What better way to bounce back from last week’s bummer of a mis-step than with a good ol’ fashioned “base under siege” episode? The story format is one of the most common throughout the life of the show, with an episode’s success or failure depending on how that specific episode plays and riffs on the familiar beats. By that metric, “The Tsuranga Conundrum” is a rousing success. While it may not reinvent the wheel in terms of plotting, the episode hits the required notes with confidence and style while further cementing the team dynamics of the new TARDIS team.
“Conundrum” picks up with The Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and friends Ryan (Tosin Cole), Graham (Bradley Walsh), and Yaz (Mandip Gill) sifting through a garbage planet for various timey wimey items (btw, you promise a bunch of pals intergalactic adventures and then take them planet-sized-dumpster dumpster diving? Not cool, Doc). The gang accidentally set off a sonic grenade and when they come to, they discover they’ve been ‘rescued’ by a passing medical ship and are on an autopilot route away from the TARDIS.
On the ship are lead nurse Astos (Brett Goldstein), his assistant Mabli (Lois Chimimba), decorated general and pilot Eve (Suzanne Packer), her robotic assistant Ronan (David Shields), mechanic brother Durkas (Ben Bailey-Smith), and Yoss (Jack Shalloo), a pregnant man (as might be expected, the Worst People Online have problems with this character).
Physically impaired and separated from the TARDIS would be bad enough, but things jump up a notch when the ship is struck by what at first seems like an asteroid but is quickly revealed to be a gremlin-y little goblin called the P’Ting. The P’Ting may look tiny and adorable, and, well, it is that. But the creature is ravenously hungry and known for eating its way through entire spaceships.
A couple things about the P’Ting: 1) Holy crap has this show’s CGI improved. Remember the little fat-blob babies back in “Smith and Noble”? And B) The thing is basically Stitch from Lilo & Stitch, which makes this an episode of Doctor Who where The Doctor battles Stitch. Of course I love it.
13 and Astos attempt to rid the ship of the P’Ting, but the effort results in Astos being trapped in an evacuation pod and then blown up (in a sequence so quick and slapdash you may as well assume Astos decided to off himself). The P’Ting’s devouring of the ship quickly results in systems malfunctioning, throwing the ship into chaos. They can’t stay on their current course without blowing up before they reach base, and they can’t stray from the course or radio for help without the…like…space airport, I guess, remote-detonating the ship for quarantine/security reasons.
Also that pregnant dude goes into labor, which he is properly apologetic about.
The Doctor springs into action putting everyone’s skills and strengths to use, and here’s where the real masterstroke of showrunner/episode writer Chris Chibnall’s script comes in: There is no villain to this episode. Especially after the monotony of last week’s Trump riff, it’s so deeply refreshing to have an episode of Doctor Who that has life-and-death stakes and interpersonal drama, but doesn’t rely on hateful, joy-sucking asshats to generate the tension.
The Stephen Moffat era of Who struggled with these “base under siege” stories because Moffat struggled with giving characters outside The Doctor and their friends (and sometimes even the Companions were more props than compelling characters) any kind of personality or characteristic. Chibnall’s script recalls the sort of empathy-driven narratives that populated the Russell T. Davies era, but with a dynamic pacing and pulse that Davies often lacked. Each and every person on board the ship has a clearly defined personality, goal, and arc throughout the crisis, making it all the more satisfying as problems arise, are bested, and rise up again.
The central tension lies between the Cicero siblings, as Durkas feels that his legendary sister looks down on him for just being ‘merely’ a mechanic. Eve, meanwhile, has been scamming bonus medication to treat a terminal illness earned through her years of piloting, an illness she has hidden from all except Ronan out of fear of no longer being able to be the symbol of strength and heroism that so many rely on. The Doctor figures all this out quickly, and the scene in which she and Eve talk it over is a small, powerful moment between women of great character and strength struggling with the responsibility that their character and strength imbues them with.
Meanwhile, a man is giving birth. You’d forgotten about that bit, hadn’t you? Yup, a dude is cranking out a kid, which means Ryan and Graham are roped in as doulas, which gives Ryan a chance to sort through his own daddy issues. He confesses to Yaz that his father ran out after the death of Ryan’s mother when Ryan was just thirteen, unable to cope with the loss. But his own experience with parental loss makes him the perfect sounding board for Yoss, who planned on giving the unplanned baby up for adoption. As Yoss frets over birthing pain, Ryan reminds him that what’s important isn’t being perfect, it’s just being there, and doing your best.
The baby boy is born, and Graham goes for a fist-bump, which Ryan rejects. Come on, Ryan.
Elsewhere, The Doctor has rigged a fake report for space airport so they won’t know the ship has left its pre-planned route and Durkas has rigged a rudimentary pilot’s rig so they can manually fly through an asteroid belt that will cut down on travel time. Only problem: the asteroid belt is filled with asteroids. Eve insists on flying the ship through the danger, despite the lethal implications of a person in her condition taking such action.
The Doctor determines that the P’Ting is actually hunting for energy, not spaceships, so she removes the anti-matter bomb that powers the ship, as you do, and works with Yaz to set a trap. Just when it seems as if 13 was wrong in her guess and she’s doomed everyone to explode to death (which, I mean, if you have to go…) the P’Ting ambles over and scarfs up the bomb. Now sated, the P’Ting is blasted into space and the day is saved. Hooray!
Well, no, people still died. The strain of piloting the ship was too much for Eve, but at least she manages to make peace with her brother before passing. Director Jennifer Perrott zooms in tight during the siblings’ last moments together, emphasizing the physical and emotional intimacy the two are finally allowing themselves to share moments before they are separated for good.
In the end, Yoss decides to give parenting a try, Mabli comes into her own as a physician, and Durkas puts aside his animosity towards Ronan and asks the robot to join him in a final prayer for his sister, in which The Doctor, Companions, and all the survivors join, a lovely coda to a terrific episode.
They still don’t have the TARDIS with them, though. Gonna have to nip out for it.
Episode Thoughts:
-“The Tsuranga Conundrum” is a strong contender for the best episode of the current season, and maybe the best since “Heaven Sent.” The TARDIS ensemble move like a well-oiled machine, Whittaker holds the center down with aplomb, and the quips and banter fly with ease without dampening the episode’s stakes and tensions. And with the episode’s focus on the twin powers of hope combined with practical thinking, it acts as the almost platonic ideal of what a Doctor Who episode can be.
-The P’Ting eats the sonic screwdriver, then promptly spits it out. Whittaker’s reaction to both events are an episode highlight.
-Graham assumes he will be a good doula because he’s seen every episode of Call the Midwife. He is later forced to admit that he looked away “during the squeamish bits.”
-The Doctor has seen “all 900” casts of Hamilton.
-The events of the episode take place during the 67th century, which apparently experiences quite a lot of problems in the middle but “it all works out in the end,” The Doctor promises.
-To honor Ryan and Graham, Yoss wants to name his baby “Avocado,” after the great Earth hero the history books tell of. When Ryan and Graham suggest naming the baby “Ryan” or “Graham,” Yoss laughs it off. Not cool, dude-making-dude.
-I can’t go over the show’s production values this year.
-Yaz is a stealth comedy MVP this week, from her slightly awkward acknowledgment of 13’s Leslie Knope-ian lady-crush on her to her chipper, “On the plus side, I feel very well-informed” after a ship diagnostic reveals their almost certain doom.
“People prevail. Hope prevails.”
The Weekly Timey-Wimey: The Doctor geeks out over the anti-matter drive for the ship, a burst of grade-A gobbledygook that can be summed up with, “people invent amazing stuff. Yay science.”
Arc Alert: Ryan’s Dad continues to haunt the edges of the story. Have to assume we’re headed to some kind of confrontation before the season’s end.
Most Whovian Moment: Eve recognizes The Doctor’s name as having been mentioned in the great annals of history alongside her own chapter. 13 pops back in to note, “More a volume than a chapter.” Because she is The Doctor and will be recognized as such, darn it.