The Sarah Jane Adventures 2x07/8 "The Mark of the Berserker" full reaction

The actor who played Paul did a really terrific job as the almost-Beserker...he was scary! I can't even imagine if Mr. Smith was influenced - yikes!

Fourth Wall Reactions

One of my absolute favourites. Clyde and his family are great, Carla is brilliant and it’s lovely seeing Maria and Alan again as well. Rani and Luke do a grand job trying to take control of the situation and it’s nice in a way to have less Sarah Jane, allowing a more Doctor lite feel and as you say, the teens taking control. Sarah almost feels like a dumbledore kinda figure in this one and Luke, Clyde and Rani are like Harry, Ron and Hermione. The music is cracking in this one, especially when Paul gets taken over is so tense and dramatic! Love it!! It’s also funny seeing Clyde’s Dad mention the Daleks here as in universe this is set before the crack in time stuff so eventually everyone would soon forget again as I think you may already know 😅 I think you’ll really enjoy the next set of episodes for sure! Can’t wait.

Great reaction. Definitely one of the best SJA stories for me. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Very pivotal for Clyde's development with the introduction of his family. Your reaction to Maria and Alan returning was great. It's a very pleasant and unexpected surprise to have them back. I'm glad you caught the Dalek reference too. It's nice to see people acknowledge the Dalek invasions that happened in Doomsday and The Stolen Earth. I still think it's a shame that we lost this continuity later down the line in the post RTD era. I really enjoy this story because it really delves into Clyde's character in such a delicate way. Despite Clyde's dad (Paul) being horrible and neglecting of his son, Clyde still wants him back in his life thus trying to impress him by introducing him to his unusual life. I also wouldn't worry about trying to find any good spots with Clyde's dad. He's definitely not meant to be sympathetic. From what we learnt, he is an awful person even with his reasoning for coming back. The alien pendant just corrupts him and makes him even worse than he already is which is even more disturbing when you think about a person like that obtaining an object with so much power that he eventually can't control. Paul making Clyde forget his mum and having Rani's dad continuously do push ups is equally disturbing too. I think the message of this story is especially great as it comes to down to not owing your abuser (or absentee parent) anything with Clyde's eventual realisation of him not needing his father and that his mother being in his life is enough for him. Clyde originally had the idea of using the pendant to create a happy ending but I like how they acknowledged that it wouldn't be real. Even with his conflicted thoughts and desire to have his father back in his life, the reality soon kicks in. I also like how the adults step into to save the day when things get too much for the kids to handle (Alan contacting Sarah Jane to save the day with Maria's idea). I also like how this is basically a Sarah Jane lite episode where she briefly appears at the start and at the end (similar to Doctor Who's Doctor/companion lite episodes and Torchwood's Random Shoes). The ending with Sarah Jane and Clyde is very poignant meaningful. I love how she creates a safe net for Clyde to open up about his emotions which makes him realise that she and others have influenced him for the better. He's always had to hide his sensitive side behind the cool image but now he's starting to really develop and grow as a character which is nice. You'd expect Sarah Jane to be mad with Clyde but nope, she completely understands him and I love that. And you're right. We had glimpses of Clyde's cool image breaking down a bit in Series 1. He even mentioned stuff about his dad briefly in Revenge of The Slitheen and Warriors of Kudlak. I'm glad you like Carla. She's brilliant. A very likeable character. You can also tell she hides her pain and puts on a brave face for Clyde when Paul shows up. Clyde mentions that he saw a lot of his dad in himself. I think this is evident when Clyde uses the pendant on his mother to make her forget. Only difference is that he's able to throw it away and not become overpowered like his dad was. That's how I personally saw it anyway. :) The things that creeped me out the most when watching this as a kid was Paul turning into the Berserker and Haresh asking Rani if she wanted him to die after she used the pendant on him. I always wondered if the pendant would be able to influence Mr Smith if he was active. Man. That would be disastrous haha.

JY