13.7: Kerblam!

In which capitalism is actually good.

Broadcast: November 2018

Watched: July 2022

“Great conversation guys! ... but why not pick up the pace a little?”

In contrast to Demons..., this one’s a bit of an RTD throwback. The creepy-but-mundane workplace is really well-realised (love the use of “Sorry, person error”, in place of computer error). It’s got a lot of neat twists: the way the robots and computer and Slade all seem like villains but aren’t.

And there are some genuinely clever bits: the way that, once you can see the whole picture, it’s obvious the computer was trying to help from the start (sending the Doctor to maintenance to be with the villain, etc.); the killer bubble wrap, and the genuine horror of making Charlie watch Kira’s death; Slade’s frustration that there’s no one to even report problems to.

But it’s also a throwback because it looks, and feels, quite cheap? There’s no sense of scale to the sets, and while the lack of human staff is the point it does make the place feel small. 

Also, in a manner that’s becoming familiar, it’s not clear what it’s trying to say. There’s a load of stuff in here about there not being jobs for people, and the soullessness of the resulting workplace... but the final twist, that the computer was on the Doctor’s side all along, sort of undermines that? 

Maybe it’s unrealistic to expect a political thesis here – I don’t buy that it’s right-wing, exactly, but it’s not very coherent. It’s a good episode, but it feels a bit... underpowered.

Other things

• One of the few titles with punctuation in; possibly the only one with an exclamation mark. [There is a New Adventures novel, named Sky Pirates!] Also why does it sound like an explosion? I mean it sort of makes sense outwith the fiction, but not within it?

• A Chibnall-era story featuring a nice man called Dan, played by a comedian best known from popular BBC panel shows. What a formula! Feels like they can do more with it, though.

• I’ve written here “Slade’s sinister black pinstriped suit”. I think I was admiring how obviously eeeeeevil it is, and how that turns out to be a red herring? But who knows, maybe I just thought he looked good in it.

• To be fair, this one is very funny, so a lot of my notes are just bits that made me laugh: 

  • The Doctor’s “Www!” at watching awkward flirting is lovely. so is Graham’s muttered “I can tell”

  • “You did this in your last job?” “Yeah!” “How’d it go?” “Really badly.” Still, nice that they’ve remembered that Ryan has dyspraxia again. Also the way he high fives Charlie and accidentally knocks him off the conveyor (weird delayed reaction before they scream though).

  • “Cushions liven up the grimmest workplace, like this one.”

  • “Customers with your current medical symptoms browsed: blood pressure medications”   

• Charlie seems to think “companies need 10% human staff” means “only 10% of people get jobs” (it doesn’t). Not sure if that’s Charlie or the script being confused.

• I remembered the ending, where the Doctor tries to talk Charlie down, being one of those moments where Whitaker’s Doctor was really great, and.... it’s not that good? The more of this I rewatch, the more I worry she was miscast, she just doesn’t do the slightly scary moments you sometimes need from the Doctor.