N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
You get the sense that very little acting was required by David Tennant when Anthony Head’s oily headmaster Mr Finch introduces Miss Sarah Jane Smith to the Doctor. School Reunion would be worth watching if only for the utter delight on the Doctor’s face. His (and Tennant’s) joy is palpable.
“Whether it’s a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends.”
Sarah Jane, School Reunion
Whereas in Aliens of London we witnessed the impact that travelling with the Doctor had on those friends and family a companion left behind, in School Reunion we get to catch up with a companion some time after leaving the Doctor. In Sarah’s case, the parting of the ways — in The Hand of Fear — was particular abrupt. (Interestingly, at the time of writing, we’re not too many months away from finding out how things have been for Ace and Tegan, a few decades after their own travels with the Doctor ended.)
The TARDISode prelude reveals that Mickey is the one who alerts Rose and the Doctor to the strange goings-on at the school. Indeed, it’s a very good story for Mickey.
Whether it’s his revelling in the Doctor being trapped in “every man’s worst nightmare” — “the missus and the ex” — or telling Rose to “go easy on the chips” if she doesn’t want the Doctor to move on to someone else, or even funnier, his realisation that he’s the “tin dog” in this Doctor and assistant setup, it’s his best episode so far.
“Some things are worth getting your heart broken for.”
Sarah Jane, School Reunion
But the plot — a Krillitane plan to use Earth’s school children to discover the secret of the universe –– is almost secondary here. It’s the “reunion” part of the title that’s important. This is all about re-introducing one of Doctor Who‘s most beloved companions (and of course said “tin dog” K-9) to its twenty-first century audience, albeit with a slight tweak to suggest the Doctor and Sarah Jane’s relationship was perhaps a little more romantic than we’d seen during their adventures.
Presumably though, this means that Sarah Jane has forgotten the events of The Five Doctors? And I still think that she’d be frankly pissed off that Leela got to go to (and stay on) Gallifrey mere months after she wasn’t allowed. The Doctor had better keep schtum on that one!
