This episode is excellent at world-building, the Kerblam factory and its relationship with the planet it orbits is detailed very well. For that it gets its 4 stars. But this episode has some of the worst political commentary in Doctor Who's history and licks the boot of Amazon (which Kerblam is very clearly meant to be) for some reason.
The episode presents three problems with Kerblam: 1. The factory is creating more automation, thereby robbing humans of jobs.
2. The working conditions of Kerblam are terrible, workers are treated terribly and are not safe there. As demonstrated when we see one character being harassed by her boss, and when another employee warns Yaz that certain sections of the warehouse are very dangerous, with people generally not returning.
3. Workers are criminally underpaid and can barely afford to live on their wage. This is demonstrated when the same employee who protects Yaz explains how he works for Kerblam so he can save money for his daughter. However he barely makes enough to do so and can not afford to even see her anymore.
By the end of the episode, only the first problem is even partially solved, with Kerblam placing a quota to have more human workers. Kerblam is placed as a company doing good and being very moral by doing this, but the other two problems are never addressed and are definitely not solved. Employees at Kerblam are going to remain in their terrible working conditions, and they will certainly not be getting a pay rise.
The villain of the episode is a guy who is sending out explosives via bubble wrap in order to protest automation. This villain is pretty stupid. Though the episode ends with a decrease in automation, which is what he technically wanted, making him so evil as to bomb random Kerblam customers ultimately serves to undermine his point, and I worry the episode did this intentionally.
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) also has an incredibly out of character moment which is completely against the ideology the Doctor has historically had. When the villain says "we can't let the systems take control", the Doctor says "the systems aren't the problem, how people use and exploit the system, that's the problem". This is extremely pro-establishment and denies the presence of any systemic issue, which is historically counter to the Doctor's own ideology. For instance, in the previous season's episode "Oxygen", the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), says "the end-point of Capitalism. The bottom line, where human life has no value at all. We're fighting an algorithm, a spreadsheet. Like every worker everywhere, we're fighting the suits." These two philosophies are complete opposites of each other and it is just very strange for the Doctor to think what she does in the episode.
In general, this episode is partially saved by its world-building, however its political commentary is quite troubling in how wrong it is and for that reason I really think this may be one of my least favourite Doctor Who episodes.
The episode presents three problems with Kerblam: 1. The factory is creating more automation, thereby robbing humans of jobs.
2. The working conditions of Kerblam are terrible, workers are treated terribly and are not safe there. As demonstrated when we see one character being harassed by her boss, and when another employee warns Yaz that certain sections of the warehouse are very dangerous, with people generally not returning.
3. Workers are criminally underpaid and can barely afford to live on their wage. This is demonstrated when the same employee who protects Yaz explains how he works for Kerblam so he can save money for his daughter. However he barely makes enough to do so and can not afford to even see her anymore.
By the end of the episode, only the first problem is even partially solved, with Kerblam placing a quota to have more human workers. Kerblam is placed as a company doing good and being very moral by doing this, but the other two problems are never addressed and are definitely not solved. Employees at Kerblam are going to remain in their terrible working conditions, and they will certainly not be getting a pay rise.
The villain of the episode is a guy who is sending out explosives via bubble wrap in order to protest automation. This villain is pretty stupid. Though the episode ends with a decrease in automation, which is what he technically wanted, making him so evil as to bomb random Kerblam customers ultimately serves to undermine his point, and I worry the episode did this intentionally.
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) also has an incredibly out of character moment which is completely against the ideology the Doctor has historically had. When the villain says "we can't let the systems take control", the Doctor says "the systems aren't the problem, how people use and exploit the system, that's the problem". This is extremely pro-establishment and denies the presence of any systemic issue, which is historically counter to the Doctor's own ideology. For instance, in the previous season's episode "Oxygen", the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), says "the end-point of Capitalism. The bottom line, where human life has no value at all. We're fighting an algorithm, a spreadsheet. Like every worker everywhere, we're fighting the suits." These two philosophies are complete opposites of each other and it is just very strange for the Doctor to think what she does in the episode.
In general, this episode is partially saved by its world-building, however its political commentary is quite troubling in how wrong it is and for that reason I really think this may be one of my least favourite Doctor Who episodes.