"Kerblam!" by Pete McTighe, directed by Jennifer Perrott. Spoilers after the cut.
With overt references both to the Tenth Doctor's meeting with Agatha Christie and the Eleventh's love of a fez, "Kerblam!" is one of the few episodes of the current season to acknowledge the previous two showrunners' tenure, as well as having something of the feel of those seasons in its execution. There's also a touch of The Sarah Jane Adventures in story and style - Sarah Jane and co were always off investigating some local company with a suspiciously high-tech new project - which is never a bad thing, and means that although it may not be the worthiest or most artistically accomplished episode it's probably the most fun. Yeah, tHE Real mONSTer iS MaN again but oh well.
Pete McTighe's episode is also one of the most the obviously message-based episodes of a series that's been unusually issue-led, while being one of the least heavy-handed about it: Yes, the satire of a huge delivery company that definitely isn't based on any one in particular is pretty brutal about the way they treat employees, but instead of wallowing in this we also get the fact that, guess what, those companies use lots of conveyor belts which, expanded to a sci-fi version, could be ridden on for fun and/or peril. And while it never really manages scares, putting the big threat into the human compulsion to pop bubble-wrap is a classic bit of Doctor Who turning the banal into something to be afraid of.
That Kira was a bit of a Dickensian waif though wasn't she? "I never knew my muvver nor my father missus, but I did get given some chocolate once an' it made this life of drudgery worth livin' so it did! Now excuse me while I die tragically."
We did notice the terrorist won in the end, right? Julie Hesmondhalgh announced Kerblamazon would be mostly staffed by humans in the future, which is what the attack was meant to achieve. I assume that was the intended message?
No comments:
Post a Comment