Class – Series 1, Episode 8

[Craig @craig Emperor]

The Lost

Corakinus wages war and the gang must fight the Shadow Kin one last time. Going further than ever to keep Earth safe, their friendships are tested like never before.

Edit: Well I enjoyed that and I’m going to watch it again. It was not as inventive as the last two, and it was brutal, but it was still good. Ness has cleverly left a lot of things hanging for season two (presuming there is one). I won’t say much but The Governors’, especially, took an interesting turn. April’s story will probably be fixed with a bit of hand-waving though, I’m afraid.

[SirClockFace @sirclockface]

On the whole, a very enjoyable episode. I liked the premise and some of the scenes were fantastic, however, throughout the series there have been glaring acting/screenplay slip ups which I hope they brush out for the next series (hopefully there is one because it’s enjoyable and there are ways it can improve)

[Miapatrick @miapatrick]

@craig: that was brutal! And it did all rather support what Tanya was saying in the detention episode. Her mother actually dies. But I didn’t for a second feel as though April’s mother was going to. She even gets shot in the chest, the weapon is deployed to wipe out all the Shadowkin, and she’s still there. In spirit at least. I think, especially at the age of fourteen, that could really piss you off.

Miss Quill’s pregnancy, I think, won’t be the end. She already noticed that there only seems to be one inside there- and after all, it would be a mixed-species baby, and (I can’t remember his name) but the father seems to have come from a more nurturing species. She’s also the most interesting and nuanced character. I liked the development between her and Tanya, it wasn’t just Quill being bludgeoned with protective instincts, it was that the human girl started acting like a warrior. I mean, I’m not sure that a bit of training in the school hall with a pregnant alien would really enable her to fight off shadow warriors without a weapon, they do seem extremely vulnerable to kicking.

I’m nervous even to mention that bit at the end, but bloody hell! Just when it started to look as though the Governor’s were sinister and dangerously pragmatic but perhaps ultimately on the right side.

I think the actors playing April and Ram were set an especial challenge here, playing people battling the end of their world, while in the throes of personal grief. Of course Quill and Charlie have lost more, but just thinking about the timing- which leads me back to April, really. Current predicament not withstanding, and of course, her father did try and kill her and her mother, but she seems to have a kind of hero-protection going on. I hope they don’t keep on making her too special, with her musical abilities, Ram falling almost instantly in love with her, noble sacrifice of her life, her darkest confession is that she doesn’t love her brand new boyfriend as much as he loves her, it could start to irritate.

 

[Mudlark @mudlark]

The identity of the Governors may still by a mystery, but at last we have some insight into their sinister purpose, and that was a satisfying twist on which to end the current series, while leaving a good many major questions still to be answered.

The episode was indeed brutal and the deaths genuinely shocking, but although the Shadow Kin were the principal drivers of the narrative it looks as if they may have been a side issue as far as the Governors were concerned, since the latter seem to have intended a different use for the Cabinet of Souls and, if so, were presumably prepared to countenance the genocide of humanity.

It would appear that the freeing of Quill from the Arn was so that the Governors could use her as a tool to compel Charlie, though to what end is not entirely clear except that it must have been in some way to facilitate the ‘Arrival’, and that intention was thwarted, if only temporarily. But with a plan so convoluted and dependent on so many shifting variables, what could they expect?  Dorothea was the scapegoat for the failure and paid the price, and  Quill, in the previous episode, was evidently spot on in her assessment, even if her intention was only to needle.  ‘Is that why they sent you? Expendable?’.

Overall a satisfying episode with which to conclude the series, even if some of the dialogue was a bit clunky and obvious.  It did, moreover, confirm me in the opinion that Vivian Oparah as Tanya was by far the most powerfully convincing and impressive of the younger actors, even if it was a bit difficult to see her as a fourteen year old.

 

[tardigrade @tardigrade]

A solid conclusion, with some resolution, but enough left open to tease a second season. I particularly enjoyed the reveal of the Weeping Angels as the Governors’ “benefactors”, although that may not be the whole story there – the Weeping Angels aren’t the best communicators 🙂

I’m confused as to the Governors’ motives also. They’ve given the Shadow Kin the means to get back to Earth (possibly inadvertently). They’ve given Quill back her free-will, though apparently largely at Dorothea’s prompting. It can’t have been that unlikely an outcome that Charlie would be put in a position to feel compelled to use the cabinet against the Shadow Kin- they’ve seen him considering using it previously to either defend the Earth or wipe out the Shadow Kin. Given a situation where he’s under pressure to do both at once, him acting seems predictable.

If they didn’t intend for Charlie to use the cabinet, they surely could have taken it- it effectively wasn’t secured in Charlie’s house, which was frequently left unattended – Quill and Tanya could wander off with it in a shopping bag. Controlling the cabinet would seem to be the expected action of control-freaks. And if they didn’t intend for him to use it, they were presumably OK with the Shadow Kin wiping out the Earth’s population, so the Arrival mustn’t rely on people being around. In fact the Weeping Angels might feel rather vulnerable on a heavily populated planet – with too many eyes available, it wouldn’t be too hard for the population to render them permanently quantum locked and helpless.

The ending would appear to suggest that the Shadow Kin’s bodies may now be inhabited by the souls of the Rhodians, which may double the Earth’s population (depending on how many humans the Shadow Kin managed to kill before they were stopped), and leave Quill presumably rather peeved, if she’s been instrumental in bringing back one her mortal enemies in the bodies of her other mortal enemy.

With the series wrapped up, would I welcome a second series? There’s enough there that I’d probably watch if one were made. I’ve been left asking questions, so I guess the teasing has worked on me. No idea on how well the series has been received (in particular how well it’s rated). Not a whole lot of interest on the forum it seems.

[Mudlark @mudlark]

@tardigrade

And if they didn’t intend for him to use it, they were presumably OK with the Shadow Kin wiping out the Earth’s population, so the Arrival mustn’t rely on people being around.

The impression which I got from Dorothea’s somewhat enigmatic utterances was, as I noted above, that the Governors did intend that Charlie should use the cabinet, but not to destroy the Shadow Kin.  On the other hand, if they are acting as agents for the Weeping Angels preparatory to the arrival of the latter in force on earth, it would not be in their interest to see the population of Earth wiped out, because that would leave the Angels with no time energy to feed on and they would eventually starve.

The Governors were evidently more concerned that Dorothea had miscalculated in thinking that Charlie would not use the Cabinet against the Shadow Kin than they were about the intervention of the Shadow Kin themselves, whether or not they were expecting them to find a way back to Earth, so I suspect that – assuming there is a second series – the plot will turn out to be a lot more devious and convoluted than what has been indicated so far 😈

[Mudlark @mudlark]

The failure of the Governor’s plan with respect to the use of the Cabinet of Souls appears to have sealed Dorothea’s fate as far as they were concerned, but I remain somewhat puzzled by the fact that she was worried things were going wrong well before that point, when she, Quill and Balon were still in metaphysical realms. I am still unclear as to what  it was that was not going according to plan – assuming that the intention was, as stated, to rid Quill of the Arn.  Maybe I should watch again in case I missed something obvious.

[tardigrade @tardigrade]

@mudlark … so I suspect that – assuming there is a second series – the plot will turn out to be a lot more devious and convoluted than what has been indicated so far

Yes- doubtless, much of the confusion is deliberate :). Somehow I don’t think a Weeping Angel invasion in force is the plan- given their nature, they just can’t take on a large population, they’ll get observed, quantum locked and then stood face to face to keep them that way. They need to act by stealth.

I remain somewhat puzzled by the fact that she was worried things were going wrong well before that point, when she, Quill and Balon were still in metaphysical realms. I am still unclear as to what it was that was not going according to plan – assuming that the intention was, as stated, to rid Quill of the Arn.

The only thing I recall that was going noticeably wrong at that point was that the Reliquary was deteriorating faster than expected, which ultimately left one of Quill and Balon stranded.

[Mudlark @mudlark]

@tardigrade

I would need to watch The Metaphysical Engine again to be able to quote exactly, but well before they emerged into the Cabinet Dorothea was muttering about things not going to plan, and that she would have to report to the Governors.  As for what she said about the Cabinet of Souls deteriorating, I had the feeling that this was a  piece of misdirection on her part.  She intended that only Quill would emerge alive and was setting the scene accordingly.

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