SJA - 2x08 - The Mark of the Berserker, Part Two
The episode opens with Paul and Clyde walking down the street, talking. Clyde doesn't remember Luke or Rani, though he does notice the pendant that his dad's wearing. His dad tells him not to worry about it - and the necklace makes certain that he does.
"You don't need to call your mum."
The mark appears on Paul's hand as he looks down.
Cut to the attic. Rani's freaking out a bit, and they decide that they don't have any choice but to call Sarah Jane. So Luke pulls out his phone to do just that.
Sarah Jane, in the meantime, is apparently at a hospital or a clinic tracking down some alien that looks kind of like a giant slug. Her phone doesn't even ring.
Luke: There's no answer.
Rani: I just don't know what to do.
Luke: I do.
He pushes a button on his computer . . . and the screen cuts to Washington D.C.!!!
Maria's computer is beeping loudly, and Alan yells for her to wake up. (He looks kind of gorgeous with his hair all mussed, I must add.) She comes stumbling into the kitchen, half-asleep, and turns on her webcam.
"Actually, it's your dad we wanted to talk to."
Luke: You can hack into any computer, can't you, Mr. Jackson?
Alan: [looks embarrassed and doesn't answer]
Luke: We need you to get into UNIT, see if they know what this pendant is.
Alan: What's UNIT?
Maria: Unified Intelligence Taskforce. They're like the army, but they deal with aliens and stuff.
Alan: I won't even ask how you know that.
Alan agrees to help them. And he sounds almost like an excited little boy when he does.
Meanwhile, Paul's buying a car. Except he doesn't bother paying for it - he just tells the salesperson that he wants it. For free.
And the blue streams move farther and farther down Paul's arm.
Luke calls Clyde and tries to get through to him, but he doesn't have a clue who he is.
"I'm your best friend."
Rani's running back and forth between the attic and outside. Haresh won't stop doing push-ups, so all she can do is give him water.
Back in America, it's taking Alan awhile to get through UNIT's firewalls.
"I did think we'd left this sort of thing behind us."
He manages to get into the files. There's a photo in there from 1940 that shows what happened to the last person to use the pendant.
Paul and Clyde are driving down the road, and Clyde notices the growing mark on his dad's arm. His dad tells him not to worry about it - and all that does is make the mark grow.
The pendant belongs to a race of aliens called the Berserkers. Which, you know, I never would have guessed from the episode's title.
Since Clyde won't tell them where he is, Alan volunteers to use UNIT's satellite system to find him. Maria quickly pulls out her mobile and gives him the number.
Back in London, Paul and Clyde are going all over the place - and getting all sorts of free stuff.
Luke and Rani rush out, talking with Maria and Alan on the phone as they try to track Clyde down. Every time Paul looks in the mirror, though, he keeps seeing himself as a monster.
The kids go to Clyde's house and get Carla's help. They're going to need it to track Paul and Clyde down, since they're in a car.
Paul: Just tell me what you're thinking.
Clyde: Why did you leave?
"I want you to forget all of those feelings. Forget how I left you. Forget how you were scared and lonely. Forget it all."
Paul tells Clyde that he's going to go get a yacht and sail the world. And Clyde tells him that they need to at least let Carla know. So Paul tells him to forget about her.
Carla calls Clyde on the phone, and he doesn't know what "mum" means. Paul tells him not to bother answering it.
Carla: Who are you talking to?
Rani: Just one of Luke's geeky mates.
Alan: [on phone] Geeky? Cheers for that, Rani.
Alan makes the kids promise to talk to Sarah Jane just as soon as they can.
Maria: And that's it? We just sit here and wait?
Alan: What else can we do?
Back in the car, Paul's turning into a Berserker faster and faster. They've stopped at the marina.
"He wants to take him away. He wants to take my baby. I don't think so!"
At the marina, Paul collapses. Blue veins are popping up all along his face.
Carla and the kids arrive at the marina, and she rushes toward Paul and Clyde. Except Clyde doesn't even recognize her.
"He's not a monster!"
And then Sarah Jane arrives. Clyde recognizes her, but he still doesn't know the others.
"Clyde, I need you to trust me."
Sarah Jane tells Clyde that Paul has to remember who he is. He hesitantly walks forward, reminding his dad about things that happened when he was a kid.
Then Carla starts helping as well.
Paul starts to remember, and Sarah Jane pulls out her mirror and tells him to look in it. He does - and he remembers Clyde as a baby.
The mark fades, so he yanks off the pendant. He throws it to the ground, shattering it.
And all around London, people snap out of it. Including poor Haresh who basically collapses with a groan and dumps a glass of water over his head.
Luke: [hesitantly] Clyde?
Clyde: You're not gonna cry, are you?
Alan managed to figure out what hospital Sarah Jane was in. He and Maria called her to tell her what was going on.
Clyde picks up the pendant. As much as he wishes his family could be together again, it won't work.
Paul came back to London because Mel's pregnant, and that reminded him how bad he was as a father. That's why he left.
Paul: You're not a kid anymore. You're cool. You don't need me.
Clyde: You're right. I don't need you. I've got mum, Sarah Jane, Luke, Rani, Maria. So I don't need you. But I think that baby does. Try not to mess it up.
Clyde tells his dad to take everything back. The car, the clothes... and he's going home with his mum.
As Paul gets into his car and drives off, Carla gets out of the car and walks over to talk with Clyde. She's freaking a bit about what happened.
"I can't cope with this."
Clyde tells her to forget about everything: the pendant, aliens, and everything that happened with Paul. He uses the pendant just that once - and then he throws it into the water.
Cut to that night. Clyde shows up in Sarah Jane's attic to talk. He knows that he messed up.
Clyde: Do you miss your mum and dad?
Sarah Jane: I can't really remember them. I was a baby when they died. [pause] Yes. Sometimes. I think I'd do anything just to see them again. Go on, tell me what you're thinking.
Clyde: Sometimes, sometimes people think I'm not bothered by stuff. That I'm always...
Sarah Jane: Clyde, you don't have to be cool all the time.
"I think if it wasn't for you lot, I'd be weaker."
Aw. My love for Clyde just keeps growing and growing.
"And I think you underestimate yourself."
Clyde leaves, and Sarah Jane gets up to walk over to her desk. She pulls out a photo of her parents and stares at it for a moment.
Okay, that? Was a bit awesome.