Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 3, Episodes 5-6 – “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” (2009)


(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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