The Haunting of Villa Diodati

[Ollie14 @ollie14]

Ah I see, thanks for clearing that up @missrori.

Think there’s so much to clear up in the last 70 mins of the series… is there possibly to much to clear up, maybe?

Dont think we’ll be seeing Ruth again this series. I’d imagine she’ll return in a special or S13.

I keep thinking the lone Cyberman looked like the old Brendan. What did the lone Cyberman say about how he was the “chosen one” again? He mentioned he got “declined“ when he wanted to sign up… but was that signing up to the human fight against the Cybermen or signing up to be converted to a Cyberman?

What do you reckon?

[Robsie @robsiehallert]

I quite liked the episode. I did NOT like the finale it lead to, but I thought the episode itself was one of the better ones in the current season.
I loved the crazy cyberman and meeting the Gothic writers and the bizarre puzzle.
All the regulars seemed to have something to do. It was a fun and scary with some wild moments from The Doctor, just the right balance, for me.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

We just re-watched this fabulous episode. It was really great on a second (or third?) viewing. I have had a constant complaint about the Whittaker Doctor lacking authority, but in this episode I realise that she really has the authority that the Doctor should possess. And then I wondered: was it the writer, Maxime Alderton, who also co-wrote the most recent “Village of the Angels”, who was responsible for giving the Doctor that authority? I suspect so.

Because, of the whole Whittaker run so far, these have been the two stand out episodes.

 

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Well, a nice ominous atmosphere has been set up at the start, but really, the intrusion of Doctor and crew can’t but help but be anticlimactic. Only the benefit of creepy upward lighting saves them from perfect bathos. Can’t help feeling that Capaldi or Missy or even Tennant would have had the required sinister looks. This Doctor is more suited to be the Person from Porlock, whatever made her think she could crash the party without ruining the mood? “How about writing the most gruesome ghost story of all time?” Ugh!

And while I’m whining, I’m always a bit niggled when the Doc explains to us exactly who each historic figure is, as if her gang (and the audience) are too ignorant to know and can’t use Wikipedia. At least in this ep they diffused that a bit and had the Byron menage retail their own domestic complications.

Okay, and the setup where Graham flashback/repeats on his walk and the girl appears in the room etc, is starting to look promising.

That – thing – that one-finger exercise that Ryan is playing – is incitement to mayhem, as far as I’m concerned. When I was a teen we had a neighbour whose talentless kid could only play that, repeatedly, so I’m horribly biassed. I don’t believe a Victorian lady would bring herself to compliment such incompetence, unless she was being patronising, or that Grace would teach Ryan anything so limited. It says nothing for Ryan’s self-awareness that he would try to impress a lady by doing something he’s incompetent at. I’m also finding it a bit demeaning to Mary Shelley that it’s suggested she should have needed artistic encouragement from someone who can’t play Chopsticks.

Back to the plot – when space starts getting sliced such that locations suddenly change, that’s a promising development. Perception filter – that’s quite original. Generated by a security system – OK. But I’m a bit disappointed when the Cyberman turns up. And distinctly peeved when it turns out to be Mary Shelley’s inspiration for the monster. Let her keep credit for her own imagination! So the Cyberman recharges with lightning – just like Frankenstein’s monster. This is starting to look like pre-emptive retro-plagiarism. But Shelley controlling the perception filter / security system – that’s good. But did the security system include short-range teleport, or was that all the perception filter – I’m not clear on that. And what was with the skeletal hand? And the ghosts?

Then the Doctor has to make a decision whether to let the Cyberman kill Shelley. Pity she’s so talkative about it. And Ryan – since when was Ryan the hard man who could take tough decisions? It doesn’t make him look strong, just unlikeable. Okay, it was, I must admit, in character for the Doctor to decide in favour of letting Shelley live, and find a Time Lord trick to accomplish it.

Yaz, I think, is gradually getting better treatment from the writers – showing more initiative. Ryan isn’t, he remains a bit of a klutz.

So overall, not a bad episode, had a lot of good bits. If the aim was to weave a sci-fi story loosely based on Frankenstein, it succeeded fairly well; if it was intended to celebrate Mary Shelley’s literary talent, I think it backfired.

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