History YMMV / DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/ChrisChibnall infamously blasted "The Trial of a Time Lord" on ''Talk Back'' for featuring monsters and running down corridors. Over thirty years later, he writes a script that features...a monster and running down corridors.

** The [[CuteMonster Pting]] is constantly spoken about as an incredibly dangerous creature, one was once responsible for the destruction of an entire fleet of warships. It's also the size of a human baby and has big, cute eyes.

* NarmCharm:
** The subplot about [[MisterSeahorse Yoss]] could easily have been goofy enough to completely derail the plot, but it manages to not overstay its welcome and deliver some good but not misplaced chuckles while also being [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments surprisingly sweet at times]].
** The Pting is this for some viewers instead of simple narm. How can you ''not'' laugh at Pting being talked about as so fearsome and then them being revealed as so cute?

** After a quite engaging opening where the Doctor is forced to acknowledge and apologize for her ProtagonistCenteredMorality, we have an intriguing setup for her learning to step back where need be and let an actual doctor take charge. But then he's killed, and we're left with business as usual.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: After a quite engaging opening where the Doctor is forced to acknowledge and apologize for her ProtagonistCenteredMorality, we have an intriguing setup for her learning to step back where need be and let an actual doctor take charge. But then he's killed, and we're left with business as usual.

** The Pting is this for some viewers instead of the above.

** When Astos tells the Doctor to take a comm-link, it sounds slightly like "take a ''condom''".

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** For people who found Thirteen's repeated insistence that she just wants to help people tiring, seeing her have a moment of selfishness where she just wants to get back to the TARDIS is a nice change for the people who found the over-earnest behavior grating.
** After three straight episodes of having flat villains, and two episodes of underdeveloped human villains, this episode gives Thirteen her first alien adversary since the Stenza, and takes time to go into the biology of the Pting, allowing the threat to be well defined and have a clear motivation.

* UglyCute: The Pting is just adorable, despite the sharp teeth.

* NarmCharm: The subplot about [[MisterSeahorse Yoss]] could easily have been goofy enough to completely derail the plot, but it manages to not overstay its welcome and deliver some good but not misplaced chuckles while also being [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments surprisingly sweet at times]].

** After three straight episodes of having {{Flat Villain}}s, and two episodes of underdeveloped human villains, this episode gives Thirteen her first alien adversary since the Stenza, and takes time to go into the biology of the Pting, allowing the threat to be well defined and have a clear motivation.

** After three straight episodes of having Flat Villains, and two episodes of underdeveloped human villains, this episode gives Thirteen her first alien adversary since the Stenza, and takes time to go into the biology of the Pting, allowing the threat to be well defined and have a clear motivation.

* MoralDissonance: The Doctor, champion of the worth of each individual life and self-determination, doesn't object to a system where androids are automatically retired when their consorts die. This seems unlikely.

* FridgeHorror: See the FreezeFrameBonus of a Weeping Angel being among the past monsters pulled up on the ship's database, then remember that any image of an Angel ''becomes'' an Angel.

* UnfortunateImplications:
** Ryan's urging someone about to have a baby they didn't plan for and don't think they can be a good parent to was seen as very anti-adoption. Several reviewers felt that the perspective of sacrificing one's own desire to be a parent for the sake of giving their child a much better life, with parent(s) who want and are prepared for a child, should have been given a voice and some respect. It might even have advanced Ryan's relationship with Graham if he'd given the perspective of a step-(grand)parent who loves a child despite having no biological ties to them.
** Non-binary folks and allies were disappointed to hear the Gifftans presented as strictly Men-have-boys and Women-have-girls, with no mention of or room for intersex or otherwise non-binary people.
** The General's android consort shutting down after her death was compared to cultures where a wife was expected to commit suicide after her husband's death or to join him on his funeral pyre still alive. It certainly implies that someone who seemed to be a wholely sentient person is considered a second-class appendage without any hopes or dreams of his own that might outlive his "real" mate.

** Non-binary folks and allies were disappointed to hear the Giftans presented as strictly Men-have-boys and Women-have-girls, with no mention of or room for intersex or otherwise non-binary people.

** Ryan's urging someone about to have a baby they didn't plan for and don't think they can be a good parent to was seen as very anti-adoption. Several reviewers felt that the perspective of sacrificing one's own desire to be a parent for the sake of giving their child a much better life, with parent(s) who want and are prepared for a child, should have been given a voice and some respect. It might even have advanced Ryan's relationship with Graham if he'd given the perspective of a step-(grand)parent who loves a child despite having no biological ties to them.

** The General's android consort shutting down after her death was compared to cultures where a wife was expected to commit suicide after her husband's death or to join him on his funeral pyre still alive. It certainly implies that someone who seemed to be a wholely sentient person is considered a second-class appendage without any hopes or dreams of his own that might outlive his "real" mate.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: For people who found Thirteen's repeated insistence that she just wants to help people tiring, seeing her have a moment of selfishness where she just wants to get back to the TARDIS is a nice change for the people who found the over-earnest behavior grating.

** After three straight episodes of having Flat Villains, and two episodes of underdeveloped human villains, this episode gives Thirteen her first alien adversary since the Stenza, and takes time to go into the biology and culture of the Pting, allowing the threat to be well defined and have a clear motivation.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: For people who found Thirteen's repeated insistence that she just wants to help people tiring, seeing her have a moment of selfishness where she just wants to get back to the TARDIS is a nice change from the people who found the over-earnest behavior grating.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: After a quite engaging opening where the Doctor is forced to acknowledge and apologize for her ProtagonistCenteredMorality, we have an intriguing setup for her learning to step back where need be and let an actual doctor take charge. But then he's killed, and we're left with business as usual.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: After a quite engaging opening where the Doctor is forced to acknowledge and apologize for her ProtagonistCenteredMorality, we have an intriguing setup for her learning to step back where need be and let an actual doctor take charge. But then he's killed, and we're left with business as usual.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: For people who found Thirteen's repeated insistence that she just wants to help people, seeing her have a moment of selfishness where she just wants to get back to the TARDIS is a nice change from the people who found the over-earnest behavior grating.
* UglyCute: The Pting is just adorable, despite the sharp teeth.