The article contains spoilers for Doctor Who season 14, episode 8, "Empire of Death."
Summary
- Showrunner Russell T. Davies explains the emotional significance behind the Doctor and Ruby's farewell in the season 14 finale.
- Despite the departure, Ruby will return in season 15, adding to the intense emotional impact of their parting.
- The season finale shows a different type of sad ending, highlighting that companions sometimes leave due to life changes.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies explains the significance of the farewell between the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) in the season 14 finale. The sci-fi show wrapped up its first season with Gatwa in the role of the Fifteenth Doctor, ending with him bidding goodbye to his fairly new companion, Ruby. In the Doctor Who season 14 finale, the pair finally learn the identity of Ruby's mysterious birth mother. As she reconnects with her mother and contemplates finding her biological father, she decides to step away from her travels with the Doctor.
In the Doctor Who: Unleashed for the season 14 finale, "Empire of Death," Davies explained the meaning of that final goodbye between Ruby and the Doctor. The showrunner elaborated that the entire season had been building up to this point because, at its heart, Doctor Who is a love story between the Doctor and his companions. While there are many adventures and battles, the real emotion lies in the connection formed between two people. As a result, Davies played into the emotion with a subtle and beautiful parting of ways for the pair. Check out Davies' statement below:
The whole thing builds towards a final scene in the TARDIS between the Doctor and Ruby, between Ncuti and Millie that is the heart of the show really, that’s what it’s always about. You can have all your monsters battling in the Time Vortex, and gods of death, and destroyed planets and all that stuff, but in the end, it’s kind of almost a love story between two people, between the Doctor and companion… It’s a parting of the ways, but they’re not being torn apart like Doctors and companions often are, their lives are just going in a separate direction. They just play that so subtly and so beautifully, I’m just proud to work with those two.
Why Ruby and the Doctor’s Farewell Is Surprisingly Heartbreaking
The Doctor Realizes The Realities Of His Relationship With Companions.
However, even when he does everything right and saves his companion's life multiple times, the Doctor is learning that sometimes, life rather than death can also take his companions from him.
Although Ruby and the Doctor say goodbye in the season 14 finale, it isn't expected to be permanent. The pair promise they will find each other again, and Davies has officially confirmed Ruby will appear in Doctor Who season 15. Viewers have speculated that Varada Sethu will be the primary companion while Ruby takes on more of a supporting role. Even if her role is reduced, it will still be quite a speedy return for her. On top of that, she differs from many Doctor Who companions in the modern era in that her parting wasn't traumatic.
Related
Why David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor Isn't In Doctor Who Season 14's Finale
David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor is conspicuous by his absence as Sutekh destroys the universe, but Doctor Who has a good explanation for this.
Although she will return, Doctor Who still effectively works a high level of emotion into the parting. A lot of the emotion comes from knowing the Doctor's past and how many companions he has lost or is unable ever to see again. Throughout the Doctor Who season 14 episode, the Doctor makes so many promises to bring Ruby back safely to her family, and in the end, he succeeds. However, even when he does everything right and saves his companion's life multiple times, the Doctor is learning that sometimes, life rather than death can also take his companions from him.
Once Ruby leaves, viewers see the Doctor break down into tears, and it's quite evident that he's thinking at that moment he will always be alone because the Doctor's companions will always be tied to their families while he has no family left. Additionally, it seems the show is starting to learn that someone doesn't always have to die or be forgotten to make for a sad ending. Doctor Who's season 14 finale demonstrates how sometimes the saddest goodbyes come from friends who simply can't go in the same direction in life, no matter how much they wish they could.
Source: Doctor Who: Unleashed
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Originally premiered in 1963, Doctor Who is a sci-fi series that follows a powerful being known as a Time Lord, referred to as the Doctor. Using an interdimensional time-traveling ship known as the TARDIS, the Doctor travels time and space with various companions as they solve multiple problems and help avert catastrophe as much as they almost cause it. Though the Doctor is always the same character, they experience regenerations, allowing them to be recast every few seasons as a unique immortal being with new personality traits.
- Cast
- Jenna Coleman , Jodie Whittaker , Alex Kingston , David Tennant , Matt Smith , Peter Capaldi , Ncuti Gatwa , Millie Gibson
- Release Date
- November 23, 1963
- Seasons
- 14
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video , Tubi , Brit Box , The Roku Channel
- Network
- BBC
- Franchise(s)
- Doctor Who
- Writers
- Mark Gatiss , Toby Whithouse , Neil Cross , Steven Moffat , Chris Chibnall
