Doctor Who: Kerblam! (11x07)

This was a great episode! Take that, Jeff Bezos!

Cons:

The Doctor has this great moment where she says that the evil isn't in technology - it's in the people who exploit the technology and the systems therein. That's what hurts people. I loved that. Very true. Unfortunately, for all that this episode was clearly poking at the inhumanity of mega-corporations like Amazon, I didn't really get a sense of what had happened to this society as a result. We're told that most of the world's jobs are automated now. But are people living in poverty? The people with jobs are grateful to have them. But if most of the world is unemployed, are we in a total poverty hellscape, or is there socialized welfare, or what? I wanted a few more glimpses as to what the outside world looked like, so I could understand the stakes.

Pros:

Honestly, though, the above complaint is really just me wanting a bit more of what we already got. This episode was golden. The take-down of capitalism is lovely, of course, but there's so much more to the episode than just that.

This is maybe the first time that I've fully appreciated what a more ensemble cast can do for Doctor Who. We see how the Doctor having multiple companions is an asset in her mission, but also an asset in storytelling. The Doctor and Ryan end up in one part of Kerblam, while Yaz goes to another, and Graham another. Each location introduces a different character, and each character is well developed and instantly likable. I really felt the sense of the inner lives of each of them. You've got poor Dan, who unfortunately loses his life shortly after Yaz meets him. He's a dad trying to make things up to his daughter, and he's willing to help the new girl out, no questions asked. You've got Kira, an adorably optimistic girl who Ryan and the Doctor befriend. She tries to see the value in her manual labor job, as she imagines people opening their packages, and how happy it makes them. Finally, Graham meets Charlie, a shy guy who works in maintenance, and ends up being the episode's sort-of villain, in a genuinely surprising twist. Each of them felt like fully developed people to me, and that's great!

I should take a moment to appreciate the call-backs. We got a callback to Smith, with the Doctor receiving a fez that she ostensibly ordered for herself back a few lifetimes ago. We also got one to Tennant, what with the mention of Agatha Christie. I was just talking in last week's review about how I could use some material connecting this Doctor with previous ones, and then I get it here! Excellent!

Doctor Who has always been pretty good at taking something mundane and turning it into something scary. Here, the weapon of choice ends up being bubble wrap. Sure, the episode is much more about the people and the system and all of that, but I still appreciated how something so innocently fun was turned into the stuff of nightmares. Well done!

I loved the early prototype robot drone thing. It had so much personality and there were so many funny jokes! It was just so confused by the future, and kept trying to sell the Doctor stuff, since that's all it knew how to do. Adorable.

I mentioned above that I might have needed just a touch more context for what this world is like, so I could appreciate the harm that the system was doing. But taking what we did get, I really admired how technology wasn't the bad guy, and how it was people doing bad things that got Charlie into a situation so desperate that he was willing to do even worse things. That's very clearly the message here. Sure, the robots look a little creepy, and as humans we have a natural fear of being replaced by automation. But the system is the thing asking the Doctor for help, because the system is in trouble. And maybe that system is no good, and needs to be rebooted, but none of that is the fault of the robots.

That's what I've got for now. This was another excellent episode. I liked the references to past Doctors, I liked the ensemble feel, the Amazon satire, the creativity, and the spooky bubble wrap. I'm ready for more!

9/10