The following contains spoilers for “Empire of Death.”
“Empire of Death” is the typical Russell T. Davies series finale: It’s bombastic, dense and totally uninterested in resolving its own story. The episode bounces around for the requisite amount of time before leaping to its climax with an arresting visual of little substance. Because what Davies is really interested in is the scenes afterward, and the all-too-brief moment where Ruby Sunday gets coffee.
At the end of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and (classic-series companion) Mel (Bonnie Langford) are face to face with Sutekh’s minion (Susan Twist). Sutekh begins spraying its dust of death, a cloud of dust that turns whoever it touches into a pile of dust themselves. The Doctor and Mel outrun the cloud on Mel’s scooter in an action sequence that feels like it ate the…
