The Haunting of Villa Diodati
Feb. 22nd, 2020 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatThe Haunting of Villa Diodati seems to have received a hugely positive reception in my corner of fandom which makes me feel extra curmudgeonly right now. It's not that I disliked it, but I'd rate several stories this series higher than this.
It's very much a story of two halves. The teenager's instant take at the end was that it was really good until it suddenly seemed to lose its way. I think its not just that. For me part of what I was enjoying about the first half had a baked in assumption that there was some method to the madness underlying the spookiness where in fact it was just random stuff from Shelley's brain and that felt vaguely unsatisfactory as an explanation.
Then the second half was largely running away from the Lone Cyberman. It has to be said that my basic assumption from the moment Captain Jack warned against giving the Lone Cyberman what it wanted has been that the Lone Cyberman was going to get what it wanted. I thought briefly that something more interesting was going to happen when the Doctor absorbed the Cyberium (maybe related or similar to their experience with the Cyber Controller back in Nightmare in Silver) but no. In fact, so quickly "no", that I wasn't even clear what the point of the Doctor absorbing it herself was precisely (maybe we will find out and she's laid some kind of cunning trap).
I do think the first half was well done, pleasingly atmospheric, with enough focus on the individual members of the Fam that the story felt like it had space for them. I'm just a lot less enamoured of the second half and don't feel the inclusion of the Lone Cyberman really counterbalances its flaws both as resolution to the first half and as, I don't know, an interesting narrative in its own right. It had nice moments, particularly the Cyberman's interactions with the baby and Mary Shelley, but I didn't feel they particularly cohered into anything of substance... any more than the inclusion of random actual ghosts just because (apparently) really worked since the rest of the story wasn't really leaning into a concept of "sometimes random unexplained stuff happens". Now, there may be pay off for much of this in the next couple of episodes but I'm not really expecting there to be (any more than I'm expecting Captain Jack to return).
I continue to think series 12 marks an up-tick in general quality over series 11 and part of that is more of a sense of energy to which the engagement with and extension of the show's mythology definitely contributes. I'm not convinced, however, that the mythological elements are really serving the stories they are ostensibly part of.
The Haunting of Villa Diodati is fine, good even. There's nothing here that I think is bad or particularly objectionable but, honestly, I think I'd have liked it better if it had been more self-contained.
It's very much a story of two halves. The teenager's instant take at the end was that it was really good until it suddenly seemed to lose its way. I think its not just that. For me part of what I was enjoying about the first half had a baked in assumption that there was some method to the madness underlying the spookiness where in fact it was just random stuff from Shelley's brain and that felt vaguely unsatisfactory as an explanation.
Then the second half was largely running away from the Lone Cyberman. It has to be said that my basic assumption from the moment Captain Jack warned against giving the Lone Cyberman what it wanted has been that the Lone Cyberman was going to get what it wanted. I thought briefly that something more interesting was going to happen when the Doctor absorbed the Cyberium (maybe related or similar to their experience with the Cyber Controller back in Nightmare in Silver) but no. In fact, so quickly "no", that I wasn't even clear what the point of the Doctor absorbing it herself was precisely (maybe we will find out and she's laid some kind of cunning trap).
I do think the first half was well done, pleasingly atmospheric, with enough focus on the individual members of the Fam that the story felt like it had space for them. I'm just a lot less enamoured of the second half and don't feel the inclusion of the Lone Cyberman really counterbalances its flaws both as resolution to the first half and as, I don't know, an interesting narrative in its own right. It had nice moments, particularly the Cyberman's interactions with the baby and Mary Shelley, but I didn't feel they particularly cohered into anything of substance... any more than the inclusion of random actual ghosts just because (apparently) really worked since the rest of the story wasn't really leaning into a concept of "sometimes random unexplained stuff happens". Now, there may be pay off for much of this in the next couple of episodes but I'm not really expecting there to be (any more than I'm expecting Captain Jack to return).
I continue to think series 12 marks an up-tick in general quality over series 11 and part of that is more of a sense of energy to which the engagement with and extension of the show's mythology definitely contributes. I'm not convinced, however, that the mythological elements are really serving the stories they are ostensibly part of.
The Haunting of Villa Diodati is fine, good even. There's nothing here that I think is bad or particularly objectionable but, honestly, I think I'd have liked it better if it had been more self-contained.
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(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-22 03:01 pm (UTC)I knew the Dr would give the Lone Cyberman what it wanted, but I thought she'd put up more of a fight, even if the resistance was for show, seemed a bit quick! A bit of "I'll sort it out later" attitude? I did like the look of the Lone Cyberman though, it was well designed.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-23 02:00 pm (UTC)But I was pretty certain from the moment the Lone Cyberman turned up here that we were in "Doctor gives it what it wants" territory.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-22 08:05 pm (UTC)I definitely enjoyed series eleven more than series twelve, lightweight stories and all, but it's hard to pin down why I don't like it. At some point after it's all over I'm going to have to watch it again and try to analyse it better than I'm apparently capable of doing on a first viewing when my emotions are all over the place.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-02-23 02:06 pm (UTC)I don't think the best stories this series can touch Demons of the Punjab or (to a lesser extent) Rosa. I think last series was often quite earnest in a way this series isn't and its possible that standing back you could claim they've scarified subtlety and depth for razzle-dazzle (I'm mean, yes, the Doctor is more troubled but she's troubled about SF stuff like "my planet has been destroyed (again)" not about stuff that is within the experience of viewers). Can you Hear Me?" is probably closest in tone to series 11...