(Some spoilers
ahead.)
The first
of two Sarah Jane Adventures stories
to feature the Doctor. Yep, Ten gets in
on the proceedings, and I basically squee the whole time as he works with the
Sarah Jane crew. Fun fact: not counting “The Day of the Doctor,” these
two episodes were the last scenes David Tennant filmed as Ten.
When
Sarah Jane starts giving lame pretexts to go off on her own, Luke, Clyde, and
Rani think something’s wrong. Given the
general craziness of their lives, they’re sure that Sarah Jane is in trouble
and needs backup. But to the contrary,
Sarah Jane is merely in love – she’s met a man who makes her happy, and when he
proposes, she accepts. Unfortunately,
Clyde and Rani have reason to believe her beau isn’t as great as he seems, a
theory further supported when the Doctor himself crashes the wedding, desperate
to halt the proceedings and, with the aid of the kids and K9, save Sarah Jane.
The
central alien plot is, by now, fairly standard Trickster fare: there’s a deadly deal, a tempting offer, and
a terrible choice to be made. Even
though we’ve seen this template before and, for my money, “What Happened to
Sarah Jane?” and “The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith” are both better stories,
the format still works here. That’s
largely down to the intense personal stakes for Sarah Jane. The Trickster knows how to hit her where it
hurts, and Elisabeth Sladen’s performance is beautifully affecting. Guest star Nigel Havers is also excellent as
Sarah Jane’s boyfriend/fiancée Peter.
Ten fits
pretty nicely into the story. He and the
rest of the cast spend most of the second episode physically separated from
Sarah Jane, trying to get to her before the Trickster can execute his plan. I love how taken the kids are with him from
the moment they meet him, sliding seamlessly into temporary companion roles,
but more than that, I love how enamored the Doctor is of them. It’s maybe slightly patronizing – I sometimes see a
bit of that in Ten’s love of humans – but for the most part, when the Doctor
says he needs their help, I believe him.
It’s good to see Luke, Clyde, and Rani get that kind of affirmation,
especially from someone as great as the Doctor.
The work they do is so secret that, outside of their own circle, they
don’t have enough people telling them how incredible they are. Furthermore, I like that, even though the
Doctor takes charge as soon as he comes onto the scene, it doesn’t suddenly
turn into The Doctor Show. He’s a big
part of the story, and he contributes to the solution, but it’s a team effort,
and everyone has their part to play.
It’s an especially good story for Clyde, who first demonstrates his
impeccable spidey sense and later takes on the bad guy in a big way.
On a side
note, this is also the first Sarah Jane story
to feature K9 in more than just a cameo/canine ex machina, and the little note
of animosity between him and Mr. Smith kills
me. I love the idea of two intelligent
computers not getting along, and although Mr. Smith’s voice is only lightly
inflected, it practically drips with derision every time he says “the
dog.” Seriously, if he had teeth, he’d
be gritting them, and K9 is kind of a smart-mouth in return. Love
it.
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