This entry to the Narrative Nook is a bit different as it isn't a review or a full analysis for a series or film. But, Doctor Who's 73 Yards from Series 14 (or Series 1 according to the BBC) left me pondering and confused as I was left trying to make sense of what I just watched. Most of the following theories are most likely not correct, but, I had a lot of fun theorising them and I'd love to share them with you!
All images used in this entry belongs to BBC/Disney+. I do not own the rights to any of the images used, and do not profit from them in any way.
In Series 1 Episode 4, we arrive in the Welsh valleys. The T.A.R.D.I.S lands on some picturesque cliffs, and the Doctor and companion Ruby Sunday immediately start out on a new adventure. That is until the Doctor steps on and breaks a fairy circle, disappearing soon after. Ruby is alone, the T.A.R.D.I.S cannot be unlocked, and so begins a kind of Welsh folk horror.
If you’re looking for a review, I’d recommend Den of Geek's. I found it a very good read and helped me understand some of the things that were ambiguous about the episode. But I still have many questions, very little answers, and a hankering for a good bit of theorising. So, I invite you to sit back, relax, grab a drink, and theorise with me. Oh, and beware traveller, for there are spoilers ahead!
Snow in Wales
Snow isn’t an alien aspect in Wales. As a long-term resident of Wales, I have seen it snow a few times. But after Ruby comes to the realisation that the Doctor is gone and she has been left somewhere in Wales, it begins to snow. We’ve seen snow in almost every episode of Series 1 so far, often appearing when Ruby is feeling sad or stressed. In the face of the Doctor potentially abandoning her, snow falls once more, indicating her building grief at losing her friend. And therein we have the word grief. Grief is the anguish experienced after a significant loss and does not always have to be in relation to death. But I have a theory that Ruby’s snow might be a representation of the inevitability of grief and/or death, as snow and the cold are an evitability of winter.
Winter is often described as the season of death; trees have lost their leaves, flowers and grass are dead or dying, and very little colour can be found. Ruby’s snow in 73 Yards first occurs when the Doctor disappears and again when her mother later cuts her out of her life. She is experiencing grief; thus, her snow is a representation of that emotion. Another example of this is in Boom, in which Ruby is fatally wounded and is dying, which causes snow to fall. She herself might be grieving for the life she is losing, or perhaps is picking up on the grief around her and reflecting that emotion in her snow.
The Woman in Black
Throughout the episode, Ruby repeatedly sees a woman in black (WIB) who is always just out of reach. At the end of 73 Yards, we see a very elderly Ruby in a care facility, settling down for the night. It is heavily inferred that the WIB was actually Ruby herself, given that when Ruby reaches towards the woman, the camera viewpoint changes from third person to first person as we now see through the WIB’s eyes who begins narrating about a younger Ruby, whom we see stepping out of the T.A.R.D.I.S with the Doctor, exactly as they did at the beginning of the episode.
However, I don’t think the WIB was ever Ruby. Firstly, the woman is wearing black, whilst Ruby, in her care facility was wearing a light-coloured nightdress. Ruby’s hair was less wild and shorter, whilst the WIB had wilder, longer hair. I theorise that the WIB is a depiction of Death or the Reaper, ever looming over Ruby whose death was required for her to go back in time to warn her younger self about stepping on the fairy circle. One reason I believe this to be the case is because of the fear that the WIB evokes in others when they hear what she was saying. For Kate Stewart, stalwart UNIT leader, to abandon Ruby after vowing she’d help her, due to what she heard what the WIB was saying, suggests that what the WIB had to say was overwhelmingly upfronting and/or terrifying.
So, what exactly was the WIB saying? It could simply be that she was repeatedly saying to a younger Ruby to stop the Doctor from stepping on the fairy circle, and the ‘timey wimey’ power of those words transcending through time was just too much for the listener to bear. But I believe it is more likely that the WIB was uttering words that only a creature of Death could know and speak. Therefore, anyone that heard the words would become terrified of the one aspect that most people are afraid of or uncertain about: death.
Alternatively, the WIB could actually be an entity far more chaotic and ancient than Death itself. Perhaps the people who heard her words were forced to abandon Ruby to ensure she stayed on the right path that led to her death, which in turn allowed her to reverse time and relive a life back with the Doctor. With this idea, the WIB was removing all other distractions or threats from Ruby’s life so that she always lived her life and ended up in that bed so the WIB could get closer to her. It certainly adds to the horror element that this episode was aiming for, and it certainly achieves that with the ever-present woman in black.
Alternate Timeline
This is a theory that I feel very confident about. Ruby is in a different timeline in 73 Yards. If we take the theory that the WIB was saying anything she needed to get Ruby to die in that bed, at that time, at the end of the episode, then I believe someone in the universe is trying to keep Ruby and the Doctor together. The Doctor stepping on the fairy circle was an unfortunate circumstance, something that could not necessarily be controlled in the moment. But I believe the WIB was a tool used by a powerful entity to get Ruby back to the correct timeline. Let’s break that down.
The Doctor steps on the fairy circle, and disappears or is removed from the timeline that Ruby is in. Ruby then goes through her life, always with the WIB just out of reach. She uses the WIB to cause a mad politician with nuclear aspirations to flee and stand down from parliament. She then lives a somewhat happy but clearly lonely life, ending up at a ripe old age in a futuristic care home. But Ruby’s whole life is in a separate timeline that is entirely personal to her. Kate even says, "I think this timeline might be suspended along your event”, suggesting that she has worked out that this timeline is based on “Ruby’s event”. The question is, what is Ruby’s event, and who is orchestrating it?
Ruby's Event
The Devil’s Chord had a very subtle music line that hasn’t been heard since the days of the Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane had several episodes dedicated to defeating the Trickster, an enigmatic creature that was hungry for chaos whose presence was marked by some very specific music. If you’re curious about the music, feel free to check out this YouTube link: Ruby Sunday and The Trickster's Theme? (It’s all about the music) (youtube.com).
In Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith? of the Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane suddenly disappears and is replaced by her best friend, Andrea Yates, who had died when she and Sarah Jane were children. In this two part story, the Trickster plays around with timelines extensively. He offers Andrea a deal: her life for Sarah Jane’s, which she accepts. Andrea then gets the life that Sarah Jane had, minus the alien adventures. The Trickster essentially opens an entirely new timeline, Andrea’s timeline, wherein Sarah’s life is forgotten by all but Maria Jackson, one of Sarah Jane’s teenage friends. Perhaps the Trickster is returning to do something similar to the Doctor, using Ruby to make everyone forget the Time Lord?
For the Trickster’s chord to play during The Devil’s Chord during a moment where Ruby’s life is threatened suggests that the Trickster is using Ruby to achieve a timeline where he can unleash untold chaos. Her singing this song preludes the Trickster’s coming, or at least hints at his presence. Therefore, “Ruby’s Event” might not be Ruby saving the word from the nuclear-loving politician using the WIB, but instead is a future event wherein she pulls the Trickster into the world. Perhaps the snowflakes that she summons during times of sadness and stress is actually an indication that she is opening a portal to where the Trickster dwells. After all, the Trickster is commonly seen wearing all black with very pale skin, and the WIB, except for being a woman, is nearly aesthetically identical.
Conclusion
Of course, these are just theories, and I feel confident that some of these questions will be answered in the upcoming episodes. I hope that Ruby Sunday’s story is as exciting as it feels this early in the series. Let me know what you think or if you have any theories yourself!
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