This was
the first story that made me realize that The
Sarah Jane Adventures could be more than a mild diversion. While I liked all the main characters from
the start, the alien plots weren’t much to write home about – Mrs. Wormwood was
all “The Invasion of the Bane” had going for it, and “Revenge of the Slitheen”
had even less to recommend it than the Slitheen’s introductory two-parter in
series 1 of new Who. “The Eye of the Gorgon,” though, showed me
what the series could do.
Maria
could use a distraction from her confusing home life (her mom is staying over
after a tiff with her boyfriend, blurring boundaries and giving Maria false
hope that she might be back for good,) and Sarah Jane is quick to offer one in
the form of an article she’s writing on a bit of local interest: residents at a nearby nursing home are
claiming to have seen the “ghost” of a nun.
The staff writes it off as a little attention-seeking from “the old
dears,” but this being The Sarah Jane
Adventures, it of course turns out to be more than that. Before the gang knows it, a resident who’s
not as far gone as everyone says she is has given Luke an alien artifact for
safekeeping, which leads to him and Clyde being menaced by the sisters of a
mysterious convent with a dark secret.
I’m
always a sucker for stories about Earth mythology that turns out to have an
alien truth behind it, so the Gorgon makes for an intriguing baddie here –
bonus points for making full use of said mythology! The story has a nice, eerie feel to it, and
it gives us a really memorable one-shot character in Bea, the woman who gives
Luke the talisman. It’s such a neat idea
for a character. Someone who’s had
extraordinary alien encounters but who’s dismissed as “dotty” isn’t too
original, but when it’s complicated by the fact that the person really does
have dementia, making the lines between what’s real and what’s not fuzzier, it
gets a lot more interesting (Phyllida Law does an affecting, bang-up job with
this character.)
But while
this story steps up its game on the “alien plot” front, it’s still the
characters, relationships, and interactions that make it for me. I like Maria’s storyline showing the hard
impact her mom’s careless actions have had on her, and how even her dad
(all-around excellent father and generally painted by the show as the “good
guy” in the divorce) has contributed unknowingly to Maria’s feelings of sadness
and loss. Maria’s struggles
inadvertently get tangled up in the alien goings-on, forcing Maria to pull out
all the stops to save her dad. Putting
in a bit of very real danger specific to him is good because it makes Maria
take stock of what she’s doing with Sarah Jane, realizing the truth of the
stakes involved here. For her part,
Sarah Jane is a very good adult friend, first providing support for Maria’s
distress at her family situation, and later allowing Maria to vent her
frustrations and fears toward her (Sarah Jane) before calmly assuring Maria
that they’ll find their way out of this, because they always do.
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