Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum

A masterclass in how to waste a good cast and an inflated effects budget.

That was boring; plainly, simply boring.

Chris Chibnall takes over once again to deliver a snooze-fest out of something that should be an action romp.

Separated from the TARDIS and floating through space, the Doctor and friends must fight to survive, a small, poorly rendered (legally-distinguishable-from the-Warner-Bros-owned-Fantastic-Beasts-creature) ship-eating monster.

You’d actually have to work pretty hard to make that dull, but Chibnall manages.

Like The Ghost Monument, Chibnall’s weaknesses as a writer are on full display. Not only does he write the Doctor as a bit whiney but makes her out to lack all gravitas and authority. He did this in the Ghost Monument, by having her consistently try to gain the attention of people who ignored her without issue. In this episode, there’s a scene where Suzanna Packer literally steals the scene, as her character takes control of the situation. The Doctor is completely dwarfed in the space of two seconds, undermining any confidence in her.

The usually solid Whittaker plays her part in this as well. You could accept the Doctor would be brash whilst recovering from an injury, but the ease with which other characters steal the limelight, shows that she’s playing the Doctor at entirely the wrong pitch.

Getting back to the main issue with the episode (the writer) we have the return of Chibnall pacing, which could be used as a brilliant sleeping aid. It’s actually pretty incredible that someone can make so many action sequences lack all tension. His inability to write filler dialogue comes out in full as well, with some very forced and in fact shoehorned character development for Ryan. It’s completely out of place.

The music is similarly dull throughout.

Overall, this episode is a poor indicator of where this series is going. Chibnall is maintaining a grip on it and is not the right man for the job.

Rosa marked a significant improvement in the writing quality, so hopefully with Vinay Patel at the helm of the next episode the same will happen again.