The Tsuranga Conundrum - Review

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from ‘The Tsuranga Conundrum’. The preview gave little away, and with the disappointment of last week’s episode, I was just a little apprehensive.  

The first thing I noticed this week is that the episode was once again penned by Chibnall. So far, Rosa is the only episode that has had any kind of other writing input. Whilst this doesn’t seem to have had much of a negative effect so far, I’m concerned that with no variation in writing style, and no other source of idea generation, Chibnall might have bitten off more than he can chew.

On a more positive note, I found this week’s episode a lot more enjoyable than last week. I don’t think the story reached its full potential, and there are several ways I feel slight adjustments could have benefited the plot. Overall however, the aspects of the episode that I liked, vastly outweigh the things about it that I feel could have been improved.

One of the things I really liked about the episode, was the monster. The Pting was well thought out, original, and actually a threat. Even so, the Doctor’s immediate plan of action was never to harm the creature in any way. She dealt with it the way the Doctor always should, by working out what it wanted and using that to ensure it no longer posed any kind of danger. I do feel like more should have been made of Ronan the Android given the fact that the Pting was toxic to touch, but then there are several other characters I also feel were not utilised to their full potential.

This is one of the few issues I have with this episode, and unfortunately every episode so far. There were simply too many characters for all of them to matter to the story. This week, Ryan, Graham, Yoss and Ronan were all completely non-essential to the story. Yoss’ baby story was cute, but didn’t tie into the story at all other than as a way to keep Ryan and Graham occupied, while Yaz and the Doctor went off and saved the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love having a TARDIS team rather than a singular companion, and done right, I think it has huge potential. However, when you add in a whole bunch of additional side characters each week, the focus gets stretched thinner and thinner. You never get to know any of the characters properly because none of them ever have enough screen time to do or say anything important. With ‘Rosa’, the dynamic worked, because the only characters other than the TARDIS team that were given any importance were Rosa, Krasko, and, to a lesser extent, James Blake. Here however, all characters seemed o be given an equal standing, and it was as if we were supposed to learn and care about Astos, Mabli, Durkas, Eve, Yoss, and Ronan, all whilst the TARDIS team had their time to shine as well.

Once again, it was Jodie’s Doctor that really shone though. I’m really loving the more human side that this Doctor is showing. She makes mistakes, she acknowledges when she does, and she apologises. Gone are the days of arrogance and always being right. This Doctor doesn’t command a room just by shouting the loudest. She’s in charge because she’s the best person for the job, when she makes a mistake she admits it, and when there’s someone better suited than her to do something she delegates. She’s empathetic, caring, and funny without being big-headed.

As well as appreciating the more human aspects of the Doctor’s character, I also liked the human elements woven into the story. Like when the ship is in the process of being destroyed by the Pting, and Yaz and Ryan just slow down to have a chat about his Mum. As well as being a very human thing to do, having a chat as the world descends into chaos, the moment offers a welcome break from the fast paced action of the rest of the episode, and prevents the plot becoming too chaotic. It gives both the characters, and us, the audience, time to stop and breathe before launching us back into the action.

Finally we come to the main plot point of the episode, Eve Cicero and her Pilots Heart. Unfortunately, although I loved most of the rest of the episode, I found this plot point thoroughly underwhelming. We weren’t introduced to the concept of Pilot’s Heart at all before it was revealed that Eve had the condition and as such, the revelation didn’t have any impact at all. It was obvious that she was going to end up dying and so when she did, I felt nothing. Now imagine for a second that this was not the twist. Imagine that Eve Cicero was actually a cyborg (or perhaps an android with the memories of Eve implanted into it). This was my theory during the episode, it seemed to be where all the indicators were pointing: she was hiding her real medical condition from a brother who showed clear animosity towards the android helper; she was a war hero whose whole fleet was destroyed, (“I’ve encountered a Pting before, it massacred my fleet”), but who somehow managed to survive herself (by being turned into a cyborg?); and an alien creature that only ate non-organic matter. This is where I feel the potential of the episode lay. She could still have risked her life to steer the ship, maybe the only place that the ship was steerable from was also the place in the ship with the most energy build up. Having the Pting eat part of her would have held much more of a shock factor than her just dying, and if the brother could steer the ship anyway, why did she risk her life?

Besides from missed opportunities and a much too crowded ship however, I did find the episode enjoyable overall, and I continue to love Jodie’s portrayal of the Doctor. Maybe Chibnall could hire some other writers though?

Highlights

The Pting’s contented face as it absorbed the bomb blast

The old earth hero: Avocado Pear

The Doctor being passionate beyond logic when confronted with loosing the TARDIS again.

The fact that they reference doing other, less dangerous, things between adventures again.

Questions

Will Graham’s fist bump ever be reciprocated?

Did they ever manage to find what they initially went to the junk planet for?

What did you think of this week's episode? What questions were you left with as the credits rolled? Let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to share this review with all your Whovian friends!

- E.S