Well the guardian seems to think the series so far is .....well OK
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...gra-condundrum
Doctor Who recap: series 37, episode 5 – The Tsuangra Condundrum
Team Tardis ends up in a sticky spot and the Doctor isn’t feeling too well in an episode that gives Tosin Cole a chance to show his class
Yaz and The Doctor
The Tsuangra Conundrum: whizzy and bright – but where’s the conundrum?
SPOILER ALERT: this weekly blog is for those who are watching the new series of Doctor Who. Don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen episode five, The Tsuangra Condundrum.
“Medicine, science, engineering, candyfloss, lego, philosophy, people, hope. Mostly hope.”
This week, we see another side to the Doctor rarely glimpsed; she’s vulnerable and in pain. For reasons best known to themselves, Team Tardis have to decided to play around with some metal detectors on a scavenger planet. What should have been a fun day off takes another unfortunate turn when they find a sonic mine, get blown to smithereens (although curiously without a scratch on them) and picked up by an automated spaceship hospital that’s been infiltrated by an unwelcome cargo. So Jodie spends half the episode staggering about clutching her midriff, or ‘ectospleen’ in Timelord parlance before jolting into Doctorish action.
To its credit, The Tsunagra Condumdrum boasts an awesome spaceship, an impressive guest cast (led by Casualty’s Suzanne Packer as General Cicero), a wonderfully deadpan android and an amusing subplot involving a pregnant man. To its detriment, there’s a rather over-reliance of exposition–ish pseudo-science (the antimatter passage just went on) and once again, here is an episode without very much of a real villain. And come to think of it, there isn’t really much of a “conundrum” to speak of at all. This was whizzy and bright and perfectly fine. But call me old-fashioned, right now I’m crying out for a jolly good alien invasion.
Now we’re at the halfway point, how is everyone feeling about Chris Chibnall’s tenure thus far? While I’ve yet to be absolutely blown away to the extent of Steven Moffat in his pomp, it’s also worth remembering that it took him a little while to get there too. The upside to that, though, is there hasn’t been a total dud either. In that, cutting the episode order to 10 near negates the risk of any duds. Certainly, the extra time and money that goes on each episode is showing up on screen – there has never been a more handsome-looking version of this programme.
Chibnall is not a comedy writer of the kind that Moffat was, so I’m learning to accept that it’s not going to make me laugh out loud the way it did before. The shift from magic realism to urban grit has also taken a bit of getting used to, but what Chibnall might lack in lols, he’s certainly making up for in emotional heft.
And, just quickly, look how quickly the issue of Jodie’s gender became a complete non-conversation from the moment she appeared on screen.
Life aboard the Tardis
Tosin Cole once again gets the big emotional moment, and your heart continues to break over Ryan’s Daddy issues. The Yoss subplot does give him a certain amount of resolution, realising how ill-equipped he would feel as a parent. But as he assures the new father, “You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be there,” we get the sense that we’ve not seen the last emo moment from the young Mr Sinclair. Yaz remains reliable, plucky and underused, while Graham, still something of a wuss, is able to impart some wisdom suited to his years to his fellow patients. While also letting slip that he’s partial to a bit of Call the Midwife. Each to their own.
Fear factor
We talked a bit last week about Chibnall identifying the things that scare adults. And once again, he’s on the money with both hospitals and childbirth. Meanwhile, the Perting was another masterfully rendered piece of visual effects, even if the creature itself was rather more of a comedy creation than a genuinely scary menace. It put me in mind of the Adipose from 2008’s Partners in Crime. “It won’t eat us, but it’ll eat the ship we’re on.”
Mysteries, questions and continuity
In the search for some kind of story arc (or lack of one), we’re left wondering if the numerous references and made-up phrases are red herrings, or clues as to something more significant. Are we to read much into the Book of Celebrants? What is it like to go rainbathing in the upward tropics of Kinstano? What is “cotton fever” and a “pilot’s heart”?
Deeper into the vortex
Technically, it’s well documented that the Doctor is actually a Doctor of Thermodynamics, but let’s not get hung up on details.
Is the Doctor’s stethoscope sonic as well?
Poor, kind Astos. We barely even knew you. But Chibnall is certainly learning the value of a good body count.
The baby is named Avocado Pear. And why not?
Who knew that 51 was just an interesting number?
Next week!
Yaz gets to wander down her family tree, and hopefully gets something proper to do as Doctor Who tackles the Partition of India in Demons of the