Doctor Who Series 11 Episode 7 - Kerblam! - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & Julie Hesmondhalgh

Written By: Pete McTighe

Directed By: Jennifer Perrott

There's a lot of misinformation floating around when it comes to Series 11 and the world of viewing figures, so let's take a moment to address them. So far, the average figures for the series are looking very good, and the fact that every episode so far has pulled in more than 7.0m is sure to have been a surprise for the BBC. Last week 'Demons Of The Punjab' pulled in 7.48m viewers - a more than respectable number for any drama. In fact, unless something drastic happens in the next few weeks, Series 11 is on track to be one of the most viewed runs of the revival. The only even remotely negative thing you could aim at the numbers is that each figure has been a decline over the previous week. Fluctuations and dips in figures are perfectly normal and to be expected, but it is unusual that Series 11 has been a consistent gently declining curve. For those who don't know how viewing figures work, this is enough to decry that fans are leaving the series in their millions! But let's not forget, 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' did open astronomically well with nearly 11m viewers (a ridiculously high number for 2018), and with the finale coming up, the numbers (which are still sitting healthy at around seven and a half million) are likely to get a natural boost. Basically, there's nothing to worry about and the series is still doing far better than I think anyone really expected. So with that out of the way, let's get talking about 'Kerblam!'. 

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz are joined in the TARDIS by a Kerblam man, who has a delivery for the Doctor. In the parcel delivered to her, the Doctor finds a simple but disturbing message: "Help me". Curious, the team arrive at the Kerblam warehouse and under the guise of new employees, assume different roles around the facility. Attempting to find who sent out a cry for help, the group discover that staff have recently been vanishing … something sinister is happening at Kerblam. 

One of the things I keep hearing about 'Kerblam!' is that this is the episode that has felt most like 'Doctor Who' this series. I've seen a lot of people saying it … and I'm not quite sure I understand. Granted Series 11 has felt different in many ways, which is only to be expected when such a big change takes place both behind and in front of the cameras. I mean, just look at how different Series 5 feels compared to Series 4. But to say that this series hasn't felt like 'Doctor Who' … I don't get it. For seven weeks, we've had the Doctor and companions in the TARDIS exploring the past, present, alien planets, spaceships etc. Isn't that the very essence of the show? Maybe it's that scene of Charlie, Ryan and Yaz riding along the conveyor belts that's behind it? Even with all the fancy new technology Series 11 has had, that's the one scene that doesn't look entirely convincing. It's still good don't get me wrong, but it looks much more like something from the past few series. OR, and I may be completely wrong here, maybe it's because unlike a lot of Series 11, 'Kerblam!' is very self-referential. There's throw-away lines of dialogue that reference things like 'The Unicorn & The Wasp' and the Doctor even gets to use some Venusian aikido and don a fez. Maybe fans have missed that casual habit of referencing past stories that Steven Moffat's tenure saw almost week in, week out. Not that I'm complaining: seeing as how the rest of the series has relied a lot less on this approach, I found it a whole lot more endearing than I normally would. 

Speaking of referencing the past, the bright colours, the tacky corporatism and the quirky setting of 'Kerblam!' looks as though it takes a lot of inspiration from Sylvester McCoy's era of the show. The episode even begins with a droid teleporting into the TARDIS - it kickstarts the plot in practically the same way as 'The Greatest Show In The Galaxy'. The suit-dressed Kerblam robots bear a resemblance to the android bus conductor from the same story. Incidentally, the Kerblam men have a really insincere creepiness to them. It's most noticeable whenever they're framed in tight close-ups - the glowing eyes, that artificial soulless smile, and the much too jovial voice, it combines to make something that properly gets under your skin. It's not just the mise-en-scene of 'Kerblam!' that pays lip-service to the McCoy era, there's also its political ramifications (although more on that later). 

I seem to be saying this about every episode that goes by lately, but here we are again with another solid line-up of supporting characters. This seems to be the series that gives the guests their time to shine. Julie Hesmondhalgh is reunited with Jodie Whittaker after their work together on 'Broadchurch', and appropriately given that her character is head of human resources, she's able to be both very human while also feeling like a corporate representative going about their job. I was very happy to find out that Lee Mack would be putting in an appearance this week - he's the king of speedy, witty comedy and although he's pretty much playing himself as Dan, you'll have no complaints from me about it. Dan is actually a really likeable guy, and is reminiscent of real-life workers who work as many hours as they can to provide money for their families. (Spoiler Warning!) Yaz wanting to find his daughter at the end and tell her in person what a great guy her dad was is a genuinely touching moment. Another of the standouts is Leo Flanagan as Charlie. Like Dan, he comes across as really friendly, and his relationship with Kira is just adorable. For yet another week running, there's a pretty great cast here. 

(Skip ahead to the conclusion now to avoid spoilers!) On the whole I have very few qualms with 'Kerblam!' and I find it to be a lot of fun … at least until the ending. See in the last ten minutes or so, something weird happens. We finally figure out what's going on at Kerblam and discover why workers have been disappearing. In a twist ending, it's revealed to have been Charlie's doing. Charlie turns out to be a workers' rights extremist, attempting to disgrace the company as they lay off more and more workers in favour of automation. Now on the one (small) hand, I suppose this is an unexpected twist. Of all the possible outcomes, I never expected it to be the work of Charlie, a sweet young janitor hatching a plan that involved explosive bubble wrap, so points for the surprise aspect. But it does mean that Kerblam aren't the bad guys here, and by every established sci-fi trope, the fact that the big corporation isn't the bad guy is just weird. It never entirely registered on my first couple of viewings, but this might be the only example I can think of where this has happened. This ending seriously blows any nonsense about Series 11 having a "too PC" agenda out of the water. 

But the thing is, it doesn't really tie in to the real-world situation of workers for companies like Amazon. Kerblam is basically space Amazon (Ryan even spells it out in the beginning), and we see reports all the time in the news of how Amazon workers are mistreated or made to work ridiculous hours under unbearable conditions. This is what Kerblam is built up as too - the company literally tags you and monitors how hard you're working. The Kerblam men are constantly listening in on the workers' conversations, and are programmed to interrupt and tell them to "pick up the pace a little". Much as the Doctor seems to love it, how is Kerblam not the bad guy here? The promise that Judy and Slade make that they'll hire more manual labour in the future is completely unbelievable. As is established, Kerblam is its own jurisdiction: they have no reasons to make themselves "less efficient" by hiring more manual labour. Imagine if Amazon was its own jurisdiction - would you really trust them to keep their promises? Up until this conclusion, 'Kerblam!'s exploration of workers struggling to keep their jobs against an increasingly automated system is some pretty good sci-fi satire. But the conclusion the episode reaches is just … remarkably tone-deaf. In cast it actually needs saying, I should point out that I in no way condone any of Charlie's actions, and committing terror attacks is never an answer to anything. But when the Doctor tells him "The system isn't the problem. How people use and exploit the system... that's the problem." the rest of the episode kind of proves you wrong there, Doctor. 

I don't want to give the impression that I dislike 'Kerblam!' 'cause I honestly don't. For the most part it's a lot of fun, let down only by this strange conclusion. That isn't to say it's a make or break issue however. It's a problem that could be resolved with some kind of follow-up, maybe in the next series, returning to Kerblam to look at the aftermath and whether (*titters*) the company keeps their promise to behave better. It's unlikely to happen, but it could really help this episode in the long run. However like I've said, I do still like this episode and there's a lot more here to enjoy than anything that takes away from it.

Kerblam!

7/10