Elisabeth Sladen is wonderful.

Honestly, that could be my entire review. But I’ve more thoughts on this episode so I will persist. Still, it should be reemphasized that Elisabeth Sladen is absolutely wonderful here as Sarah Jane Smith.

The Krillitanes are solid enough villains. The idea of an alien species that can change its form by adopting traits from species it has conquered is a fun one, and the creepy bat-like designs look pretty good. They’re not shown a great deal of focus in the story. However Anthony Head gives a delicious turn as Mr Finch. It feels a bit like the production knew the villains were a little thin here, but cast Anthony Head who is allowed to do his thing in the hopes that nobody notices. For me at least, this kind of works. Yes I can see there isn’t a lot of meat on the bones, but I enjoy Head’s performance enough that I can easily overlook this.

The plot involving the Skasis paradigm feels very thrown together in the last act. There is some setup to be fair, but the episode isn’t as  interested in what’s happening at the school, it is far more interested in the reunion of The Doctor and Sarah Jane(especially in the second act). This makes the final act feel pretty rushed as they have to actually establish what’s going on, resolve what’s going on, give are characters some resolution as well and setup the Sarah Jane Adventures spinoff. But at least they’re able to connect the Skasis paradigm to the emotional and thematic elements of the story. It’s not the greatest connection, but it’s better than nothing and I appreciated that it wasn’t just ‘the Doctor defeats the threat just because we need a threat for the Doctor to defeat’.

The main focus in this episode is the return of Sarah Jane Smith. The episode uses her return to examine what it means for the people the Doctor leaves behind. We’ve had episodes that explore what it means for the people Rose has left behind. But we’ve never really spent much time considering what it is like for a companion to see all the terror and wonder of the universe and go on all these brilliant adventures, only for it to one day stop and normal life has to resume. Sarah Jane might’ve spent a lot of her time post-TARDIS pining for the Doctor and their prior adventures, heartbroken that she was ‘dumped’ (literally an apt description of what happened to her, but the romantic connotations of the word are certainly not accidental) back on earth. Throughout the course of the episode she comes to terms with it. The plot involving the Skasis paradigm, is that the Krillitane are boosting the schoolkids intellect (with special school lunches) and using these genius children and their imagination to crack the paradigm, or as it’s also known the God Code. This would allow them to remake the universe how they see fit. Mr Finch tries to tempt the Doctor to their side, seeing the value in his Time Lord wisdom. He does this by saying the Doctor could remake the universe however he wanted, bringing back dead civilisations, including his own. Sarah Jane gives a speech about the power of sadness and loss. How they’re just as valuable as happiness or love and that everything has it’s time. No matter how wonderful a thing may be, it must someday end. The sadness it leaves behind can be a necessary by product of experiencing joy, love and wonder in the first place.

Unfortunately Sarah Jane’s return does lead to some catty quarrelling with Rose. Unless you count Jackie, this is the first time since its return that Doctor Who has had two women together on team TARDIS. So it’s not a great look that their initial reaction is to bicker and fight over the Doctor. There are some good things that come from this, such as Rose telling Sarah Jane that the Doctor never talks about her anymore. This was originally meant as a way to put Sarah Jane down, but later it becomes a terrifying glimpse into Rose’s potential future. If someone who used to mean this much to the Doctor is no longer worthy of mentioning, what does that mean for her place in his future? The episode also has the good sense for the two of them to make up on their own (without the Doctor’s intervention) and bond over their experiences with the Doctor. There aren’t many humans who have experienced anything like what these two have experienced on the TARDIS. So when they embrace at the end and Sarah Jane tells Rose she can always look her up if she needs her, it’s a nice moment that feels somewhat earned. However I’m not sure these good moments do enough to entirely redeem the earlier fighting. Especially for Rose, who also gives an awkwardly disapproving face when Mickey is allowed to join the team full-time at the end of the episode as a new companion. Rose spends too much of the episode seeming petty and jealous. It’s not a great look for her.

The Doctor fairs better here. This is probably the best showing for David Tennant so far in the show. He gets to be charming for much of it. His enthusiasm and delight when he first sets his eyes on Sarah Jane (and K-9) is rather infectious. We also learn that travelling with companions takes a toll on him as well. He has to watch the people he cares about age and possibly die. He’ll keep on going on adventures in his TARDIS, but he knows whenever he takes on a new companion, it’ll inevitably end in heartache as they can’t stay with him forever.

I haven’t mentioned K-9 much. I don’t have much to say. He’s a likable little robot and he gets a couple of hero moments. But for the most part he’s just a good boy.

The focus is not on K-9’s return, it’s on Sarah Jane Smith. As returns go, Elisabeth Sladen really is wonderful as Sarah Jane Smith.