Review of Kerblam!

This season started out *rough*. The plots were kind of boring, and character development, when there was any, felt unnatural and like it was just shoved into the episode. Each episode was also targeted at some social issue, and the plots were a bit too on-the-nose and literal to really be enjoyable.

I think this episode actually got it right though. Yeah, there was the same social issue theme that this whole season has had, but this time it was actually worked into the plot like it has been in previous seasons. Instead of The Doctor swooping in to save the day and teach us a moral lesson, The Doctor swooped in to save the day and taught a character a moral lesson instead.

I've seen complaints about this season being "preachy" with its (or BBC's) values, and I have seen some of that. But with this episode, Chibnall managed to work the moral lesson into the plot in a way that wasn't directly aimed at the viewer, and it felt much more natural.

It also finally got back to the Doctor Who that I've enjoyed. We're not going back to the past to save some important historical figure, we're not fighting weird and unexplained villains. Instead, we get the classic Doctor-gets-interrupted-mid-flight scene, an actual mystery to solve, and proper plots twists.

I hope it continues to be like this.