12 Notable Moments From Oxygen
Mark McCullough makes his choices from the fifth episode of Series 10.
Until 7:15pm last Saturday evening, Jamie Mathieson’s Mummy on the Orient Express had held the honour of being my favourite episode of the revival, with very little coming close (with the exception of the Zygon stories from last year which have since dropped on re-watch). By 8:00pm this was no longer technically true, with Mathieson managing to knock himself off my top spot. There’s actually a lot of similarities between Oxygen and Mummy, which obviously works in this outing’s favour. There’s no disputing the fact now that Mathieson knows how to deliver a stellar script for the show (evidence by his four very successful scripts) but this episode proves he’s so much more capable than just that, he can identify the weaknesses of the show and navigate around these spectacularly.
12. The Opening Sequence
11. The Space-Sick Doctor
I’m surprised that it’s taken us five full episodes for someone to pick up on how the Doctor would feel about being trapped on earth and not able to use his TARDIS. Granted the topic has been broached a view times beforehand, but Mathieson is the first who really delves into the emotional psyche of the Doctor. This is delivered in a very comical way with the Doctor’s wonderful lecture being questioned by one of the students. The contents of the lecture are very interesting too as it foreshadows which happens later in the episode, another example of a start of episode monologue doing just that in an episode of the Capaldi era. The Doctor’s emotions are reflected onto his relationship with Nardole and explains the almost contempt the Doctor has towards the man he has employed to make sure he keeps his promise.
10. Nardole the Space Criminal?
For a character who seems largely inserted for the comic relief role, there’s a hint of a much darker backstory behind the lovable Nardole. The first hint towards this is the conversation about the universe showing its true face when asking for help. Nardole’s comment is a blink and you miss it one where he talks about not having seen his true face in years as he swapped for this one while on the run. Later in the episode there is another moment where Nardole suggests how he would rob the station if he were a master criminal. Again this was probably intended as a joke, but combine it with the previous comment and it becomes a recurring one. However when you consider how we were first introduced to Nardole, as an associate of River’s, is it so unlikely that he actually has a much more sinister past?
9. The Sonic Screwdriver Out of Play
Mathieson makes a very brave decision early in the episode by effectively removing the sonic screwdriver and handicapping the Doctor. Not only does this allow his true writing abilities to shine and craft the resolutions that are discussed later in the article. It also shows a willingness from Mathieson to approach some of the criticisms of previous episodes: the reliance on the Sonic Screwdriver to defeat the Boneless being one of the very few criticisms that could be raised against Flatline. Removing that possibility here makes sure that he doesn’t fall into something similar again.
8. Capitalism in Space
If there was ever any doubt about the political position of the show, this episode should silence that. The crux of the episode is the value of human life and the weight society places on that. In this episode, the focus is on the galactic corporations and how they use and abuse their workers, charging them for the very air they breathe and recycling this afterwards. In summary the narrative is actually about how they deem it wasteful when productivity drops and that conserving the Oxygen is more important than the human lives. This story combined with Thin Ice makes for a damning verdict on capitalism as the show takes a socialist approach, which is exactly where you would expect a show of this nature to position itself.
7. Life as a Few Breaths
As we were told in the Listen, an episode that achieved status of a classic, fear is a superpower. This idea was repeated earlier in the episode: “I’m maxing out your adrenaline. Fear keeps you fast. Fast is good.” This is something that has been repeated throughout the history of the show, but is something that this episode takes and effectively nullifies with the realisation that Oxygen is measured in breaths, and the faster you breathe the quicker your oxygen runs out. Essentially the narrative takes one of the TARDIS team’s strengths and uses it against them. It’s a frightening though that the more scared you become the faster you die, and certainly ramped up the pressure when watching the events unfold.
6. Bill is Racist
I have chosen one of the more comical moments because it also merits discussion. Much like Sarah Dollard’s wonderful script a few weeks ago, Mathieson takes a serious issue and opens discussion in a tongue in cheek way. In the episode, Bill’s reaction towards someone with blue skin, is in essence racism. What stands out here is that it comes from Bill, someone who is subject to racial discrimination herself. What this shows is Mathieson’s commentary on the fact that discrimination doesn’t have to come from those who have privilege in society, anyone can be discriminatory and it is very important to be away of that fact because like Bill here, sometimes you can do it without even meaning to.
5. The Space Walk
A particular highlight was the scene where the survivors were forced into the expanse of space to escape the suits despite the fact that the suits were far superior in those surroundings. The journey is split into two parts and is delivered from Bill’s perspective which is key for the success of the scene. Initially we see the survivors in the air lock waiting to be able to exit into space when Bill’s helmet malfunction queueing panic from herself and the Doctor. The lecture scenes from earlier suddenly spring to mind and the horror within is realised as we watch it happen to Bill with everyone seemingly powerless to help. The rest is delivered from Bill’s perspective which allows for the majority of the space walk to be skipped including the attack from the suits, and what exactly the Doctor does to save Bill. This is extremely effective as it allows the narrative to advance without being exposition heavy, and the fact that the Doctor suffers for it too makes it anything but a cop-out.
4. Kill Bill
One of the most emotional scenes of the episodes was the one where Bill was killed by her suit. Normally in a run-of-the-mill episode five, the viewer expects that the Doctor and his companion will make it out unscathed, so the stakes are quite low. This episode managed to deliver on both accounts with the Doctor and Bill. The scene itself was very traumatic with a strong emotional gravitas drawing on the relationships between Bill and those who mean the most to her. Initially we see the conversation about the Doctor approaching everything with a joke to reassure her result in him unable to do so, emphasising the bleakness of the situation. However the most heart-breaking moment came as the suit was about to take her and she cried out for her mother. This scene benefited from the one with Bill last week where she hoped her mum was proud of her.
3. One Last Option Available
The resolution to the episode is as high stakes as I can recall in a long time: the Doctor is blind, his companion is ‘dead’, oxygen is running out and a swarm of ‘zombies’ are descending on them. The Doctor is able to piece together the truth about what is happening, and that makes their chances of survival all the smaller as this was the intention all along, there was no rescue and no way out. The narrative opts to stick with this hopelessness with the Doctor convincing the survivors that the best they could hope for was to choose the manner of their own death. The only hope was the suggestion that everyone was as dead as Bill, which meant there was going to be a way out. Credit to Mathieson for developing a denouement that fitted with the rest of his narrative without feeling like a deus ex machina twist. The ending we got felt well-earned and consistent with the theme of the narrative.
2. The Rebellion
You’ve probably noticed the article is chronological rather than specifically ranked because it made a lot more sense for this outing. As such this one might seem a little out of place, because it is a bit more speculative than the rest of the article. So far, this series we have had a lot of nods to events that have gone on in past series. Here the scene where the survivors decide to go to the Head Office to lodge a complaint is very reminiscent of the ending to The Flesh two-parter from Series Six. What is more interesting is the information that the Doctor gives about the future of the human race and the Rebellion. An assumption that would not be too big of a stretch is that these events could lead into whatever happens that leads to the mass exodus from planet Earth, which ultimately led to the events of The Beast Below and Smile. Could this be a story Moffat plans on completing before he hands over the reins of the show?
1. The Doctor is Blind
For the first time I can recently remember, the Doctor loses. This is something I’ve been hoping to see the show do for a while because as a family show it is limited in that it is usually going to end up good for the Doctor and his friends. This episode is different however because the affects live on outside of the constraints of the individual narrative. There is a tease of the fact that he was able to cure the problem, but the end of the episode reveals that he is in fact still blind. This presents a lot of interesting possibilities for the rest of the series and actually moves the character of the Doctor into a place that he has never been in the show’s rich history. It also poses interesting questions on what this means for the vault arc and his ability to protect it, although after the next time clip, I’m now 80% sure what it contains. Either way, Extremis looks set to be very interesting…
