Class episode reviews cont

 

Episode 5 Brave-ish Heart

The middle of a series run is a good place to hit a peak and this fifth episode absolutely achieves that. Visually superb and narratively involving matters come alive by focussing as much on the foibles of the characters as the overall scenario. It may be a tad self- conscious in its attempts to woo a target teenage audience and I still can’t understand a word the Shadow Kin say but overall this a bold episode that plays with big themes and big emotions and earns a strong victory.

The whole thing looks amazing- the world of the Shadow Kin is the best alien landscape I’ve seen in many a year with those `lava bubbles` a particularly good addition to emphasise its strangeness. I was also intrguied by the explanation as to where the place is- somehow underneath the Universe. Patrick Ness has certainly come up with one of the most interesting alien races in the Who stable in a long while. Meanwhile the petal invasion happening in the present day is equally well conveyed with some very gruesome looking inserts of victims.

The main thrust of the episode though is the choices that the characters have to make. Here Patrick Ness’ script soars because unlike a lot of recent Doctor Who he wants to bring us into the drama rather than have us sit back and be impressed by how clever it is. Even if you find some of the more sci-fi explanations a bit unlikely the basic ideas of a suicide mission and a threat that has to be stopped very soon are enough to propel you through. Ness’ script also includes some excellent sidebars touching on religion, love, parental concern and more with a touch that always supports the main story. And he’s not above a little self- mockery either- “If you think about it not one of those sentences makes any sense” someone says!

Often in this kind of drama parental figures are gently mocked or given either comedic roles yet without us realising it the parents of these characters have been able to come to the fore in a more realistic way. So April’s father’s speech at his estranged daughter is about to perhaps kill the alien king is delightfully ramshackle and over dramatic (“even I don’t wanna be me”) yet that is this character. Con O’Neill delivers a standout performance here combining with the script to bring a fallible humanity to even the most extreme scenario. The episode does show too that when you combine both adult and teenage characters you end up with a richer overall result. While I’m sure some critics will say that Charlie’s dilemma over what to do went on too long I found it refreshing that Ness did not go for the telefantasy norm of someone being talked round a lifetime’s convictions in about two scenes.

It’s an episode in which everyone got a lot to do, even Matthias whose purpose in the show till now has seemed unclear but who provides a moral counterbalance to Charlie in much the same way as Ran does for April. Miss Quill meanwhile remains the indignant outsider and I look forward to her indulging in more verbal jousting with the new Head.

There are still a few weaknesses- April and Ram’s talks could be better placed – would she really stop in the midst of a confrontation for that conversation and more importantly why would her enemy let her? One viewing did not make it clear to me how they knew the petals could be killed by shadow especially as some of them were in shadow when we saw them outside.  Also a gag about Frodo seems misplaced- I bet every teenager knows who he is.  Yet these are picky moments in a wholesome rewarding episode that shows Class is beginning to live up to its name.

Episode 6 Detained

If you’ve been following and enjoying the series so far `Detained` is a treat, if not then you may find this more character based episode heavy going as it relies on the developments we’ve so far seen to bring more conflict to the group. It’s something of an homage to seminal 1980s film The Breakfast Club though older eagle eyed viewers may also note some similarities with a 1970s episode of The Ghosts of Motley Hall. You can be fairly sure though that it is the only drama in which someone has been called a giraffe as an insult! Our group find themselves all in detention one evening- this will only make sense in itself at the end of the episode so go with it- and slightly eccentrically Miss Quill locks them in the classroom. What even she probably didn’t expect was that one of those cracks would spew out a glowing rock which sends the classroom and its inhabitants into a void. They are they late learn “nowhere”, outside space and time. And none of them have been quaffing cheap cider from Tesco!

The scenario soon draws out tensions between them some of which initially barely seem to make any sense though it doesn’t take long for them to figure out their actions are being manipulated by whatever the rock is. Taking turns to hold the thing, each of them is forced to reveal some hidden truth before they have the chance to ask a question. It’s a little awkward conceptually but worthwhile going on the whole journey before reaching any conclusions.

The idea is that we don’t reveal all of what we feel about our friends to them and the creature uses these niggles and issues to ramp up the tension amongst them while pursuing its own agenda. Watching it you really feel this is more where the series should be heading. Though impressive the visuals of the previous episodes have perhaps hidden some of the less likely character developments which probably would work fine in the books Patrick Ness writes but which sit awkwardly on a tv show. Other shows use sci-fi trappings to bring out these character moments and they sit better for it. This feels like the sort of bizarre yet revealing scenario Class should be built from.

Vivian Oparah’s preternatural Tanya takes the lead despite her being three years younger than the others and is she who constantly urges them to ask the right questions, the script leaning on her intelligence in figuring things out. It’s a little unfortunate that confessions played such a big part in last year’s Doctor Who though they seem more appropriate in this context. Their use relies on two key things. One is that we believe these characters would think these things and Patrick Ness achieves this successfully unveiling doubts and fears of each of the characters that are convincing. He gets inside the head of the kind of things that teenagers might think about relationships, love, friendships, families and events.

The other thing of course is that the actors deliver these reveals as convincingly as they are written. They all do but there is one in particular who knocks it out of the park. Greg Austin’s 45 minute journey from befuddled alien with claustrophobia to emotionally charged hero is the best performance in the whole series to date. His understated comedic touches early on are gradually replaced by a building frustration leading to a powerful conclusion. He's on point throughout never over or under playing, sometimes in the background but always on it.

The visual side of the episode relies more on unusual camera angles and sharp editing to keep the tension going and I wonder if perhaps the latter could have been even tighter. No complaints though about the opening effects and especially the kids looking out of the floating doorway which had a Sapphire and Steel quality to them.  All in all the best episode yet!

 Episode 7 The Metaphysical Engine or What Quill Did

For those who have felt that Class lent too far towards Young Adult fiction here’s an episode that would not be out of place in shows aimed at an older audience. It pivots on the concept of belief becoming real and courtesy of what seems to be a mini TARDIS that provides a far less smooth ride, Miss Quill is taken on a mind bending journey to several of these metaphysical domains as she tries to get the troublesome Arn out of her head as promised by the new Headmistress. Suffice to say it’s a tad more traumatic than a trip to Tesco.

More than anything this episode pulls our ever oscillating support back towards Quill. The series has done a fantastic job of making us push and pull our sympathy one way or another. When you have just two survivors from a war it is difficult to decide which- if either- is in the right. Katherine Kelly’s performances have always been a highlight of the series and here she is front and centre throughout allowing us to get inside her head (just as Quill’s trying to get something out of hers!) in a manner that offers a different perspective. It’s a remarkably assured performance given some of the things she has to say and do which in other hands might fall short or just seem silly. Yet she has a steely conviction about the material that really helps the episode along.

The journey is made in the company of two others. There’s Dorothea Ames, the head who is played by Pooky Quesnel as an aloof all -knowing leader with a penchant for obfuscation when questioned. Yet she’s not without a hint of playful malice about her. And there’s Ballon who’s a Zygon frozen in the shape of a human which offers some parallels between the two warriors’ stories. There’s a touch of Star Trek about the way Quill and Ballon come to respect each other’s scenario and this leads to a surprisingly emotional climax manipulated by Dorothea. I suppose a little of the tension is taken from the situation by the fact that we saw Quill afterwards in last week’s fictionally concurrent episode; it might have been better to have shown this one first to add to the tension. Additionally there are perhaps rather too many similarities in Quill and Ballon’s situations though maybe this is a deliberate move on the Head’s part to pitch them together?

There’s much to enjoy visually here with the team making a real effort to disguise woods and caves as something more other worldy. There’s some gory stuff too especially when the Arn is being removed. Writer Patrick Ness delivers a novels worth of ideas in 45 minutes, delving into creation myths and rituals with abandon, some perhaps a little too quickly. Yet this in keeping with some of the latest US telefantasy which burn up ideas at a rate of knots. The climax sets up a potentially thrilling finale next week and shows the flexibility of Class. It’s the most accomplished episode yet in a series that just seems to keep getting better.

 Episode 8 The Lost

This is a finale solely aimed at those who have watched the previous seven episodes and as such works towards an emotional climax that contains no easy answers. By the cliffhanger ending not all of the characters have survived and some of the fatalities have been brutally despatched in a shocking manner. It’s almost too much stuff in what really needed to be a 2 parter if only to allow us and the characters to take it all in because like the characters we’re wondering what on earth will happen next!

Sadly it seems unlikely we’ll get to see that cliffhanger resolved or the ongoing Governors’ `arrival` plan develop as Class has suffered from terrible ratings. One does wonder exactly what expectations were by shoving it away in the middle of the iPlayer and not really promoting it much. Still us loyalists were rewarded with a finale that for me at least was far more satisfying and powerful than any recent Doctor Who season closer. With the group separated after `Detained`, Patrick Ness gradually brings them together in a series of shocking moments that do make you leap off your seat. Deep breath- Ram’s father skewered on a football field, Tana’s mum seen off on her landing, Quill is –what?- pregnant. Wasn’t there a line last week about Quill babies eating their mothers? Ness delights in building a whole series of nigh impossible dilemmas that pitch our characters against each other as scheming Corakinus returns from his disgrace and finds a way back. The pace is frantic, the interludes between the danger peppered with regret and self doubt.

Yet just as interesting- and ultimately more satisfactory – is the episode’s roaming debate on the morality of the acts the kids might have to commit. The arguments are presented from each character’s point of view and here Ness’ literary past comes to the fore as we agree with all of them! It’s quite an achievement for a 45 minute episode to contain such material yet still reach an unexpected conclusion. There’s a hint of classic survival dramas in the narrative and how desperate people do desperate things. You might argue that Ness stacks up the thirst of vengeance by way of the characters having such a personal stake in matters but he is sure to add a scene where it is plain their own families are not the only victims of the Shadow Kin. 

One interesting new double act is Quill and Tanya; in theory the most extreme opposites but now drawn together to fight while everyone else is falling apart. It’s a pity there isn’t more time for their sparring banter which serves both characters well. Elsewhere you do ponder if Patrick Ness was once bullied by someone called Ram because the poor lad has lost his leg, his previous girlfriend, his father and now his new girlfriend has seemingly been killed only – wait a sec- she’s woken up as  Corakinus.

Ness also adds in some subtle touches that you wouldn’t imagine there is space for. One that sticks out is how in two different scenes both Quill and Charlie don’t know how to respond to another character hugging them when upset. Perhaps they are more similar to each other than they think. He also boldly introduces another plot strand with the reveal of the Governor’s room- well I say room but cathedral would be more accurate- and even an appearance by the Weeping Angels.

In fact there is so much happening, so many meaningful speeches that it seems too fast at times which another ten minutes might have helped with. Yet even if you don’t catch all the details the intent is clear to see and Charlie’s ultimate act is the cue for a dazzling visual display as energy crackles all over the place.  It really is a fabulous and powerful ending to a show that has bene inventive and interesting beyond the rather outdated `British `Buffy` tag that was ascribed to it before it was shown. The cast have worked hard and ideally needed more episodes for each character to make their mark but their performances have hit all the right notes. In the early episodes where the series hadn’t found its rhythm it was the cast whose performances made it work.

I don’t know why the series has failed to grab a wider imagination. Apart from scheduling it may simply be that 2016 is not the year for this sort of a show- even Doctor Who struggled a bit with ratings last year- which does mean that it may yet be re-discovered as in a few years. So to answer my question from seven weeks ago as to whether the show did live up to its name the answer is that it did. Class is first class! Yep I did type that but after such a serious climax we need a bit of cheering up.