This episode made me realise something that's been stealing on me for a little while now - that the show really doesn't need K9. It's supposed to be all about him, and yet he doesn't add anything, he's not at all necessary for the structure/format of the show - he's really not important at all. And, even the writers seem to forget what they're trying to do - here, they have Starky, a kid Gryffen met maybe two weeks ago, max, acting as his 'real son', while Darius, the kid who's been taking care of Gryffen for years and knows everything about him, what he needs, how to take care of him, is literally sitting Right There, not objecting to being ignored in favour of this kid he hates. What is happening.

The episode itself was fine - another pretty boilerplate concept for this kind of show, without any interesting take.