The Nightmare Man is now free, but he doesn't seem to be interested in immediately taking over the world; he's more interested in flexing his powers a bit, which involves giving nightmares to Rani and Clyde as well as Luke. This also touches upon some deep childhood fears: Clyde's nightmare involves being unsuccessful and forgotten, taunted by Sarah Jane as a senile bag lady, while Rani's involves turning on the people she considers friends, exposing them on television as a journalist. They're both realistic nightmares that still tie in with the main story, and so they're very successful as a result.
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The Nightmare Man is pulled into a nightmare of his own creation.
(The Nightmare Man Part Two) ©BBC |
And it's fitting, in what appears to be Luke's final story as a main member of the cast, that the main message is that Luke, Clyde, and Rani are unstoppable as a team: "This world has faced so many nightmares but there's always been someone there to stop them," Luke tells the Nightmare Man. "Us. You know, I was so scared because I thought my mates wouldn't be there for me. Never mind Oxford, they followed me into my nightmares. Three kids breaking down the walls of dreams to be together. Something no one's ever done. Because together, we're unbeatable." It's a positive message, telling us that friendships are the most powerful thing in the universe, and it's a message that's worth hearing more often, I think. It also means that Luke can head to Oxford, secure in the knowledge that his friends are still with him, even if they're not in the same location.
This is a strong opener for series 4, with a thoughtful script, a sufficiently scary enemy, and some great acting from the regulars. It's a reaffirmation of what makes this show so good, and it's a great sign of what the future has in store for
The Sarah Jane Adventures: even if Luke won't be around as much, the team on Bannerman Road will still be a force to be reckoned with.
Over on
K-9, "Robot Gladiators" opens with a surprisingly ambitious sequence for the series: trying to make things look both like a fun entertainment show (the captions) and a sort of film noir/gangster film. They actually continue down this road for a while, with each of the gang heading undercover in Frankie Maxwell's illegal robot fighting ring to find some evidence that they can use to shut it down. It's actually quite fun, and while K-9's initial complaints about being stuck with primitive robots are amusing, even he warms up to them.
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K-9 and the Pain Maker square off in the ring. ("Robot Gladiators")
©Screen Australia, Pacific Film and Television Commission Pty
Limited, Park Entertainment Limited, Cutting Edge Post Pty
Limited, and Metal Mutt Productions Pty Limited |
Sadly, it does get less interesting when we learn who's really behind things (no prize for guessing who), although there is a nice moment where Thorne contemptuously wonders if they thought their ruse was remotely believable -- as I was wondering the same thing (since isn't Jorjie meant to be 14?), this was nice confirmation that at least someone was thinking about things. But the whole thing is apparently a ruse to gain access to K-9's regenerative capabilities: the Pain-Maker will either beat K-9 up or blow him up, but either way the Department wants access. Of course it doesn't work and everything ends well, but to its credit, "Robot Gladiators" does leave us with a lingering question: how exactly
did Thorne know about K-9's capabilities? Is Gryffen's house bugged? Or is there a spy in their midst? This is a question that will hopefully be explored in the future, but as for now it's left unanswered.
For the first half, "Robot Gladiators" is a surprisingly good episode that's actually trying to do something a bit different. As a result, it's not surprising that when it slips back into the tired old routine at the end we feel a sense of disappointment. But, at least for a little bit,
K-9 flirted with being something different, and the result was better than normal.
