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“KERBLAM! - WHEN AMAZON GOES BOOM”

Season 11’s Kerblam! is one of the more overtly satirical episodes of the Chibnall era, lobbing a parcel-shaped grenade at online retail giants like Amazon while also diving into deeper discussions about automation, worker surveillance, and corporate responsibility. Writer Pete McTighe sets his sights on late-stage capitalism, wrapping up some very modern anxieties in a shiny sci-fi package—literally.

The episode begins with a delightfully odd moment: the TARDIS is chased through space by a delivery robot, who beams aboard to deliver a fez the Doctor ordered ages ago (in a cheeky nod to her Eleventh self). But the delivery comes with a plea for help hidden inside—leading Team TARDIS to the moon-based warehouse of Kerblam, where they all go undercover as workers to investigate the distress call.

JOBS FOR THE FAM (AND A FEW FOR THE PLOT)

The set-up is neat and allows the Fam to split up across various departments to gather clues. Yaz bonds with Dan, a kind-hearted fatherly figure who quickly becomes protective of her. Ryan gets stuck with some gags and a conveyor belt sequence. Graham ends up with mop duty but also meets the awkward Charlie, whose crush on bubbly co-worker Kira becomes central to the story. As for the Doctor—she floats in and out of the action, occasionally bouncing ideas off her friends but not always feeling like the commanding force she should be.

The supporting cast shine more than the regulars this time around. Kira is charming and sweet, making her eventual fate all the more impactful. Julie Hesmondhalgh brings quirky warmth as Judy Maddox, the “Head of People” who seems to genuinely care about her staff, and there's intrigue in her balancing act between loyalty to the company and discomfort with its direction. Meanwhile, Mr Slade is your standard grumpy manager type—uncooperative, suspicious, and all about profit margins.

A VILLAIN IN THE WAREHOUSE

For a good chunk of the episode, Kerblam! plays like a whodunit in a fluorescent-lit, overly surveilled workplace. The tension is mild, mostly carried by the eerie presence of the Kerblam Men—robots with flashing eyes and fixed smiles, constantly looming in the background. Their design is brilliantly creepy, continuing Doctor Who’s legacy of memorable robo-antagonists.

Then comes the twist: it’s not the management or the company that’s killing employees—it’s Charlie, the maintenance man with a grudge against automation. He’s secretly turned the system’s efficiency to his advantage, planning to distribute deadly bubble wrap to millions of customers, hoping the mass casualties will spark outrage and force a return to human labour. It’s bold, it’s bonkers, and it’s arguably one twist too far.

BUBBLE WRAP OF DEATH (NO, REALLY)

There’s something both hilarious and horrifying about weaponised bubble wrap. It’s a sly nod to Classic Who, where bubble wrap was often used to represent alien skin (The Ark in Space, anyone?). Here, it’s lethally literal: pop one bubble and boom—total disintegration. It’s daft, yes, but in a way that’s charmingly in line with Doctor Who’s legacy of turning the mundane into the monstrous.

The moral murkiness of the ending, however, is a bit harder to swallow. The Doctor criticises Charlie for his methods—fair enough—but seems oddly sympathetic to Kerblam’s management, despite their track record of poor worker treatment. The episode appears to champion “a balance between people and automation,” but without pushing the company to make any meaningful reforms. Compared to earlier anti-corporate stories like The Sun Makers or The Green Death, this feels toothless—more corporate shrug than corporate takedown.

LOOKING THE PART? NOT QUITE

Visually, Kerblam! is one of the season’s weaker efforts. The warehouse set lacks personality, echoing the drab sterility of RTD-era episodes like The Long Game. The lighting in the TARDIS is especially unflattering, with murky hues and awkward framing that rob it of the magic seen in earlier Series 11 stories like Rosa or Demons of the Punjab. A strange camera wobble pops up occasionally, adding little other than distraction.

The conveyor belt chase with Yaz, Ryan, and Charlie is an energetic highlight—reminiscent of Monsters, Inc. with its endless rows of packages zooming past—but the obvious green screen effects undercut the thrill.

A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM WITH SYSTEMS

While Kerblam! tackles relevant themes—labour rights, workplace surveillance, and technological dependence—it can’t quite commit to a viewpoint. The story flirts with rebellion but ultimately circles back to status quo approval. Charlie, the only character who actively fights back, is framed as an extremist whose actions are both morally and practically indefensible. It’s a message that could be seen as pro-corporation, or at least disappointingly neutral in the face of real-world injustice.

Worse still, Ryan’s dyspraxia—so central in The Ghost Monument—is completely forgotten, stripping away what could’ve been a meaningful commentary on disability and employment. Graham is underused, Yaz gets more attention but still lacks real development, and Ryan’s role is little more than comic relief.

📝 VERDICT: 64/100

Kerblam! is a mixed package. It offers sharp satire wrapped in a glossy sci-fi setting, with memorable robot designs and an enjoyably twisty plot. But its social critique doesn’t land as strongly as it could, and its odd moral message—where the killer is an idealist and the megacorp gets a pass—feels muddled. The visuals are flat, the regulars are sidelined, and the tone veers from fun to frustrating. Still, it's a well-paced, inventive adventure with some entertaining moments and a killer concept in explosive bubble wrap. Just don’t expect it to deliver much nuance.

Kerb!am!

I love kerblam! It's one of my favorite episodes, quite possibly the best thing from S11.

I'm so mad that such a fun episode with a really good premise and potential for relevant social commentary got ruined by that speech at the end

So I should probably hate this episode for what it represents and for what it does to the Doctor as a hero of the working class... But I'm just not going to beat myself for actually liking about 3/4 of the episode. It is fun, and the mystery is actually engaging. It just sucks that the resolution is so bad and out of sync with everything that came before (e.g. The Sunmakers, Oxygen...) I just know that if this were under Moffat the Doctor would have fudged that company up so bad. The Doctor is pretty badass as she confronts management for 40 minutes, and then at the end she does nothing to subvert the status quo (although you could argue that she knows that capitalism will end after the events in Oxygen, so she can't really alter the course of history, I don't believe they thought about that, it's my head cannon so I can sleep at night)

PS: I agree with everything quantumshade wrote, great review.

twink bad