Doctor Who 11.07

[selenak]

Which starts as an amusing satire on Amazon and ends up performing a U-Turn worthy of an early to middle Dickens novel. (Late Dickens, as Orwell pointed out, doesn't do that anymore.)



"That" being the idea of the key problem(s) earlier on display being solved by the rich man/men turning over a new leave and/or becoming patrons. Again, Orwell pointed out that in Dickens, this benefits only some people. Oliver Twist is revealed to be a rich heir; this doesn't end child poverty. David Copperfield finds his aunt Betsy, but the rest of the children working in Murdstone's firm go on doing just that. And so forth. And late Dickens even abandons the idea of the "good" patron sweeping in; "Great Expectations is if anything an attack on patronage as a solution.

Here, Kerblom! starts as an obvious Amazon avatar, and the soulless work place depiction includes all the obvious items. Now, my problem isn't with the reveal that not one of the human workers but the AI system itself was the one calling the Doctor for help; the "evil robots" thing was so obvious from the start that it had to be a red herring, and the information that none of the human workers would have had the time to smuggle in the message was given to the audience.

However: by making Charlie the worker as the sole author of the problem du jour, while the managers were just misunderstood, and by oddly handwaving that the system in order to make a point to Charlie killed someone (i.e. did just what he did, commit murder), the episode ended on a really weird note.

This being said, this was another good ensemble outing, character wise, with everyone contributing, and for Yasmin the first where I thought we really got a strong sense of her as a character. The callbacks to Eleven (Fez!) and Ten (Agatha Christie!) were neat without being distracting, and we got our first darker moment for the Thirteenth Doctor when her solution included Charlie dying, something she offered him a way out of but was prepared to go through with when he didn't take it. I thought Jodie Whittacker played that silent exchange of looks and the moment after really well.

Comments

[davetheanalyzer]

Yeah, this was a episode where I liked the character work but cringe at the u-turn plot and the unfortunate themes that result from mit.

I like Ryan and Yaz's jobs were remembered. Jobs aren't the whole of a person's personality but they are a influence and that isn't forgotten here. I felt Ryan was a delight even if it wasn't his focus episode, with his recounts of his warehouse days and how he deals with Kerblam, and Yaz's police career shows up with her questioning of others and taking down Charlie. As a group, Team Tardis' interactions and antics really clicked for me this episode.

[selenak]

Jobs aren't the whole of a person's personality but they are a influence and that isn't forgotten here.

Indeed. It's very satisfying emotional reality and world building.

[grimorie]

Yes, and the u-turn really was a moment that ruined the really great moments before it. But I am an expert cherry picker and will just exercise my right as a fan to forget that u-turn.

we got our first darker moment for the Thirteenth Doctor when her solution included Charlie dying, something she offered him a way out of but was prepared to go through with when he didn't take it. I thought Jodie Whittacker played that silent exchange of looks and the moment after really well.

Yes! Same, and I suppose I shouldn't be too excited for my heroic character to kill someone but I am and it's down to how Jodie Whittaker portrayed the moment, IMO.

[selenak]

Cherry picking is a fan's lot more often than not. ;)

[muccamukk]

Especially given how notoriously awful actual Amazon and its union busting ways is to employees. I'm not impressed.

[kernezelda]

I was amused that the Doctor would have been assigned to janitorial duty with Charlie if she hadn't switched with Graham, and Graham would have been working with Ryan and Kira. I wonder how events might have played out differently.

Also, the Doctor's disappointment at not being allowed to ride the conveyor belt.

Notes: Kerblom must also use facial recognition software, because the robot recognized Graham even after the Doctor switched their GroupLoop color codes.

Charlie must be diverting bubble wrap for treatment, because otherwise the people wrapping items would have blown up already.

Graham says he's 310! He's tracking the years when they travel! :D

[selenak]

Um, she switched with Ryan, not Graham.

[kernezelda]

Nope, it was Graham. I thought that was a nice bit of humor, because they both transport passengers and she cleans up messes. :)

[selenak]

No, I assure you, it was Ryan. Graham repeatedly asks "what about me" before being assigned to clean up. I have the scene on Amazon Video, and it was Ryan.

[felis]

I think there might be a misunderstanding here? The Doctor ends up working with Ryan, but as kernezelda says, she switched with Graham. It's even in the dialogue:

Graham: What are you doing?
Doctor: Switching jobs with you. I need purple. Whoever sent that message had access to the packing stations. That's where I need to be.
Graham: And where does that leave me?

So the system scanned the Doctor and something about that Timelord physiology apparently suggested janitorial work... (Although to be honest, it might by a fun detail, but I don't think the writer really thought about this (or indeed the dubious ethics of his surprise twist at the end), it was just a way to get people into different positions and to get a joke out of Graham's assignment. And even that joke, well played as it was, left a slightly bad taste given the overall politics of the episode.)

[pujaemuss]

It did feel like a really weird episode for message, with the whole "Work gives meaning to your life" thing, the fact that stultifying and repetitive jobs were being done by people becasue the rules said so, and the fact that the happy ending was that the People Manager was going to make it that more people would do easily automated jobs instead of robots and get to have their souls crushed at Future!Amazon. Yaay?

Surely the point of automation becoming so cheap and useful is that either people work in smarter jobs or working weeks reduce further through universal income policies. A future where the win condition is more minimum wage makework drudge for everyone doesn't strike me as a happy one.