- Help comes from an unexpected source when Rani and Clyde discover that the Graske is an unwilling slave of the Trickster and, in return for their setting him free, he re-opens the time warp back to Foxgrove in the 1950s. Sarah Jane's parents come to realise her true identity but their deaths are inevitable if she is to grow up to be the person she is and to thwart the Trickster, so they repair the car and, having left the baby by the road, drive off to their fate. Their deaths however cause the Trickster to fade away and harmony is restored.—don @ minifie-1
- The Trickster basks in his victory over Sarah Jane. She doesn't understand how saving two ordinary people could cause such destruction, but the Trickster tells her that the village of Foxgrove sat on a fault line in the web of time. When she broke the timeline in that place, it allowed the Trickster to manifest himself in the material world for the first time. With his power no longer limited by the dimensional barriers, he drowned the entire world in chaos. Sarah Jane is determined to stop him, but the Trickster is unconcerned as she and Luke run back through the fissure. Luke tells Sarah Jane she has to repair the car and set things right, but Sarah Jane cannot bring herself to send her parents to their deaths. The weather starts to turn as violent storm clouds descend on Foxgrove. The villagers move the festival indoors, and Barbara has a bad feeling about the sudden change. Meanwhile, Clyde and Rani, protected by the puzzle box, try to navigate the deserted wasteland of London. Clyde is at a loss for what to do, unsure of how to get home when home never existed in this timeline. They suddenly see the Graske, and follow him to a labor camp where humans are mining minerals. Rani sees Gita among the enslaved humans and cries out to her, allowing the Graske to detect them, but the creature merely tells them to go away. Clyde realizes they are safe from the Graske as long as they have the box.
Sarah Jane and Luke try to find where the Trickster will come through into Foxgrove, Sarah Jane convinced there is a way to stop him without her parents dying. Luke is skeptical they will be able to find a way, and Sarah laments that the Doctor isn't there to help her. She spots a Police Box on the corner, and thinks her old friend has somehow shown up in her hour of need, but finds only an ordinary officer inside an ordinary phone box. She realizes that such booths were common in this time period, and the two continue their search. Luke reiterates his question of how his mum plans to stop the Trickster without fixing the timeline, but Sarah Jane avoids answering. They go to the village hall to find the villagers. Clyde and Rani go into the camp to talk to Gita, who shuns them and doesn't recognize Rani. She tells them that they are the only surviving humans on earth, stripping the last of the world's resources for the Trickster to use in his conquest of other planets. Rani realizes that she never met Haresh in this version of events. Without the box, Rani wouldn't exist. Clyde asks how the world died, and Gita tells them the story all humans know, how the woman Sarah Jane Smith was tricked. Because her parents never left in the car, the Trickster was able to walk through the Abbot's Gateway and destroy the world. Rani vows to save her mum, and the two realize that the Graske must have a reason for serving his master. If they can work out what it is, they may be able to use him to get back and warn the others. Sarah Jane and Luke find Eddie and Barbara, and ask them if they have noticed anything strange in the village lately. They are confused, but Barbara is concerned for the two strangers and goes with them to see if anything looks out of place.
Clyde and Rani approach the Graske, protected by the puzzle box, and ask him why he would work for the Trickster. The Graske makes a grab for the box, and they theorize that he is under the Trickster's control himself. The Graske tells them that he was in a crashing spaceship, about to die when the Trickster offered to save him in exchange for his servitude. Rani and Clyde offer him a deal; if he transports them back to 1951 and helps them stop the Trickster, they will give him the puzzle box and free him from his service. He agrees, but demands Clyde stay behind with the box as insurance. Clyde tells Rani to go ahead and tell Sarah Jane and Luke where the Trickster's entry point is, and the Graske opens the fissure for her to step through. Luke and Barbara look around the village but don't see anything wrong, but Sarah Jane calls them when her watch detects strange energy in the ruins of an old abbey. Barbara hears Sarah Jane call Luke by his real name and spots the odd looking watch, and asks for answers. Sarah Jane tells her that as much as she wants to tell her everything, she cannot explain. Eddie is getting restless waiting for his wife to return, and Rani suddenly arrives asking for Sarah Jane Smith. Eddie doesn't understand why the strange girl is looking for his baby daughter, so Rani clarifies by giving a description of the two people she needs. Eddie points her to where the others went as Rani rushes off, and he decides to follow her while one of the villagers looks after his child. Rani finds Luke, Sarah, and Barbara and warns Sarah Jane about the Abbot's Gateway. Barbara asks why Rani called the woman 'Sarah Jane', but they have no time to explain as Barbara points out the Gateway. Sarah Jane surmises that the hallowed ground on which the site is built may be where the timelines are at their weakest. Barbara insists to know why Rani called Sarah Jane by that name, but just then the crack in time begins to open, and the Trickster starts to form. Eddie finds the group and takes his wife away from the strange people, becoming frightened and defensive at the sight of the monster manifesting in the archway. The Trickster starts become corporeal as Sarah Jane, Rani, and Luke watch helplessly. Eddie takes Barbara back to the village hall and tries to calm down, but the couple soon realize that everything fresh they touch turns to dust. Barbara tells Eddie it has something to do with them. Outside, the storm worsens as the Trickster becomes real. Sarah Jane tries to stop him with her sonic lipstick but to no avail. Luke tells her what they both already know; she has to repair the car and send her parents away to save the world. The Trickster knows that she is unable to do this, and rejoices that the world will soon be his.
Barbara tells Eddie what Rani said, that them not leaving in the car earlier has caused the creature in the abbey to appear. She tells him that the woman's real name is Sarah Jane, and they realize that somehow, the woman is their own daughter. Sarah Jane, Luke, and Rani go back to the square, and Sarah Jane fixes the car, but already knows the Trickster is right, she cannot make her parents leave. However, Eddie and Barbara arrive with their baby, and Barbara tells Sarah that they know that if they leave in the car, the monster under the Abbot's Gateway will be stopped. Sarah Jane tries to stop them, but they know now they must go. However, they will leave their daughter behind to keep her safe. Luke tells Sarah Jane she finally has her answer for why her parents would abandon her; they were saving her. They ask if their baby will have a good life, and Sarah Jane assures them she will. Now aware that their grown up daughter has come back from the future to see see them, they tearfully embrace Sarah Jane, proud of the woman she has become. Sarah Jane explains she had to see them no matter the cost, wishing there was a way to save them, but they are grateful that they got to see her, and know she's okay. They say goodbye to their infant child, and then to their grown daughter, and leave in the repaired car. As they drive off, the Trickster appears, his new body weak and dying. He doesn't understand how Sarah Jane could stop him, and she boasts that she didn't, her mother and father did, all on their own. The Trickster's body disintegrates, banishing him back to limbo as the sky clears. Luke tells Sarah Jane the last thing they have to do to repair the timeline is to leave her infant self behind. In the present, the Graske and Clyde are pulled back to the world as it is meant to be, and Clyde hands over the puzzle box. The small alien takes it and disappears as Clyde waits in the department store for the others to return. With one last look at the village, Sarah Jane opens the fissure and she, Rani, and Luke step through to meet Clyde. With the portal closed, Sarah Jane destroys the converter, sealing the fissure forever, and the gang head home.
Gita and Haresh find the group as they arrive back on Bannerman Road, and Rani eagerly reunites with her parents. Clyde notes the strangeness of their life dealing with aliens and alternate realities before simply going home at the end of the day, and heads out himself. Later, Sarah Jane puts away the photo of her parents, still grieving, but glad of the new memories she has of them. Luke tells her he is grateful to have his mum in his life, and Sarah Jane embraces her son.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content