It's surprising to me that Matthew Jones came over to write an installment for Short Trips, but then “Mother’s Little Helper” is another little character piece from the perspective of an unnamed protagonist that has more interesting things to say than half of this book’s installments.  It’s a Second Doctor story set post-The War Games because the BBC Books were slowly going all in on the Season 6B idea, with the Doctor having to essentially make a choice to sacrifice a boy which has the ability to take away pain.  The obvious central idea is that we have to live with out pain, though will find ourselves surrounded with people who can dull the pain and make life worth living.  8/10.