Episode 1208: “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”
The origin of Frankenstein plus Doctor Who? Sign us up!
This week, we travel back to 1816 to uncover the origins of the iconic horror story to top all horror stories. The idea for Frankenstein came to author Mary Shelley during a rainy day in Geneva while she was stuck inside a house with her future husband and some writer friends. They were telling scary stories, and when they ran out, determined to come up with their own. And the rest, as we say, is history.
So how do the Doctor and her companions fit into this? Well, they show up in 1816 to see all of this go down, but end up in a weird spooky story of their own. There’s clearly something going on in the mansion, something you can’t just chock up to creatives accidentally inventing the modern horror genre.
What I love about this episode is the plot twist that gets thrown at us in the final moments. I thought we were just in for the usual scary, weird episode. Instead, enter the lone Cyberman, the very same Cyberman that Captain Jack Harkness warned of!
I am petrified of Cybermen and always have been. So I was freaked out here. And it didn’t help when I realized the Cyberman was half complete and you could see the human face beneath it. And the battered, beaten shape of the Cyberman made him even more haunting. This episode would have been perfect for Halloween, just saying.
So what is a lone Cyberman doing in 1816? Well, first off, his name is Ashad, and he’s looking for Cyberium. Apparently, it’s some sort of metal that has the knowledge of Cybermen embedded within it. If the lone Cyberman gets a hold of it, it could mean the end of days.
One man is missing from the action throughout the episode: writer Percy Shelley, whom Mary Shelley eventually marries. He seems to have taken in the Cyberium and was the one causing all the haunted activities around the house.
I loved how everything flowed together so effortlessly and gave us one of the scariest episodes of the season! And the episode ends on a very intriguing note, with the Doctor ignoring the whole “Beware of the lone Cyberman” warning and take action.
The Doctor is pretty fed up with how the Cybermen have affected her life in the past (we all remember Bill Potts, don’t we?) and decides to give it what it wants. The Cyberman goes away to the future with the Cyberium in tow, leaving us to wonder: did the Doctor do the right thing?
Next time on #DoctorWho.... In the far future, the Doctor and friends face a brutal battle, across the farthest reaches of space, to protect the last of the human race against the deadly Cybermen. pic.twitter.com/tgwz8M7Fbt
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) February 16, 2020
I hope the upcoming two-part finale answers some burning questions. First off, where did the other Doctor go? What’s her deal? Is the Master going to come back? And what is going to happen with the Cybermen?
So many questions, but answers are near (hopefully)!