Disclaimer: This Review is solely focused on 'Legend of Ruby Sunday', 'Empire of Death' has its own Review from me, so if you want to have a full Picture on my Opinion on this Two-Parter, please check this one out! This Review will be a bit more positive than my overall Feelings

That was a lot. Honestly, I am sure this will be only a first impression because there are so many factors in play when it comes to a two-parter, will the second one live up to what we got in the first? Who knows, judging it so far, yeah there is a lot to unpack:
The Acting was great, especially Susan Twist did a excellent job, same with Ncuti. The directing was solid, not as good as some of the other Episodes we got in this Series, but it was okay for what it was going for. Overall I am very indifferent about this one, I usually enjoy the first Part of the big RTD Finale, so we will see how I feel about Empire of Death.

Also, not to be nitpicky, but I am still unsure with the Music, Golds Music is very much hit-and-miss in the context of the Episode, this one sometimes had moments where I felt it didn't quite work. Shame, especially since he impressed me with some of his work in previous Series. Really this Episode makes you go "Oooo", sadly EoD really doesn't stick the landing and makes this Episode much worse in hindsight, which is a common Issue with the big bombastic RTD Finales, oh well.

This isn't terrible.  It is unfortunately dampened by the fact that The Legend of Ruby Sunday largely sets up content that becomes supremely disappointed thanks to the outright awful pay-off in the following episode Empire of Death.

And that's a bit of a shame because the pay-off here is pretty cool and a lot of fun.  Sutekh's big return here is well done, even if the Susan fake-out was a bit cheesy.  The way UNIT (I like the UNIT characters here by the way) is able to go back to the day Ruby was abandoned as a baby and they still can't figure out who her mother is was really well done, extra creepy, and an excellent way to ratchet up the tension for the big reveal.  And Mel is back yet again!  She's a lot of fun here and I still was happy to see her even after she has returned a few times for the show now.

All of this is great and it really paints a picture of how empty it all fundamentally is just one episode later.  The mystery of Ruby's mom is actually enticing in The Legend of Ruby Sunday only for it to now feel kind of hollow knowing what's going to happen with it.  Endings matter, and they can affect the larger story quite a bit.  This episode has no real satisfying ending because of that - it ends on a cliffhanger here and Empire of Death is one of the worst series finales in all of Doctor Who.  It kind of sucks, even if I had fun with this episode in isolation of everything else, and I can't help but admire some of the acting and energy of the cast.

When I re-watched this, it'a fun tense, dramatic part one to a story. The hints leading up toward Sutekh's reveal are generally unnerving, and it packs a hell of a punch. The sense of impending doom is spread through the story, but it never loses focus of the important part: Ruby's story. Also Sutekh week was a lot of fun, so plenty of positive memories.

After first watching this episode when it came out, I made a bunch of notes and said I'd write a final review after the second part, instead of letting my initial trepidation drag down my opinion. Once Empire of Death came out, I just... didn't. My opinion of Legend was dragged down even more by the letdown of the final episode. Now, after a rewatch, I feel it's finally time to write this review.

Starting with: why'd it take so long for them to think of going to UNIT with this, with how friendly the Doctor seems to be with them now? Arriving at UNIT drives us right into the action, and I personally find it a bit of a jarring start to the episode.

On top of that, I don't like this new UNIT. Rose is 15 years old, she should not be working, let alone for a military organization. I can't believe Kate would hire her. I can't believe Donna would let her. It's made all the worse by the fact she doesn't actually have a reason to be there; she spends the entire episode standing around, being part of the background and being told she's pretty. If she was at least vital to the episode I might have been able to ignore it, but as is it's a terrible choice.

Then there's Moris, a 13 year old (though the actor looks even younger to me), yet another child who should definitely not be exposed to this. I don't care how intelligent he is, he should not be at work, let alone somewhere that could get him killed. UNIT is going through scientific advisors faster than the Doctor goes through faces. It doesn't help that Moris also uses a mobility aid (though why a segway is beyond me) with weapons in it.

Speaking of characters that have no reason to be in this episode: Carla. She, like Rose, follows Ruby around for a bit, makes a few comments, and has absolutely no impact on the plot of the story whatsoever. It didn't escape my notice that they're both Black women.

Okay, enough about characters, what about the story? Well...I didn't like it. It would have benefited greatly from picking just one mystery to focus on, rather than trying to tackle both Ruby's mother and Susan Triad at the same time. It jumped between both so it didn't really feel like we were getting anywhere. The two parts feel completely detached from one another.

This isn't to say there's nothing to enjoy about this episode. I do think the Time Window is an interesting idea (though the effects are pretty obviously green-screened - one of the unfortunate side effects of how high quality video is nowadays), and the atmosphere in that scene is good, even if the crying was definitely getting on my nerves at that point.

I also enjoyed the quiet moment in the beginning with Kate and the Doctor reminiscing about the Brigadier. I liked everyone being like "Duh" about the anagram (though in retrospect it feels a little mean-spirited, especially with the anagram twist. Sorry, I just can't seem to be fully positive about this episode). I like the design of Sutekh and his harbingers.

Unfortunately, I don't like Sutekh. I didn't care for him in Pyramids of Mars, and I downright hate him in this. I thought Empire of Death might do something interesting and make bringing back this old villain worthwhile, but it didn't. There is absolutely no reason for the god of death to be Sutekh (and don't even get me started on the other members of this pantheon). It seems to have worked well for first-time viewers, who weren't familiar with the character, but it's just not in keeping with his original depiction. I saw some people predict his return, but it's one of the names that always get thrown around, along with the Rani, the Master, River Song, and plenty of others.

The ending dragged on too long for what tension it had. We weren't given the opportunity to guess Harriet was a harbinger on our own (I initially thought I missed them saying her last name over the excitement of going "Like Harriet Jones???", but no, they just didn't say it), and the Doctor getting that despite never hearing of the harbinger from The Devil's Chord was a bit of a miss. I liked Harriet crying as she was possessed, and some of the lines she said were pretty cool, but man does it drag.

All in all, no matter how much I try, I just have too many issues with this episode to properly enjoy it.

definitely a finale feel of an episode I was on the edge of my seat defo can’t wait to see it in the Cinema next week