Mr Smith goes back to the school and gets the students together to fight the Family.

We find that Baines was the one who replicated the scarecrows when the headmaster goes out to confront him. Baines proves his threat is real by vaporising the vice principal.

The scarecrows appear but the composite shot isn't that convincing, unfortunately.

The little girl, Lucy, with the "strange little girl" music in the background, infiltrates the school while Joan and Martha are arguing about the impossibility of Martha having any knowledge of being a doctor.

The Family locate the TARDIS.

Joan questions the Doctor about his memories and confirms without saying anything that he only has encylopaedic knowledge of his past, not real memories. John convinces her that his kiss and his feelings for her are real.

Latimer asks the watch what he must do and the voices tell him to be aware of 'her'. Lucy appears. He confronts Lucy, acting very Doctorish, and scares her away with energy from the watch (Artron energy?)

The Family realise that the watch is all they need and attack.

Bains broadcasts a very evil personality and the fear of the children and Dr Smith is quite palpable. There are children crying with fear as the scarecrows advance.

The scarecrows attack the school and the children kill them all with their guns but for some reason Smith is unable to fire his gun. They fall like soldiers in the war.

The boys are relieved that they haven't really killed anyone when they find out they're just straw.

Lucy approaches the group but no one tries to kill her even though they know who she is. She thinks the headmaster is funny and kills him. Then Baines, Jenny and Lucy advance, reanimating the scarecrows.

The children rush back into the school but are captured and checked by the girl one by one, trying to find the watch.

Latimer uses the watch again to distract the Family and escapes.

The Family meet in front of the TARDIS and taunt Smith with it. He cries about the fact he's only a story. Smith, Joan and Martha make it to a cottage as Joan had reasoned it would be empty. Lucy had lived here and would have killed her parents.

Smith is still upset that he will soon be erased.

"Why does he need you?"
"Because he's lonely."

There's a knock at the door and Latimer appears with the watch.

Latimer says that the watch led him to them. It was time to give Smith the Doctor's memories.

The Family fire up their ship and begin bombing the village.

"He gave me a list of things to watch out for but that wasn't included."
"Falling in love? That didn't occur to him? What sort of a man is that?"

Martha and Latimer go outside and watch the bombing while John and Joan have a long conversation inside.

They hold the watch together and see a possible future if John doesn't open the watch. Wedding, children, old age and the end of John's life. He knows what he has to do. The next scene has him in the ship telling the Family to take the watch. He says he wants to stay John Smith and that as long as the Family promised to stop the bombardment if he gave them the watch then he'll give it to them. While saying this he's accidentally stumbling across some wall buttons, activating other wall buttons and starting off a chain reaction. When it is too late the Family realise he's not John Smith anymore.

What an emotional roller coaster ride. I loved both Human Nature and Family of Blood.

The child actors were excellent. Excellent acting and directing all round.

The tension did not let up. Even when there was a slight respite from the dangers of the Family, the tension was still there as Tennant's Smith was cracking up under the strain of being wiped.

I could not see flaws in the story, rather the flaws came from some of the execution of the effects in the story. The composite of the arriving scarecrows wasn't that convincing, the ship seems to be just a room with lots of green lights and why did the Family's faces light up green when they were communicating or sensing something?

Apart from these niggles, any episode which gets me emotionally involved without actually being a chick flick gets a thumbs up.

If you haven't seen it yet I also recommend watching the season 1 episode Father's Day. Bring your tissues! 9/10

It's 1913 in England and war has come a year in advance as the terrifying Family hunt for the Doctor. But, while John Smith refuses to accept his destiny as a Time Lord, the women in his life, Martha and Joan, have to take terrible measures to save the whole of history, as Russell T Davies's Doctor Who continues.

David Tennant plays the Doctor and Freema Agyeman plays his companion, Martha Jones. Jessica Hynes and Thomas Sangster guest star. 

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