Doctor Who 14x4 Reaction! - "73 Yards"

A new era of Doctor Who is here! Check out my reaction to episode 4!
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[@SleepyWaffles]

Dang, seems like there's a lot of people straight up mad in these comments lol. Listen, I understand you guys think I should have picked up on old Ruby remaining far away early on. I just don't think the show did a great job conveying that in the scene you guys keep mentioning. In that early scene Ruby moves forward maybe 5 feet total and the woman is in a different spot. Yes, that COULD mean that she is remaining a certain distance away and i understood in the moment that MIGHT BE what they wanted to show, but it is not conformation. I would have appreciated a more concrete display of her ACTUALLY trying to get close to the woman. I just personally think it would have been more effective in solidifying that rule for me. ALSO, a lot of people keep mentioning that the woman in the pub explains what is happening, but we are directly shown that those people are making things up to mess with Ruby, so forgive me for taking what they say with a grain of salt. As for Marti, I understood what was happening there as well. I mentioned it during and after in the discussion. I just thought there may have been more about her that we weren't being told in addition, and wondered about that.

[@davidclayton579]

Well put. Going back to when Ruby first notices the old woman and attempts to approach I noticed the camera backing up on Ruby's face. To me that indicated the mysterious woman's viewpoint.

[@airs1234]

It’s implied that the Prime Minister forced himself onto Marti. That’s why she apologised for not helping her. She felt guilty.

[@bennettnez4711]

Yeah like pretty heavily implied. Did not take much reading between the lines, it surprises me that anybody missed it

[@adisakditantimedh331]

@@bennettnez4711 A shocking number of people missed it.

[@sallyatticum]

@@adisakditantimedh331 If she were an employee maybe it would make more sense, but she was a volunteer on his campaign and stuck around?

[@mkillingback]

This was not that confusing, marti, dont step, 73 yards, most of it seemed clear to me. A couple of things were not explained but didn't ruin it at all for me

[@adisakditantimedh331]

@@sallyatticum As a victim of abuse, it's pretty clear she was made to feel powerless as he coerced her to stick around as his secret "lover." That's not uncommon. He didn't just overpower her physically but also mentally.

[@marshsundeen]

I am pretty sure the politician assaulted Marti. He is a monster. Ruby cannot get closer than 73 yards to the Entity. It is a Fairy Circle (another magical element). Susan Twist played the Hiker this time. She has been in four different episodes, last time she played the ambulance.

[@Jim_The_Fish]

Actually this would be her 6th appearance so far across episodes: •Wild Blue Yonder - Mrs Merridew •The Church on Ruby Road - Nightclub audience member •Space Babies - Gina Scalzi •The Devil’s Chord - Tea Lady •Boom - Ambulance •73 Yards - Hiker

[@marshsundeen]

@@Jim_The_Fish you are right.

[@Alex-ux8cl]

I don't think you noticed when the figure showed up at the very start, Ruby tried to move towards her multiple times, and every time the camera went back to the figure, Ruby was still no closer as it appeared further away by an equivelant amount. She tried to call to the figure, to talk to her and got no response That's why she asked the hiker and the bar patron and then her mother to talk to the figure for her. Ruby can't get closer. She tried. The figure always stays 73 yards away.

[@Alex-ux8cl]

Anyway, personally I quite enjoyed the episode! There's a ton of unanswered questions, but I think that gives a little bit of fun to theorizing and interpretation and mystery

[@SleepyWaffles]

Yeah I just didn't think the show communicated the specifics of ruby getting closer all that well

[@Alex-ux8cl]

@@SleepyWaffles Yea, that's fair. It took me a second glance to get that that was what was happening when I watched the episode myself

[@bennettnez4711]

​@@SleepyWafflesthe scene in the pub where the old lady explains "semper distance" was most of the explainer. But it kinda didn't work for me because that character had just spent like 10 real minutes trolling ruby, so was I supposed to take her word suddenly?

[@cerberus01]

The episode title, that scene in the pub, and the conversation with Leftwich-Stewart where she says it's always 73 yards away should have been enough to drive home the fact she couldn't get closer.

[@jthomann71]

This is the love child of Blink and Turn Left

[@fayesouthall6604]

With a bit of Years and Years put in.

[@TheJovian16]

With a dash of "The Cruse of Clyde Langer" from The Sarah Jane Adventures thrown in.

[@jthomann71]

@@TheJovian16 And Stephen King's Dead Zone.

[@charg1nmalaz0r51]

I hope not those two actually made sense logically and had active engagement on the part of the characters to solve the loop

[@jthomann71]

@@charg1nmalaz0r51 I'm sorry you need your hand held to cross a street.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thank you, Derek! ⏳ Shortly after the 'Doctor' vanished, 'Ruby' tried to approach the old lady, *several* times... everytime she did, the woman was too far away. You'll see next time you watch it (without the distraction of shooting video). 🔸 I really enjoyed this one. I can tell, by hearing your interpretation, that you understood enough to draw conclusions about some of the unexplained bits. And some of those things are meant to be mysteries. Some will be addressed, eventually... others are just mysteries. 🔸 Cheers to director Dylan Holmes Williams.

[@Raven_Luna_Tick]

Susan Twist was also in the special "Wild Blue Yonder" as Issac Newton's maid. so that's five appearances now.

[@mvptarheel299]

The Doctor ran into the TARDIS and hid there the whole time.

[@mitchellhp]

“She’s the Bent Neck Lady!” Perfect comparison 😆

[@user-dy5ku3gd7r]

I dont know about the hand gestures and why exactly 73 yards, but i do have other theories. Where did the doctor go: he was the one who broke the fairy circle, so maybe his disappearance was a type of punishment. And why didnt Ruby disappear? She was the one who took the scroll about Mad Jack and read it, so taking down the PM had become her mission alone, although she didnt know it yet. Why did the woman make everyone hate Ruby: I feel like it was a defence mechanism, coz nothing should hamper Ruby's mission of dethroning the PM. If Unit, for example, successfully intervened and captured the woman, Ruby would have never been able to deal with the PM. So, its like: you try to approach her or talk to her, then you are repelled by her and driven away from Ruby, so that Ruby's mission can be completed without impediments or distractions. Nobody tried to approach the woman after Ruby dealt with the PM, so we don't know if this theory holds. The episode occured in an alternate timeline. And in that timeline, Ruby stopped the PM. When the timeline is reset in the final scene, Ruby does not live a life where she will stop the PM, so it isnt a paradox. Her original timeline is restored. In the final scene, the doctor again tells Ruby that the PM will "led the world to the brink of nuclear-". Going by the exact words of the Doctor, the PM will indeed come to power in 2046, but clearly doesn't do any catastrophic damage. He simply acquires the weapons for symbolism. This entire episode was in an alternate timeline and trying to be all meta coz in this alternate timeline, Doctor Who does not have a title sequence.

[@bennettnez4711]

Something you said here just made me think that Ruby 2 is a watcher like from Logopolis. They can communicate telepathically, travel through time without equipment and have perception filter like qualities. Would also lean into ruby being some sort of timelord or mythical being. My spidey senses still say Omega

[@MrStephenLodge]

This was one of the best reactions I could almost hear the cogs of your brain turning. I hope RTD comes out to say that he made this to test You Tube reviewers/reactors if this was the case I say you passed.

[@Jim_The_Fish]

He literally did lol

[@fayesouthall6604]

73 Yards the distance from young Ruby to elderly Ruby. Can’t get close until death. Aging Ruby was in a different reality.

[@Raven_Luna_Tick]

My take on the timey wimey stuff. At first in the 'broken circle' timeline the Doctor mentions Roger Ap Gwilliam (Mad Jack) as a bad Prime Minister, because he has knowledge of how the future plays out in that timeline.Then the circle is broken, Ruby reads the notes and Mad Jack is released, insuring that future comes to pass. Mad Jack is maybe one of the Pantheon of Gods (perhaps the Spiteful one) and removes the Doctor from the timeline. When Old Ruby (73 yards woman) circles back around in the timeline to 2024 she prevents the Doctor from breaking the circle, making sure Mad Jack was never released/born creating a new (Unbroken Circle) timeline. Which is why the old lady disappears. The Doctor mentions Roger Ap Gwilliam but this one was never possessed by Mad Jack. Why everyone runs away from Ruby (the old lady). in The Giggle special, the Toymaker says to the Doctor (at the card game) that he met the One Who Waits and ran from him. Some sort of connection there maybe?

[@HuntingViolets]

Susan Twist strikes again.

[@Cayles764]

Why do you keep saying to confront the woman? Dont you get that theyre perpetually 73 yards apart? 😭

[@SleepyWaffles]

Because the show didn't really do that great of a job of saying that ruby couldn't get closer, only that the woman would continue to follow

[@Terranz25us]

@@SleepyWaffles I think the show did a good job at showing this at the start when Ruby tried to go over to her two to three times and the lady had moved back each time.

[@SleepyWaffles]

Eh. In my opinion it wasn't really clear that she was moving further back. Especially when ruby only moved forward a couple of steps. Would have been more effective if she really tried to get close to her

[@sonicsean34]

@@SleepyWafflesI semi-agree/disagree. I thought it was clear what was happening in that Ruby couldn't get closer BUT was very annoyed ruby apparently walks by looking at her feet and only looks up when she stops so that she can't actually see the scary lady move so she could come off as SPOOKY

[@fayesouthall6604]

@@SleepyWaffleswhen unit saw her Kate confirmed Ruby’s 73 yards theory.

[@Manx36]

The time differential prevents Ruby from confronting “the woman”, she exists in a time ahead of Ruby but she’s following her, by the end the time differential changes and Ruby is following the woman until their time streams merge at the very moment it all began and “the woman” is uncreated because she and Ruby changed the time line, which some major rule breaking going on. I don’t know how the Doctor didn’t see it all, he sits outside of normal time just by being a time lord. There is a lot going on with Ruby and I think she is doing most of it from somewhere ahead of herself.

[@HuntingViolets]

I didn't look 40 at 40 (or what 40 is deemed to look like, I guess), so I kind of take that with a grain of salt (not to invoke anything).

[@HuntingViolets]

Exactly. It's not an unreasonable question whether she can pay with her phone. This pub reminds me of those weird pubs and villages Steed and Mrs. Peel would visit in _The Avengers_ (1960s).

[@anniesharp4871]

Russell is exploring English attitudes towards the Welsh in this scene. The people in the pub assume that Ruby, an English woman, is insulting them. Obviously, from Ruby's perspective, she might be worrying she is in the wrong time, but from theirs, this woman has just assumed they are technologically inferior. They mess with her when she brings up witchcraft because, again, this seems like a stereotypical assumption. Tight knit communities in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales often play pranks like this on English people.

[@New-tu3mn]

There is an over arching, but not readily apparent, very deep meaning to this episode. A comment in another thread offered the best notion I’ve yet read on the meaning of the mysterious old woman. Which, I expand on below. Yes, she is Ruby’s ghost, but she also represents something much more terrifying than that. She is death, personified. Which is why she frightens away everyone who speaks to her. Her purpose for the audience is as a metaphor for the death which stalks us our entire lives. Just as it does Ruby in the form of the ghost woman. While our own death is rarely at the forefront of our daily human awareness, neither is it ever far away. You might say, that death is always 73 yards away. Close, but not so close as to be very clear. The best that any of us can do is to ignore our self-knowledge that we will one day, die. At one point, Ruby simply accepts the ever-present mysterious older woman as an inevitable part of her daily existence. Realizing, that there’s nothing she can do about her anyway. Until, Ruby is at the end of her life, and then that mysterious woman comes closer, and closer to Ruby. While in her last moment of life, in her nursing home bed, Ruby loses her anxiety, and embraces death with outstretched arms. All through life, Ruby feels alone and isolated. Finally, Ruby dies alone, as well. Something which happens to far too many of us. Davies’ screen play touches on that sad fact here. Apparently, ghost Ruby was repeatedly signing to alive Ruby; “bless you, thank you.” Contrary to the suggestion by some haters that this episode is pointless, it rather, contains many worthwhile ideas and messages.The episode’s main fault is that it’s too ambitious for a one-hour TV show, which results in many unexplained story elements. It’s also a story, within a story. The Mad-Jack story being the sub-episode. Much like the TARDIS, 73 Yards puts a bigger episode inside a smaller program slot. It could have, and probably should have been made into a two-part episode. As for the time-paradoxes, those are explained by Tenant in the famous ‘Blink’ episode. Wibbly-Wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. In other words, don’t let such paradoxes interfere with the message of the story.

[@Manx36]

Watching you watch this after I had already watched it was really fun. As you were going along and guessing what was really happening, it was fun to see you testing out theories. I knew it was her from the beginning because this kind of thing has happened before in shows dealing with time displacement. Why do you think the Doctor can never remember what time Ruby is from, he’s asked her twice now, that’s not something he would just forget 🤔? The last episode there was no record of Ruby’s known relatives, the scan the ambulance did was for genetic tracing so her adopted mother wouldn’t come up but there was no other living being with Ruby’s bloodline connection. Members of the Pantheon don’t acknowledge time or reality because neither exists for them, they are immortal, so did Ruby set up this entire situation herself, from the future…or the past 🤔? I really love Ruby as a companion,she’s smart and tough, like Jo, Sara, Leela and Jamie were. Did Ruby do this or is one of her relatives in our reality helping guide her but if they are, why was the devils chord the only time we have seen Harbinger, he appears before the Pantheon members appear? So many questions, it’s been awhile since I’ve been this fired up about a Who mystery to be solved.

[@rdstedall]

It has been interesting watching you and other reviewers get so baffled watching this episode. Some have been quite "upset" that they were left with lots of unanswered questions, but as RTD has stated on one of the behind the scenes clips, that was the point ... and he has no intention of ever revealing what it was the old lady said to make people react as they did. Keep up the great work with these reaction videos :-)

[@ishaandw]

"This timeline might be suspended along your event."

[@StephanieMaireFaith]

And the women was in wild blue yonder also and the church on Ruby road

[@antonkisiel366]

I think Ruby is a member of the Pantheon or one of their children.

[@railfan711]

Maybe a separate timeline was created.

[@user-dy5ku3gd7r]

I beleive the PM took advantage of Marti, so she was happy when he ran away in fear and resigned. Ruby apologised to Marti because she was the one who introduced the PM to her. Also Ruby could never go to speak to the woman; the old lady maintained a distance of 73 yards no matter what.

[@balletabela]

Although there were some really good parts, it felt like too much were pieced together to make the outcome be the surprise ending. But, I did think I’ve seen this type of haunting before and I’m glad you pointed out what show/book that was. I also figured time would unwind as soon as I saw her get older, Clara got old too at some point. People ran away from Ruby maybe due to the perception filter but the PM ran away from his job. I’ve seen a lot of huh? in other reactions but no worries about the Doctor disappearing lol.

[@HuntingViolets]

Yeah, things seem to be turning more supernatural since the Doctor invoked a superstition as a fact to bluff at the end of the universe. Funny, that.

[@Gaznugget]

I keep thinking this is ALL Donna's fault. Had she not spilt that coffee on the Tardis controls it wouldn't have gone there in the first place.

[@Lucifer_Crowe]

@@Gaznugget whatever actually brought them back together did it. Could be a Storyteller God, or the TARDIS itself.

[@HuntingViolets]

@@Gaznugget You may have a point.

[@tracydale154]

So, you may have already caught this… but the actress who keeps showing up in every episode is credited as “Susan Twist”

[@majkus]

The conversion between pounds sterling and dollars is: "Brits spend a pound at about the same comfort level as Yanks spend a dollar."

[@colby_kafka]

LOL I'm so confuse too.

[@HuntingViolets]

Not like those apps you used to have on your phones in the old days. I like nuclear war, y'all. Off the record, after the fact.

[@Manx36]

You missed the Marti thing, he assaulted her, that’s why she said he was a monster, it never snowed for Ruby, it snows around her, it’s kind of her thing but it stopped happening when the time loop she is existing in was created. The loop wasn’t restarted the second time because the Doctor didn’t break the circle, there was no magic involved, no fairies. The story was about time manipulation and something about Ruby’s lineage.

[@sonicsean34]

By the way, Siri says £5 is $6.37. And yes that is an insanely ridiculous upcharge by the pub. (you can get a 2-litre bottle of coke for £1.50-£2 in most supermarkets) Also, it annoyed me they kept saying Semper Distans was a word when it was two (they were wanting to say term or phrase) and I wanted to strangle everyone who said it. Lol. The attitude of the Welsh characters in the pub felt so true to some random English city girl who they prob assume thinks they are “quaint” and have dealt with many alike before. (also loved Ruby’s mum giving as much back with her “Welsh ppl” remark) I went to uni in the English midlands and I swear they found a way to blame London for every problem in their life (prob up to stubbed toes) I see from other comments you didn’t get from the start the rules but I felt it was clear enough when Ruby stalled towards her then when she looked the woman was about the same distance away. The nuke stuff is so dumb tho. I have no idea why RTD insists on the UK having no access to their own nukes in this show. I. In his first season in 2005, he had it that we gave the UN all our launch codes so we couldn’t even use them without begging and now he has us have none and having to go on the black market for them. It’s so weird Another RTD show that this reminded me of was Years and Years which is a grounded sci-fi that starts in the present but has similar time jumps across its five episodes about a family and an evil fascist politician looking to become PM. No idea where it would be on American services (it’s on Disney Plus in the UK tho) And so happy you made the Bent Neck lady connection cos that’s all I could think about

[@Lucifer_Crowe]

I would have gone "sempering" if you wanted one word.

[@ftumschk]

_"In his first season in 2005, [RTD] had it that we gave the UN all our launch codes so we couldn’t even use them without begging and now he has us have none"_ - It's not "now", though... this was happening in 2046.

[@David-cg1lh]

Shows you can't get closer "how bout we try to get a little closer"

[@SleepyWaffles]

In my opinion it didn't really do a great job of showing she couldn't get closer

[@orink.1083]

They invent a word to tell the audience she can't approach the woman, they name the episode after that distance, but they didn't say she was always distant. that's bad writing!

[@HuntingViolets]

Wouldn't it be better to try to keep him from power, though?

[@MeidasWhovianAdvocate]

First spinoff drop with another spinoff drop in one episode

[@kaihinataplays1992]

Someone in another reaction said something about, the old Ruby didn't say anything, it was just they saw Ruby and noticed something. But I'm not sure. My question is, WHY, why are they just noticing this now. Especially Karla who has had the better part of 18 years with Ruby. and that Echo, "Don't Step" did make it seem like she was actually saying something but what, and if it was old Ruby, WHY does she want to isolate her younger self. Especially when Karla and Cherry are so intagural parts of her life. AND MY FINAL QUESTION. HOW? How did old Ruby time travel? Was it supernatural, does Ruby have an innate ability she doesn't know of yet? Overall, to me, the concept was interesting but I think. it would have made much more sense if they had played it kind of how they did it in the "god Complex" where it was a creature or entity, playing Ruby's fear. Which is where I THOUGHT the episode was going. Now, it could be a "Turn Left" scenario where the Bug actually came from the future and and so does whatever they notice on Ruby..... but even that, in this context, I just don't feel like it works. Also, IF the Doctor was effected, why was the TARDIS not, it just sat there for 80 years.... This was a bottle episode and thats all I will remember it as. A bottle,. throw away episode. I don't want to be harsh, but to me, this was another good example of message vs story "Nuclear War bad." Okay good enough, lets move on.

[@SupaKen74]

You do understand the show makes it absolutely clear without any ambiguity that every time she tried to move even a step closer to the old lady, the lady moved farther back. I liked your reaction but it was frustrating to hear you say she should just talk to her when it was obvious she never could.

[@SleepyWaffles]

It absolutely did not make it clear with no ambiguity. Ruby walked all of four feet forward at the beginning. That's hardly making a real attempt to get closer to her

[@SupaKen74]

@SleepyWaffles yeah I think if you missed those moments were she walked forward a few times and the old women remained father away that might have been a little confusing but then they explained that in the pub and then again with Kate. They made it pretty clear she could not get any closer to the women.

[@SleepyWaffles]

@SupaKen74 I didn't miss the moment. It just wasn't super clear that's what was happening. Plus in the pub ruby literally says that she didn't try to get closer and talk to her

[@SupaKen74]

@@SleepyWaffles no. She said she DIDNT tell her, not that she didn't try. And she did say the woman was staying a specific distance away from her which was exactly the reason the other woman in the pub came up with the term Semperdistance - always distant. Why would she call it that if Ruby could just walk up to her?

[@anniesharp4871]

Poor Marti was abused by Gwilliam...I'm not sure you picked up on that.

[@vskane]

Hanged herself. Pictures get hung, people get hanged. Apart from my little grammar rage: great video. I’ll go and watch the episode now.

[@joshuajoshua2732]

It was an "ok" episode not one of my favourites mainly because the Doctor hardly featured in it.

[@LeviPennington-vv2kq]

Bro you’re about to make me go insane. Ruby tried to talk to the woman at the very beginning of the episode and whenever she walks up to her, the woman moves farther away. She’s always 73 Yards away, it’s the freaking title of the episode. And it’s extremely obvious that the Prime Minister was raping Marti that’s why she was so happy when he stepped down. You didn’t even understand the stuff that you were supposed to understand and that’s saying something, because the episode explains hardly anything about what the heck was going on. I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re about to make me go crazy!

[@SleepyWaffles]

Ruby straight up says she didn't try to talk to her in the pub so... And I talked about Marti in the post episode discussion

[@SleepyWaffles]

Also in the beginning she moved forward like 7 feet and then never tries again. I wanted to see an actual confirmation, not to just assume that's what that scene was trying to convey

[@LeviPennington-vv2kq]

@SleepyWaffles She talks to her from a distance saying stuff like, “Where the Doctor?” and, “Are you a part of this?”. I think what she meant in the pub was that she hadn’t successfully interacted with the woman

[@SleepyWaffles]

Okay but that still doesn't really do an effective job in my opinion of SHOWING that she can't get closer to her. Moving forward a couple feet while not looking at the woman wasn't enough for me

[@LeviPennington-vv2kq]

@SleepyWaffles To each his own. I thought they made it really clear, but obviously it was harder for you to catch on to. I suppose it’s a matter of opinion

[@zoe_blackmore]

At 12mins into your vid, and I is screaming at you lol "She cant confront the demon lady, have you not noticed yet that Ruby can not get closer to her than 73 yards" You are really slow on this one. You are making me mad, it was so clear she could not approach the lady, at the start she tried 3 times, but the figure always moved back. Right to the end you was slow, Marti was being sexually abused by Mad Jack and *Nooooo Ruby Can Not Approach the lady*. BtW This was the first episode that the then 18year old Millie Gibson filmed.

[@lorrainesheridan496]

And wasn't Millie brilliant! Russell chose well.

[@Vlad.Larionov]

Great reaction! It is very interesting to see your detailed reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool movie 🦾🤖🔥 Do you have any plans to do it?

[@Richard-se1de]

It was 💩 💩 💩