When Sarah Jane returns a boy who has slipped through a time fissure to 1951, she realises she has found a way to meet the parents she never knew. Is it a trap? Sarah Jane and Luke fall victim to a revenge plot by the Trickster.
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This one is just so emotional and a standout from SJA for me. So well written
This is an amazing episode and, as @Blossom said, it is really well written. I love that SJ is the one who causes the problem in this. It would have been so easy to have her be “the Doctor” of this series, but instead, they make her flawed in a good way.
This is such a gorgeous episode, the emotional beats are all perfect and I love Sarah sooooo much <3
but! omg why could they not have found her a fractionally nicer 50s outfit 
A masterpiece and one of the only Whoniverse pieces of media that can consistently make me cry with every watch. I love how nightmarish it all is.
Another excellent story and a rare insight into the actual history of a companion:
I’ll get my one sort of negative out of the way immediately. This episode feels very similar to Fathers Day from S1 of NuWho. I mean most of the basic plot beats are the same in that SJ/Rose go back in time to meet their currently deceased parent(s), prevent the car accident that kills them, Timey Wimey badness happens and is ulimately resolved when the parents realise that SJ/Rose is their daughter and sacrifice themselves to save the day. But this is only sort of a negative, because whilst it does feel a little derivative, it’s also really good.
But if you’re going to basically remake a DW episode, at least they picked a good one and on top of that they found some ways to make this story feel distinct. Not least having the Trickster be the villain here. He’s such a fun bad guy with a really interesting hook. I’d love for this franchise to bring him back at some point.
Anyway this episode is really strong, the villain is obviously great, the 50s setting looks nice, the plot beats are emotionally effective and the performances are excellent, in particular from Elisabeth Sladen who really hits every beat with a real melancholic charm. It’s nice that she causes the problems here, I love it when the protagonist is allowed to be messy at times. Also a shoutout to Luke who’s just such a nice lad. I adore that he never judges SJ for her mistake, and instead is just there to support her in fixing the problem.
It’s damn fine story with plenty to love about it.
Part 1 is up there with a lot of S2 in that it’s a highlight of the franchise. It’s undeniably just “Father’s Day”, which shouldn’t be ignored. But Father’s Day works so this one does as well.
Part 2 for some reason decides to focus on The Trickster, who as someone else said to me recently is more a plot device than a character. And this story really doesn’t do him any favors. It’s almost like if Turn Left chose to spend half its runtime on the time beetle for some reason.
Full review here, and I really wish I could give it 3.75:
It’s a good one, this.
Like a few people already pointed out, this is very much SJA’s ‘Father’s Day’. Sarah knew she was doing the wrong thing, knew she shouldn’t do anything and was being tempted and she did it anyway. Sarah isn’t perfect, she’s flawed and makes mistakes and I love that it happened. I also found it important that changing the fate of two ordinary people could change everything because like the Doctor always insists there is nothing more important than ordinary people. I was also really happy to meet Sarah Jane’s parents and glad that they got to meet Sarah and Luke.
I also loved Rani and Clyde’s adventure. They are trying to help Luke and Sarah, find the box that preserves memories and manage to keep their memories of what should happen. I was laughing when Clyde is like ‘I’m still pretty clueless about this box’ and Rani asks him how it works and he gives her a look like ‘what did I just say!’ before reminding her he doesn’t know. The two of them make a great team, and a Graske is no match for them. The Trickster was also a great enemy.
Sarah Jane went through it this episode, and we saw that she had really wanted the Doctor to help and come put it all to right, but it was Luke, Clyde, and Rani who she needed.
Personally, I’m a fan of Trickster episodes - though I do always get this one mixed up with the one from the first season, so excited to get some more granular thoughts on this rewatch…
Part One
Verdict after Part One - If I’m totally honest, I am slightly underwhelmed. I expect most of my memories of this being great come from the second part, so I’m hopeful, but a lot of this script is bugging me, and there’s an awful lot of treading familiar ground. I love Clyde and Rani and it so far feels like they’ve been given absolutely nothing of substance. Still, I’m absolutely reeling from discovering that Rob Madge was in the Whoniverse as a child.
Part Two
Verdict - The second half is SO much stronger than the first. Punchy, pacey (pacy?), dramatic, almost profound. I’m relieved that this did turn out as good as I remembered. i just need a bit more patience!
Oh, and I think it’s totally fine that it rehashes Father’s Day. This is a totally different show after all - how often has Doctor Who replicated its own plotlines cough cough every Silurian story cough cough, I don’t think it would be fair to complain about a different show with a different target audience replicating a similar plotline, especially when it’s done so well.[1]
Not that anyone here was complaining, just rightly observing. ↩︎
5/10
Do you remember Father’s Day? I remember Father’s Day, and Gareth Roberts is nowhere near the calibre of writer Paul Cornell is. To put it politely, I don’t think they should have returned his calls. My review below.