either way. Absolute top marks to Gibson who portrayed that complexity really well, and some of those scenes including the Welsh pub and her mother leaving her gave such a palpable sense of human horror and tragedy that I haven't seen in so long in this show. It really reminded me a lot of the brilliant horror film, It Follows, which has a similar strange entity following teenagers as an emdodiment of repressed fears, primarily of a sexual nature so maybe won't be mentioned in the same breath, but I'd highly recommend that if any of you enjoyed this x It's exactly the sort of experimental storytelling I thought was lost under Disney and Moffat wasn't even involved, I don't think we've seen an episode this complex and ambiguous since Heaven Sent. This series has been the exact definition of a mixed bag so far, I can't think how they'll follow this but I'm intrigued! |
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25th May 2024, 09:25 PM
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#8
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 you never forget your first time...
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 19 April 2011 Posts: 123,452 User: 13,530 
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Best episode of RTD2 so far. Tense, gripping, scary in parts, and I was gripped by every second. Having seen her in Corrie, I had no doubt that Millie Gibson would be amazing in Doctor Who, and this episode just proved me right - how impressive for a then-18 year old to carry a whole episode of a show this huge and a concept this big!
I liked the fact that we came out of the episode knowing barely anything about what happened. Wouldn't surprise me to see a couple of elements revisited later, but I like how open-to-interpretation the concept is. I'll be thinking about it for a while, and every time I rewatch too. Simply brilliant television and I like the idea that there's still stuff out there that the Doctor doesn't know about or understand. It did feel more supernatural than sci-fi again, I wonder if this will be addressed in the show? I don't mind the show heading in this sorta direction when we're getting such good episodes out of it. I think I'd have liked this to be a two-part episode, it was amazing as it was so it didn't NEED it, but I'd have liked even more time to explore the concept, with part 2 being the Roger ap Gwilliam stuff to flesh that out even more. I'm really enjoying this series so far  every episode's been great in its own way and I think each episode of Gatwa's era has been better than the one that came before.
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26th May 2024, 12:50 AM
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#9
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nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,641 User: 18,316
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Finding it quite disappointing that the general discourse online from those that found the episode to be brilliant and one of the best things ever is pretty much talking down to those that didn’t as if they’re just missing the point or not allowing themselves to just get lost in the ‘story’. Comparing this to the likes of Turn Left and Midnight seems very strange to me, because they’re really nothing alike and 73 Yards is just discombobulated ideas thrown together without any form of coherency.
An episode can absolutely be experimental, ambiguous and unique while still actually making sense and not just being lazily passed off as fantasy that needs to be embraced. |
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26th May 2024, 07:10 AM
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#10
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 26 February 2007
Posts: 14,646 User: 3,002
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I enjoyed it a lot; it’s hard to believe this can from the same person who did Space Babies.
This and Boom are another level to the first 2 stories. |
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26th May 2024, 08:16 AM
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#11
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Radical Pink Troll
Joined: 11 March 2006
Posts: 26,677 User: 177
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QUOTE(Calum @ 26th May 2024, 01:50 AM)  Finding it quite disappointing that the general discourse online from those that found the episode to be brilliant and one of the best things ever is pretty much talking down to those that didn’t as if they’re just missing the point or not allowing themselves to just get lost in the ‘story’. Comparing this to the likes of Turn Left and Midnight seems very strange to me, because they’re really nothing alike and 73 Yards is just discombobulated ideas thrown together without any form of coherency. An episode can absolutely be experimental, ambiguous and unique while still actually making sense and not just being lazily passed off as fantasy that needs to be embraced. I do think you need to be a bit patient. I think this will be returned to and we’ll get answers later on for some of the unexplained things. If I’m wrong, fine, but at the moment we don’t know so let’s just see what happens. |
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26th May 2024, 09:44 AM
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#12
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The owls are not what they seem
Pronouns: He/him
Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,343 User: 9,232
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I'm just realising that Martha was heavily implied to have been coerced into SA by Gwilliam, that is seriously dark stuff for Doctor Who especially in the time slot it's in... (I'm also realising Ruby was meant to have been much older during this time, that was less convincing
)I completely get that the ending feels like 'it was all a dream' and doesn't give clear answers in terms of ongoing arcs and it's a little out of place in a show that is usually grounded in some form of twisted logic (and as said, we may look at this differently following the arc's conclusion), I just feel personally for me the plot holes are overcome if you look at this purely as a character piece and a physical embodiment of her worst psychological fears mainly of abandonment and self-insecurity, how she becomes accustomed to it and uses it to her advantage for the sake of a hollow 'mission' until she just accepts it right before death, where she finally realises this and is able to give the warning to her younger self (the slightly shoehorned UNIT and PM moments I think make more sense this way as proving it is not something that can be explained via scientific explanation or trite 'destiny'). I'm a bit biased and cottoned on to this way of thinking as it's pretty much straight out of a Mike Flanagan psychological horror series (The Haunting of Hill House has a similar episode) which is my bread and butter. |
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26th May 2024, 10:51 AM
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#13
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you never forget your first time...
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 19 April 2011 Posts: 123,452 User: 13,530
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For what it's worth, this got the highest overnight rating of the series, even more than Space Babies, with 2.62m and a 24.8% audience share!
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26th May 2024, 01:22 PM
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#14
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 26 February 2007
Posts: 14,646 User: 3,002
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That’s good re the ratings; be interesting to see if it has a lower +7 day figure etc.
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26th May 2024, 01:49 PM
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#15
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nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,641 User: 18,316
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QUOTE(T Boy @ 26th May 2024, 09:16 AM) I do think you need to be a bit patient. I think this will be returned to and we’ll get answers later on for some of the unexplained things. If I’m wrong, fine, but at the moment we don’t know so let’s just see what happens. It's not even really anything left unanswered that could be arc-related that's irked me about the episode. I've followed a lot of commentary from people on Twitter wondering why x, y and z have been left unexplained from the first three episodes too, and those are all quite clearly things that will be explained in the finale/later down the line so I'm fully expecting some elements of this episode will be revisited and come to mean something. It's more the episode itself as a contained piece of work that was all just too disjointed and meaninglessly vague to consider an all-time classic or anywhere near it. |
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26th May 2024, 01:57 PM
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#16
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 30 March 2024
Posts: 527 User: 175,892
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Those ratings are still low by historic standards - unless it does an out of the ordinary time-shift. Not the worst ratings ever like last weeks overnights - but I'm sure it'll still be causing some concern for the BBC. I can envisage a future where new episodes of the show only come out on Disney.
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26th May 2024, 01:59 PM
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#17
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c:
Joined: 12 March 2014
Posts: 13,175 User: 20,692
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Finally a good episode! Rejoice!
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26th May 2024, 02:14 PM
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#18
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you never forget your first time...
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 19 April 2011 Posts: 123,452 User: 13,530
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QUOTE(DoBelieveTheHype @ 26th May 2024, 02:57 PM) Those ratings are still low by historic standards - unless it does an out of the ordinary time-shift. Not the worst ratings ever like last weeks overnights - but I'm sure it'll still be causing some concern for the BBC. I can envisage a future where new episodes of the show only come out on Disney. This won't happen. |
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26th May 2024, 02:23 PM
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#19
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nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,641 User: 18,316
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Yeah the BBC will never give up the rights to being the primary broadcaster of Doctor Who. Dropping early on iPlayer/simulcasts is the furthest stretch they'd be willing to go.
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26th May 2024, 07:53 PM
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#20
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Mansonette
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 35,636 User: 54
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My first thought was this is two episodes in a row where the Doctor needs to learn to look where he's putting his feet in the opening scene.
I can see why Calum found the episode a bit frustrating, it did have a LOT of unanswered elements. But it was still an enjoyable episode for me, I really liked the weird menace of the person always being in sight but never close enough to see properly - and it made for a really interesting concept even if I did guess what it was very early on. I do wish we at least got to find out what they were saying to the other characters though to make them run away, that was the thing that frustrated me the most. Either way, that's two in a row that have been much more like I want from the series so I'm very optimistic for the rest of the season. |
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