Doctor Who Review: Oxygen (Season 10 Episode 5)

The Doctor and Bill encounter literal zombies from space on Doctor Who Season 10 Episode 5, “Oxygen.”

Okay, let’s just get to the best part of this episode:

Space, the final frontier…

A hive mind of sentient, pale-faced zombie creatures, a crew staffed by humans and aliens alike, and a helpful lady computer? It’s like someone dropped The Doctor, Bill, and Nardole off in the middle of a Borg-centric Star Trek episode and forgot to tell them.

Nevermind all that, though. Onto the episode!

It’s not a season of Doctor Who without the classic “trapped on a spaceship with a mysterious force that maybe wants to kill everyone” episode. In season 10’s case, this episode also comes with zombies, because there is nothing in this world quite like Doctor Who asking the question, “What thing have we not done in space yet?”

Matt Lucas finally gets a shot at showing us Nardole in action. After remaining mostly off-screen for the first four episodes, it’s nice to see that character finally step into the story as someone other than the Doctor’s robotic minder. However, the circumstances of why Nardole adamantly babysits and chastises the Doctor over the mysterious vault remain to be seen.

Plot-wise, Who takes a stab at some Marxist ideologies with middling success. The whole episode acts as anti-capitalist commentary on how human life is dependent on money and is beholden to the whims of evil, big corporations.

It’s a shame we never really see the face of Ganymede Systems. There’s nothing better than a vicious villain for the Doctor to lock horns with, but the absence makes sense.

The Doctor isn’t fighting any one company or any particular person — he’s fighting an entire system. That in itself feels eerily relevant to the world we live in today.

However, as the Doctor points out, the rebellion of the station’s workers against the corporation that was willing to kill them over money does in fact turn out to be a success. Reality may be a bleak place, but at least happy endings do exist in the world of Doctor Who.

The Bill of It All

The careful development of Bill continues on. Here, Pearl Mackie really gets a chance to shine: Bill’s fear is written all over her incredibly expressive face, giving us beautiful insights into Bill’s emotional state while constantly thinking she’s on the edge of dying.

In her “final moments,” Bill desperately calls out for her mother. This opens up further avenues for Bill to go down, much like Rose in Season 1. At some point, we’re going to have to find out just what happened to her mum, and so will Bill.

It’s nice to see that Bill has limits to how brave she is. So far, she’s been reckless and daring, and totally wide-eyed at the universe as it opens up to her.

However, her visceral need to keep breathing and to survive against all odds is raw and real. Her fast and true bond with the Doctor is already setting us up to cry our eyes out when he regenerates at the end of the season.

Melody of a River

If it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it’s probably River Song.

Look, I don’t want to be that person (yes I do), but there’s an awful lot of River clues scattered around this season. Nardole himself is one giant walking, talking reminder that he wouldn’t even be with the Doctor if River hadn’t roped him into her own adventure in 2015’s Christmas Special, “The Husbands of River Song.”

Let’s go over the big, little, and admittedly reaching bits of River so far:

• Nardole, obviously.
• The giant picture of her that the Doctor keeps on his desk and actually talks to, obviously.
• The Doctor and Bill’s trip to the “last great Frost Fair,” which is verbatim how River described one of her many dates there with the Doctor in “A Good Man Goes to War.”
• The Doctor’s current occupation. River was a professor at Luna University, and what is the Doctor doing now? Teaching. At a University. With a picture of River on his desk.
• Walking space suits. Just…walking, sentient space suits.
• The random woman in “Oxygen” with big, curly blonde hair — this one is a reach, but seriously. That was River hair.
• Her diary is in the trailer for next week’s episode. You know, the one she wrote to keep track of every single adventure she ever had with her husband? Yeah, that one! The Doctor has it in his hand.

So, your mileage may vary. To me, all of this is possibly leading up to a River appearance in the finale, likely to send Twelve off in style before he regenerates. Just as notes of Amy were written all over Eleven’s goodbye, River’s melody seems to be playing over Twelve’s.

STRAY THOUGHTS:

• The Doctor is blind now. Him sacrificing his vision to save Bill was a huge moment for him (I certainly was yelling at him to use his own helmet to save her), and the consequences of it seem to be following him. Is this the first part of Twelve’s body breaking down? How will the Doctor handle having a disability?
• I am never getting inside a space suit. I’ll probably never have the occasion to in my lifetime, but I just thought I’d put it out there.
• If Missy is in the fault, I am going to scream from happiness. Come bring the crazy, my queen.

What did you think of this episode of Doctor Who? Can you think of any other River clues? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC/BBC America.

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