Every week I do these, yet every week I sit and wonder how to start. With “Fugitive of the Judoon,” I was able to expel glee about an episode that I’ll be going back to when the series is done. “Spyfall Part 2” was an episode I wanted to put in the bin from the word go. On the subject of “Tesla’s Night of Terror;” first I did shorten the title there, and second, I didn’t love it because I don’t like the undue praise he’s posthumously given. My point is that I’ve had something to say for all the episodes, and this is the one I just don’t have anything to say. This episode, “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” doesn’t have anything of note to yell or shout about in praise or hatred.

I will return to my usual line of “we have three companions for what reason again?” One of them I can understand, two would be pushing it with this lot, and three has me looking for a Dalek to come along a bridge and shoot either Yaz or Ryan. I’d take Graham around time and through space in a heartbeat; he exudes character and has fun lines. Yaz might have had a nice story that a few people conferred what I suspected, it just needed “No bags then?” Ryan, on the other hand, is just a mess of great big lummox being dragged along, and someone for Graham to protect. I just need one companion and The Doctor.

Speaking of the magnificent woman, Jodie gave me special feelings, very special feelings indeed. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it until I’m done with my last breath, Christopher Eccleston was a fantastic Doctor, possibly the best. The reason I love him so much, aside from being my first, is that he knew how to perfectly play the fun Doctor and the serious, “I am the last of my kind (sort of) and I’m trying to save all of you stupid humans from killing yourselves, now listen to me!” role. I don’t take this lightly, but I think Jodie brought a bit of that for the first time since “Rosa,” and I mean a proper authority moment.

The only connecting points between the last episode (aside from the cast) is the director and the “cold open” to the episode. Why is it that Emma Sullivan is the only one to understand the idea of not instantly using the credits? Tesla’s episode needed that “cold open” for the cut between leaving Niagara Falls and the train. This time it was used for a bit of horror, also not used until The Doctor has turned up in a Doctor Who episode. I like that, it’s a simple thing that just makes me happy for some reason.

Anyone familiar with the name Villa Diodati will know that it is the home rented by Lord Byron with John Polidori; while nearby Mary and Percy Shelley rented another house. It’s where two of the four would start their landmarks of Frankenstein and The Vampyre. However, this time round there are two men and two women; put the pitchforks down Daily Mail readers, they’ve not retroactively made Percy into Priscilla. In 1816 there isn’t even a queen or a desert in Geneva. Mary’s stepsister is tagging along while Percy is… missing. For now.

I like that the psychic paper doesn’t work in the rain, or at least when it is wet. It gives us something to think about if The Doctor is underwater and somehow has to flash it to an official; it kind of works as a concept if you think human brains are like automated database searches. Alternatively, it could just be the time period; Shakespeare didn’t get it in 1599. I think the earliest it really worked was “Tooth and Claw” in 1879. I know, Doctor Who has been around for a while, however, I’m dragging my feet here.

The summer of ’16 was ungodly wet for its time. So, of course, the four that are in the house (Mary, Claire, John, and Timelord Byron) are busy working on those horror staple points, right? No, the mother and father of Ada Lovelace’s half-sister aren’t even acting like dogs sniffing each other up. John is a sleepless nightmare, and Mary is too merry for her own good. They’d rather do “the dance,” which is about as awkward as those dance lessons you’d get in school; I was always paired with the supporting helper, she was nice.

Being a creepy, spooky, horror end of Who, while Graham is looking for the bathroom in 1816, a picture and its frame drop off a wall. It falls off the wall and then starts to bludge, giving what I can only describe as birth to a spider-skeleton hand-thing. Then Graham comes around a corner to walk up some stairs, and comes around the corner only to realize he’s just done that bit. This is another testament for Emma Sullivan’s work as the direction in the episode is great.

All the while Claire is trying to get into Byron’s study to ascertain his true thoughts and feelings on her. Given he’s already had two children with two women by this point, I assume it would be just for the sex. The fact that he tries to get something going with The Doctor tells you all you need to know: He’ll sleep with anyone with two legs and something between them. He’s not really interesting enough to sit with for any period of time.

This is the problem with the episode, as much as they have a pay-off towards the end, Mary, Claire, John, and Byron feel like too much. If it wasn’t for him being integral to the history, I’d be ripping John out straight away because he’s just there to cause conflict ten minutes in. Claire isn’t all that fun to be around aside from her love affair with Byron, which isn’t really strong enough to keep her in the first place. I’d have liked a bit more of a focus on Mary before we got to the end where she’s needed.

After a bit of back and forth between Ryan and Polidori, the hand walks into the front room and clutches Ryan by the neck. A bit of sonic-magic later and a good ‘ol swing of the tea tray, it is down and The Doctor is dabbing her finger in the dust to taste it like it was coke. Then we have another chance to talk about Eccleston’s run as Mary says “I don’t think they’re from the colonies,” to which John replies simply, “North.” I love it when the north of England is referred to as alien, anyone above the M25 is from another planet.

I think it is about time I give broad opinions and a score, something that’s hard as I’m not a fan of the early development, but love the end. It is a good 7 out of 10 for me. It is a solid episode of Doctor Who let down by characters I don’t like twiddling their thumbs, a threat that is held off for quite some time, and two companions I’d have left unseen in the TARDIS. It is another one that I’ll happily watch when I rewatch the series in a few months, but I won’t come back for this episode alone.

Spoilers Ahead – Read at your Own Risk

So we have the woman that created Frankenstein and his monster, ghostly apparitions by the lake, and we’re building to a two-parter called “Ascension of the Cybermen,” I wonder what could be going on. Of course, no one in their right mind would pay attention to the names ahead of time speculating what might happen in the next few episodes by the writer and name. Nonetheless, I still don’t trust Chris Chibnall with a woman, a Cyberman/woman story, and a pen, typewriter, or keyboard.

Back to this episode. Byron has a skeleton in his office, an actual skeleton in a case like the creepy sex-pest he is. All the while the gang is up in the study, Graham is set to look after Polidori after threatening to shoot Ryan in a duel. Percy designated to the missing one, Ryan and Yaz take Mary on a walk round about the house; or rather one part of the house. Yes, while The Doctor, Byron, and Claire are in the study, Ryan, Yaz, and Mary are in the stairwell, and Graham and Polidori are in the front room. At this point it all goes a bit creepy. They can walk out of the exits, but they’ll enter the room just the same.

The only one able to exit the room properly is Polidori, in his sleep. The scene of Graham running out the room to get The Doctor, and then ultimately re-entering that has cracked me up every time I’ve seen it. I think it is the stupid way dads say things like “you two just need a spray tan and a kip (sleep), eh?” to ghosts, it feels natural. It is just another example of Graham showing personality where as Yaz and Ryan do so little.

After a bit of sci-fi gibber-jabber, a perception filter is causing the house to shift and change as they move through the house. Nothing can walk in and nothing can walk out. So the Cyberman that’s flashing outside has to push itself inside the house, something The Doctor can only face alone. Though, I will say I’m not as bothered by the Cybermen as I am by the Daleks, tin-men are just less interesting.

I am happier with this design of semi-formed Cyberman and half Borg-thing, but that’s not going to carry over. However, it is the lone Cyberman Jack warned about in “Fugitive of the Judoon,” so we’ll be expecting a full-blown cyber-war next time i suppose. From here it is a bit more fast-paced and action-orientated Who than the horror before it, with a few more neck snaps that Who is used to. All the while Graham, Claire, and Polidori are down in the basement finding Percy.

Since we know Shelley is in the basement, I’ll not go into too much detail, but will talk about The Doctor’s authority with Yaz and Ryan. Yes, the two idiot companions want to take on the assimilating robot alien, they are stupid enough to have no personality after all. So The Doctor in such a beautiful way says that the “team structure” isn’t flat, it is a mountain with her at the top. If she says that she’s not letting them die for her, she means it and she’ll do everything she can to stop the senseless killing of people she calls friends. It’s both Jodie’s acting and the writing on display by Maxine Alderton.

The first 20 or so minutes feel too much like a period horror/drama for my own liking, but between that point and the last 5 to 10 minutes, you get classic Who. There’s the suspense of when the Cyberman will crop up, the mystery of Shelley, and Jodie’s wonderful moment of Doctor anger. There are pieces I’m not all that keen on, but the pacing is great on the first and second viewing. As a lead-in episode, I’m not all that unhappy with it as we are going to find out what the Cybermen will do, what this “Timeless child” is, and possibly get an episode with The Master that isn’t crap.

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Doctor Who "The Haunting Of Villa Diodati"

0.00

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Graham is the shining star of companions.
• "North."
• The Doctor's mountain speech.

Cons

• Why do we have Yaz and Ryan?