In her autobiography, Sylvia Anderson wrote that the episode casts Tin-Tin as a "sex object"; she commented elsewhere that the character is also objectified in "End of the Road" when her former boyfriend visits Tracy Island, sparking a romantic rivalry with Alan Tracy. Jeff alludes to these events when Casey's jet comes in to land, the unannounced nature of the visit leading him to wonder whether the colonel's plane might be carrying "more of Tin-Tin's admirers". According to Fran Pheasant-Kelly, an academic who has written about the series' depiction of gender and social class, this line of dialogue draws the audience's attention to Tin-Tin's "physical attractiveness" as a mostly peripheral female character, downplaying her ability to "contribute significantly to the narrative". Pheasant-Kelly also notes, however, that the subplot of Tin-Tin distracting Casey during the rescue shows that "does carry out certain crucial roles".
