Sarah Jane Adventures, Episodes 7 & 8
Well, I'm over a week late in reviewing this, but fortunately there's lots more to say on this episode than previous ones.
So far, this has been the best story of season 2, despite the main premise (alien pendant with "careful-what-you-wish-for" power) borrowing heavily from the Torchwood story "Greeks Bearing Gifts". Somewhat related, I've noticed something of a trend with The Sarah Jane Adventures between S1 & S2:
- One Who villain recyled, to be tackled by Sarah Jane & crew (S1 was Slitheen, S2 was a Sontaran)
- A Sarah Jane "backstory" ep in story #5 (they've been making allusions to Sarah Jane's dead parents for a while now)
- Generally better episodes towards the end of the season than at the beginning. Or at least here's hoping.
This is also the first time we see Clyde's parents, and get their backstory. As it turns out, Clyde's dad left his mom and ran off with her sister. Um, yeah, quite the Jerry Springer setup. So all this time Clyde masks his pain of abandonment by becoming a jokester and getting into trouble. I can believe that, and the actor plays the irresponsible, not-quite-grown-up-himself dad very convincingly. Well, until he turns into a demon Berserker, that is. I liked the mom too - and I would imagine we'll see more of her than the dad, since he lives in Germany.
We also see a minor resurrection of the Maria character (and her dad). I'd been wondering if they were going to bring her back in some fashion, since they kept referencing her long after she "moved to America". Seems the New-Who tendency to revisit old characters has made its way onto The Sarah Jane Adventures.
In the end, the power of the alien pendant is vanquished by a heartfelt appeal from Clyde, but nothing gets "fixed" in his life. His dad is still a cad, and not likely to have "seen the light" from the awful pendant experience. Clyde also finds out he will soon have a (three quarters?)-sibling, whom his dad has just bailed on, repeating history. Hrm, all this seems kind of a messed-up of a storyline to have in a kids' show; I could see parents complaining. But who knows, I'm from America where parents complain about their kids seeing anything of the real world, so my internal gauge may be messed up.
So far, this has been the best story of season 2, despite the main premise (alien pendant with "careful-what-you-wish-for" power) borrowing heavily from the Torchwood story "Greeks Bearing Gifts". Somewhat related, I've noticed something of a trend with The Sarah Jane Adventures between S1 & S2:
- One Who villain recyled, to be tackled by Sarah Jane & crew (S1 was Slitheen, S2 was a Sontaran)
- A Sarah Jane "backstory" ep in story #5 (they've been making allusions to Sarah Jane's dead parents for a while now)
- Generally better episodes towards the end of the season than at the beginning. Or at least here's hoping.
This is also the first time we see Clyde's parents, and get their backstory. As it turns out, Clyde's dad left his mom and ran off with her sister. Um, yeah, quite the Jerry Springer setup. So all this time Clyde masks his pain of abandonment by becoming a jokester and getting into trouble. I can believe that, and the actor plays the irresponsible, not-quite-grown-up-himself dad very convincingly. Well, until he turns into a demon Berserker, that is. I liked the mom too - and I would imagine we'll see more of her than the dad, since he lives in Germany.
We also see a minor resurrection of the Maria character (and her dad). I'd been wondering if they were going to bring her back in some fashion, since they kept referencing her long after she "moved to America". Seems the New-Who tendency to revisit old characters has made its way onto The Sarah Jane Adventures.
In the end, the power of the alien pendant is vanquished by a heartfelt appeal from Clyde, but nothing gets "fixed" in his life. His dad is still a cad, and not likely to have "seen the light" from the awful pendant experience. Clyde also finds out he will soon have a (three quarters?)-sibling, whom his dad has just bailed on, repeating history. Hrm, all this seems kind of a messed-up of a storyline to have in a kids' show; I could see parents complaining. But who knows, I'm from America where parents complain about their kids seeing anything of the real world, so my internal gauge may be messed up.
Tags: doctor who
Mood: 
tired
Labels: sarah jane adventures
posted by Skunque at
9:02 AM
1 Comments
