Who Review: School Reunion


Episode three was another strong entry in David Tennant’s run, although not quite up there with last week’s season highlight of ‘Tooth and Claw’. The much-publicised return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9 was a nice addition to what was already a neat little story (aliens called the Krillitane have taken over the local school and are using the children to calculate something known as the Skasis Paradigm which will enable them to “control the very building-blocks of the universe!”) The episode was evenly-paced and the characters had enough room to have a little fun amidst all the chaos and mayhem. The most touching scene came at the end when Sarah Jane implored the Doctor to say goodbye this time, to finally give her “closure”. It’s scenes like this which make the new Doctor Who a success for me. There’s real emotion, real sentiment, on the screen and that’s always a good thing.
I have to say that so far in season two, Rose seems a little ‘lost’. The first series was very much told from her point of view - she held centre stage as much as the Doctor himself. But this time around she hasn’t shown any of the traits which made us like her in the first season. I know it’s early days and there’s bound to be much more character-oriented episodes later, but I do wonder if Rose’s character has enough mileage to survive into a third season. I understand that there’s much debate about her staying or leaving at the end of this run, something which the series producers are happy to keep a mystery, but I have a feeling that Rose may not just leave at the end of season two, but die in some spectacular Doctor Who-type way that will no doubt be very moving. Then again, I may live to eat those words.
I’m really looking forward to the two-parters coming our way - the TWO Cybermen double episodes, and the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit sounds very intriguing. It’ll be nice to see if the programme-makers can achieve the heights of last year’s 'Empty Child/Doctor Dances' as well as matching, or hopefully outdoing, the season finale. So far, though, Tennant’s Doctor is growing on me with each episode, and if I remember rightly, I wasn’t that sure of Ecclestone’s Doctor until the fifth episode, ‘Dalek’, aired last year, when I realised how good the new series could be.
Can’t wait for next Saturday. Oh! for my very own Tardis!

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