Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, "The Robot Revolution."every episode of Doctor Who season 14. However, it was her first canonical encounter with the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) that's most relevant here.

Belinda is actually Sethu's second character on the show, after initially appearing as Mundy Flynn as part of connection between Belinda and Mundy is lightly addressed in "The Robot Revolution," but not fully resolved. This particular mystery is not what connects Belinda to Ruby, but something that happens to Sethu's character in "The Robot Revolution" is eerily familiar.

The Fifteenth Doctor Held Both Ruby & Belinda When They Were Babies

Gatwa's character travels into Belinda's past in "The Robot Revolution"

When Fifteen saves Belinda by absorbing the paradox energy near the Fifteen holding Belinda as a baby - which is something he also did with Ruby. After being left on the doorstep of a church on Christmas Eve in the 2023 special, Fifteen is forced to step in and rescue Baby Ruby from the Goblins.

It's a little unusual that two consecutive companions have both gone through such a specific thing.

This means that the first time Ruby ever encountered the Doctor, she was so young that she doesn't even it. This is now also true for the Doctor's season 15 companion. Considering this had never happened in Doctor Who's classic era or the post-2005 revival episodes, it's a little unusual that two consecutive companions have both gone through such a specific thing. It remains to be seen if this is just a coincidence, or whether T. Davies plans to draw focus to both instances and connect them.

Is Belinda's Mysterious Role In Doctor Who Season 15 Too Similar To Ruby's In Season 14?

It could be too soon after the let-down of Ruby's disappointing exit

Just as there were with Ruby, there are several unanswered questions when it comes to Belinda's backstory. Both women stray from being typical companions, as their enigmatic natures tend to pull focus toward them and away from the Doctor. These storylines are great when they're well executed, but Belinda's arc arguably has two things working against it. The first is that it may be too soon to have another mysterious companion like Ruby, and the second is that the twist that revealed the identity of Ruby's mother ended up being incredibly underwhelming.

What needs unveiling about Belinda differs from the questions that hung over Ruby, so Davies is giving himself room to improve upon the shortcomings of Gibson's season 14 arc. I probably would have preferred a less enigmatic successor to Ruby, but I do actually really like the fact that the show is teasing its intention of turning Doctor Who's long-running rope of re-using the same actor for more than one character into a more high-concept storyline.