Doctor Who: Knock Knock

Attack of the killer mummy’s boy.

That was  a very serviceable episode.  The setting was good, the atmosphere was well set up, the acting was good and the special effects were…well they had a budget.

Aside from the incredibly fake looking alien beetles, this was a definite step up in terms of the thriller sci-fi mystery they’ve been going for this year.

The acting is solid throughout, well from the main cast at least, and the villain is compelling…right up until his motivation is fully revealed and the attempt to make him sympathetic falls flat. Yes, in the end he was just a scared little boy and David Suchet does a great job of showing that at the moment it’s reveled. But there was nothing beforehand to make him in the slightest bit human. Personally, I would have preferred a villain who was just straight up evil.

But personal preference aside, he not a bad villain.

The main failing of the episode still comes at the end. I’ve complained before about the Star Trek trick. Namely, there’s a deus ex machina in place that pops up in the last few minutes.

This episode takes it too far. After establishing that the alien beetles are controlled by sound (hence why they can be summoned by a tuning fork) it’s reveled that the wooden lady upstairs can just control them with her mind. How can she do this? How is she able to suddenly exact complete control over them having never done this before?

No, no answer; just accept that she can…oh and everyone that died is going to be brought back as well…after being eaten…

That takes a freaky and pretty fun premise about the creatures in the walls eating you and guts it. It’s like ‘Kill the Moon’ with the ending revealing that there was never a real threat anyway.

Overall, a serviceable episode that’s let down by it’s ending.

We end on a stinger about the vault. Whatever’s in there is apparently definitely a person, who has now been furnished with a piano. Based on that, I’m going to say that the Doctor’s sacred vow was to prevent Jaimie Callum from releasing another album.