Another back-dated entry here, for a day in which my weight had spiked up after a week of barely working out. On the upside, I did manage a full hundred push-ups again so that was nice. Also on the upside, after two weak-to-mediocre episodes, The Sarah Jane Adventures came roaring back with a true classic.

The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

This was very much a Destiny Trap story, in which you know ultimately that events in the past are going to have to work out they way they always did and the only real question is how it will happen. Rather than being predictable, though, the framework was used to explore Sarah Jane's past and the events that formed her character. In a nutshell, Sarah Jane never knew her parents because they died when she was three months old. They left her as an infant in a baby carriage, alone and unsupervised while they drove off in a car and subsequently died in a fiery crash. This story, then, explores exactly why they did what they did.

The entire thing is orchestrated by the Trickster, returning from the previous season's very excellent What Ever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith? He engineers the opportunity for Sarah Jane to go back in time and meet her parents, who turn out to be quite lovely people. Despite fully knowing better, she winds up altering the past to prevent their deaths, which then leads to a present day apocalypse in which the Earth lies in ruins and the few remaining humans are slaves.

While Sarah Jane and Luke are running around in the past, Clyde and NotMaria Rani end up stuck in the disastrous alternate present. Nicely, Rani finally steps out of Maria's shadow and is allowed to become her own fully realized character. The two of them are able to orchestrate a new time portal, via which they alert Sarah Jane where the Trickster is going to emerge and destroy the world. Ultimately, her parents realize they they have to die, in order to save the future. In a sense it is Father's Day all over again, but the flavor is different enough to not feel like a rip-off. 

Mostly, though, the story gives Elisabeth Sladen a chance to truly shine. When she is given the material, she is just a joy to watch as Sarah Jane Smith. Particularly after being mostly absent in the previous story, she absolutely owns the screen in this one. I am really, really enjoying this show!

STATS:

Featuring: Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra
Episode(s): The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith - Parts 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 7,611 today, 4,104,987 total
Distance Walked: 4.12 miles today, 2,150.54 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 8,799 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 1,516 total
Weight: 257.60 lbs (five day moving average), net change -49.70 lbs