Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum review – disappointingly average or the worst episode yet?

The Tsuranga Conundrum hasn’t gained the best reception from fans. But do our reviewers think it’s a weak episode?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

For the team at Doctor Who Watch, The Tsuranga Conundrum just might be one of the most divisive episodes yet. Read more for our very different views on this episode.

The Tsuranga Conundrum seems to have left quite the impact on the fandom. And not in a good way, unfortunately. While Rosa was a highly praised Doctor Who episode this series, The Tsuranga Conundrum most definitely wasn’t. It wasn’t quite the exact opposite – it seems to have a few fans, at least – but reactions so far haven’t exactly been positive.

But why is that? The pieces were there, at least. We had a very convincing spaceship setting. Not just from the excellent CGI, but also from the great set design. We had quite the mix of characters, something that Chibnall usually thrives on.

It also really fleshed out some of the regulars’s backstories, too. We got to find out a lot more about Ryan and his relationship with his family in this one.

And we got to see a whole new side to the Doctor too, at least to this particular incarnation. For a brief moment, we got to see her both vulnerable and desperate to get back to her TARDIS, at any cost. It was interesting seeing a different side to her.

So with all of these strong elements in place, why hasn’t The Tsuranga Conundrum been enjoyed more by the fans?

Perhaps it’s because it suffers from some of the same problems as many of the episodes this series, but to an even greater extent. Or perhaps it suffers from brand new problems all of its own.

Let’s see what our regular writers think. Is The Tsuranga Conundrum not quite as bad as so many say? Or is it, in fact, one of the worst episodes of the New Series? Let’s find out.

Raphael wasn’t exactly keen on The Tsuranga Conundrum.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Raphael Kiyani – Contributor

The Tsuranga Conundrum offers us our first base-under-siege story of Series Eleven and in so doing, flirts with some cool ideas and fun moments. Unfortunately this could not push the story beyond the realms of mediocrity.

A base-under-siege story could be considered bread and butter Doctor Who. It’s a narrative style that has been a staple of the show for decades. In this way, The Tsuranga Conundrum provides some fun – the first ten minutes on the spaceship were a frantic highlight.

The panic-stricken realisation of being trapped and isolated from the TARDIS was a whirlwind. It convincingly allowed the audience to get into the Doctor’s confused and frenetic headspace. From said base-under-siege style we have sci-fi romp action peppered through – fun albeit unspectacular stuff.

This is the central issue; I find that bar some fun moments traversing the spaceship, nothing here elevates the story from being aggressively average and basic. The pacing grinds to a mismatched halt and is devoid of any real urgency. These are major issues that restrict the interesting groundwork of the episode.

The bulk of the story has a script telling us what’s happening rather than showing us. Mass exposition dumps didn’t help either – instead, bogging interactions down with head-aching details.

I’m reluctant to say it but this was poor form from Chris Chibnall here. The script is weak and ill conceived. The aforementioned plot revolves around this week’s central antagonist – a Pting. A conceptually interesting creature that did not deliver on the potential it had. It looked and felt like a really basic Star Wars alien which did not rise to the threat level the script kept insisting it had.

Too many subplots

Connected to all of this, we have a variety of characters and ensuing subplots intertwining the episode. None of which I particularly cared for. For the most part they were boring and cluttered the engines of the narrative like the Pting cluttered the engines of the spaceship.

I appreciate the attempt to inject more character drama using sci-fi as a backdrop. I just found that, in this case, it existed for the sake of existing and were devoid of anything engaging to say. The supporting characters themselves were not exactly bad, but they were not all that memorable either. Like their subplots, they largely felt uninteresting and inconsequential.

Much of The Tsuranga Conundrum feels clunky, uninspired and hastily put together. Worst of all, the supporting characters’ bland subplots actively cheapened and diminished our Team TARDIS throughout. All three lack real presence or importance to anything going on.

Yasmin was merely standing around and looking confused – a regrettable step back to The Ghost Monument where she was irrelevant. Graham and Ryan were involved in a male pregnancy escapade that I struggled to care for.

Strong points

On the positive side however, the growing rapport between the pair was entertaining and elicited some laughs. Despite being trivial to the overall picture it’s clear Chibnall can do human drama and humour well.

Other elements were well done too. The setting of the hospital ship was well-realised, looking both clinical and functional. It was a joy to immerse myself within the network of pristine corridors and rooms.

Jodie Whittaker continues to shine and delivers one of her strongest performances yet. She truly feels settled in and confident now. Small moments like the Doctor’s wide-eyed admiration of the anti-matter drive was so quintessentially Doctor Who.

Despite a solid showing from Jodie Whittaker and some entertaining romp-like sci-fi, The Tsuranga Conundrum can never lift itself above average. It was dull and bland for the most part with an antagonist with wasted potential, jarring characters and subplots, awkward pacing and wasted companions.

Could The Tsuranga Conundrum be one of the worst Doctor Who episodes ever made? Luke seems to think so.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Luke Molloy – Contributor

Oh boy. I don’t set out to not enjoy Doctor Who. I don’t ever want to be branded “that fan”. In almost every episode of this show, there is something to enjoy. However, it’s my duty to deliver honesty in my own review. And so I must go in on The Tsuranga Conundrum — the worst episode aired in my lifetime.

“Energy—the power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources!”
“That’s not human. It’s a technological invention with a human appearance. Powered by wires and matter and labour. They’re called androids. A-N-D-R-O-I-D”
“That’s an asteroid belt, an enormous collection of space rock. Rock is a natural substance and is a solid aggregate of minerals. That’s what’s there. A region of them rocks! IN SPACE! Space is a…”

Do you know what these three quotes have in common? They are all dictionary definitions. Know what else they have in common? They could all slot seamlessly into The Tsuranga Conundrum and it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference.

My main complaint of this series is that the Doctor has been given a buffet of jargon to drop upon our ears. It went up a level this week—to the point where I gasped as a lecture about CERN went on and on…It was awful to watch, worse—it was boring. Maybe the only Doctor Who episode I’ve ever watched where I glanced at my phone and was disappointed there was still 20 minutes to go. I’ve never checked my phone in Doctor Who before.

Too much plot, not enough story

Every week, Rosa exempt, has shown that the four-in-a-bed TARDIS team doesn’t work. Especially not in a 50-minute timeslot. This episode especially highlighted there’s too many — Ryan and Yaz didn’t seem to get a line until the 20 minute mark. When you have four or five episodic characters to introduce, with their own subplots, and then team TARDIS and then the monster…It’s too much and it damages the story.

As for the story — there seemed to be stuff happening. Man giving birth! Alien thing! Pilot is dying! Bomb!

But there was no plot. Nothing connecting any of them. No tension, no twists — a dead story. Strip Doctor Who back to it’s DNA and it’s the Doctor, fighting monsters, running. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated to be enjoyable, Tooth and Claw is a perfect example of that.

There was one thing I liked — the Pting. Somehow, the name is memorable and I liked watching him run round. It’s a shame we never got to see his toxic skin or see him eat the non-organic android or see him do anything else…

Adorable? Yes. Universes’ most dangerous creature? You decide.

Segun Akinola’s score was excellent in places too and made the bad bearable—right to that very weird prayer ending.

My least favourite story in Doctor Who’s history is Terminus. Weirdly, it also has a four-way TARDIS team, set on a spaceship, has a medical theme running through it and is horrendously boring. The Tsuranga Conundrum may only be one episode, but Terminus is no longer my least favourite.

A man gave birth. Yaz drop-kicked an alien. Team TARDIS got blown up by a sonic mine. There were other subplots there as well.

The thing is, it’s not worth my time and this episode is not worth yours.

0/5

Was The Tsuranga Conundrum a terrible episode? Or did it have some good points to it?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

James Aggas – Site Expert

So, as you’ve read, this isn’t exactly a popular episode with the writers. And it seems to reflect the fanbase in general – many found The Tsuranga Conundrum a very unlikeable episode. Perhaps not one of the worst stories in Doctor Who history, so props to Luke for describing it as such. But still not good.

You know what the worst thing is? If I’m really being honest, I actually enjoyed this episode more than last week’s. Considerably more.

It didn’t have a convincing villain in the form of the Pting, but then neither did Arachnids in the UK with Ronald Chump, or whatever his name was. Honestly, I do enjoy an over-the-top, capitalist villain in Doctor Who. I also enjoy politics in Who, too, at least when they’re handled right. (For key examples of it being done right, at least mostly, check out the work of Malcolm Hulke.)

But in Arachnids case last week? It was so obvious that it really ruined the episode for me. Not completely, but it definitely marked the episode down, in my eyes. It probably didn’t helped that last month gave us the excellent Seventh Doctor audio The Quantum Possibility Engine. Now that had plenty of commentary on both politics and Trump, but was also able to tell a really enjoyable story, too.

I know I’m going on a great deal about an episode that we had last week instead of this week. But I wanted to make it clear to you that, while the Pting is far from an effective villain, (which I’ll get to more in a moment,) it was considerably less grating than what we had last week.

Shocking moments and stories with potential

Is The Tsuranga Conundrum full of too many sub-plots? Yes, but I think there were some interesting stories in there. In particular, Astos’s death was a shocking moment. Perhaps this was more because I had seen the actor in more major roles in other series, such as Derek. But also the fact that he was set up as the best person to work with the Doctor lead to one of the more shocking moments of the episode.

More from Winter is Coming

I wish Mabli’s story had been allowed to develop more. As someone who clearly lacks in not just experience, but also self-confidence (something I’m sure many of us can relate to), she had the most interesting character journey out of the non-regulars.

So it’s a shame that the episode didn’t focus more on her, how she reacted to the situation, and how she eventually overcame her self-doubt.

Yoss’s pregnancy didn’t really add anything to the episode directly, but it did allow some further exploration of Ryan’s past, which was more than welcome. And, as Raphael pointed out, it allowed Ryan and Graham to bond even further.

But The Tsuranga Conundrum is far from a classic, and I doubt it’ll ever be considered as such. The Pting, as cute as it looked, was too ineffective as a convincing threat.

While some of the characters were potentially interesting, the episode was full of too many sub-plots to really allow everyone room to breathe.

But for me personally, The Tsuranga Conundrum is far from the worst Doctor Who story ever, or even the worst one of this series. (Which, quite frankly, is rather worrying.) An episode with wasted potential, but overall, rather harmless.

What were your thoughts on The Tsuranga Conundrum? Do you think it was an episode that had potential? Or do you think it’s one of the worst episodes of Doctor Who yet? Let us know in the comments below.