An Hour of Who a Day: 02/27/15

February 27: The Lost Boy Parts One & Two (SJA)

And so here we are, the series 1 finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the focus is on Luke. Apparently he's actually a missing boy named Ashley, and once Sarah Jane finds out she has no choice but to turn him over to his parents -- even though he really doesn't want to go. Mr. Smith confirms that Luke is Ashley, with the implication being that the Bane abducted a boy and did some surgery and mental conditioning on him, rather than just growing a human clone like we all thought. This part of the story seems awfully fishy, but it never seems like writer Phil Ford ever expects us to believe that Luke is really this missing boy -- there's a gesture toward it near the beginning, but this is soon set aside in favor of more interesting things. It is, however, genuinely a surprise to see that the aliens behind this elaborate plot are the Slitheen -- the slimline suits are a good move, throwing the viewers off the trail. Of course, they're working for something called the Xylok -- although, oddly, the child Slitheen from Revenge of the Slitheen seems to be the one in charge.

It's an interesting move, making Mr. Smith secretly a villainous alien all along. This sort of "traitor" storyline tends not to work very well when shows attempt it, but this one is surprisingly effective -- after all, who would think the computer would be the villain? And they handle it well, turning Mr. Smith into the sort of gloating villain that Sarah Jane often fights, but they still manage to have their cake and eat it too, by infecting Mr. Smith with a virus that deletes the Xylok aspect of his personality while still allowing Sarah Jane to use all the useful bits. And we get K-9 back for a bit! He's fighting off Mr. Smith while Sarah Jane puts in the virus (another reason why you shouldn't set your CD drive default to "Auto-Play"), thus stopping Mr. Smith from smashing the moon into the Earth and releasing the dormant Xylok.

It's also cool how the show decides to handle Alan Jackson having learned about aliens and such at the end of last episode. He initially overreacts, declaring his intentions to move, but he's awfully quick to accept it and get involved in the action. (It also means he's even more sympathetic toward Maria and her friends when Chrissie tries to separate them.) It's really nice to see another person drawn into this world, and it's great that it's Alan. (Pity, then, that he and Maria only have one more story left.)

So The Lost Boy isn't the most exciting plot, and the moon collision stuff is a bit strange, but what really makes this story work is the character dynamics between all the regulars. It's a lot of fun to watch Clyde defend Luke and try to work out what's going on, and it's just as interesting to see Maria pull her dad into this and find evidence that the story about Ashley isn't what they think ("Maria, I told you, I don't want you here," Sarah Jane tells Maria, trying to distance herself emotionally. "They're not Luke's parents, they're Slitheen," Maria replies matter-of-factly). These relationships are what make The Lost Boy work so well.

But then that's largely been the case for this entire first series. What The Sarah Jane Adventures have really done well is develop the main characters and make us care about them. Elisabeth Sladen does an outstanding job as Sarah Jane, providing a wiser, older voice to counterbalance the younger members (although the writers do have trouble not making her seem just like the Doctor at times). And happily, the people they've gotten in to play Maria, Luke, and Clyde are all first-rate talents -- it never feels forced or painful to watch. Throw in some satisfying storylines (even if they tend to be rather light and breezy -- but that's not a bad thing either) and the result is a fine first series, and a much better claim to following in Doctor Who's footsteps than series 1 of Torchwood could make.