The Sarah Jane Adventures 4x11 & 4x12 "Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith" full reaction
Added 2021-06-30 05:31:58 +0000 UTC"My name's Sarah Jane Smith. I'm not an amateur, and I don't think you are either."
Comments
S4 is also by far my absolute favourite!! A look back from yourself after you’ve finished the show would be a great watch! Would love to hear your thoughts of everything!
Liam Kershaw-Calvert
2021-06-30 19:38:06 +0000 UTCThis is a great finale but it's also very bittersweet and sad in retrospect as this was the final SJA story to air before Elisabeth Sladen's untimely death. As you mentioned in your reaction, this is very difficult and uncomfortable to watch because the idea of Sarah Jane becoming ill unfortunately mirrors what would eventually happen to Elisabeth Sladen as she was diagnosed with cancer a few months after this episode broadcasted. It just happened to be an unfortunate coincidence as she kept her cancer battle a secret from the public (meaning that only her family and some production members knew). The writers of this story confirmed that it was just a sad coincidence as they weren't aware that she was ill. Elisabeth was diagnosed with cancer in February 2011 and unfortunately passed in April 2011 (this info is given from her biography book and Doctor Who magazines). The actor who played the Brigadier died two months before her so losing both of them so quickly was a real gut punch. Her death was such a huge shock because nobody outside of her family knew. She told RTD privately that she was ill and they respected her wishes to keep this private which led to the show being quietly suspended until 2012 but even RTD didn't know how serious her illness was meaning she kept it strictly confidential. Real life factors aside, this is still a good finale and a very brave one too. I think tackling the idea of Sarah Jane becoming ill and senile is a very bold move for the show. In a way, what Sarah Jane experiences in this story almost mirrors what Bea went through in Eye of the Gorgon with the dementia. The way they showcased Sarah Jane's forgetfulness subtly getting worse through each scene to the point where she forgets The Doctor is genuinely heartbreaking. Even when Mr Smith gives her medical confirmation of her illness, it feels like a gut punch (and it hurts even more after knowing what happened to Elisabeth Sladen). But it also showcases (in my opinion) some of the best acting that we've seen from Elisabeth Sladen. She's always great and in top form but this story really gives her an even greater chance to showcase her acting with some heavy and meaty material and she does it brilliantly here especially when sees herself in Ruby, denies the reality of her becoming weary and then slowly accepting the situation. This story also showcases how much the kids have really grown too. Have you noticed that Clyde is usually always the first one to notice the villain of these stories whether it's by chance or his suspicious instincts kicking in. I would argue that Clyde was the only one who didn't believe Sarah Jane running off and was very determined to find her whereas Rani was originally more in Ruby's defence until her mother had to reassure her that it was out of character for Sarah Jane to run off. I like the way Mr Smith warned him about Ruby. The scene with him leaving a message on the phone and passing out before he could declare his feelings for Rani was so sweet. When I first watched that as a kid, I genuinely thought he was gonna die in that moment. (Also this is the second time Clyde has been sent off world without consent so the Judoon are clearly pissed off with him. It would have been funny if they actually showed up to save him lol). I also feel like its realistic for Clyde to snap at Rani mainly because he's experiencing another situation of losing another parental figure in his life. First his dad and now Sarah Jane. Luke briefly snapped too but usually people sometimes let their emotions get the better of them and snap at the people they love. This is just my personal perspective but I feel like it was less of Ruby's influence but more about the emotions of Sarah Jane leaving getting the better of them which meant they weren't seeing the bigger picture clearly. I could be wrong though. Ruby's influence could have played a part but I'm not entirely convinced that it did. Thankfully K9 cleared their heads and brought their focus back. Gita's speech to Rani was also great too. I love that we got a serious side to her. It's very fitting for Luke and K9 to save the day. It's a nice book end with the series starting with them leaving and then concluding with them returning to save the day. Ruby is indeed the devil of this story. I like how they attempted to shape her into being the new Sarah Jane. She works as a decent evil counterpart to Sarah Jane. Not as effective as Ms Wormwood but still hammy good. Originally, this story actually had a different approach where it was actually going to be a sequel to a Classic Who story that would bring back enemies that Sarah Jane encountered back in her classic days. I won't spoil too much of this in case you end up reacting to it as part of your Classic Who journey but I will say that these villains would end up causing Sarah Jane to become forgetful and do out of character things. RTD ended up abandoning the idea because he felt like it didn't work although the writers of this story disagreed and thought it was a shame to scrap it but they kept the elements of Sarah Jane becoming forgetful and introduced Ruby as the catalyst. Originally spiders would be involved in this story so you can definitely breathe a sigh of relief that they didn't show up in this story as originally planned. Haha! ;D I believe there are also a lot of deleted scenes where they spend more time with Ruby particularly in her house and chasing that slime creature from Series 2. This probably would have helped make her make less obvious as the villain (although they still tried to do this by making her intentionally bitchy at first) but I still enjoy how character driven this story was. I actually thought the Trickster would return in this finale. Usually when Sarah Jane's name is in the episode title, the Trickster usually shows up but this is the first time that he doesn't appear in an episode or series even. They really fooled me as a kid haha! I'm really sad that you only have a few episodes left but I'm looking forward to seeing you react to Series 5. I'm glad you enjoyed Series 4 of SJA. I think most fans would consider this to be the best series of SJA. Series 5 of SJA takes place after Series 6 of Doctor Who. I would totally be interested in seeing you do a review on this show after you finish it. I'd be happy to share with you some of the future plans they had intended for the show too. :)
JY
2021-06-30 07:45:38 +0000 UTC
