As this episode opens The Doctor receives a delivery from Kerblam!; a galactic version of Amazon. Along with a nice new fez there is a message... 'Help Me'. She and her friends decide to investigate and go undercover as new workers at the distribution centre. They quickly learn that the business is mostly automated but ten percent of the workers are human. The work is repetitive and fairly boring but none of the workers they talk to have any obvious complaints. Then the man working alongside Yaz disappears leaving only a few personal items. Research suggests that he isn't the first worker to vanish. Obviously something is very wrong but the cause is far from obvious.
This was a really solid episode; it nicely played with expectations before giving us a good, but not an expected resolution; I particularly liked the use of a mundane item as the object that provided the threat. The Kerblam! warehouse looked pretty good, there were impressive special effects as characters rode the conveyor belts to the bowels of the company. The robot workers were nicely creepy without quite entering uncanny valley. There are a few good shocks and tense moments although nothing too scary for younger viewers. The cast is on good form with bot regulars and guest starts impressing. I feared that the politics would be a bit too obvious but ultimately things were balanced out. Overall this was a fun episode with humour, danger and good characters.
This was a really solid episode; it nicely played with expectations before giving us a good, but not an expected resolution; I particularly liked the use of a mundane item as the object that provided the threat. The Kerblam! warehouse looked pretty good, there were impressive special effects as characters rode the conveyor belts to the bowels of the company. The robot workers were nicely creepy without quite entering uncanny valley. There are a few good shocks and tense moments although nothing too scary for younger viewers. The cast is on good form with bot regulars and guest starts impressing. I feared that the politics would be a bit too obvious but ultimately things were balanced out. Overall this was a fun episode with humour, danger and good characters.