Doctor Who Episode Review: The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
Synopsis: After being abandoned on the steps of a church as a newborn and later adopted by her foster mother, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is ready to celebrate her 19th birthday on Christmas Eve as well as her foster mother, Carla's (Michelle Greenidge) 33rd foster child, an infant that also was born on Christmas Eve. However, those celebrations are interrupted when the baby is abducted by goblins. As she is chasing after them, she receives help from a stranger (Ncuti Gatwa) calling himself "the Doctor."
Review: After watching the three Doctor Who specials leading up to the Fifteenth Doctor being introduced, my wife and I decided to watch The Church on Ruby Road to learn a bit more about the Gatwa-played character. After watching it, we still hadn't formed an opinion about the new Doctor. However, we both agreed we weren't huge fans of the episode.
Christmas episodes from this series are always a little goofy, especially when new characters are being introduced. As a result, I want to be clear I haven't formed a firm opinion of the Disney reboot just yet. I'll just say I am hoping this episode is more of an exception than a rule as far as storis go.
The goblin thing wasn't necessarily a bad idea, even though it was a little too similar to the movie Labyrinth (minus the Muppets). I just don't think it was executed very well. For example, the whole "causing accidents" thing seemed like it was rushed and not completely explained, especially when taken in context with the Doctor's whole speech about them feeding on coincidences (I just don't see the connection between the two concepts).
In fact, the episode might have been better had that been the focus, a group of creatures causing havoc from behind the scenes and putting London in peril on Christmas Eve. The whole stealing and eating babies thing just seemed like overkill. And I am going to include the part about them traveling back in time to kidnap Ruby too because, much like everything else, it seemed a bit rushed.
It also didn't help that the episode just didn't seem to take things seriously (other than a tear-jerking moment involving Carla temporarily forgetting she had a daughter). I'm fine with lighthearted but this is an episode where creatures are trying to eat children and yet the Doctor and Ruby seemed to be having the time of their lives.
Oh, and what the heck was up with that musical number? I know Disney purchased the rights but that was just weird and out of place, even though Gatwa and Gibson do have some decent singing voices.
Final Opinion: Again, I am willing to treat this as a stand-alone special and not judge the series based on just the one episode. The writers, after all, did need to introduce a new Doctor and new companion to the audience. Plus, to be fair, there have been worse Christmas episodes. I just hope future episodes are a bit more sci-fi and a little less Disney rip-off.
My Grade: C
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Here are some other reviews of television episodes:
Gilligan's Island Episode Review: Two on a Raft (1964)
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