S10.E04: Knock Knock

[mirrorrim]

Agree with what a lot of people said: I was mostly confused the entire episode waiting for an explanation on the bugs. All the characters seemed to be "ok whatever!" and not one wondered where the bugs came from, why they decided to help this guy's mom and not just eat everything in sight, how they seemed to act independently but then somehow mom controls them? And now the house is gone--but are the bugs? The Doctor is always the most curious, and not even he cared!!

I'm also in the camp that finds Bill ...out of place. Something about her character/performance bugs me. I can take a happy-go-lucky attitude, but something about how she acts throws me off. Can't put my finger on it. I've only been watching Doctor Who since Matt Smith so I'm very uneducated, but I REALLY wish just one time there was a companion that felt it was prudent to listen to the Doctor. Especially in the very beginning of their companionship where they have little knowledge of this time-traveling-and-aliens-exist concept. WHY do they always act like they know better when they are running around with a TIME TRAVELER?!?! It's bad writing for drama to occur only because someone likes to act stupid.

I was hoping those people from decades ago appeared too.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Which Housemates Are Just What Doctor Who Ordered?

It's time to rank the new companion’s new companions.

[wayne67]

I just realized something... The 'dryads' were in the trees outside the house when Felicity escaped... so they would have been perfectly fine when the house collapsed, because we didn't see the trees collapse at the end. So there's at least a couple hanging about in the trees waiting for the next human to make a useful sound to eat... 

Another plot hole ? Or am I completely off the mark? 

[Mabinogia]

I forgot they were called dryads. So they weren't necessarily alien? Dryads are wood nymphs. It now makes even less sense. Why did the house collapse? Did the dryads build it in the first place? WTF? Where the writers on some bad drugs when they "wrote" this ep?

[rur]

2 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I forgot they were called dryads. So they weren't necessarily alien? Dryads are wood nymphs. It now makes even less sense. Why did the house collapse? Did the dryads build it in the first place? WTF? Where the writers on some bad drugs when they "wrote" this ep?

The Doctor called them Dryads, I assumed because of the wood connection. But my takeaway was that it was just a name. Whichever student was sticking with him in the house asked him about it, and the Doctor said something like, "Well, I couldn't call them wood lice, could I?"

[Mabinogia]

Ah, thanks rur. I have trouble catching all that is said with the TERRIBLE sound quality on this show. So, we really have no idea what they are then. That's good storytelling (not),

I'm so torn. I can't wait to get rid of Moffett and his "ooh, this is a cool idea, let's totally fuck it up" way of running the show but I am LOVING Twelve and Bill's fun adventures.

[Archery]

I love how David Suchet's voice and mannerisms got more childlike when he was found out, almost like he was a kid playing an adult.  And I love that Bill was the one who figured out the relationship, right in the middle of the Doctor's (wrong) explanation. 

[rur]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

Ah, thanks rur. I have trouble catching all that is said with the TERRIBLE sound quality on this show. So, we really have no idea what they are then. That's good storytelling (not),

Closed Captioning is my solution.  ;-)

[proserpina65]

Bugs!?!?!  Why did it have to be bugs?????!!!!!

Other than that, I enjoyed this episode, and I'm really loving Bill.  She's like the anti-Clara.  One quibble, though: when the house was destroyed, didn't she and her housemates lose all their possessions?  Which sucks.

[Mojoker]

I can take or leave Bill, frankly. It's going to be a long slog going through her entire tenure relying on the closed captioning to make out what the hell she's saying at any given moment.  And I actually kind of hated this episode. The story didn't really stand up to even the suspended disbelief sort of scrutiny reserved for this kind of show. Bill's friends were kind of shallow and dopey (who doesn't check on a roommate who has the same few bars of music playing on an endless loop for hours on end?) and not nearly as freaked out about what was going on as they should have been. I mean, if I'd been turned into wood or obliterated by giant wood lice and then reconstituted, I think I would, at minimum, have a few sharply worded questions for some folks.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Mojoker

[LoneHaranguer]

On 5/9/2017 at 11:42 AM, mirrorrim said:

WHY do they always act like they know better when they are running around with a TIME TRAVELER?!?! It's bad writing for drama to occur only because someone likes to act stupid.

I don't recall Mickey Smith doing anything dumb, but that was back in the RTD era.

[PrincessMombiOfOz]

My video review of the episode.

[that one guy]

On 5/9/2017 at 2:18 PM, Tara Ariano said:

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

The sad thing about the new companion's companions is, they apparently cut out the fact that Harry is Harry Sullivan's grandson, because they didn't think today's fans would remember a companion from the 70s. It's like they've never heard of the Internet. Hell, even I wasn't born yet when those episodes aired, and I regard Four, Sarah Jane and Harry as one of the greatest TARDIS crews ever, if not the greatest. And they were just on a ship from when the Earth was evacuated two episodes ago, which was another call back to the same season, and loads of people remembered that. I wish the showrunners had more faith in their audience.

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, that one guy said:

The sad thing about the new companion's companions is, they apparently cut out the fact that Harry is Harry Sullivan's grandson, because they didn't think today's fans would remember a companion from the 70s. It's like they've never heard of the Internet. Hell, even I wasn't born yet when those episodes aired, and I regard Four, Sarah Jane and Harry as one of the greatest TARDIS crews ever, if not the greatest. And they were just on a ship from when the Earth was evacuated two episodes ago, which was another call back to the same season, and loads of people remembered that. I wish the showrunners had more faith in their audience.

Not to mention the fact that Harry himself was directly referenced, by name, just last season.

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, that one guy said:

The sad thing about the new companion's companions is, they apparently cut out the fact that Harry is Harry Sullivan's grandson, because they didn't think today's fans would remember a companion from the 70s.

I wouldn't know, but also wouldn't care, unless it somehow was relevant to the plot (which it doesn't sound like it was).

[polyhymnia]

For whatever reason, my dvr peters out on the last 30 seconds of the show so the slowly revealing mystery of whomever is in the box is an even bigger mystery for me.  I know there's a box, but not much else.  At least this episode there was a little more about it before the very end.  He brought whatever it is takeout, too, right?

I have to say that I like Bill and that I have actually enjoyed 4 episode in a row of Dr. Who which hasn't really happened since before Clara.  Go Bill!!

Edited May 12, 2017 by polyhymnia
subject/verb agreement LOL

[truther]

2 hours ago, polyhymnia said:

For whatever reason, my dvr peters out on the last 30 seconds of the show so the slowly revealing mystery of whomever is in the box is an even bigger mystery for me.  I know there's a box, but not much else.  At least this episode there was a little more about it before the very end.  He brought whatever it is takeout, too, right?

I have to say that I like Bill and that I have actually enjoyed 4 episode in a row of Dr. Who which hasn't really happened since before Clara.  Go Bill!!

You're not missing anything.  It's basically been the same scene every week -- Nardole checks the box door and mutters about the Doctor's oath, and it's insinuated that somebody is on the other side.  Last week there were three knocks.  This week there was some piano playing and then the Doctor brought in dinner.  

Others may have a different reaction, but to me these little end scenes almost feel like afterthoughts tacked on for some Special Edition re-release issued 5 years later.  They're irrelevant to the rest of the episode and don't actually contribute to the story.  If they were cut out entirely I wouldn't miss them.  

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, truther said:

Others may have a different reaction, but to me these little end scenes almost feel like afterthoughts tacked on for some Special Edition re-release issued 5 years later.  They're irrelevant to the rest of the episode and don't actually contribute to the story.  If they were cut out entirely I wouldn't miss them.  

Current Era Who is deeply entrenched in the belief that a seasonal arc must revolve around some kind of mystery that exists entirely separately from the central plot of each episode, and therefore regularly involves scenes that feel tacked on, not connected to anything else in the episode. This particular arc I'm actually finding less jarring than most, although like the others it isn't as well integrated with the individual episodes as it could be - and I fully expect to roll my eyes at the resolution, which is looking fairly predictable at this stage. But you never know, they could surprise us.

I really hope the next era remembers that a seasonal arc doesn't have to be a mystery, it can just be a slowly unfolding storyline. The real trick, though, is to weave that unfolding storyline through the episodes in an organic manner, which is where New Who has always been a bit hit-and-miss.

[benteen]

There is a montage of deleted scenes for Series 10 on YouTube and there's a great one for Knock, Knock with Capaldi and Suchet.