Who Review: The Haunting of Villa Diodati

It’s 1816, and at Villa Diodati, a large house in Switzerland, Lord Byron and John Polidori are spending the summer. Joining them are their neighbors, Mary Wollstonecraft and her lover-soon-to-be-husband, Percy Shelley along with their son William, and Mary’s step-sister, Claire Clairmont. One night, during a thunderstorm, the Doctor, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan turn up and ask for shelter. To help pass the time during the storm, Byron suggests they tell ghost stories. And then strange things start happening. Percy Shelley goes missing. There are strange apparitions, and the rooms seem to move around, as if the house is protecting a secret. What disturbs the Doctor most, however, is the phantom they can see at the lake. A phantom who seems to be from another dimension…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

It’s tempting to think that, after the fiasco that was last week’s story (“Can You Hear Me?”), an episode where the TARDIS crew stand and watch paint dry for fifty minutes would be great by comparison. However, on its own merits, this was actually an excellent story. The best one of the season, perhaps. Sure, I have a couple of criticisms, but they don’t detract much from the quality of the episode.

The story is based on real history. It is a fact that Mary Shelley came up with the story of Frankenstein, her most famous work, while staying at VIlla Diodati with these same people in the summer of 1816. Which brings me to my first criticism. I don’t like that the entire reason the Doctor brings her friends here is to witness the moment Mary Shelley is inspired to write Frankenstein. It seems frivolous, and also dangerous. One wrong word or false move and the course of history could change, and for what? To see Mary Shelley get the idea for her most celebrated novel? Now, if the Doctor had sensed a disturbance here, a fluctuation in the space-time continuum that necessitated their investigation, that would have been more reasonable. Especially if it looked as if someone else was trying to interfere with time.

Shortly after their arrival, weird things start to happen. Strange people appear, skeletal hands attack, and Percy Shelley writes strange things on the wall then goes missing. Also, Graham is challenged to a dual, and Polidori tries to seduce The Doctor. Most significant is Percy Shelley’s disappearance. The Doctor’s investigation is hampered by the fact that no-one can leave a room without ending up back where they started. It’s as if the house is trying to stop them finding Shelley. The Doctor soon realizes someone’s using a perception filter. Once they overcome that, they can move freely around the house again. But who did that, and why?

Then the apparition makes itself known. When it appears in the house, the Doctor recognizes it immediately. It’s a Cyberman. Damaged–half-complete. But nevertheless, it’s a lone Cyberman. Ryan, Yaz, and Graham remind the Doctor of Captain Jack’s warning not to give the lone Cyberman what he wants (see “Fugitive of the Judoon”–by the way, it seems this was the only reason for Captain Jack’s cameo in that story… *eye-roll*).

What does the Cyberman want? It seems Percy had come across a liquid metallic substance, a “quicksilver” that hides inside of him. This substance, Cyberium, contains information on the future history of the Cybermen, and it is using Shelley as its Guardian to protect it. At some point in the future, there will be an epic battle in which the Cybermen will cause death and destruction on a large scale. Someone took this Cyberium, which contains all knowledge of Cybermen battles and strategies, and sent it back in time in the hope that someone would use it to change history and stop the Cybermen before the carnage happens. The Cyberium had been causing all the strange occurrences in the house to try to stop anyone finding it. However, it is burning up Shelley’s mind and will kill him if he doesn’t relinquish it. This is what the Cyberman wants. So if the Doctor gives the Cyberman what he wants, Shelley will live, but millions will die.

It’s at this point that we see what I think is one of the best “Doctor” moments Thirteen has had since her regeneration. It’s a moment worthy of the Classic Doctors, where she has to make a hard and unpopular decision. Her friends warn her to heed Captain Jack’s warning. But The Doctor looks at the millions of lives that will be affected if Shelley dies that night. “History will change in a blink. The future will not be the world you know, the world you came from, the world you were created in, won’t exist, so neither will you.” It seems the Doctor’s flat team structure isn’t really so flat. As the Doctor says, sometimes it’s mountainous, with her at the top in a stratosphere above everyone else… alone. Alone to make the hard decision: “Save the poet, save the universe” (a play on the line, “Save the cheerleader, save the world” from the series “Heroes”?).

And then the Cyberman intrudes and threatens to extract the Cyberium by force (i.e., kill Shelley to get it out). Mary tries to appeal to the Cyberman. It’s incomplete, so does it not still feel compassion? Does it not remember what it’s like to be human? Did the Cyberman have children? A family? This doesn’t work. The Cyberman killed his loved ones when they joined the resistance. A horrific, but excellent turn in the narrative. So the Doctor has to take matters into her own hands. She pushes Shelley’s mind to his future death, tricking the Cyberium to leave him thinking its host is dead.

But we’re not done with the twists! The Doctor takes the Cyberium to prevent the Cyberman having it. It seems she’s the perfect host, and the Cyberium is happy to stay with the Doctor. But the Cyberman retaliates by threatening to summon the Cyber fleet to destroy the planet if she doesn’t hand it over. It might be a bluff, but the Doctor can’t be sure. So she releases the Cyberium, and the Cyberman takes it and leaves. All is back to normal…

…except Shelley has had a “sneak peek” at his death, and the lone Cyberman has returned to assure the death of millions at the hands of the Cyber fleet. The Doctor’s mission now is to travel into the future and stop the Cyberman delivering the Cyberium. She gives her companions the option to go home since a Cyber war zone is not exactly safe. But they want to stay. Of course! And that’s the set-up for the two-part season finale.

I have some thoughts about this ending. I liked the twists, and I liked the Doctor taking charge and making the hard decision. My brother said of this episode, “Jodie Whittaker is The Doctor… finally!!” and I know what he means by that. This is the aspect of the Doctor’s character that’s been missing the past few years. Being willing to go against even her friends to do what she believes to be the right thing. Instead of chiding the audience about their carbon footprint, she’s arguing against her own team to save the life of a poet because “Words matter.” Tom Baker couldn’t have said it better.

But I do have a few criticisms. The first is how easily Shelley handled seeing his own death, which would happen less than ten years later. Mary gives a cheery “We’ll make the most of every day,” kind of comment and that’s that. Another is that, after seeing a Cyberman, Cyberium, extraterrestrial phenomenon, and the Doctor exerting strange power over Shelley’s mind, the only result was Frankenstein? Mary Shelley was given enough material in this adventure to become the world’s first science fiction writer!

But these criticisms truly are small compared to the quality of the story. The writer, Maxine Alderton, needs to write again for the show. In fact, maybe she should be the next show-runner. Next season. Please. 🙂

In short, this was a Who episode to watch. Perhaps the closest we’ve had to a classic Who story in the Chibnall era. If the entire season had been of this caliber, I wouldn’t be calling for a hiatus. Hopefully the remaining two episodes will capitalize on the promise of this one, and not fall into the same ditches as the previous seven (most of them, anyway).

Did you see “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”? If so, what did you think? Comment below…