Doctor Who, “Kerblam!”, Review!

The Tardis is rocked in the vortex, the Doctor notices a teleport pod is headed towards them, and a robot, the Kerblam! Man appears.  He has a package for the Doctor.  She opens the box to find a fez, a nod to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, and Yaz shows her the packing slip which reads “Help Me.”  The Doctor sets coordinates for Kerblam! which is located on a moon.  Ryan feels like he is going to work.  The Doctor takes his mention as a mission to go undercover to work at Kerblam!  She shows the Kerblam! official (Julie Hesmondhalgh), her identification, psychic paper, and scans her pad with the sonic screwdriver.  Judy notes that the identification says they are “relatives of the First Lady.”  She also finds that there is record of their landing on her pad.  The Kerblam! ad behind her has the Kerblam! Man with flashing blue eyes which gives him a skull-like look that makes me think of They Live (1988).  She introduces herself, Judy Maddox, Head of People.  A worker, Daniel (Lee Mack) greets the Kablam! Man.  Ryan notes that they are creepy.  The Doctor says his comment “robophobic.” Each member of Team Tardis is scanned for their particular job. The power suddenly fades and ankle bracelets are attached to each member.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “Kerblam!” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

Judy takes them on a tour to the rest of the factory, shows them the Fulfillment section, then Final Check, that goes to Dispatch.  Judy heads off and the Doctor switches anklets with Graham.  Yaz, Ryan and the Doctor are sent , while Graham is sent to Maintenance.  Kira Arlo (Claudia Jessie) likes the work of Ryan and the Doctor filling boxes at Final Check.  She has only one present, a box of chocolate from Judy, and she can’t think her family.  The Doctor wants to know where the packing slips were made.  At the Fulfillment Section, Daniel warns Yaz that she is being monitored, and she eyes the robots.  He points to his face on the Kerblam! ad.  Daniel shows the necklace made by his daughter.   He works to provide for her.  The Kerblam! Man wants them to pick up efficiency.  Yaz has a packing slip for Triple Nine, Daniel is worried about her, and takes the slip.  She follows him.  The power drain happens again at the Doctor, Ryan, and Kira’s section, entering is an executive (Callum Dixon) who is harsh with Kira.  The Doctor introduces herself and the executive says his name is Jarva Slade.  A worker got a warning from Slade and disappeared like others. Daniel pushes a cart at Triple Nine, he is startled by a robot, knocks on his face and then Yaz checks on him.  She hears his scream and runs to find the necklace and scanner.  Yaz sees a Kerblam! Man and then another and then runs.  

Graham is given the long rules for maintenance work by Kerblam! Robots who introduce him to Charlie Duffy (Leo Flanagan).  On the outside, the Doctor gets the update from Yaz, then she asks for Graham for plans for the factory.  He introduces the team to Charlie.  Kira spills her plate in front of Charlie and everyone can see the sparks between them.  At the executive office, the Doctor files the complaint and shows Slade and Judy the “Help Me” note.  Slade tells the Doctor the slips were auto-generated.  The executive promise to look into it and the Doctor says they answer to her.  She adds to Yaz and Ryan that she doesn’t like bullying, conspiracies, or people in danger.  Yaz mentions she would like poking a stick in a wasp’s nest.  The Doctor has opened an alcove for them to wait until they can slip into the executive office.  She also notes the wasp connected with Agatha Christie!, this was “The Unicorn and the Wasp” (2008) episode of Doctor Who.  Graham asks Charlie about his crush on Kira.  He suggests to Charlie that he would need something to help him get around, like a diagram, so he leads Graham to the artifacts room.  Graham takes the diagram of the company.  For some reason, the design of the place reminds me of the movie Toys (1992). 

DOCTOR WHO -- “Kerblam!” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

The Doctor, Yaz, and Ryan enter Slade’s office and the Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver to open Slade’s filing cabinet.  Judy confronts them.  The Doctor has found that Mr. Slade has been tracking the seven missing people, the power shuts off, and it is a complete power failure.  Graham brings the Doctor the original plan of the complex.  Ryan sees an active robot, Charlie checks on it, and the robot slams him against the wall.  Judy pulls off it’s head.  The power comes back on and the Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver.  She determines that the system put all of it’s energy into one robot.  Judy says that the system shows that all seven workers appear to be alive.  They go to artifacts room and the Doctor activates the first version of Kerblam!, Twirly.  The robots tell Kira she’s employee of the day and lead her to a gift.  The Doctor finds Twirly ran out of power.  Judy finds a message that Kira was taken.  Ryan, Kira, and go to find Kira.  Ryan is ready to go down the Dispatch chute.  They all slide down.  The robots lead Kira to a room and lock the door.  They slide to massive drop where packages are taken in a network.  Ryan high fives Charlie who falls down to another level so Ryan and Yaz leap down. The Doctor activates Twirly and introduces herself, Graham, and Judy.  The Doctor loads Twirly to search the system.  Twirly says, “Help me” and they realize it is the system.  Charlie tells them to run and they dodge laser blasts.  They reach the Foundation level and it is empty columns so they try to follow Kira’s voice.  

Slade has a gun to the Doctor, they are transported, and she puts a Venusian hold on him to throw away the pistol.  They see a pit and then the Doctor sees legions of the robots assembled.  They run up to see Kira in her room and a package appears on her table.  The Doctor theorizes that the power may be stored to transport all of the robots.  The Doctor takes out the toy from the package.  Kira finds the bubble packing, Charlie screams a warning, she snaps one and it vaporizes her.  The Doctor has scanned the bubble wrap and finds that it is weaponized.  Charlie has it all set up, acting for the rest of the 90%, the Doctor says the system was acting against him.  Charlie activates the controller.  The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver on the controller and has them rip off the postman’s head.  Charlie runs away.  She links Twirly to change the address to deliver to the postman’s location.  Charlie is down there with the postmen.  The Doctor transports everyone away.  On the outside, Slade has given everyone a paid holiday, and turning the company to entirely organic.  Team Tardis returns to the Tardis, Yaz thanks the Doctor, and she wants to take the locket to his daughter.  

Four Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWho, #Kerblam, #JulieHesmondhalgh ,#ClaudiaJessie