Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Jennifer Perrot
Monitor: "Risk to life: ultimate."
It had to happen at some point, didn't it? After a strong opener, entertaining if diverting second and fourth episodes and a series highlight with the third offering, we've finally hit our first and hopefully only dud episode of the series. I'd like to say I was surprised with how badly this one turned out to be but I'd be lying.
Things start with the Doctor, Graham, Yasmin and Ryan on a scrapyard planet before blasted and teleported to a space hospital where they soon find themselves having to stop the most dangerous thing in the universe.
Now this could've been a great moment to wow viewers with the return of a classic foe but instead Chibnall opted for another one of his own creations with the - Pting. It's small like an Adipose, slightly looks like a Porg and like a Gremlin, it's something of a greedy little bugger, eating everything on sight.
It doesn't largely help sell the threat of the Pting when Yasmin at one point is able to kick it around as a football but the Pting comes in handy for absorbing the energy of a bomb before it's left to fend for itself in the vacuum of space. Five episodes in and aside from the humanoid baddies, none of Chibnall's alien monsters are actually landing. I'll admit, much as I am enjoying our current TARDIS crew, this is starting to become a concern for me.
Speaking of the crew - Yasmin was mostly with the Doctor this week and with the latter, she largely interacted with sister and brother duo - Eve and Durkas Cicero as played by Suzanne Packer and Ben Bailey-Smith respectively. The Cicero family dynamic was explored decently enough and they had a hunky robot in Ronan (David Shields), who wasn't really that useful but truth be told, this was a story that arguably suffered from too many guest characters.
Separated from the Doctor and Yasmin, both Graham and Ryan found themselves being birthing partners to a pregnant man named Yoss (Jack Shalloo). I hate Mpreg as a fanfiction trope to the point where I will outright not read a fiction containing it, so it was something I could've done without in this episode. The character was likeable enough and it was a means at looking into Ryan's own father issues but other than that, I don't think the episode would've suffered from cutting Yoss out of the script.
As for crew members - we did get two of them. Astos (Brett Goldstein) had a bit of an interesting rapport with the Doctor but was too quickly taken out of the story to make a real impact. Faring somewhat better was Mabli (Lois Chimimba), who also managed to survive the episode and had some nice scenes with the Doctor but other than that, my mind drifted a lot with this episode.
- Something's wrong with the Doctor's exo-spleen and going by next week's trailer, this will continue to be a thing for her.
- Apparently there was some clips of past monsters in the episode for a brief moment. I really hope Chibnall brings back one of them in the next five episodes.
- Ryan opened up about his mother's death to Yasmin while Yoss's species birth males and carry them for a week.
- I just realised that this is the second episode this series not to actually feature the TARDIS.
- We got references to Call The Midwife and Hamilton in this episode.
- Chronology: 67th century on board the Tsuranga.
Without a doubt, The Tsuranga Conundrum is one of the worst episodes that the show has ever produced. I don't think any era that did this episode would've pulled it off well and as horrible as it was to watch, it doesn't negate the good work we've still had this series and will probably have in the remainder of it. However, it was the first time where it felt like there were too many characters in a short space of time and Chibnall needs to come up with a new monster that can actually land for audiences as well.
Rating: 5 out of 10
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