Doctor Who is billed as a science fiction show, but like many of this genre, it can veer into different themes with ease. Action, drama, adventure, or one the show often draws from, horror. It’s embrace of it can be slight or more akin to a bear-hug, Knock Knock is definitely the latter. A Time Lord twist on a haunted house with all the tropes you’d expect and sad twist to the tale that largely works thanks to a understated performance from David Suchet.
Synopsis:
Bill is moving in with some friends and they’ve found the perfect house — so what if it’s strangely cheap to rent, and the landlord is a little creepy? The wind blows, the floorboards creak, and the Doctor thinks something is very wrong. What lurks in the strange tower at the heart of the building — and why can’t they find any way to enter it?
Knock Knock delivers the regular trappings of the haunted house movie. A bunch of eager/naive kids moving in, Bill amongst their number, after being offered a deal on rent that is too good to be true (because it is). Weird noises, a creepy landlord, a floor (tower) where it s forbidden to go, then one by they start to disappear, or in the latter stages meet their fate in some unsettling ways.
The script by Doctor Who newcomer Mike Bartlet doesn’t waste time setting things up, it just jumps right in and goes for it, giving the episode a good pace. Likewise, the terror ramps up well, hints of creepiness building into some moments that are surprisingly affecting for a show in this early evening timeslot. A house that can feed on people, Croenenberg-esque visuals of flesh bonded with wood, with a giant lice infestation leading to the grisly demise of several teenagers, akin to something out of The Mummy. Things are a little undermined at the end with a overly tidy resolution, sure it’s a family show and “everybody lives” is an aspiration of the Doctor , but it does negate some of the horror component.
Like last week’s episode Thin Ice, we get a continuation of the Doctor, and Bill, being investigators, piecing together clues rather than falling back on technology or techno-babble. It makes it something of a horror mystery that veers into a rather tragic tale, cemented by the performance of David Suchet, a superb actor who was nearly was cast as the Time Lord many regenerations ago. His landlord is responsible for these events in the house as he looks to take lives to sustain young Eliza (Mariah Gale), a girl trapped within the house and in need of his care. The reveal over who he is is very well done, as well as his transition from sinister landlord, to heartbroken boy, tying to the tale’s themes of emotional bonds and being unable to say goodbye.
Speaking of bonds, Bill and the Doctor! It’s nice to see Bill showing some retrain. Unlike companions past who abandon their mundane lives and hop into the TARDIS, Bill seems intent on putting down some roots, a new home and some new friends. They continue to playoff each other well, Bill nudging the Doctor in the right direction with some simple logic here and there. While the embarrassment by this “older” figure is played for laughs, it’s a little surprising for the character to be so superficial given her knowledge of who he is and what he’s capable of. Keeping him, and what he represents, at arms length from her ‘normal’ life is understandable, embarrassment is not. That said, the recurring idea of having the Doctor be ‘cool with the kids’ is starting to grate. Despite these quibbles, they still showed how well they work together, figuring out the mystery, aided by the fact that the script didn’t over complicate things, like Smile earlier this season, relying more on the emotion of the tale to carry it through than anything overly clever.
Vault Watch:
The Doctor brings takeout to his captive, someone who is clearly adept at playing the piano and can veer from Beethoven to ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’. It’s also someone the Doctor is willing to indulge with a bit of storytelling where kids get eaten. It’s clearly the Master, the only question is, which one?
Knock Knock, while overall a solid episode, will go down in Doctor Who lore as another one of those episodes that make great use of a guest star. David Suchet adds to the show rather than detracts, in a nuanced performance. An impressive, self-contained episode that manages to balance horror with a tragic tale, while continuing to push the dynamic between the Doctor and Bill forward.