The Slitheen are back (for about two minutes) before being finished off by the Blathereen, another family from Raxicoricofallipatorious. The Blathereen give Sarah Jane some racqweed as a token of appreciation for her efforts in stopping The Slitheen. The racqweed could potentially end hunger on Earth forever, but can The Blathereen really be trusted?
I could've written this review in seven short words, "Nothing to see here people, move along".
The Gift is an average story if ever there was one. Asides from some very poor plotting and a highly amusing scene involving the Blathereen coming over for dinner nothing about these episodes stands out. The humour is definitely the strongest aspect of this story, but it's nowhere near as amusing as Prisoner of the Judoon.
For a story in which Luke almost dies The Gift falls pretty flat, as the dialogue doesn't have the sparkle or punch to drive home the seriousness of the situation. Liz Sladen and the others give it her best but the script just doesn't provide enough to work with.
The plot has more holes in it than a sieve and even the central premise is hopelessly flawed. The idea of the Blathereen giving Sarah Jane a deadly plant which ends up taking over Earth and killing everyone seems fine until you actually switch your brain on. Firstly, the Blathereen could simply have teleported the racqweed to Earth and it would have spawned anyway, so why send it via Sarah Jane? Which brings up the second major flaw in the plot. Using Sarah Jane to get it to Earth is just plain stupid, because the Blathereen ran the risk of her finding out that it was dangerous, or Sarah Jane going with her instincts and being cautious enough to keep the racqweed quarantined, which would have revealed how dangerous it was. Plus, handing the method by which you plan to conquer Earth to the one person who's saved Earth over and over probably isn't a good idea. Then again, Sarah Jane really doesn't seem to be herself this story.
Which brings me to the third major flaw with the plot. Sarah Jane needs to get shipped off into a retirement home after this episode because many of her actions are just plain stupid. She chooses not to quarantine an alien plant from potentially hostile aliens, then after they've almost killed the entire human race she gives them the benefit of the doubt and almost gets herself killed, again. Oh, and she falls for a trick that's so painfully obvious that I had trouble not screaming "NOOOOOOO!!!!! DON'T BELIEVE THEM!!!!!" at the screen.
The plot resolution is also far too convenient. I can see the scriptwriter Rupert Laight sitting there late at night thinking "I've totally painted myself into a corner. There's no way this plot can be resolved without something completely implausible. I know, "Saved by the bell!" I'll turn that stupid old joke about kids getting out of trouble because of the school bell ringing into a plot resolution!" Which is exactly what happens.
And if that wasn't enough, the second plot resolution involving the Blathereen is also too convenient. But at least seeing the Blathereen exploding everywhere was disgusting enough to make me laugh.
I know I've spent most of this review trashing the plot (as if the plot wasn't trash to begin with) but The Gift isn't all bad.
There's some nice, flirting between Clyde and Rani (willl they end up together? I hope so), as perviously mentioned there's enough humour to keep the story afloat and K9 gets in on the action. Even so, these factors aren't enough to elevate The Gift past the very bottom of mediocrity.
There's some nice, flirting between Clyde and Rani (willl they end up together? I hope so), as perviously mentioned there's enough humour to keep the story afloat and K9 gets in on the action. Even so, these factors aren't enough to elevate The Gift past the very bottom of mediocrity.
A very average episode to finish off an otherwise excellent series.
3/5
P.S. This week's song is by Pink, or P!nk as she prefers to be known.
