Doctor Who Season 10/36: "Knock Knock".

[The Romulan Republic]

Seriously? No thread yet?

Anyway, though I missed the start of it, I quite enjoyed this one, barring one major complaint about the ending. Yes, the pacing was again a little uneven, and some of the plot points felt either predictable or random, but the haunted house atmosphere was quite well-done, it was well-acted, and Spoiler

the parallels between the landlord and the Doctor with his vault were a reasonably effective way to tie an otherwise seemingly stand-alone episode into the season arc.

Baldy has been growing on me as a recurring character as well.

Not sure if they were trying to be ambiguous about Bill's sexuality, with her saying that she usually goes for girls.

My big complain is the resolution of the monster, with wooden girl more or less committing suicide/killing her son. Aside from seeming needlessly dark for the sake of dark, it also fits a recurring theme I've noticed in the Moffat era of portraying suicide in a somewhat positive light, which I find rather off-putting.

That one major complaint aside, its probably the best episode I've seen since "Heaven Sent" (which had the misfortune of being in the middle of a shitty three-parter), and after "Heaven Sent", probably the best since "Day of the Doctor" three and a half years ago.

As to what's in the vault, I'd thought it was the Master (though it seems so obvious that I more than half-expect a bait and switch), but now, with the connection to this episode, I wonder if its some relation of the Doctor's. Any evil family in his past?

[Solauren]

my question
Spoiler

Where is that massive 'Wood lice' infection going to go?

[Bedlam]

Spoiler

I think this whole thread should be marked as spoilers rather than having each post be in spoiler tags.

It seemed a rather generic haunted house story to me. I'm not too keen on all the students being reconstituted at the end, I don't suppose there was really a reason to kill them but it just seemed to suddenly crank back the horror.

I'd be very surprised if the resident of the vault isn't the master, although I'm not sure which one. I suppose they might throw us a plot twist but it seems the most likely answer. Certainly in his first appearance in the new series the Doctor planed to lock him in the TARDIS to stop him terrorising the universe.

[Enigma]

Spoiler

I too believe that it is Missy\Master. The vault has that Gallifreyan vibe to it. The piano player only resumed playing after the Doctor mentioned that there were deaths in the story.

I find that Nardole is too attached to watching over the vault. Maybe he'll be tricked into releasing the person in it? If so, I don't see him lasting long. He'll definitely be dead by season's end

[Parallax]

I seem to recall when UNIT imprisoned the original Master. He was running the prison in no time.

[B5B7]

To me, this is the weakest episode of the current season. Early on when Bill joked about the time lords, this fitted what I liked about her from the other episodes. But during the main story she seemed to be a bit flat. The story didn't go anywhere, with a pointless resolution in the form of a virtual reversal with the "dead" students being brought back. Also, we have the concept of the twenty year cycle - 1977, 1997, 2017, yet there was mention of it being seventy years since the events started [(IIRC) or was the boy ten when he brought in the insects and he is seventy now?].

Also, continuing the "eating theme" it seems from the trailer that the next episode will be their spacesuits "eating" the characters.

[madd0ct0r]

landlord was seventy, so presumbly nine or ten when the thing started.

As for what happens to the mass of woodlice now? Given it was filmed in Cardiff, I'm willing to bet Seagulls, those noble defenders of humanity, swallowed the problem. I was joking with the wife that the only reason for the resurrection was to avoid PTSD Bill who'd seen all her friends and her mum die.

edit, although that last bit is coming...