daibhidc | Knock Knock

Let's do this before I watch this week's, shall we?

Well, that was probably the most gothically horrific Doctor Who story since the Hinchcliffe era. (An aside: Mum told me she'd seen the trailer and "it looks terrible". I eventually figured out she meant "terrifying".)

And she was right. Creepy house, creepy landlord, creepy insects. I was definitely behind a cushion (literally going behind the sofa means getting up and sitting on the floor. Why would you do that?)

But before that, Bill's housemates were fun. I spent far too long trying to work out where I knew Harry from - he's Lorenzo from Leonardo, of course - and I also somehow forgot the basic premise of this season, and couldn't work out why they were all acting like they already knew the Doctor. I'm glad they all got unkilled.

I loved that Bill figures out the twist because the Doctor doesn't get human ageing, but what really sells it is that he doesn't get it twice - he's too old to recognise the difference between a man of ninety and a man of a hundred and fifty ... and at the same time he's too young to realise that capturing unusual insects to show them to an ill woman isn't something a grown-up would do. That's the Doctor.

So, that's four in a row where the "monster" isn't really monstrous, and while it's the second in a row to have a more monstrous human villain, the Landlord is a more sympathetic character than the moustache-twirling Sutcliffe. I mean, exceptionally creepy, and definitely villainous, but ultimately operating from a broken kind of love, rather than greed or hate. And David Suchet's portrayal was excellent.

And back to the Vault. The fact the Vault-Dweller likes stories about kids being eaten suggests they're definitely a villain (you might think that goes without saying, but I've seen speculation it's Thirteenth, locked away in an attempt to stop him happening or something; or even David Bradley's First, although I forget why Twelfth would have him locked up), although I still think Missy is too obvious.

And I did like Nardole's "You see? You don't need to go off in the TARDIS. Plenty of things trying to kill you right here on Earth."