Doctor Who – OXYGEN (S10E5) Review: Capitalism. In. Spaaaaaaaace

Doctor Who fights the suits in another strong outing from Mathieson

Back after Thin Ice aired I noted how the episode felt like the training wheels had come off for Bill and the Doctor and that it was time for the more intensive stories to begin. Knock Knock might not have been my cup of tea, but it was definitely a step forward from the first three episodes ‘initiation’ feel, towards episodes where the threat level is raised to be slightly less cushy than it was previously (I know Daleks and flesh-eating robot swarms aren’t what you’d call particularly stress-free enemies but its all relative in Doctor Who). Oxygen continues on this path, raising the threat level from ‘David Suchet is acting a bit creepy’ to ‘Space will kill you, or maybe these suit-zombies will’ and delivering a pretty entertaining episode along the way.

SPOILERS AFLOATIN’

Oxygen finds the Doctor and co. investigating a distress signal on board a mining vessel in the future. On the ship, oxygen is charged by the breath and most of the crewmembers have been killed by their own suits. When our main characters arrive, only four crew remain, with the rest still carrying out their duties (plus some murdering) all over the ship, due to the suits still piloting their dead inhabitants around like zombies.

There’s a fairly explicit satire on capitalism taking place in Oxygen, as each crewmember's life is considered ultimately expendable in the face of diminished profits. Oxygen costs, so why bother with all the mouth breathers? Sign them up - give the spacesuits something to pilot - then rinse and repeat. Credit goes to Mathieson for seeing this satire through to the end, with the Doctor turning the company's own agenda against itself by hardwiring the station to self-destruct if any more of the crewmembers die. Your mileage may vary on how effective it is and I’ve seen sites such as the RadioTimes take issue with the episode’s core premise being a bit too absurd to become reasonably acceptable. I personally can’t say that I found this to be desperately hampering to the episode (despite the grittiness, Oxygen’s tension and style is still pretty heightened in comparison to most regular Doctor Who episodes, so this premise doesn’t really stick out that awkwardly for me), probably due to Mathieson's aforementioned commitment to follow through on it with a fairly neat solution to the story. Honestly, this aspect of the episode has been touched on quite a bit elsewhere by now (and it’s pretty explicitly laid out in the text of the episode) so instead I’ll move on to the other elements of the episode.*

Oxygen’s concept alone – of paid-for oxygen and overriding spacesuits – is enough to make most of the episode enjoyable on their own. The ticking clock element isn’t quite as dramatically satisfying as it is in Mummy on the Orient Express and the actual oxygen counter doesn’t really come to bear on anyone in the episode, but it’s a neat framing device.

On top of that, we also get a smattering of fantastic visuals to boot. Whilst the interior of the ship is a bit bland, with the show busting out the infamous hexagonal corridors it loves so much, the exterior scenes are fantastic. Obviously the episode isn’t going to reach the dizzying effects work of a blockbuster movie, but the realisation of Space in the episode is pretty terrific and incredibly stark and moody; as though Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was coated black and white.

Oh and this is also Nardole’s first trip of the series. He still doesn’t actually do much for the plot, but he does provide a nice update of the dynamic – one I’d been waiting to properly see since he started to get left out in Smile. His is the source of many a joke in the episode, though you start to get the impression that the jokes are more of a defense mechanism as the episode progresses. It’s fascinating how adept Mathieson is at having the jokes land, deliver and yet not decrease the tension. If anything, it makes the whole thing seem more twisted.

Oxygen's first twenty minutes or so do feel a bit like they should belong to the first of a two-parter, meticulously taking their time before unleashing the suits. Instead, they’re in a one-parter, which means the rest of the episode has to sprint to the finish without a great deal of time to smell the roses. This means we get a lot of stuff that feels a bit uncapitalised upon. I’ve already mentioned the ticking clock element and Nardole, but the supporting cast gets pretty short-changed, too. We’ve got a guy that calls Bill a racist, guy whose wife dies at the beginning (I didn’t realise it was him until the end of the episode), sort of captain-y guy who dies really quickly and woman who gets a bit angry with the Doctor at the end. Each of them has their moments but what I’ve described here is basically what you get. More time to spend with the Doctor and co. I suppose. Speaking of which…

Threatening to overshadow the whole episode is the cliffhanger that the Doctor is now permanently blind. This review is written after the following episode aired (I’ve been busy, okay?) but this plot point definitely stands as one of the simplest, weirdest and most daring twists to the Doctor Who formula/mythos that Mathison and Moffat have pulled (which is saying something in the latter’s case). It about avoids becoming another ‘The Almost People’ episode, largely because The Almost People was a bit naff and Oxygen is not.

Much has been made of Mathieson’s contributions to the show so far and it’s definitely telling that he has garnered quite a positive reputation after only four episodes on the show (one of which is a co-writer credit). Oxygen sits comfortably near the top of Mathieson’s collection of episodes and though I personally prefer the twisted zaniness of Mummy on the Orient Express to Oxygen’s more narratively straightforward tale, this is still a good episode with a strong concept and enough stylistic flourishes to keep things interesting.

Verdict:

★★★★

Additional marks awarded for Blue Peter’s name.

*Yes I’m only spending one paragraph on this despite having capitalism in the title of the review. I don’t care – I really wanted to use that title.

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