YMMV / Doctor Who S36 E5 "Oxygen"

• Angst? What Angst?: Avoiding this trope is the reason that Bill's first four adventures with the Doctor are fairly light, optimistic ones, setting up a raising of the stakes here. Steven Moffat told the Radio Times that audiences would wonder why Bill would want to keep travelling with the Doctor if he got her into potentially-traumatizing near-death situations right away, so this episode was positioned as the fifth of the season.
• Anvilicious: Even episode writer Jamie Mathieson admits the episode may have been too loaded on his view that Capitalism Is Bad.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • While the Twelfth Doctor is on his last stretch of episodes — seven to go, plus the Christmas Episode Grand Finale — a lot of viewers suspect he won't be blind for all that time despite his claim at the end of this episode. This is because key shots of the Series 10 trailers teased that he is prompted to start regenerating at some point, and between that and released press stills, the scene in question appears to come during the three-part Return of Missy/Monks storyline that starts with the very next episode, "Extremis". This suggests a fake-out regeneration similar to that of the Tenth Doctor's in "Journey's End" — one that could easily fix his eyesight. So not one but two unfortunate possibilities for the Doctor — permanent blindness for the remainder of the season and an early demise and regeneration — are being teased but look unlikely to be seen through.
  • Likewise Bill's 'death' makes it obvious that the Doctor has something up his sleeve. While companions have died in the past, it's too early for the character.
• Rewatch Bonus: The final scene in the TARDIS before the Doctor is revealed to still be blind is a great showcase for Capaldi's talents on a rewatch, as his acting features several clues that he wasn't cured without being obvious about it.

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