The music is blaring, the drinks are flowing and the pink computer of love is kidnapping prospective lovebirds? Sounds like one hell of an awkward first date!

Following on from a boxset filled with battles and royal rivalries, the first story in the Reunion bucks the trend by going for something light and comedic set around a dating agency during the swinging sixties. It’s an imaginative setting with plenty of potential, and Sweet uses it as an opportunity to explore this newly formed trio, especially The Doctor and Turlough, in a completely different environment. Hoping to uncover the mystery behind a dating agency’s need for a sonic boom, the three of them infiltrate the business from different angles. While Peri gets stuck with a secretarial role, The Doctor and Turlough worm their way in by becoming clients who are just desperate to meet their future soulmate.

Surprisingly, this schmoosing routine comes quite naturally to Ol’ Sixie. Despite often being portrayed as brash and arrogant, this story shows that he can turn on the charm when he wants to. Paired with Val for the evening, it isn’t long before his sweet words and plans of fun and dancing have her ending up like putty in his hands. Turlough, meanwhile, couldn’t find an ounce of tact if it hit him in the face – but then again, he seems quite disinterested in the idea as a whole. It’s an interesting character choice to make, but not one unfounded in the recent events he’s had to endure. His deal with the Black Guardian and the hinted destruction of Trion are both good reasons (among several others) why love may not be the highest point on his agenda. Someone should tell the producers this, however, as several stories have already tried investing in Turlough’s romantic endeavours (see A Crucible of Queens for context).

While Save the Date’s ‘TARDIS team go dating’ scenes are full of character, the same can’t quite be said of the main plot. Beneath the agency’s supposed quest to find love for everybody, its director, Mary Joy, has a completely different agenda in mind. Hailing from the planet Drogan, Mary’s goal, alongside her pink supercomputer, is to bring The Doctor and Val’s prospective love to fruition and release her people from… somewhere? The problem this story faces is it gets more confusing as it goes along. By the climax, the story has forgone explanations altogether, leaving a weird narrative vacuum surrounding how The Doctor’s and Val’s love brought everyone back and why the supercomputer bothered to suck everyone into nowhere for seemingly no good reason whatsoever. That being said, there is still plenty of joy to be found in Annette Bandland’s performance as Eternal Joy’s neurotic, dog-loving director, Mary Joy.