‘Physician Who’s Susan Twist thriller: Breaking down the clues and fan theories – Cyber Tech

“There’s all the time a twist ultimately!” Russell T Davies warned us on the finish of “The Satan’s Chord,” with a musical quantity that proved prophetic. Whereas Whovians may need thought at first that Physician Who‘s Season 14 showrunner was speaking plot twists, we’re now realizing he meant Susan Twist is all the time ultimately credit.

Who’s she, and why are Whovians dropping their collective cool over Susan Twist? Effectively, it is as a result of the aged English actress is popping up time and again on Physician Who, and in a really timey-wimey method. 

Positive, every kind of actors have appeared on the enduring sequence over its a long time of tv, typically greater than as soon as; one even acquired upgraded from Pompeii resident to Twelfth Physician (Peter Capaldi). However there’s one thing particularly interested by Twist’s appearances, as they’ve all are available a latest jumble. 

This collision of cameos has acquired followers theorizing every kind of potentialities for what Season 14 showrunner Russell T Davies has up his sleeve. With the most recent episode, “73 Yards,” there are recent clues to who Twist is actually taking part in. So, let’s decide by way of the appearances and the fan theories one after the other. 

Susan Twist in “Wild Blue Yonder” 

This episode was the second of the sixtieth anniversary specials, which noticed David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising the roles of the Physician and Donna, respectively. On this journey, the 2 are flung far into the longer term, the place they’re tormented by creepy doppelgängers of themselves. However Twist pops up earlier than these freaky sci-fi occasions. FAR earlier than. We’re speaking the opening sequence set in 1666 England. 

There, a dashing Isaac Newton (Nathaniel Curtis) is on the point of “discovering” gravity. On his stroll to that fateful apple tree, he comes throughout Mrs. Merridew (Twist), a smiling, bonneted servant who tells him, “Do not come again till you discover a actually good concept, sir!” 

And that is it — so temporary a second, longtime Whovians took no discover of it by itself. 

Susan Twist in “The Church on Ruby Highway” 

Susan Twist as a concert-goer in “The Church on Ruby Highway.”
Credit score: Disney+ screenshot

Shifting alongside to “Particular 4” — as Disney+ has labeled the Christmas particular, “The Church on Ruby Highway” — we discover Susan Twist once more in a job so temporary, you could have effectively missed it. The primary full episode that includes Ncuti Gatwa because the Fifteenth Physician additionally introduces his new companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). A foundling who lives in London, when Ruby’s not trying to find her start dad and mom or rescuing newborns from sky-sailing gremlins, she’s in a band! 

On December 22, 2023, Ruby is taking part in keyboard at a Christmas live performance at a bar. The Physician is watching this efficiency, however he is not the one one. A protracted-haired lady yells out to the lead singer, “Give it some welly!” Then she requests a music, saying, “Are you able to do ‘Gaudette’?” 

For those who do not acknowledge that title, it might be as a result of this rowdy live performance attendee (additionally performed by Twist) is referencing a Christmas carol that dates again to the sixteenth century. So regardless of her vaguely flower-child vibe, along with her paisley jacket, lengthy locks, and headband, her references go method, method again. 

Susan Twist in “Area Infants”

Susan Twist as as Comms Officer Gina Scalzi in “Area Infants.”
Credit score: Disney+ screenshot

The premiere episode of Physician Who Season 14, which sees Davies’ return as showrunner, additionally brings Twist again — this time aboard an deserted area station repurposed as a child heart. Effectively, form of. 

The Physician and Ruby uncover the video logs of the crew, who left underneath protest of the corporate directive to desert the infants. In a single video, Twist pops up in a teal and grey crew uniform (giving Star Trek vibes), and introduces herself as Comms Officer Gina Scalzi earlier than signing off within the yr 21506. So from her first look to this one, Twist’s face is popping up throughout 19,840 years. 

Susan Twist in “The Satan’s Chord”

Susan Twist as Tea Woman in “The Satan’s Chord.”
Credit score: Disney+ screenshot

Launched the identical day as “Area Infants,” episode 2 of Season 14 imagined a world with out music, courtesy of the maleficent Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon). The Physician and Ruby had been hoping to soak up the groovy temper of 1963 London — and extra particularly, the recording of the Beatles’ first album at what would sometime be generally known as Abbey Highway Studios. However the beat is off. Music is dangerous, and folks really feel dangerous. And whereas Ruby and the Physician need to give John Lennon and Paul McCartney a pep discuss, a chatty cafeteria employee butts in with a weird interjection. 

They’re shopping for tea within the studio’s cafeteria, when Tea Woman (Twist!) presents two cups for half a crown. The pair are mock-outraged by the worth, and she or he responds, “Take it or depart it, sweetheart.” The Physician chides, “That’s daylight theft,” and she or he replies, “That is me: Margaret Lockwood in The Depraved Woman. Now there was a girl. Statuesque!”

The Depraved Woman is a movie from 1945, wherein Margaret Lockwood performed Barbara Skelton, a noblewoman who steals a good friend’s prosperous betrothed after which hits it off with a rakish highwayman. So, that theft connection explains why the character is referencing this film. However what’s Davies doing with this dialogue? 

Susan Twist in “Growth.” 

Susan Twist as “Ambulance” in “Growth.”
Credit score: Disney+ screenshot

Written by former showrunner Steven Moffat, this third episode of Season 14 takes Ruby and the Physician to a war-torn planet, the place weaponized Anglican monks are preventing the Kastarions — a seemingly invisible enemy. However these mysterious foes aren’t the one hassle. An overenthusiastic AI ambulance will also be a serious risk, as a not too long ago blinded John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson) discovers when the ambulance non-consensually euthanizes him right into a pocket-sized “casket” fabricated from smelted marine.

And guess who’s the face of the wickedly stoic ambulance? Yup. Susan Twist performs the AI ambulance created by the weapons producer Villengard. 

Susan Twist in “73 Yards.” 

This creepy Physician Who episode gave Susan Twist her largest interplay with Ruby but! Set in modern-day Wales, “73 Yards” begins with Ruby dropping the Physician over a fairy ring. Then, she realizes she’s being stalked by an outdated lady — who stays constantly 73 yards away. As followers have already been giddy to determine Susan Twist in every episode, you would possibly effectively have anticipated her to be the thriller girl on the far-off hill. However as an alternative, she performed a contented hiker Ruby met as she made her technique to a neighborhood village.

Dressed warmly for the chilly cliffside climate, Twist sports activities an aqua-colored winter coat, white gloves, and an identical knit hat in addition to a pair of strolling sticks. Against this, Ruby in her mini-skirt and fall jacket is clearly underdressed for the temperature, which is why this hiker says, “You have to be mad! Is that each one you are sporting?!”

From there, the unnamed hiker tells Ruby that the city she will spy within the distance is Glyngatwg. However then this girl with the English accent provides, “For those who’ll forgive my pronunciation — which they do not.” This implies that like Ruby, she’s an outsider to the world. However earlier than she will say way more, Ruby interrupts.

“I have never met you earlier than, have I?” Ruby asks. Whereas followers is likely to be gasping at dwelling, Twist’s hiker says merely, “I do not assume so. Have you ever?” Ruby dismisses the thought, then asks the hiker to speak to the stalking lady for her. She has some preliminary reluctance. (“Have I walked into one thing?”) However she kindly obliges after urging Ruby, “Get into the nice and cozy, each of you — no matter little recreation that is.” Then the hiker approaches the lady and talks to her. They’re too distant for us — who’re locked at Ruby’s facet — to listen to what they are saying. However we are able to hear the hiker screaming as she runs away from the lady and Ruby.

Notably, of their alternate, Ruby mentions “the Physician,” to which the hiker asks, “Do you want a health care provider?” Which may recommend she has no concept who the Physician is — which might dispel some fan theories. Or possibly she does not know but? Time is a humorous factor on Physician Who.

What does all this imply? Listed below are some fan theories. 

Fan concept: Susan Twist is The One Who Waits.

In “The Satan’s Chord,” Maestro mentions being part of a “Pantheon” of god-like beings, which we already know consists of their father The Toymaker (“The Giggle,” Particular 3). However earlier than the musical villain is wolfed up by an iconic piano, they cry out a warning: “The One Who Waits is sort of right here!” 

This implies The One Who Waits is part of this Pantheon, and possibly even its strongest member. So, The One Who Waits could be the Large Unhealthy of Season 14. 

Maybe because of this Twist is popping up time and again, with extra display screen time and extra necessary components to play within the Physician’s adventures. If she is The One Who Waits, is that this how the highly effective being is crawling nearer and nearer to the Physician? Unbound by time and area as each the TARDIS and the Physician are, this might make The One Who Waits a fearsome foe to make certain. 

Fan concept: Susan Twist is Ruby’s start mom. 

The Physician (Ncuti Gatwa) stands within the snow.
Credit score: Lara Cornell / Unhealthy Wolf / BBC Studios

One thing unusual is happening with this Ruby Sunday. She’s not your common Christmas-born foundling. “The Church on Ruby Highway” confirmed that coincidence and dangerous luck comply with her. “The Satan’s Chord” revealed there is a music in her coronary heart, but additionally one thing that scared Maestro sufficient to proclaim, “This creature is improper!”

Even the Physician has slyly given Ruby a TARDIS scan, although he hasn’t shared with the viewers what he discovered. 

There are different unusual components about her origin. The Physician’s reminiscence of it adjustments, along with her cloaked mom turning towards him in an obvious warning. After which there’s the recurring snowfall, which follows Ruby into the TARDIS and onto the warring planet with no clear rationalization. Might or not it’s that Susan Twist is one way or the other part of the Ruby Sunday thriller? What a twist that will be! 

Fan concept: Susan Twist is Ruby Sunday.

Millie Gibson is Ruby Sunday.
Credit score: Lara Cornell / Unhealthy Wolf / BBC Studios

In “The Satan’s Chord,” the Physician talked about that in 1963, he was dwelling in London along with his granddaughter Susan on Totter’s Lane. This apart slyly reveals to Whovians new and established {that a} character can cross their very own timeline. And maybe no matter Ruby actually is permits her to do that, leading to two actresses secretly taking part in the particular companion. 

Alternatively, Davies is likely to be pulling a Moffat transfer from Season 6, episode 10, “The Lady Who Waited.” In that misadventure, an alternate model of Amy Pond is trapped in a resort planet for 36 years alone. Might or not it’s that Susan Twist is taking part in an alternate actuality model of Ruby Sunday? And will the title “The Lady Who Waited” be a clue that this alternate model may additionally be The One Who Waits? Presumably! Although now that we have seen the twist of the “73 Yards” thriller lady, this concept appears much less possible.

Fan concept: Susan Twist is… Susan Foreman? 

Again once more to “The Satan’s Chord,” the place the Physician name-drops his granddaughter Susan however says he has no concept if she survived the Time Lord genocide. Ruby appears astonished he hasn’t seemed into this. However is it potential his granddaughter is in search of him? 

Susan Foreman was the primary companion of the First Physician when the present started within the Sixties, however she hasn’t been a serious a part of the lore of the relaunched TV sequence till Davies introduced her up in Season 14. Her position was originated by Carole Ann Ford, who has reprised the half in podcast adventures, most not too long ago 2023’s Physician Who: As soon as and Future. So, you would possibly effectively marvel, why would Davies recast her? Possibly bringing again Ford would give the sport away too quickly. 

With a long time of lore to play with and all of time and area as his playground, Davies has followers in a tizzy over what the that means of Susan Twist’s curious recurring roles will probably be. So, if “There’s All the time a Twist within the Finish” is a meta clue to point we should always search for Susan Twist, may her first identify be a clue, too?

Maybe this Susan Twist could possibly be the brand new Susan Foreman, looking the entire of the universe and existence for her long-lost grandfather, the Physician.

Solely time (and extra episodes of Physician Who) will inform. 

The way to watch: New episodes of Physician Who drop each Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. ET on Disney+, the place obtainable, and concurrently at midnight on BBC iPlayer within the UK. The season finale airs June 22.