“This creature is very wrong.”
*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14 episodes 1 and 2, Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord.*
Something very strange is happening to Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who!
The first two episodes of season 14 of Doctor Who have properly introduced us to our incredible TARDIS duo, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson’s Ruby – but almost immediately, it’s clear something’s off with Ruby.
She makes it snow multiple times indoors, the Doctor’s memory of the church on Ruby Road changes completely, prompting him to run a DNA test on her, and Jinkx Monsoon’s Maestro appears haunted by her.
So what exactly is going on?
What’s happening to Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who?
First of all, let’s assess all the strange goings on in those two first episodes.
When talking about how Ruby was left at the church on Ruby Road, the Doctor is transported back to the scene – and his memory changes.
He sees the mysterious hooded figure in the snow (who we’re all assuming is Ruby’s mother at this point) pointing at him – before returning to the present and finding it’s actually snowing around them. In the original memory, the figure never pointed at him.
Concerned, the Doctor tells Ruby: “I have been to the ends of time and back and I have never seen anything like this before.”
While he reassures her, he looks worried and secretly runs a DNA test on her, scanning for age, species and genetic identity. Just in case, we zoomed in on those results – her genetic ID came back with the characters JD6784, species came back as homo sapien and age came back as 19. All seemingly normal so far – except for her making it snow once again.
Plus, why exactly did the Doctor run the test? What was he hoping to find?
So, when it comes to the battle in The Devil’s Chord, Maestro hoists Ruby into the air – but Ruby seems to fight back. The Carol of the Bells, the tune that was playing on the day Ruby was born, begins to play and it begins to snow again.
Maestro is disturbed and references an unknown power that may have been present on the day of Ruby’s birth, saying: “How could a song have so much power? And power like him? The oldest one, from the night of her birth. He can’t have been there. What for?”
Could it have something to do with The One Who Waits?
Before Maestro is defeated, they say of Ruby: “This creature is very wrong.”
Of course, we have no idea what exactly is going on just yet, but we do have some theories – and we’re assuming it comes down to Ruby’s birth mother, whose identity is still unknown.
Could Ruby’s mother be trying to contact her somehow, by means of making it snow, sending her the tune of The Carol of the Bells, and changing the Doctor’s memory?
Showrunner Russell T Davies has expressed how important Ruby’s back story will be this season, so it’s a strong possibility that her mother could be behind these strange happenings.
Another possibility is that someone – or something – is meddling with the Doctor’s memories. It wouldn’t be the first time a foe has found its way into the Doctor’s mind, and Davies has stressed just how powerful the villains are this season, with Maestro being described as “the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet”.
Or, could it just be Ruby herself? Could something sinister be happening to her, or could this be a power that she could use to her advantage?
Whatever it was, it certainly seemed to help her in fighting back against Maestro.