DOCTOR WHO-KNOCK, KNOCK
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DOCTOR
WHO-KNOCK, KNOCK
“Stop it.
There’s no living puddles, or weird robots, big fish. It’s just a new house.
And people you don’t know. Not scary at all.”
DOCTOR:
Harry, too. Um, in brief, he's her dad. He's been keeping her alive with the
bugs for about seventy years. Your friends are the food. I said that I could…
help. Now, you must be Eliza. How are you feeling? Rotten?
I’m loving
DW again, at least this part of the season. It’s scary here, disturbing and
makes me want the characters to live. It’s almost traditional WHO without being
boring and with twists that are modern and cool. When DW is good, there’s
nothing better.
Harry’s
grand dad went to the Great Wall of China with his boyfriend and got arrested
for trying to steal a part of the wall. That’s stupid. What’s stupider is that
they cut out that Harry was supposed to have Harry Sullivan as his grand dad.
Now, that would be fine but that Harry never came off as gay means that line
would have had to go because Sullivan never really came off as gay. Though, I
suppose it’s possible. Harry and all the men in this story are really, really
cute.
One’s
already “dead”.
The whole
grand dad thing is funny. Bill just finds out about Time Lords and that’s
funny, too. He avoids telling her about the definition of regeneration. I
lament that it is a shame that Bill barely gets to see ANY other Doctor (and I
don’t think she even got to see the First Doctor in the AWFULLY written TWICE
UPON A TIME, well, the stuff that comes out of the First Doctor’s mouth is
awful).
In fact,
Bill deserves better than her fate in the season ending.
So, both the
violin music and the reference to the secret bookcase that opens up to a secret
passage must be both references and/or nods to YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.
When Harry
reports footsteps above him, the others make jokes. “Maybe it’s a little doll
that’s come to life.” TERROR OF THE AUTONS and/or NIGHT TERRORS. Or TALONS OF
WENG CHIANG. Another says, “Or a massive freaky spider.” Well, that could be a
reference to a number of em: PLANET OF THE SPIDERS, DEADLY ASSASSIN, or a
pre-cognition of ARACHNIDS IN THE UK?
Okay, with
likable characters, even the house mates who don’t listen to move out as
assured by the Doctor, the mix of the Doctor and Bill’s almost polar opposites,
the grandfather thing, the creepy man and all, this is just amazing. There’s
also a touch of Hammer horror movies and horror TV shows from Hammer about
this. The old man is creepy enough, too, and the premise reminds me ever so
slightly of the LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Hell_House
Either way,
I’m just really digging it.
The tower
being excluded from the renters going into reminds me of a few horror movies
such as:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_in_the_Cellar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Terror_(1997_film)
https://www.ranker.com/review/tower-of-evil/15758337?l=2546245
Much of this
shows that you can do scary and creepy without blood and gore and a lot of this
is genuinely scary.
I could do
without the monster bug thing but it’s creepy and Harry and the Doctor have a
great rapport, wish he’d become a companion. I also like how the Doctor, THIS
Doctor now makes friends easily and it’s believable, he’s quite cool and
likable now.
The music
box might be a nod to the original Dark Shadows.
Just when…Harry’s
death is horrific, maybe the most the show has ever had. And the Doctor can
only think of Bill. If the thing can take someone that is touching wood, then
it should have done already to all of them?
Shireen’s
death is equally horrid. Disgusting. No real gore but still…
Geeze.
At least
this horror feels, here, uncompromising.
I know some
reviewers believe that keeping the victims dead would have been better but
honestly, after the death of the boy in THIN ICE, I can’t agree. I need the
Doctor to save someone and here, that they come to life again WORKS for me. In
a way, most of the time in Moffat’s Era, people die and come back almost too
much. If that were not the case, this would be fine and it is fine either way,
to be honest but it would be better if Amy, River, Rory, the 11th
Doctor, the universe, the 12th Doctor billions of times, the TARDIS,
Nardole, and others didn’t come back from the dead and THESE did. These do and
it still doesn’t detract from the horror. I like ALL these house mates a lot
and felt they deserved to come back to life. And I’m glad they did, against
everything I’ve said about Moffat constantly bringing everyone back to life.
The twist is
…well, I forgot about it after first viewing but it is a reasonable and good
one. And it has resonance with both Bill, who never knew her real mum and with
the Doctor who is asked by the old man, the “son” if he could save the one who
brought him into this world, wouldn’t he?
Amazing.
Brill
escape. Love that Bill grabs Paul’s hand.
There’s a
slight bit of Dracula and Renfield in how the Doctor and Nardole relate over
the tomb where the mysterious prisoner is. And it’s funny and humorous, for the
Moffat Era that’s quite an achievement.
The Doctor
talks to the prisoner.
Next week
looks great, too.
SO that’s it
then, three 10/10 stories in a row …in the Moffat Era: a total success and with
THE PILOT not bad, either, that’s four in a row that are well done, fun, scary,
and definite great additions to DW. Moffat might be best doing just stand alone
stories and Capaldi shines in every one of these four episodes and probably next
week’s too. I love this. It’s back on track but I’m not sure how long it can
stay on track after next week, for that horrid three part story looms.
In any case,
this was fantastic.
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Knock_Knock_(TV_story)
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