Doctor Who - 'Oxygen'

Poster (c) Stuart Manning

"That is my theme tune, otherwise known as a distress call!”

This review will contain some spoilers.

Despite Nardole's best efforts to immobilise the TARDIS and convince the Doctor of the merits of earth-bound adventures, the Doctor takes Bill – and Nardole – off on another spree, this time homing in on a distress signal from a space mining facility. Here, they find that most of the crew have been killed by their own space suits, and are facing an imminent shortage of the oxygen that the corporation which runs the station sells to their workforce by the breath.

The Good

As Doctor Who anti-capitalist tracts go, this one is pretty good. It eschews the identity politics of 'The Rebel Flesh'/'The Almost People'(1) in favour of a straightforward people vs. profit narrative (a similar theme to that in 'Thin Ice', in fact.)

While less ambitious in its scope and as ever forced by the nuWho format into a more frenetic pace, it compares not unfavourably to classic Who's 'The Caves of Androzani', which is pretty good going.

The character Dahh'ren appeared to assure us that harmony among the races of Earth just means racism against the blue.

The collapsible helmets were a nicely understated piece of supertech.

This episode is a whole new level of peril for Bill, who comes within about two percent battery charge of permadeath. That's like checking your email and a round of Kandy Krush.

The Doctor also has a lesson in consequences, as his abuse of his robust Timelord physiology to save Bill results in the permanent – or at least prolonged - loss of his sight.

The Bad

Having pitched in as the galactic black man, Dahh'ren promptly dies early, although not first. I legitimately don't know if this is awful or genius.

The Ugly

No ugly this week.

Theorising

Next week's episode has Missy, so I'm ruling out her being the Vault's occupant. I'm inclined to think that it won't prove to be any incarnation of the Master then, although it could well be someone that Missy inadvisably wants to try to manipulate in the name of universal domination.

Top Quotes

"Space, the final frontier. ‘Final,’ because it wants to kill us." – The Doctor

"The universe shows its true face when it asks for help, we show ours by how we respond." – The Doctor

"What if I throw up in my helmet?" - Bill

“I’ve got no sonic, no Tardis, about 10 minutes of oxygen left, and now I’m blind. Can you imagine how unbearable I’m going to be when I pull this off?” – The Doctor

"They’re not your rescuers. They’re your replacements. The endpoint of capitalism. Bottom line. Where human life has no value at all. We’re fighting an algorithm. A spreadsheet. Like every worker everywhere, we’re fighting the suits!" – The Doctor

The Verdict

Well, this is a turn up for the books. Yes, it's a lot of running from slow-moving monsters in corridors – monsters that are literally people in suits; how fucking meta is that? – but it's good running from slow-moving monsters in corridors, and let's face it, that is one of the few arenas in which Doctor Who competes on an equal footing with other, larger budgeted SF shows. Its running from slow-moving monsters in corridors game is strong. 'Oxygen' is also a boldly political episode in a fairly political season, although presumably it was written and filmed long before the announcement of the election. More importantly, however, this round of running from slow-moving monsters in corridors has real stakes and serious consequences, rather than the nebulous threat of bad shit happening if the Doctor doesn't get back to the Vault. Things happen and have lasting effects; that's so rare in Doctor Who. Just look at 'Hell Bent', which went to absurd extremes to make sure that the death of a companion had no significant consequences beyond another inter-companion grump.

Score - 8/10

(1) I don’t know if this series is being particularly heavy on recycled ideas/homages, of if I'm just becoming sensitised.