Warning: This post contains spoilers for Doctor Who Series 10 Episode 5 Oxygen. Please come back after watching the episode.
Zombies in Space!
I’m not entirely sure, but I believe those might have been the three words used to pitch this episode of Doctor Who to the producers. But while that simple premise for Oxygen sounds bonkers, this Jamie Mathieson penned episode is much deeper and powerful than it suggests. Returning for his fourth Who outing (after penning Mummy on the Orient Express, Flatline and the Girl Who Died), Mathieson has provided a base under siege story filled with tension, emotion and shock. Oxygen might perhaps be the best episode of Series 10, if not the entire 54-year history of the show, thus far.
The episode begins with a voice-over speech by the Doctor explaining what can happen to your body if you are in space without oxygen. He goes into graphic detail, explaining how blood boils and you go blind. This is juxtaposed by images of astronauts on a space walk outside of a space station. The astronauts begin to talk about wanting to have a baby when some of the other crew appear, but they’re these zombie-like creatures and kill one of the other astronauts. Cue opening titles.
The Doctor, Bill and Nardole arrive to find the station seemingly abandoned and without oxygen. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to create an oxygen bubble throughout the ship, but the ship soon expels the oxygen from it. The TARDIS team then come face to face with similar zombies and make a run for it. The zombies are scary, they are creepy, but like many recent episodes, they aren’t the main villain of the week. That villain is capitalism.
Oxygen has continued on the path of several series 10 episodes, with strong underlying political messages. I have said it before and I will say it again, Doctor Who is always at its best when it has a political undertone and this week is no exception. This episode is clearly about what happens when capitalism goes too far. What happens when we put a price on the very thing we need to keep us alive, oxygen. As the episode goes on, we discover that the space station is mining asteroids for minerals. As the team has been slow in their work, the corporation behind the mission has decided to terminate the staff, as it would be cheaper to bring in new staff then to let these ones go. They program the suits to kill the space station occupants, leading to a beautiful line from Peter Capaldi’s Doctor: “We’re fighting an algorithm, a spreadsheet. Like every worker everywhere, we’re fighting the suits”. The fact human life is considered so dispensable in such an extreme form of capitalism, that it is easier to kill a human than let them live because of profits, is terrifying and shows what capitalism could be in the future.
Oxygen also marks the first proper outing for Matt Lucas’ Nardole. Nardole is a welcome addition to the TARDIS team, bringing a bit of wit and humour. The pairing of Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Lucas creates a great dynamic within the trio and is a relationship I can’t wait to see expand.
At one point in the episode comes a twist that I did not see coming. A twist that could ramifications throughout the rest of the series. At one stage when the TARDIS team and some crew have to walk outside the station, Bill’s helmet does not work. She blacks out before the Doctor can fix it. When Bill wakes up, she is completely fine, but soon learns the Doctor placed his helmet on her and almost sacrificed his life to save her. While such actions are common in Doctor Who, aside from regeneration stories they never seem to have any long term ramifications. This action by the Doctor does, he’s done blind. He explains to Bill and Nardole that everything will be alright though, he has something in the TARDIS that can fix it. Once the problem is solved and the zombies leave the TARDIS team and the crew alone (the Doctor reprogrammed the suits to view humans as more valuable than oxygen and therefore stopping the suits from killing them) the team head back to Earth, where the Doctor’s eyesight is apparently restored in the TARDIS. After Bill farewells the Doctor in his office at the university, Nardole asks the Doctor why he is wearing sunglasses inside. In one of the best modern cliffhangers of new Who, the Doctor reveals that he is in fact still blind. Cue end credits.
With its strong political undertones, a base under siege story mixed in with that and incredible writing from Jamie Mathieson, Oxygen has so far been the best episode of Series 10 of Doctor Who. Each week this series just keeps on getting better and better and truly is becoming something quite special. I can’t wait to see what happens next for the TARDIS crew and how things are going to end up.
Quote of the Week:
“The universe shows its true face when it asks for help. We show ours by how we respond.” The Doctor
The Story Arc:
The episode was filled with snide remarks from Nardole about the Doctor breaking his promise to guard the vault. There were also a number of mentions about whatever was inside the vault being able to exploit the Doctor if something was wrong with him. We will soon find out if the Doctor being blind will play an integral part in the greater series 10 storyline. Is this the beginning of the end for the twelfth doctor?
Next Week:
The Doctor is blind. There is a creepy mystery occurring at the Vatican. River Song’s diary appears… and Missy! Show writer Steven Moffat has also revealed we will find out what is inside the vault in this episode. Join me next week for my review of Extremis.