YMMV / Doctor Who S38E6 "Praxeus"

• Angst? What Angst?: Gabriela gets over her best friend's death in minutes, if not seconds.
• Anvilicious: The dangers of microplastics and the plastic islands are all plot points, making for a surprisingly uncommon Green Aesop to air on television. Microplastics are not well known or understood by the public, and the plastic islands are even less publicised.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Part of the episode, which is about a dangerous virus, is set in China. The episode first aired about the same time as reports of a coronavirus outbreak there. This coincidence actually caused some viewers to believe that the coronavirus was at least partial inspiration for the Praxeus virus, despite the fact that the episode had to have been filmed and completed months before said outbreak broke out.
• Inferred Holocaust: The Doctor creates a cure for Praxeus, hooray! But it only works on humans and will actually expediate Praxeus infections in Suki's species, and one of the last things Suki did before dying from it was beam the formula to her people. Who, assuming it works, will begin administering it as soon as it can be created. Bummer.
• Salvaged Story:
  • Given the annoying recurrence of the Bury Your Gays trope in the previous series, such as Frankie in "Arachnids in the UK" or Richard the security guard in "Resolution", having a gay couple who not only actively contributes to the plot, but survives and mends their relationship, is definitely a breath of fresh air.
  • Yaz finally gets some action of her own after one season and a half of being almost a non-entity, with her plot of becoming a proto-Doctor with her own companion à la Clara Oswald.
  • While still quite Anvilicious, most viewers would agree that the Green Aesop was dealt with much better here than in "Orphan 55" earlier in the season.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Quite a few fans think that the plot would be stronger if the plastic pollution was a Nestene plot.

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