(no subject)

[usuallyhats]

So I made some biscuits for Stitch 'n' Witch at the weekend, and burned them. Today I made some more... and burned them again, but not quite so much, so hopefully they will taste ok. FAIL!


I think I am in the minority here, but I really felt for Andrea. If I've understood things correctly, the chaos thingy (which may have had a name, but if so I've forgotten it) altered her memory, so she didn't remember what she did until Maria started yelling at her. And then she was desperate to make it not have happened - she couldn't take it back, so she focussed her anger on Maria, thinking that if no one knew what she'd done, that would be almost the same as her not having done it. She was scared, and shocked, she'd just found out that instead of being the victim of a tragedy, as she'd always believed, she had killed her best friend to save herself. And then she was told that she had to die, that Sarah's life was more important than hers and all she could do was deliberately make herself not have existed. The best thing she could do with her life was... not live it. Ouch. So maybe I am just a big softy but I was sorry for her.

I also liked the fact that Andrea was talking about how much she'd loved Sarah Jane at the end. Much better than the cliché "I was always SEKRITLY JELLUS of her fabulousness and in my heart wanted her to die" response that they could have gone for. The scene between her and Sarah-in-the-mirror was wonderful, the idea of these two friends seeing each other as grownups and knowing that they can never really meet like that in the real world, that neither of them can ever know what the other is like now. :-(

And Andrea asking what it meant that she "should be dead", and not getting an answer, was very good, because although in some ways it's obvious that the world is better with Sarah in it, is it ok to sacrifice another life to keep hers? Would Sarah agree to that, in a different situation?

The person playing the Graske was having far too much fun, methinks.

Aw, Clyde grabbing Maria's shoulder! I assume that he remembered forgetting Maria, like Chrissie did?

Alan was great in this, taking out the Graske on his skateboard was cheesy but fab.

Maria's annoyed expression when she and the Graske materialised in the... big white place!

Oh, Sarah, so fiercely protective of her people.

Didn't realise how much I'd missed Luke until he was back and technobabbling!

(and no, of course I've not just got round to writing up my thoughts cos I've not got much for today's soniclipstick, why do you ask?)

Comments

Here from soniclipstick!

[(Anonymous)]

Bravo - just got around to watching the episode and I absolutely agree with your thoughts about Andrea. How terrible it must have been for her to be told the best thing she could do with her life was to have died at 13! I thought her furious, desperate denial was heartwrenching in the circumstances. While Maria's demands that Andrea "just break the deal" in the final scene were understandable, considering the stakes for everyone and Maria's own love for Sarah Jane, Maria's attitude and tone were incredibly callous - how many people wouldn't agree to the same bargain in a moment of certain, mortal terror? Could Maria, at 14, be sure she wouldn't do it herself? Again considering Maria's age - even with the dangers she and the people she cares about have already been through, she still hasn't had that visceral experience of being helpless and about to die alone. And how poignant was the meeting between the two women, who can never join hands as friends and adults in any world. SJA is a children's show, of course, but for me that final encounter was doubly moving in that it shows how alone Sarah Jane is - while she has some support from our crew of clever, capable, brave children, she doesn't seem to have the richness of intimate friendship between adult women in her life. It's as if that possibility got snapped off at age 13, too. While the friendship between Sarah Jane and Maria is great, I hope we get to see Maria make friends with a girl her age on the show, since Kelsey disappeared. It seems unlikely, though, given the size of the main cast and the likelihood that if the show did add another girl as a regular, she'd be competing with Maria for Sarah Jane's approval - the Who franchise seems to have a hard time getting away from a hierarchy of "Companions" under the resident authority figure, whether that authority's the Doctor or (in this case) Sarah Jane.

Re: Here from soniclipstick!

[usuallyhats]

Maria seems to have this habit of snapping at people when she's upset, even people she loves - as long as it's a recognised character trait, I quite like it.
Good point about Sarah's lack of adult female friendship. I think with Sarah around to influence her, Andrea could have been pretty great too. It would be nice to see Maria making friends with a girl her own age (I am optimistic enough to hope that they would avoid the new Who mistake of having them be rivals for Sarah's attention), but it might be difficult to juggle five characters and a plot in 25 minutes!