Sarah Jane Adventures: Episode 2.07/2.08

Dark weighty material for a kid's show. Once again we see into the dark mind of the Joseph Lidster.

Wow, Dad ran away with Mum's sister! Not the usual storyline, but nice to see them doing something different. The "Bad Dad is a Monster" does become very blunt at the end, and the "remember the beginning of the episode" is a rather dated device.

The whole pendant angle was almost incidental to the main focus, which did surprise me, and I like it!. The reappearance of Sarah Jane after missing for the episodes (the Wiki entry explains why that was) was more than slightly corny.

Still, nice to see Maria back, if only for a plot point. I reckon she'll be back in the last episode (although it does depend on how much schooling she was trying to get.)

Gary Beadle comes into the series and gets right into the role. He has a definite screen presence, although that pink shirt in the cloudy last scene doesn't work at all well.

A definite "nice try" episode, somewhat suffering from the lack of Sarah Jane (who's series it is), but Joseph Lidster just can't write happy. (And I wondered why the picture of the parents were so specific. The 'next time' explains that.)

Next Time: Oh, the return of Mr. Ineffectual...

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