The Tsuranga Conundrum

"Imagine the solution and work to make it a reality."

Writer: Chris Chibnall
Format: TV
Broadcast: 4th November 2018
Series: 11.05

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

Injured and stranded in the wilds of a far-flung galaxy in the 67th century, the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham must band together with a group of strangers aboard a medical facility. One of the universe's most deadly and unusual creatures has breached, and it is very hungry...

Verdict

The Tsuranga Conundrum was another great episode to continue along my Series 11 rewatch! I was delighted that this became the second story that I have given an increased rating to and when watching I couldn't figure out why I didn't like it as much on broadcast. I had totally forgotten about the start with the junk planet and the discovery of the sonic mine. I thought that worked well and it was good to see the Doctor disorientated when she came around on the Tsuranga. She nursed those effects for much of the episode on what was yet another wonderful performance from Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. She really is quite magnificent and I can't get enough! I'm loving her incarnation even more second time around which is just brilliant to be able to say. The companions didn't have a huge amount to do in this episode which was not a problem at all. There was the humour that came with Ryan and Graham helping deliver a baby. This was probably Ryan's best episode yet from a character standpoint as we got to learn a bit more about his backstory and here of how he found his mum dead at just thirteen years old. That can't have been a good experience so it was quite disheartening to discover that his dad hadn't even attended Grace's funeral. He can't have been much of a father at all. Astos was a tremendous character and I really enjoyed his relationship with the Doctor. She was causing chaos after waking up and wanted to turn the ship around so she could get back to the TARDIS, but he had to reason with her and tell her just how selfish she was being. The Doctor and selfishness are not usually two things you associate together so that was a really good contrast to the norm. I was quite surprised that he perished so early, but the way he did so along with the look on the Doctor's face showed just how bad the situation was. Eve Cicero was a good character and I liked how the Doctor knew all about her and was a big fan. The recognition of being mentioned in the Book of Celebrants was delightful, especially when the Doctor subtly bragged about having her own volume instead of chapter. Who could be more celebratory than the Doctor? The Pting was quite the little rascal and I actually didn't mind the creature at all. The design is understandably questionable, but the way its facial expressions went from cute to scary whilst retaining the trait of being adorable was magnificent. I liked how it was not carnivorous and Yaz momentarily thought that was fine until Graham pointed out that it could just eat the ship they were on instead of them. That was hardly a result! The Doctor's plan was actually fantastic in getting the bomb to go off and speed it up to draw the Pting in and use its abilities to contain the blast. When that occurred and the Doctor jettisoned it away from the Tsuranga, the look of pure joy on the little thing's face as the explosion went off was brilliant. The Doctor saluted and all was just about okay. I remember feeling that this episode once again had an allure of feeling unresolved, but I am really not sure why. Maybe I missed the comment first time around concerning the teleport for Team TARDIS? Who knows! No such issues this time around. Overall, a very good episode!

Rating: 8/10