Farewell, Sarah Jane

During this frightening time we're currently living in while everyone (unless you live in fucking South Dakota) is holed up and bored and feeling alone and missing family and friends, the expanded world of Doctor Who has been putting out little surprises every week or so to keep us entertained. Community watch-alongs (which I can never seem to be a part of), new short stories featuring the current Doctor written by former showrunners, little videos of inspiration featuring Jodie Whitaker in character as the Doctor. And as a fan, it's been absolutely wonderful. But the latest surprise, a short story written by former showrunner Russell T. Davies concerning the passing of once and forever companion and show lead of her own Sarah Jane Smith, deserves special mention. If you're not a fan of the show it can be hard to understand just what Sarah Jane means to the fandom. As an audience identification figure, all of the companions hold some place of importance. Yes, even Mel, one of my least favorite companions. I can't hate Adric like everyone else, Matthew Waterhouse is gay so he gets a pass that's my final word lol. But Sarah Jane worked with numerous Doctors over the years, and through a combination of recurrence, the beautiful acting abilities of Lis Sladen herself, and one of the greatest comebacks in television history when RTD brought her back to NuWho, Sarah Jane became beloved. I watched her on Who and then on the Sarah Jane Adventures and loved her in both of them. I still get misty eyed when I watch David Tennant's final episode and he and Sarah Jane share a knowing look of grief before he walks off to regenerate, both for the fact that it's a lovely scene stunningly acted by both of them and for the fact that in a meta sort of way Sladen seems to be saying goodbye to Who as well. The fact is, we never got a proper goodbye in either show. That happens a lot, especially in a show like Doctor Who. We never got to say goodbye to the Brigadier either, only mourn him after the fact. But Sarah Jane deserved better. And Russell T. Davies decided to give it to her. Here is a new short story written by the man himself about the passing of Sarah Jane, narrated and acted out partially by some of the cast. I was in tears pretty much from minute one. And don't even get me started on the fact that he had Luke fall in love with and marry a man. Can we please get him back to the mothership program even if it's only for a visit? Simply put, this was beautiful. Enjoy.