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bunjywunjy · 6 years

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SATAN’S BALLOON ANIMALS

guess what, it’s time for another episode of Weird Biology! today we’re going to learn about a creature that looks like a stained-glass window, but stalks the oceans with toxic might powered only by the wind like a sailing ship of old.

that’s right, it’s the devil’s own shopping bag-

the name is almost longer than the animal.

The Portuguese Man o’ War is a floating jellyfish relative called a Hydrozoan. it was named after the 18th century sailing ship, apparently by a blind person. "oh, it looks like a sailing ship under full sail” no it doesn’t, shut up. it looks like a rogue walmart shopping bag that blew into the Atlantic and makes a living by strangling innocent sea turtles.

but like the aforementioned plastic bag, the Man o’ War uses its lovely blue-purple air sac to catch the breeze. it wanders in groups through the warm waters of the Atlantic, driven along by the wind and tides. kind of poetic, really.

as long as you don’t look underwater, anyway.

I’m about to ruin it for everybody, hang on.

like so many other things in life, it’s not what you see on the surface that’s important but what is underneath that counts.

in this case, what’s underneath is up to 165 feet of venomous tentacles. it’s like that thing they say about icebergs, where you only see the top 10% and the rest is an invisible ship-killing nightmare? it’s exactly like that.

except with poison tentacles.

the Man o’ War is basically a biological fishing trawler, trailing these stupidly long tentacles like a fine mesh net through the water. and when an innocent fish who probably has a family at home comes into contact with this “net”, specialized cells called Nematocysts are triggered to fire tiny poison harpoons into the victim, causing instant death or paralysis.

the tentacle then reels itself upward into the body of the Man o’ War like a fishing line, dragging its helpless victim upward to be digested.

so, uh, actually not like a fishing trawler then, not like a fishing trawler at all.

unless the fishing trawler was designed by Junji Ito.

though the Man o’ War may look like a jellyfish, it’s definitely not. in fact, it’s not even a single animal! it’s actually four separate organisms jammed into a venomous trenchcoat like three best friends trying to sneak into an R rated movie.

“how the fuck even”, I hear you say. and that’s a valid question! it’s not everyday that we discover that what we thought was a single animal is actually four smaller animals living communally to form a larger, more dangerous animal. it would be like discovering that opossums are actually comprised of 17 rats each.

no word on if they do a silly dance and tap their fingers together to fuse or what though.

in the Man o’ War’s case, these four individual kinds of “polyps” that comprise the complete final form are the air sac polyp (gets the gang around), the digestive polyp (converts murdered fish into energy for the whole gang), the reproductive polyp (makes small clones of each individual gang member), and the tentacle polyp (murders things indiscriminately for the sheer joy of it).

that’s right, the tentacles are a separate animal! you might be wondering if they sometimes come loose, wander off, and just sting people/animals randomly when they drift into populated areas. what a silly question!

yeah, happens all the time.

SHIT.

while rarely fatal, Man o’ Wars stings can seriously injure humans. this is a big problem in areas where Man o’ Wars are common, because storms and predators can knock the tentacles right the fuck off. the tentacles drift away, only to wash ashore and sting a hapless beachgoer weeks later. that’s right, rogue tentacles can still sting for days or weeks after separation! even if the Man ‘o War is beached! isn’t that neat! fuck!

the discovery of a beached Man o’ War usually closes the entire fucking beach, for this reason. would YOU want to go fuck around in the sand if it might be full of over a hundred feet of poison spaghetti too fine to notice with the naked eye?

if the answer is yes, I have great news about a bridge I'd like to sell you.

if all this information upset you, I’d like to offer my deepest condolences. but buckle up for one last upsetting fact, and here it is: Man o’ War are spreading.

usually restricted to warm waters, climate change has driven the Man o’ War as far north as Great Britain. that’s awful awful awful news for any country that touches the Atlantic ocean, which is lots of them.

luckily, we have dependable allies in this fight: sea turtles and the Mola Mola! (which I’ve written about before) unfortunately just about all we can do at this point is to cheer these awesome devil-balloon-munchers on from the safety of shore, while trying to invent a Man o’ War-proof barrier net.

for now, watch out for anything that looks like a floating plastic bag.

and for god’s sake, watch where you step.

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thanks for reading! you can find the rest of the Weird Biology series here.

if you enjoy my work, maybe buy me a coffee or check out my Patreon to see extra content and support Weird Biology.

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IMAGE SOURCES

img1- National Geographic img2- The Garden of Eadon img3- Sean Nash img4- Enrico Villa img5- livescience.com img6- diply.com img7- Daily Mail img8- Sun Sentinel

#jellyfish #portuguese man of war #weird #ocean #biology with bunjy

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by-naarus-light · 4 years

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Every 8.3 Rare drop mount!!! Now I just need Mail Muncher from the visions and I got everything that doesn’t require M+, Raid, or currency.

#BNL's Mount Collection

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dykes · 4 years

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i take back everything bad ive ever said abt world of warcraft. finally got the mail muncher. (and a void-scarred pup in the same run)

#world of warcraft #also maxed out my cape which id :l neglected to do for so long lmao

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jozeprodan · 5 years

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Excerpts from an interview with Mukseet of New Zealand

In my opinion, voices like this should be front and centre as we grapple with the racism and hatred and intolerance that led to the terrorist attack in Christchurch last week. We must listen. We must learn. We must grow. We must do better. “There are better, more intelligent people than me who will more eloquently and articulately explain the background and repercussions of what happened on Friday. So I just wanted to say a few things not as any authority or expert, but as me; a Muslim immigrant, a New Zealander. “Growing up as a brown boy, and (especially post 9/11) as a Muslim in New Zealand, I’ve always experienced racism in various forms. Kids calling me curry muncher or terrorist, telling me my clothes smell or laughing at my oily hair. From being excluded from playing Catch and Kiss (in hindsight, what a f*ing terrible game) to Tinder profiles that say ‘no Indians’ (something which, technically, I am not, so you know I’m swiping right). I’ve also been followed and yelled at by white men in cars while I went for a run (maintaining my fit bod), and had to remain calm while my mum has been harassed in the street and in the shops for wearing her hijab. I’ve helped clean swastikas off the wall of my local mosque, and I’ve picked up mail from my letter box only to find messages telling me to go back to where I came from. “All of the above; plus being pushed, shoved, yelled at, stared at, laughed at, and whispered about (lets not even get into how drastically the number of call backs I got from potential employers jumped when I changed from Mukseet to ‘Muks’). “The point of this isn’t to show you some sort of twisted résumé of abuse, but just to highlight that this is New Zealand, and this shit happens. All the time, and not just to me, or brown people, or Muslim people. It happens to my Samoan mates, to my Hindu friends, and my queer friends. It happens to all of us.

“But you’ll find me in Massey. For the last 25 years, and the next 25. Not London or Melbourne, but Massey. Because, as I did on Thursday, and on my way to Juma prayer on Friday, and as I do sitting here on a Sunday; I genuinely believe that Aotearoa is the greatest place on earth. Just this morning my mum came home from her morning walk and she looked stoked, big ole smile from cheek to cheek. Before I got a chance to ask her what was going on, the phone rang (as it has been, non-stop for the last 3 days) and she picked up. “I watched my mum bursting with pride as she recounted to my aunty in Bangladesh the story of how she went for a walk this morning, and a white woman came up to her, greeted her as a friend, took her hands and said ‘I’m so sorry for your loss’. “In these, the worst of times, the best in people has really been brought into sharp focus. The messages of support and love that I (and all my homies) have received over the last couple of days has been overwhelming and incredibly humbling. Your messages mean a lot. Your support means a lot. They have brought me to tears, helped to keep me grounded, and brought me back from some really dark places. But if I’m to be honest; they’re not enough. Action is so much harder than apathy. But look where apathy and complacency got us. “In these times when hate and bigotry no longer have to hide in the shadows; listen to minorities, talk to those around you, if you hear someone spouting hate, call that shit out. Rally your politicians and leaders. Be that lady in the park. “I don’t have anything to say about the victims and those who survive them. I have no words, nothing to add that will bring any semblance of comfort. I weep for you, and I pray for you, and I hope that your sacrifice has not been in vain. ‘Verily, with every hardship, there is relief.’ (94:6)”

#christchurch #new zeland #terrorist attack #chats #sjprodan #muslim

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askdawnandvern · 5 years

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Gazelle: Well, I'd be lying if I didn't admit I've lost some fans since I went public with my relationship with Finnick.

Finn: Some fans.

Gazelle: Some of them just crushed I'm spoken for, while others purely disgusted of my 'choice' to pursue a pred-prey relationship. But in the long run, it hasn't really affected ticket and album sales, or the overwhelming good will from the rest of my fan base. Of course, that doesn't mean we haven't recieved hate mail, or been yelled at during fan meets.

Finn: It's hard to hold back when one of those dung-munchers shows thier snout at a fan-meet. I just want to tear into them...

Gazelle: I know Mi pequeño amor.

Finn: But bein' a cop I gotta bite my tongue and keep cool. Last thing I need is to get arrested myself.

Gazelle: Security does a fine job baby.

Finn: As for me, I've been mostly shifted back to standard patrols since Gabbi went public with us. After all, it's sort of hard to play the role of an undercover agent when attached to one of the most famous mammals in Zootopia. Needless to say, I've been relying more on the full body cover, prop costumes when I do get the call.

Gazelle: I'm sorry baby.

Finn: Acceptable cost Babe. A more than acceptable cost.

#Zootopia #askdawnandvern #ask blog #Gazelle #finnick zootopia #Assistant Mayor Bellwether #wastedtimeee

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miastrouse206884-blog · 5 years

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Best Top 20 Italian Vegan Restaurants Around You

These are like ground beef, only designed from soy. You can use them to make tacos, chili, spaghetti, anything you would use floor beef in. I use them in chili and have served it to a number of folks devoid of telling them what it was, and they believed it was actually floor beef. Turn the thermostat 5 degrees vegan product colder at evening. Heap some further blankets on the mattress in the evenings and change down the warmth a very little decrease. You'll reduce your power invoice along with the temperature, and there's one thing beautifully cozy about sleeping less than a huge pile of blankets. It's also 1 of the most vegan product and vegetarian friendly areas I've ever visited. Vegetarian foods is the emphasis of many fashionable eating places, foodstuff stalls in outside marketplaces, and road sellers who supply flavored tofu. Family members in Taipei, I was informed, will visit vegetarian dining places generally to include wide variety to their eating. The foods is very exceptional and inventive given that they use a lot of forms of tofu and all sorts of mushrooms. Instead of merely serving our shopper's with savour vegan dishes we go for approaching our consumer's with gentle empathy. An effortless establish from the dish with the idea of vegan could sound relatively unappealing. Given that men and women take in using their eyes initial as a substitute of mouth they validate and emphasize the identify irregardless of dish wandering how it may possibly flavor or glance. So we rephrased our dish with delicate hints. That is the genuine location in which kick was necessary. Related adjust and our cafe to be a strike. Instead of perplexing her a lot more, or even continuing the conversation, I just smiled and repeated myself; I just didn't want the eggs. I wasn't going to eat them and didn't want them squandered in my food. That she appeared to understand and apologized for the combine up. Sf Vegan Drinks is open up to most people, no matter whether you have been a vegan your overall lifetime or are new to the fold. If you are new to the vegan strategies, you may well need to have a tiny support and a number of recipe suggestions so head out to rub elbows with your fellow plant munchers. I believe that you have to establish what will work for you and adhere to it as a lot as possible. When you have virtually any issues regarding wherever as well as tips on how to work with turismo vegano E Vegetariano, you can e mail us in our web-page. If you come to feel deprived all the time, your existence is not heading to be what it ought to be. You don't want to constantly be emotion eat vegan responsible mainly because you had a slice of cooked bread or a cooked vegetable. eat vegan Dr. Berneathy is very well schooled in all of these parts. He is an ample wealth of information and I made a decision to consider him on as a consumer. These regions of excess weight decline intrigued me and still I questioned how I could implement these regulations to my existence. Medifast Shakes: Medifast has turn into one of the most popular eat vegan plan programs currently primarily because they make it super easy for you to comply with their plan. I will not acquire credit rating absent from them, they have aided so numerous individuals to drop body weight and I hope they assist a lot of a lot more. Nevertheless, their shakes don't seriously incorporate sufficient vitamins to be meal alternative shakes and they have Acesulfame K. Is go back again to the basic principles of food items. Vegetarians take in, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds. That's it. They care about what goes into their bodies. So when you Know what sort of vegetarian you are serving, or want to be, the up coming concern is what do I prepare? Do You make 3 vegetable dishes and get in touch with it day? No, way! I am vegetarian, and believe that me, you can be vegetarian and eat virtually anything! Listed here's the easy way to make a meal. The upcoming time you are in the grocery store, go down the pure food or must I say, organic food items aisle. Regardless of what you find in the typical foodstuff aisles, you can locate in the natural part. If you reside in Upstate New York, then the ideal location to go would be Wegmans. They have the greatest, in my viewpoint, organic and natural food part . The base line is that you require to concentrate on wholesome strategies, and numerous of right now's approaches simply are very risky if not downright suicidal to your overall health. These are just a number of you want to avoid, and make confident to by no means do any of the above at all charges. Phase 3 is the Consolidation stage. Throughout this stage, you can get pleasure from starches like breads, fruits and pastas. You can have also two totally free foods for each and every 7 days. Throughout these "free meals," you can have any food items that you like, but you shouldn't go mad, and eat excessively. Just have generally sized meals, that are some thing that you genuinely appreciate vegan product . The main motive our Italian cafe is hanging up to vegan product and vegan variations for a lot of meat fares is since of elevated in profits. By bringing veganise goods our profits raised by 153%25 although expenditures food items diminished to fifty eight%twenty five. Progressively additional thirty%twenty five turnover is due to weddings. And are positive that our profits will most likely increase in coming many years simply because of trending vegan principle. Each single meat enthusiasts who tried our vegan meals had been somewhat comfy consuming hereafter.

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timeagainreviews · 6 years

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The Doctor needs a medic!

Clarification: I did a little research after my article last week. That "sister," line from Arachnids was still getting to me. As an American living in the UK, I was unaware of the fact that head nurses were still called sisters, despite them no longer being nuns. So it turns out that the Doctor wasn’t implying she used to be a female, but rather than she was using sexist outdated language. Cool… cool. Can’t decide which is worse. I mean, she is a bit old. Perhaps she’s a bit old fashioned as well. I’d keep an eye on her if she starts reading the Daily Mail.

We’re now at the halfway point of the series. Five episodes in, and I would say this one was, if nothing else, fairly solid. "The Tsuranga Conundrum" may be one of my favourite episodes of the series thus far, and it’s a bottle episode! However, while Chris Chibnall wrote the episode, the alien threat in it was actually devised by writer Tim Price, so it was a bit of a group effort. It would appear, however, that the real antagonist of this story… is time.

In an odd way, the opening shot of the episode had me thinking of the previous "Arachnids in the UK," with its giant landfill. I almost wondered if they weren’t actually rooting around underground Sheffield. Instead we’re on a planet called "Seffilun 27," in what the Doctor refers to as a "junk galaxy." The planet seems to be covered in junk as far as the eye can see. I was reminded a bit of House from "The Doctor’s Wife," with all of the junk from discarded TARDISes lying around. The Doctor has Team TARDIS sweeping for junk she can use for unspecified Doctory stuff. Instead of finding the desired gadget, Graham discovers a sonic mine that lands them all in the hospital.

The hospital is your typical Doctor Who style futuristic building, all white and sleek. It’s what you’d expect, but there’s a bit more than meets the eye. The Doctor is the last to wake up and feels pretty awful. You can already tell it’s going to be a handicap for her throughout the episode. I was reminded of regeneration episodes where the Doctor is "still cooking," and has to deal with a bit of pain. Nothing really comes from the pain other than a bit of added suspense, which is all fine and good. This is not the only handicap the Doctor will face throughout the episode.

The two attending medics are Astos and Mabli. Both are young, attractive, and seem very capable at their jobs. The Doctor discovers from Astos, the head medic, that they have spent the last four days on a medical ship called the Tsuranga (as opposed to a hospital) on its way to a space station called Resus 1. This causes the Doctor to panic. She’s left her TARDIS behind on a junk planet, where people scavenge, and she’s "only just got it back!" However, Astos reminds her that the ship needs to reach it’s destination for the health and wellbeing of the ship’s passengers. It’s a reasonable argument and the Doctor can’t deny it.

Among the patients on the ship, other than the Doctor and her friends, is Eve Cicero, a famous pilot and general, accompanied by her brother Durkas and android assistant Ronan. There’s also a pregnant man named Yoss (YOSSSSS GAGA! Sorry, had to) who is about to pop. Eve has Ronan manipulating the less experienced Mabli to provide her with adrenaline blockers, all behind both Astos and her brother’s backs. Yoss’ species’ gestation period of about a week, hasn’t given him much time to come to terms with being a father. His anxiety is even further exacerbated by the fact that his pregnancy was the result of a bit of fun at a party. Ryan, who grew up with an absentee father, seems to latch onto this, despite his initial reaction to a pregnant man.

The Doctor can’t turn the vessel around to pick up her TARDIS as it’s locked in on a path, auto-piloted. It only seems to pick up people in distress along the way, acting as a space ambulance. To make matters worse, the ship will be detonated if anyone tampers with it, in case of a hijacking, which seems a bit extreme. Other reasons it may be detonated, would be for quarantine reasons, or if it posed a threat to anyone. Which seems like as good a time as any to introduce our alien threat- Item Seven Alpha Cubed, otherwise known as "Pting." (Probably named after the sound the hull of a ship makes whenever it turns up.)

This marks the second week in a row where the reveal of the baddie has made me react with an "Awww!" Look at that little face! What a little cutie. Sadly, that little cutie just caused the death of Astos, as it caused the escape pod he was inside to evacuate, and detonate. I’m not 100% sure why it actually detonated, even without life support. Is part of a ship’s life support system allotted to the not-exploding of things? Regardless though, the Pting isn’t really hostile like a Dalek is hostile, it just seems a bit hungry! It doesn’t seem to eat organic matter, though it makes a right meal of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. The cosplayer in me was worried I was going to have to order a whole new piece for a second, but it coughed it right back up! Though it no longer seems to work. Another handicap.

The Pting is a rather resilient little creature. General Cicero had encountered them before as one “massacred” her entire fleet. Their skin is toxic to the touch and unbreakable. It can survive the vacuum of space, and it seems to enjoy eating anything. Think of a mix between a tardigrade, a Gremlin, and Nibbler. The Doctor must stop it from destroying the life support (see: anti-exploding device), and also from alerting the people back on Resus 1 from detonating the ship as well. They also need to keep the little muncher away from the ship’s anti-matter generator, so the heat is on!

One of the things I’ve been paying close attention to this series is whether the companions are utilised properly. The decision to have three over the usual one is something of a self-imposed challenge. Writing for an ensemble is far more difficult than the usual duo. Even classic Doctor Who struggled to balance three companions at times. I mentioned previously Nyssa’s TARDIS naps. Graham gets a nice little moment where he questions Durkas as to why he’s looking into his sister’s medical records. His friendly, yet direct approach was as though he was channelling the Doctor. He seems to be taking her example to heart. Yaz gets put on guard duty with Ronan, protecting the anti-matter generator. And Ryan and Graham both get a bit of screen time as doulas helping Yoss through labour. I had my second "Awww!" moment when Yoss requested other men be there as support. It was cute, shut up.

While Yaz and Ryan were gathering up the people on the ship for an emergency meeting, they have a little heart to heart in a corridor. I couldn’t help but feel like this bit felt tacked on. The ship is in danger, and they stop to talk about how Ryan’s mum died. It stopped the momentum of the episode cold in its tracks. The only reason I can think they added it in at this point, was because they couldn’t think of a better place to put it. They needed to divulge Ryan’s backstory so they could tie it in with Yoss’ fatherhood. This seemed more of a writing choice than a directing choice. It’s fine, really, but not very graceful.

There were some really good Doctor moments in this episode. I loved her claim that she has a doctorate in Lego. It’s funny because in my classic-Who rewatch, I’m currently on "The Edge of Destruction," and the Doctor’s speech about anti-matter reminded me a bit of the First Doctor’s monologue about the formation of galaxies. I will say though, it fell short of some of the better Doctor monologues we’ve had in the past. Regardless, it was nice to see the Doctor nerd out on science and show her passion a little. My only real issue with the Doctor’s characterisation in this episode stems, once again, from her morality.

Chris Chibnall doesn’t seem to know what his Doctor’s stance on guns actually is. It’s not ok to shoot robots or dying spiders, but it’s way okay to shoot the Pting? Yaz and Ronan are both given staser guns to guard the generator. While I am glad to see such an old reference return (as well as the stethoscope!), I’m once again confused by what Chibnall considers an ok time to shoot something. Funnily enough, this episode is exactly how I think the Doctor’s attitude toward guns should be portrayed. Nothing can really kill the Pting, so it’s really tantamount to a Star Trek officer using a stun setting. But the main idea was that the gun was used as a defence, to protect life and because it was the best option. That should always be the Doctor’s attitude toward guns- are they the best option? The best hope? She’s a Doctor of hope, so of course, she always looks for the best option, but she’s not stupid either. In a lot of ways, that’s what she’s done this series when it comes to guns. But it’s in the dialogue where her aims get muddled. I agree with Chibnall. The Doctor should have a disdain for guns. Guns are the end of hope in most cases. But sometimes River shoots the Silence, Leela shoots some guys in a corridor, and the Brigadier holds off an invasion.

With Astos dead, it’s up to Mabli to take control of the situation, which in her case means considering what’s best for her patients. With Yoss in labour, she needs to help him deliver his baby. Wisely, she allows the Doctor to do what she needs to do to save everyone’s lives. With the Pting eating at the ship's systems, they decide they need to find a quicker way to get to Resus 1. They must fly the ship themselves, which will also alert the security protocols, causing it to detonate, but one thing at a time. The Doctor finds a way to bypass the ship’s auto-pilot and has Durkas, an engineer, build a makeshift neural interface with the piloting system. It’s revealed that due to her years of flying with a neural interface, Eve has developed a condition known as "Pilot’s Heart." Due to this, adrenaline has built up in her system. One big jolt could stop her heart and kill her. The Doctor offers to fly the ship, but Eve insists she’s the best woman for the job, despite the dangers involved.

Around this time Ryan and Graham are learning to rise to the occasion as doulas. Yoss is in full labour panic mode, and needs his guys there to cheer him on! Yaz and Ronan have to grapple with the Pting. After stunning it unconscious, Yaz wraps it in a blanket and bends it like Beckham down the corridor. Go Yaz! The Doctor enters the scene looking for the ship’s detonation device. Clearly, a ship in deep space is too far away for missiles, so the bomb must be onboard. It’s a bit contrived that such a device would exist, but the aforementioned reasons are fine. Whatever. Around this time, the sonic screwdriver boots itself back up, and the pieces all come together for the Doctor. The Pting isn’t eating matter, it’s eating energy.

The Doctor and Yaz locate the bomb and move it to an airlock. She speeds up the detonation so that the building energy attracts the Pting, and just before the device explodes, the Pting swallows it whole, with an adorable look of delight on its little face from the warm glow its tummy. Seriously, as Who monsters go, this thing is freaking cute. The Doctor ejects it from the airlock, and that’s two threats taken care of in one go. Two birds, one stone.

The imminent threat of piloting the ship still looms. While hooked into the interface, Eve was able to control the ship, despite the less than ideal conditions. But without any more adrenaline blockers onboard, her heart gives out on her. She dies a hero, but her work is unfinished. Durkas must now rise to the occasion as a Cicero. It’s more of a poetic solution than logical. Being related to a pilot somehow makes you a better candidate to fly the ship than the Doctor herself. But he does a fine enough job as he flies them to safety.

Yoss has his little boy, Avocado, and Ryan and Graham seem like they’re getting along, but Ryan leaves Graham’s fist bump hanging. And I gotta say, what the hell is Ryan’s deal still? I mean, come on man. He’s stopped asking you to call him granddad, but you could at least give the dude a fist bump. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to think Ryan is being a bit of a dick toward Graham. Perhaps he’s closed off because the men in his life have abandoned him, but this is getting ridiculous. They’ve been through five onscreen adventures, and several offscreen adventures at this point. They’ve been through a lot, to put it lightly. Travelling with the Doctor should be far more of a bonding experience. While it is better to show than tell, Ryan’s standoffishness to Graham is getting old. Graham seems to take it in stride though. You’ve gotta give him credit for that.

Now on Resus 1, Ronan will probably shut down with nobody left to serve. Durkas apologises for not being kinder to him in the past. It’s weird that the Doctor doesn’t offer to take him to some sort of android planet or something. I kind of expected it. Yoss has decided to keep Avocado. Ryan, who was a big part in this decision, helped him come to grips with the idea of being a father by telling him that a father doesn’t need to be perfect, he just needs to be there. The Doctor and her friends are given assurances that they’ll be taken back to the TARDIS after they give their statements. The episode ends with Ronan reciting a kind of litany that Durkas, Yoss, and surprisingly the Doctor all know by heart. All in all, it’s not a bad way to leave the episode. In comparison to last week, there is far more of a feeling of resolution.

As I said, this episode was pretty solid. But one of the things I’m still holding out to see from this series is Jodie’s big "wow," moment. This is in no way me saying she has failed to wow me as the Doctor. I’ve not hidden my total joy over her performance. What I am waiting for is for the fury to come out. Christopher Eccleston spent a good chunk of his series being either sad, bossy, or silly. But when the episode "Dalek," came around, we got to see another side to his Doctor- his scary side! How about with the Tenth Doctor doomed the Family of Blood to an eternity of torture? Or how about when Eleven stared down his companions with intimidating eyes because he could see they were lying to him? I’m still waiting for Thirteen to get scary. We saw it come out in a microscopic amount when she warned Krasko not to threaten her. But I’m still waiting for that moment.

Thus far she’s been a rather friendly and forgiving Doctor. She’s shown more compassion than contempt. I’m waiting for one of the writers to give us a truly morally ambiguous moment of the Doctor. And no, having conflicting morality about guns doesn’t count! I was hoping that this episode would be the one. We would finally get that truly contemptible villain, and we’d get to see her dark side come out. If they’re going to make the brave decision of excluding Daleks and other classic baddies, we deserve a new one of the same calibre. What this episode gave us instead, was a pretty solid base in peril episode. I won’t fault it for not being the big evil monster I was hoping for, because what we got instead was pretty effective.

Again, we’re only halfway in. There’s plenty of time to up the stakes. We need a good dose of danger. I’d like to see some more planet threatening terror. We need more timeline meddling other than one racist pissing in the wind against change. But despite the lack of fear, this episode had one thing going for it above all else. This episode had a lot of heart. It may not have been a heart-stopping thrill ride, but in there were real moments of joy. Having a threat that was so cute was actually a welcome surprise. It wasn’t trying to be a big bad villain. Here’s to hoping that the second half of series eleven amps up the danger factor!

#Doctor Who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #chris chibnall #pting #ryan sinclair #yasmine khan #yaz #graham o'brien #the Tsuranga conundrum #series 11 #bbc #tardis #sonic screwdriver #time and time again

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