Ever since the revival of the Doctor Who series, this is the first episode to feature a reunion of past Doctor Who characters with the present one, making the series stay true to itself being narrative such that there’s a level of continuity between episodes, even if it meant the episodes way back in the past. Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 were the two companions that the Doctor got reunited with in this episode. A different side of the Doctor was portrayed in certain portions of the episode, wherein his normally easy-go-luck demeanor was substituted with a sentimental outlook when he explained to Rose the fact that he doesn’t get attached to his companions was for the simple reason that he cannot bear the pain of seeing people die as he continues to be timeless. I liked how the series started to progress in increasing the characterization of the various characters, giving them a deeper dimension.

It was quite obvious that this episode wanted to point out problems with regards to bureaucracy, but this time in the school setting, whereas the administrators seemingly were up to no good even if their administration was the one responsible in “making” the students smarter than usual. It was in fact for personal gain (world domination) that the administrators (Krillitane aliens) were doing this.

Furthermore, it can surmised that abuse could be clearly seen in the way how the administrators treat the students. Dehumanization was yet another issue tackled in this episode, whereas the students were treated as if they were only expendable computer processors, good only for the purpose of breaking the Skasis Paradigm and no more. The students were even portrayed as if they were mindless tools used for computational power in breaking the Skasis Paradigm. Not only that, the point that Mickey was compared to the robot K-9 was outright hilarious but at the same time dehumanizing a well, as the human character gets reduced down into becoming like a robot.

In addition, another important thing to point out here was the concept of the Skasis Paradigm and what breaking its code entailed. By breaking the Skasis Paradigm, the Krillitanes would gain the ability to become gods literally. When they offered this to the Doctor, it seemed tempting that he would finally be able to reform the universe and dictate a favorable outcome for the Time War, however he declined. It can be seen in this part that the Doctor was in no way seeking to be a god in his constant travels and meddling with history, but rather he simply goes with how the wind takes him.

Finally at the last part of the episode, despite the Doctor offering Sarah Jane Smith another chance in joining him as his companion, she declined, giving the idea that Sarah Jane Smith has finally found closure in a chapter of her life that involved the Doctor. The Doctor does still show compassion and love however for his companions despite him leaving them behind every now and then, as it seemed that he made sure K-9 would be there beside Sarah Jane Smith to keep her company as the Doctor couldn’t.