Ok that was my original reaction but now I’m kinda backing off from it

Ok I’m ready to talk about it.

Things I liked about Kerblam!

• More scenes inside the TARDIS.  Seeing the team in there makes the ship feel like a home base and it hasn’t been featured much this season.
  
• The little callbacks to previous seasons like the fez(!) and the mention of Agatha Christie (call me a problematic fav but The Unicorn and the Wasp is one of my favourite episodes. ever.)
  
• All 3 companions got about an equal amount of time and attention.  Splitting up Graham and Ryan seemed to help with that.
  
• The Doctor standing up to Slade. “Respect goes both ways”.  That’s a Big Mood that I’m gonna be feeling as I work at a shopping mall this Black Friday 
  
• Venusian Aikido!! And generally the Doctor taking charge and being a tad scary, like when she was accusing/lecturing Judy and Slade.  I love a cute soft Doctor but what makes them interesting is their darker side that comes out every so often.
  
• Interesting dynamic/plot about the “organics” vs the robots.
  
• Side characters (Kira, Dan, Charlie) with realistic backstories and personalities and a fair amount of time to discuss those backstories and personalities
• Graham, generally.  I’m gonna have a Bad Day if he gets killed of at the end of the season.
• The fact that the Doctor was supposed to be on maintenance?  Imagine the scronch if she hadn’t switched with Graham

Things I didn’t like about Kerblam!

• I really thought this episode was going to tackle worker exploitation.  I mean, Kerblam! is clearly Amazon.  Although the struggles and exploitation forced on the workers is mentioned many times, this is not framed as the Main Problem of the episode.  The “system” is seen as flawed, but this flaw is not related to the mistreatment of the workers.  Instead, the workers explain their struggles and reconcile it with “Oh well, at least other people are happy because of all the work I do”
  
• Although the Doctor stands up to Slade, she doesn’t really remark on the awful working conditions.  From the clip released on Friday night (when she receives the fez), I thought the episode would go like this: The Doctor receives a delivery from Kerblam!, is delighted because she is unaware of the exploitation, learns about this exploitation, becomes enraged, and works with the employees to put an end to it.  Instead, she is content to leave knowing that more people will be able to work at Kerblam! under the awful conditions.  How does that make her look?  Not great.
  
• There’s been a theme so far this season with episodes seeming very rushed at the end (What happened to the spiders in AITUK?  Why don’t we get to see Team TARDIS return to the ship in TTC?) and this episode was no different.  Yaz says she wants to take Dan’s (was that his name?) necklace back to his daughter, but we don’t get to see it.  That would have been wonderful characterization for Yaz.  We never get to see the endings to these adventures, we are just told that they happen.
  
• “I love a conspiracy” vs “I don’t like conspiracies” WHAT IS THE TRUTH
  

So I didn’t love it.  The characters were great but the plot fell slightly short of what I was expecting.

Anyways folks, let me know what you think!  This was a pretty complex episode and I’d love to discuss it with someone.