Oxygen (2017) Review

"Um... Bill? No questions?"
"Plenty, but they can wait until the suit shuts down its recreational programming."
"Meaning?"
"Solitaire never gets old."

Oxygen is a convoluted, uninteresting yarn about capitalism in space.

WRITTEN BY

Jamie Mathieson... dude, come on! You were the best part of Series 8!

PLOT

Bored of being stuck on Earth, the Doctor takes Bill and Nardole into a space station in the future, where oxygen is used as a currency and the spacesuits have turned against their owners.

ANALYSIS

So, in a future where Health & Safety apparently still exists, there's a company that routinely murders their employees with spacesuits specifically designed to treat people as "organic components", there's a monopoly on air(which, if the human race are spacefaring, can be produced infinitely on a number of planets), which demands that if there's too much of it, it should be expelled into space.

That is only the tip of the iceberg of the plot holes in this story. I must give special mention to Bill's malfunctioning spacesuit, which provided so much convenient drama throughout the episode that I'm surprised it didn't open a comlink to Clara Oswald.

Completely ignoring the plot, what do we have left? Well, there's the ghastly dialogue that as per usual, destroys the tension with cheesy oneliners(personified by poor Nardole) and unsubtle social commentary(the "oh great, we picked up a racist" line was particularly groansome).

I will admit that there are some remarkable sequences. Bill's exposure to the vacuum of outer space was very effectively directed, and the scene between the Doctor and Nardole towards the end is probably the best acted of the entire season so far. Mathieson's concepts are very interesting in of itself as well. But they all drown underneath the combination of plot holes and unbearable dialogue. Maybe it would've worked with only one of the two problems, but both? No.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi gives an overall strong performance. I don't think he really has any chemistry with Matt Lucas, but his acting is nonetheless very strong, particularly when the Doctor becomes blind(his grief is extremely subtle, but well played).

Here, we see Bill really face some hardships and Pearl Mackie gracefully brings her terror and hope in the Doctor to life. It's really lovely to have a companion who properly reacts to the situation around her.

Let's be honest, Nardole is never going to be a fan favourite, but he could still be so much better than he is utilised. When Lucas brings out the concerned, dutiful side of Nardole, I am immediately invested, but this sleazy goofball side of the character has to go.

Kieran Bew was quite likable as Ivan, mostly because he was the only one of the space station crew who seemed reasonable after Tasker's early demise.

Speaking of Tasker, Justin Salinger was a little bit gritty and it's a shame that he died so soon, as he was by far the most immediately interesting of the crew, being the oldest and in charge.

Paul Caulfield only has one major scene as Dahh-Ren, and it's used to have him needlessly Bill(who clearly has no experience with aliens) of being a racist. Not amused.

But it's not nearly as bad as Mimi Ndiweni's unbearably snipy Abby, whose icy demeanour towards the Doctor I found completely inexplicable.

We would've been much better off with seeing more of Katie Brayben's Ellie, whose little romance with Ivan was adorable, even though he didn't even get in a single word! She just brought their relationship to life all on her own and guess what? This is only the actress's third performance on-screen! Good luck to you, Katie, you're great!

NOTES

*As much as I appreciate the Star Trek reference, isn't time the final frontier in the Doctor Who universe?

*What's with Ivan's cliffhanger scream at the end of the pre-titles sequence? I mean... he doesn't die, he's still far away from the zombies... it's definitely not a distraught "you killed my wife/girlfriend!!" scream either...

*Whilst the Doctor probably has earned enough favours to last a lifetime with whomever let him lecture in college, wouldn't they be concerned that he always goes completely off-topic? I mean, from the viewpoint of any teacher, he's wasting the kids' time, isn't he? Their education is at stake here!

*The scene in which Bill asked for reviews of the various planets the Doctor offered her reminded me of how the Eleventh Doctor constantly knew everything about everyplace(and once said something akin to "I travel with you lot because I've already seen it all."). Seems like we're back to the old dynamic here of the Doctor being almost as much in the dark as the companion.

*I was a little miffed that the Doctor immediately refused to take Bill to where she asked. Who cares if it's the toilet section(whatever that means)?!

*The Doctor's "theme tune" aka distress signal actually sounded kind of catchy. You know, as catchy as a recurring beep can be.

*Nardole has changed his face? What is he, space Leatherface? If they don't explain his deal at some point during the season, I'll be really angry.

*Apparently, the Doctor has forgotten the concept of shops since he tried to send Nardole away to Birmingham for... a packet of crisps?

*I really love Capaldi's delivery of "if it's not a packet of crisps, you're sacked!". Classic British bile.

*Although I must admit, seeing Nardole constantly scorned for trying to do the right thing became really painful as the episode went on. Just because he's a guy doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings!

*The airlock with the round window that the Doctor admired for its design seemed very reminiscent of the famous door that Charlie from Lost drowned behind.

*Would it really matter if the space station did expel the air? I presume the TARDIS's supply is infinite... or it would be if it hadn't shut the doors for... some reason.

*Why does the sonic clamp onto the space suit and why doesn't the Doctor carry a spare to spare us the trouble of dealing with fans who think the sonic has been written out forever?

*How do the Doctor, Bill and Nardole know the suits would just magically attach themselves to them? I mean, the Doctor, alright... Nardole, maybe... but even Bill just stands there, uncharacteristically not asking any questions.

*Why does Bill's air bubble flicker when she breathes heavily, but nobody else's does?

*The way the crew of the space station treat their supposed rescue team is deplorable. First, they have to have a debate whether to even help them escape from the suits and then Abby spends most of the episode talking down to the Doctor as if she had a better idea what to do.

*What is the "mythical Union"? Is it the company, which is clearly not mythical? If it's not, what is it and why does it show up on the psychic paper?

*Why do the suits need to be off the "grid" to repair the space station's conveyors?

*Why does Ivan describe his distress signal as a botch? I mean, at that point, he still believes the TARDIS crew were sent to rescue them, doesn't he?

*The spacesuits gave me major Cybermen vibes. Wouldn't it be great if the space station crew had turned out to be Mondasians?

*Bill expels breath at least three times when she's exposed to the vacuum... how? I mean, unless she's breathing in air, which would cause her lungs to explode.

*Why is there any area in the space station that is unmapped for the suits?

*Bill's attempt to psychoanalyse the Doctor made me roll my eyes hard. Just let him distract you with jokes so you can save your breaths!

*"I am the Doctor... and for heaven's sake, I don't need these fancy speeches to be awesome. Can't they just be recorded especially for the trailer so we wouldn't have to shoehorn them into episodes?"

*Why does Bill randomly shout at her dead mother for answers?

*I know the Doctor's a genius and all, but somehow I feel like operating a human computer via keyboard whilst blinded is out of even his reach.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) I'm not sure whether season arcs should even count here, but the Doctor's still lecturing at the university as established in The Pilot and he's still very eager to leave and is growing lax with his duty of guarding the Vault, as established in Thin Ice.

2) To keep the Doctor on Earth, Nardole removes one of the TARDIS's fluid links, only to find out that the Doctor lied about needing them to fly the ship... for some reason. This is a bizarre callback to The Daleks, where the First Doctor stranded the ship on Skaro by removing the fluid link so he could investigate a city... and as anyone who's actually seen the story will recall, this became a major hassle later on, because the TARDIS did in fact need the fluid link to leave and the Doctor's stunt caused it to end up in the hands of the Daleks. Tsk tsk tsk.

3) The Doctor tells the space station crew and Nardole that no matter how bad life gets, there's always one thing left: dying well. This is a direct reversal of his stance from Class's first episode, where he berates Miss Quill for wanting to go out dying well. It's later revealed to be a ruse on his part, although why he'd lie, I have no idea.

4) After returning to the university, the Doctor plays with his yo-yo, last seen in Kill The Moon and originally used by the Fourth Doctor in The Ark In Space.

BEST QUOTE

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

CONCLUSION

Might've worked if the plot and dialogue issues had been ironed out. As it is, it's just too grating to watch for me to really care.