22nd January, 2013

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 episode 8 "The Empty Planet" Part 2

     Clyde and Rani escape from their respective robots (Rani with a little help from Gavin) and gather together in the cafe they've turned into an HQ of sorts. They work out that they were spared from the mass kidnapping due to their being "grounded" by the Judoon in an earlier episode, although this still doesn't explain Gavin's presence. This disproves my alternate world theory, but it is a good tie-in with a previous adventure. This implies that whatever race is responsible for the event recognizes the authority represented by the Judoon (perhaps they recognize the Shadow Proclamation, as the Judoon have been shown to be working for them in the past).
     The robots attack again, and the kids split up to better evade their would-be captors. The robots catch up with Clyde and Rani, and use the devices on their arms to scan them (aha! I knew it was a scanner!). Using a tabloid newspaper to help the robots assimilate English, the teens are able to communicate with the robots in order to make out their purpose. The screens translate into a countdown of about 25 minutes remaining (a lot of symbols for a simple countdown if you ask me) and the invaders require the air and the sun in order to complete their mission and return the rest of humanity, although if they don't accomplish this before the countdown the people will be trapped permanently. Why, exactly, the countdown exists, and why the force behind the robots would be willing to risk sending humanity to its permanent exile remain a mystery.  Rani works out that they're searching for the "son and heir" and comes to the realization that they're searching for Gavin. Well, now they've figured out why Gavin wasn't taken, they just need to figure out where the guy ran off to before the countdown ends.
     They find Gavin using clues from his apartment, and try to explain that he's really royalty from another planet. He's wearing a ring given to him by his mother preventing his being detected by the robots (maybe the motivations of those locating him are not as noble as they may seem. The mother must've been frightened for Gavin's safety to want him to remain hidden, either from his father or from his people.) Once he removes the ring and receives the transmission that was being blocked by it he rather quickly accepts who he is and is excited to be leaving this stinking planet that has been the only home he has ever known (maybe there was some memories that had been suppressed by the mother that were revealed when he received the message from his people?). He rather leisurely bestows alien knighthoods on Clyde and Rani, the robots transport Gavin back to their ship, and decide to have a laugh by watching Clyde and Rani shit their pants by waiting until the last second before returning everyone home.
      Rani returns home with Clyde to find her father rather frantic to find out their whereabouts. Everyone jumped in time from 7 to 8:30 AM, but nobody seems to be freaking the shit out about it. Sarah Jane comes in, speaking with Luke on the phone (this is the first story we don't see him), and offers to take Clyde home after he tells her what happened. Eventually everyone gathers in Sarah's attic, where we learn that Mr. Smith has set up a cover story for Gavin, having falsified records that he moved to Australia (some guardians his aunt and uncle are turning out to be). Everyone has a chuckle over Clyde's and Rani's new found titles and another adventure comes to a conclusion.

     It was inevitable that the series would have a letdown after all the geeky goodness provided by "Death of the Doctor", but this story does an adequate job of holding its own. My wife and I enjoyed the growing signs of attraction between Clyde and Rani. Clyde's joke about starting the human race over with Rani, and her reaction were priceless. Also, following up on Clyde's and Rani's grounding by the Judoon  by using it as a major plot point here was very clever. The countdown didn't really make any sense, and was just a device to add a little suspense to the second half of the story. The motivations of the aliens could have been explained better, and the actions take by Gavin, his parents, and his guardian aunt and uncle don't really add up. Still, giving Clyde and Rani a chance to shine on their own, without the other kids and Sarah Jane was a good way to strengthen their characters, and we look forward to seeing how their relationship develops from here.