Favorite New Who Episode: School Reunion

This episode is and will always be my favorite episode of New Who because it brought my Sarah Jane Smith back into Who continuity. It doesn’t hurt that it was a fun episode to boot. Mickey alerts The Doctor and Rose to some strange goings on at a local school and while checking things out he runs into Sarah Jane who was doing her own investigation of the school. The reunion of Sarah Jane this new (very young) Doctor was a mix of joy and heartbreak and Tennant and the great Liz Sladen pulled those scenes off incredibly. Add in the initial catty rivalry between Sarah Jane and Rose, Sarah Jane and Mickey having an immediate connection, the added return of K-9 and his subsequent upgrade by The Doctor, and the cherry on top: Anthony Head (Giles from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) as the main baddie.
This episode gave closure to the open wound Sarah Jane carried over how abrupt her time with The Doctor ended and allowed her to go on with her life with no regrets. It was just a wonderful episode that was written by Toby Whithouse who would go on to write many more episodes of DOCTOR WHO as well as create another show I love in BEING HUMAN.