Doctor Who Series 11 Episode 5 - The Tsuranga Conundrum - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole & Mandip Gill

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Jennifer Perrott

Seeing as I'm struggling for a way to open this review, and seeing as we're at the halfway point of Series 11 (already?!), let's quickly talk about how it's been doing. It's pleasing to see the show standing tall in the world of ratings, reaching heights not seen in several years. There is still the loud, angry minority on places like YouTube who seem to think each episode is a new worst, yet still keep watching so they can get angry about it, apply no genuine criticism and continue to get ad revenue. It seems a popular thing among these corners of the internet to attack Series 11 for literally anything … so how can I get in on it? Hmm, what haven't I liked? Oh … the Next Time trailers have been pretty bad. Fair dos, they don't spoil anything, but they're way too short to get anyone properly excited about next week. I'm not very good at mindlessly hating something, am I? Let's just get on and talk about 'The Tsuranga Conundrum'. 

When scavenging an alien junkyard, the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz uncover and accidentally trigger a sonic mine. Weakened and disorientated, they awake aboard the Tsuranga, an automated ship transporting patients to a medical space-station. En route to the station, the Tsuranga is boarded by an alien entity. To ensure the patients safely get to their intended destination, the Doctor must face a deadly, unusual threat...

For those in any doubt, 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' is probably the best example so far from this series of 'Doctor Who' delivering pure, unadulterated sci-fi. Starting off in an alien junkyard, we're quickly transported to a shiny, bright white sterile medical ship after triggering an old sonic mine. On the ship, we meet an android and a pregnant alien man. The ship's powered by antimatter engines, there's escape pods, stasers, technobabble galore and characters with names like Astos, Durkas or Yoss. And then of course, we're boarded by a dangerous, unknown alien. Squint hard enough and this could almost be an episode of 60s 'Star Trek'. It's wholehearted sci-fi geekiness, and even the Doctor has a geek out moment over the antimatter engines - a beautiful scene that couldn't feel more in character. The look of the Tsuranga with its clean white aesthetic is a basic, reliable one but it works. It's almost like a Classic 'Who' setting, albeit far more expensive and with a much more substantial budget. 

While none of the crew or patients aboard the Tsuranga are hardly going to inspire fans to lobby for their return, they're still perfectly serviceable. Astos, while his appearance is brief, strikes a chord as a clean-cut authoritative figure. His relationship with Mabli is sweet, and he's able to put a disorientated Doctor in her place without feeling condescending. Mabli is also very likeable, and the confidence she has to ascertain over the course of the episode without Astos make her an endearing presence. Ben Bailey Smith is fine too, though it's Suzanne Packer who gives what might be my favourite guest performance here, as Eve - it's low-key but effective. Eve's condition of pilot's heart isn't really explained all that well, but it does lead us to a touching brother-sister moment. The android Ronan is pretty dull and forgettable (save for one great line: "Are you also experiencing comprehension deficiency?"), but then again he is an android so he's hardly going to be the life and soul of the party. 

One character given his own subplot is Yoss, with his anxieties on giving birth and becoming a new father. Like clockwork the idea of a pregnant ALIEN man has triggered the flurry of silly people, who reckon this was apparently some sort of pro-transgender narrative. What the f*ck are you lot on? But in reality it's a nice, largely disconnected subplot with some comedic touches. Although admittedly the comedy moments, such as the avocado joke didn't really land for me, save only for Graham's brilliant responses to seeing Yoss give birth. Ryan giving Yoss encouragement and support during the delivery however was rather lovely. There's something distinctly optimistic and light on cynicism is Chris Chibnall's episodes, and it's honestly quite refreshing. Even when it's not perhaps as good as it could be, you have a hard time disliking it because it's so nice and enjoyable anyway. 

That being said, this subplot did highlight one of the few general problems I have with Chibnall's scriptwriting, and it's the moments of character building. Generally these moments themselves are pretty good, such as Ryan telling Yaz how his mother died when he was young. But as we saw in 'The Ghost Monument' too, often for these moments to happen, the plot has to come to a complete stop. The Doctor trying to track down and expel the alien is supposed to be fun, but these heavy moments awkwardly inserted into the episode kill the pacing. Speaking of Yaz, I should also point out that while Mandip Gill continues to be pretty good in the role, we're halfway through the series now, and Yaz still feels worryingly underdeveloped. Next week's episode looks set to delve into her family history though, so hopefully this problem may start to iron itself out. 

But enough stalling, let's talk about the real star of the show here: the Pting. Without the Pting, 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' would fade away in my memory much faster, but instead its presence kicks the whole episode up a notch. My initial reaction to it was "What the f*ck?" but in hindsight, I think that's only a natural response. The more I think about this episode, the more and more I fall in love with the Pting. Had 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' gone for a generic, diet xenomorph alien, I don't think it would have been as effective. Say what you want about the Pting … he's something different; angry and a mix of both weird and cute. The Doctor saluting it as it's jettisoned from the airlock, content and with its belly glowing full of warm energy - it's so bizarre but it's equally brilliant. The Pting is very much a one-off kind of alien, but I have a feeling he's going to be Chibnall's equivalent of Russell T Davies' Adipose - a weird, cute little thing that's destined for a plethora of merchandise. In fact, as I write this I have a little Pting figure sitting next to me. 

There's not a whole lot more I can say about 'The Tsuranga Conundrum'. Compared to the other four episodes in the series so far, this one is the lightest and least integral, but at best it's a fun fifty minutes of decent sci-fi, and at worst it's a harmless, inconsequential bit of fluff. I find how people responded to this one really odd. Even from those who haven't deliberately set out to mindlessly hate everything Series 11 does, depending on who you ask, just the name 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' seems to generate feelings of intense dislike. While I can understand not being keen on this one, I can't understand branding it as completely terrible. There's far worse 'Doctor Who' out there than this.

The Tsuranga Conundrum

7/10