‘Doctor Who’ S12, E8: Team TARDIS Tackle 19th Century Trolley Problem ~ Digital Library

This article contains spoilers for “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” episode eight of Doctor Who season 12.

After weeks of high-concept episodes, Doctor Who returns to its “celebrity historical” roots—and is all the better for it.

In 19th-century Switzerland, four writers and friends, hiding from summer storms, hole up in a mansion, telling each other ghost stories.

Little do they know, the most terrifying tale of all is unfolding around them.

During a trip into the past, Team TARDIS are under strict orders to mention nothing of the famous novel Frankenstein, which Mary Shelley (Lili Miller) first plots on that “dank and frigid” night.

Oh, and don’t snog Lord Byron (Jacob Collins-Levy).

Nobody Interfere

Team TARDIS meet Mary Shelley (via BBC)

The fearless foursome are invited in from the storm to dry off, have a drink, and get trapped inside a haunted house.

New to the Whoniverse, scriptwriter Maxine Alderton manages to capture the Thirteenth Doctor, her companions, and a heap of guest stars better than any other scribe this season. (Yes, that includes showrunner Chris Chibnall.)

This episode—my favorite of series 12—never feels bogged down or overrun; it juggles horror and humor with ease, adding intonations of feminism and biography without being preachy.

In 1816, Lord Byron and the Shelleys plot a night of ghost stories (via BBC)

(I laughed out loud at Lord Byron cowardly using Claire Clairmont [Nadia Parkes] as a human shield against the Cyberman.)

There are some snags in the story, sure. But Alderton expertly packs a great deal into 52 minutes—including the lead into a two-part finale.

I should have seen it coming that, in an episode featuring Frankenstein penner Mary Shelley, we’d see the return of the Cybermen: altered creatures, whose organ and flesh has been “surgically replaced with mechanical parts without consent.”

C’est Diabolique, C’est Terrible

Mary Shelley (Lili Miller), Dr. John Polidori (Maxim Baldry), Lord Byron (Jacob Collins-Levy), and Claire Clairmont (Nadia Parkes) (via BBC)

The third-act twist comes when Graham, Dr. John Polidori (Maxim Baldry), and Clairmont find the missing Percy Shelley (Lewis Rainer) hiding in a cellar, possessed by Cyberium—a bizarre plot device responsible for all of* the day’s supernatural happenings

Described as a nanotechnology, database, power source, and AI, the Cyberium is a sort of insurance policy against the Cybermen’s eventual defeat. And it’s coursing through the body of an English Romantic poet.

Save the cheerleader, save the world. Save the poet, save the universe.

Once freed from Shelley, the mercurial element is drawn to the largest nearby processor: the Doctor.

But, threatened with the destruction of humanity in 1816, the Time Lord surrenders the Cyberium to the lone Cyberman (Patrick O’Kane)—defying Captain Jack’s very specific directive, and probably launching the destruction of humanity in the future.

The lone Cyberman (Patrick O’Kane) (via BBC)

Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that the Doctor lost Bill Potts to Cybernization, “changed into [an] empty, soulless shell; no feeling, no control, no way back.”

And she “will not lose anyone else to that.”

(Was anyone else hoping the “lone Cyberman” would turn out to be the cafeteria worker-cum-companion of yore? No? Just me?)

The Cyberwar has begun, and Team TARDIS are running head first onto the battlefield.

Missed Doctor Who episode seven? Check out our recap of “Can You Hear Me?”

Doctor Who Glossary (for all your British-to-American English needs):

Blimey: Used to express surprise, excitement, or alarm
Snog: Kiss and cuddle
Squiz: A look or glance
Belter: An exceptional or outstanding example of something
Gaff: A house, flat, or other building
Kip: A sleep or nap
Sarnie: A sandwich

Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America.

* Maybe not all of the supernatural happenings, eh, Graham?

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