‘Doctor Who’ Recap: ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If there is one risky experiment that televisions shows rarely undertake, it would have to be toying with their respective genre. Because once a show establishes the fact that it is a science fiction series, a horror series or say a drama, they hold fast to that notion and do little to deviate from their path. For they understand what their audience is expecting and that injecting an air of heavy comedy or any other element, runs the risk of alienating and chasing away said audience. But despite the risks, there are some shows out there that enjoy toying with their overall structure from time to time, by fusing together the genre they represent with another one, and one such series that does this often in successful and fascinating fashion; is Doctor Who.
 
For this magnificent science fiction series has been around long enough that it is almost a requirement for it to change up its style of storytelling, in order to keep things fresh. And that’s why we often see this science fiction series drop a full-on comedy into our laps or provide us with a quality drama that leaves one wondering who is chopping onions nearby. But of the many genre fusing experiments that this series has toyed with over the years, it truly shines when it injects a little bit of horror into the mix. Because for some strange reason, monsters and terror work well within the framework of the series and some of our favorite adventures with the Doctor are the ones that have left our skin crawling. And it just so happens that the time finally arrived for the Thirteenth Doctor to enjoy a creepy adventure with her magnificent companions in ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’.
 
But of course, it wasn’t The Fam’s intention to take part in a creepy adventure. Because the initial plan was to simply pop by Lord Byron’s estate in 1816 to witness the genesis of the horror masterpiece Frankenstein and well, it didn’t take long for Team TARDIS to realize that something was amiss. For every writer and creative present in the house on this dark and stormy night were distracted and steering clear from the very event the group came here to observe and this odd behavior, and a strange vibe coming from the house, prompted the Doctor to begin to investigate what was going on and that’s… when the scary stuff started coming into play. For there were odd shadows moving about in the distance and to make matters worse, the team had to contend with reanimated bones.
 
Bones that managed to come from Lord Byron’s private collection, since he kept the skeleton of a dead soldier from a war long gone, and the reanimation of portions of this collector’s item only added to the mystery of the night. Because there were no clues to help the Doctor or her mates understand why this was suddenly happening and well, the weird just continued along in this particular tale. For soon everyone within the house was stuck in a strange loop. The kind that forced them to wander about the same location in the house over and over again and for a brief moment there, it truly seemed as though something supernatural was happening here and this genuinely was a creepy segment of the story, one that felt as though a grandiose ghost story was about to play out.

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​But that is perhaps the beauty of this series. In that, it always provides a logical explanation for the spooky stuff that appears on screen in tales such as this, and once a little sleepwalking came into play, the story took quite the logical turn, one that featured a surprise. Because it became clear to the Doctor that something scientific was indeed happening here, and the house was confusing them and trapping them on purpose, simply because it was trying to keep something hidden from their sight. What exactly, still eluded her. But the appearance of another apparition made her realize that the house was guarding something genuinely important, something that said apparition wanted and that brings us to the surprise in question. For the ‘ghost’ outside, finally made its presence known inside and revealed itself to be… a Cyberman.
 
However, this wasn’t just any Cyberman, this was the Lone Cyberman that Captain Jack Harkness warned the team about a few weeks ago and well, now was the opportunity to deny it what it so desperately wanted; an element named Cyberium which would help the CyberWar take place. And to keep it out of his hands, all that needed to happen was for Mister Shelley, who was carrying the element within his flesh, to die. Which brought about a powerful debate. Because letting Shelley die, would indeed save billions of lives since this twisted and incomplete Cyberman would not be able to start his precious war. But in doing so, the future would be irrevocably altered and unknown to all, and rather than let that happen, the Doctor chose to give the monster what it wants… and deal with the consequences in the future.
 
If anything, this turned out to be quite the fascinating story when all is said and done for several reasons. First and foremost, it really does do a phenomenal job of misleading the audience in all the right kinds of ways. For it really does seem as though we are going to stay in some spooky territory for a majority of the episode, and that the apparition in question is something trapped on Earth that needs the Doctor’s help to be free. So to have it be the Lone Cyberman, was quite the powerful surprise, as was the sheer fact that this monster ended up helping to preserve history after all since its tortured soul and resurrection from the dead, gave Mary the idea to perhaps put together a story about such matters. But while seeing the genesis of a brilliant horror novel come to life is delightful and majestic in its own right, the Doctor’s moral dilemma here is the true highlight of this particular tale.
 
Because the Doc is at her best when she’s cornered with a no-win scenario since it forces her to think about the most unique ways imaginable to save the timeline and lives, and the stalemate, she forces here is quite brilliant in its own right. Because it accomplishes just that, and now it is up to her to formulate a wild plan to save billions of lives. In the end however, this really was quite the delightful episode. Because not only did it stun and surprise, it really did do a fine job of offering up a delightful horror story, one that featured a quality mystery and some eerie moments, truly reinforcing the fact that Doctor Who can do it all. But all of that aside, the stage is now set for the Series 12 Finale and it should be interesting to see where the Doctor’s gambit takes us next week when Team TARDIS faces off against one of the Doc’s deadliest foes. Until next time.  

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