Why "Rey Is No One" Twist in The Last Jedi Worked
The assertion made by The Last Jedi is commendable, as it suggests that the Force encompasses more than a few chosen individuals and their offspring. Rian Johnson's choice to make Rey an unknown character accomplished more than just playing with viewers' preconceptions. A timely and much-needed reminder that Jedi don't have to have the last name "Skywalker" to be destined for greatness came from Rey's disassociation from the Star Wars canon.
The Last Jedi made a commendable declaration that the Force is about more than just a small number of people and their offspring by solidifying Rey as a hero in her own right, independent of name or ancestry. Star Wars is full of legendary Jedi, whose pasts and parentages are irrelevant.
Reasons the Ruby Sunday Twist in Doctor Who Season 14 Isn't Working
Because everyone believed that an ordinary lady was extremely important, Doctor Who turned to a catch-all explanation based on the cosmos putting immense importance upon her. However, the twist feels unearned because the power of belief does too much heavy lifting. Doctor Who had been following a mystery woman since the Christmas special of 2023, who was a 15-year-old trying to hide her identity while giving birth to her child.
Quite why a teenage lady in 2000s Britain would don a long black cloak instead of a standard hooded garment is hard to grasp. Any street in the UK would notice someone wearing such an outfit. The fact that Ruby's biological mother, a registered nurse with pictures from her vacations posted online, wasn't discovered sooner seems strange as well. Real-life Long Lost Families incidents, as Ruby encountered on the Christmas special of Doctor Who, have revealed alienated relatives with less.
The Reasons Why the Ruby Sunday Twist in Doctor Who Season 14 Is Ineffective (Part 2)
For instance, during season 14, Doctor Who failed to offer a convincing reason for Ruby's continued ability to make snow rain. As with the Doctor's recollection of Christmas Eve shifting in "Space Babies," there's no clear way to explain why Louise's face couldn't be seen via the Time Window.
The reasoning behind each twist is where the two diverge most noticeably. Although The Last Jedi managed to avoid confrontations with The Force Awakens, the Doctor Who adaptation does not stand up to close examination.
Ruby's parentage cannot be reconstructed by the Doctor Who, unlike in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
The biggest irony is that JJ Abrams came back for The Rise of Skywalker and rewrote Rian Johnson's plot by presenting Rey as a Palpatine, which is a far more contentious development than making her "no one." This meant that the Rey surprise from The Last Jedi was untrue. There won't be a chance to do something similar in Doctor Who Season 15, as "Empire of Death" presents Ruby's biological mother in full, depicts the couple getting back together, and even makes fun of Ruby's father.
If the response The Rise of Skywalker garnered is anything to go by, Doctor Who isn't missing out there. Still, the conclusion of the Star Wars sequel trilogy exposes even more of Doctor Who's shortcomings. The Rey twist in The Last Jedi makes sense, even though it's still contentious.
Doctor Who Can't Retcon Ruby's Parentage Like Star Wars Did In The Rise of Skywalker (Continued)
The conclusion of Doctor Who season 14 tripped over itself to explain Ruby Sunday's transformation into a regular human, omitting aspects such as the black cloak, the snow falling, and other things that no longer felt entirely right. It would have been impossible for the Doctor to kill Sutekh had the villain not believed Ruby's mother had cosmic significance. This severely undermines the idea that regular people can be heroes.
So, even though it was an attempt to imitate The Last Jedi, the answer to the Ruby Sunday mystery in Doctor Who would have been more similar to the equally unpopular Rey Palpatine retcon in The Rise of Skywalker.
