Not sure how I managed it, but I completely missed posting a Sunday Who Review last week, even though I had this review locked and loaded. To make up for it, I'll put up this post now and come back with another a little later in the day.
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Thinking
back on my initial viewing of this episode, this was the first time Ten really
clicked for me as a Doctor. He had the
misfortune of being my first regeneration, and I’d previously viewed him as the
slightly smug interloper who took my wonderful Nine away. After “School Reunion,” though, I was able to
start warming up to him.
Mickey
calls in Rose and the Tenth Doctor to investigate strange goings-on at a
school, and team TARDIS is on the case.
Both go undercover (the Doctor in the classroom and Rose, to her
annoyance, in the cafeteria,) and as they look into strange behavior,
mysterious disappearances, and unexplainable knowledge, they happen across
someone else who’s investigating the exact same thing: one Sarah Jane Smith.
I didn’t
know Sarah Jane the first time I saw this episode. I obviously got from the context that she was
a former companion, and her story about struggling to move on after life with
the Doctor was affecting enough then.
But now that I’ve seen the classic series, now that The Sarah Jane Adventures has happened, now that Elisabeth Sladen
is no longer with us, it just fills my heart to see her here. The Doctor’s face when he sees her, her face when she sees the TARDIS,
rattling off her credentials to Rose, asking the Doctor why he never came back,
K9(!) – it’s all just amazing.
Thematically,
it’s a great episode for all the characters.
The Doctor is confronted with the sort of hard truth that he usually
prefers to ignore, having to deal with the fact that Sarah Jane was hurt when
he left. Rose starts to deal with the
sobering thought of the future, wondering if the Doctor will one day speak of
her as little as he speaks of Sarah Jane now (I love the conversation she has
with the Doctor about this and his reminder, “You can spend the rest of your
life with me. But I can’t spend the rest
of mine with you.” Is it a little emo? Yes, but still so good.) And Mickey sets out to prove his worth, to
both himself and the Doctor and Rose, demonstrating that he’s more than the
“tin dog.”
Oh, and
did I mention the chief baddie is played by the splendid Anthony Head (Giles!),
‘cause he is. Head is masterful as Mr.
Finch, the deliciously-wicked headmaster/alien in disguise. His performance is so creepy – he remains one
of my all-time favorite villains on the show who convey their alienness purely
through acting, with no prosthetics or CGI.
Also, this is Toby Whithouse’s first writing effort with the show, and
as a result, Mr. Finch is a villain who offers a lot of insight into the
Doctor. Their tête-á-tête by the school
swimming pool is a standout scene: two
powerful aliens meeting for a parlay, discussing what’s to come. (That scene right there is a big part of the
reason Ten started to work for me.)
If I have
a complaint about this episode, it’s that the Doctor-Sarah Jane past
relationship is framed a bit too romantically for my taste, and the
insecurities between her and Rose come across, like Mickey says, as “The Mrs.
and the Ex” squabbling over their man.
It feels oversimplistic for the Doctor-companion relationship in
general, and no one really comes out of these exchanges looking good. Also, what’s up with the Doctor taunting
Mickey when he freaks out over an unpleasant discovery? It’s annoying to do it anyway, but comparing
him to “a little girl” with “pigtails and a frilly skirt” is just obnoxious (to
Mickey and little girls.) Come on!
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