Doctor Who: Kerblam!

[andraste]

There were a lot of things I liked about this episode - plenty of great visuals and a nicely twistly plot - but unfortunately it got into a mess at the end.

I'd guessed early on that it was the system itself asking the Doctor for help, and that would have been fine, except ... the system killed a person and nobody seemed to have a problem with that. If it had threatened Kira to try and stop Charlie, that would have been one thing, but even if the killer AI didn't kill as many people as the human villain letting it get off scott free seems like a bad idea.

Moreover, I'm not sure how giving more people terrible jobs that could be better done by robots is meant to actually help anyone. The solution to broken late capitalism is not more people spending their days packing things in boxes.

While there are definitely things I like about this season, I am increasingly frustrated that the Doctor never seems to get to fix anything. 'The Doctor can't change anything' worked well in Rosa as a demonstration of how tough it is sometimes to not disturb history, but she shouldn't be stuck never changing the system.

Comments

[vilakins]

Yes, killing Kira to teach Charlie a lesson left me entirely cold. I also never figured out why the others died - did they work out what was going on? Did I miss that?

I hope the Doctor gets into the swing of it soon. I like her a lot but she still seems surprised half the time and winging it the rest of it. She's still a huge improvement on emo self-pitying Ten though, and I love her enthusiasm.

I spent a lot of the ep trying to work out why I knew Kira, and in the credits saw she played blonde Amy in the latest Vanity Fair.

[lilysea]

I also never figured out why the others died - did they work out what was going on? Did I miss that?

Charlie killed the others, testing to see if the killer bubble wrap worked.

[vilakins]

OK. One would have thought one test was enough though.

[jhall1]

I pretty much agree with that. But the Doctor did fix things to the extent that she prevented hundreds or even thousands of people being killed by exploding bubble-wrap. That's fairly significant, surely?

[andraste]

I love Jodie Whittaker and her excellent facial expressions and there's a lot I like about Thirteen, I just wish the show would let her win more, and win bigger when she does. (This is why I don't like the Saward era. I am fine with the Doctor failing sometimes, but it should not be a weekly occurrence.)

[andraste]

I guess it is, but it just didn't feel weighty to me because we never saw any of those people, unlike Dan and Kira and Charlie.

[vilakins]

Yes, the Doctor is fallible, but she's also powerful and hugely experienced, and this should show. I do love Jodie Whittaker's portrayal too, and all the companions, but so far the stories haven't had enough punch for me. They seem too small, somehow.

Finally made and uploaded an icon!