Class Review: Episode 8 – ‘The Lost’
By Leah Tedesco
In Episode Eight of Class, ‘The Lost,’ Series One ends on a major cliffhanger with multiple levels, making a continuation of the story almost certain. Will it be with more Class, or on Doctor Who?
Charlie and April in ‘The Lost’ (credit: BBC)
*** This review contains spoilers. ***
Despite the urgency of the situation of last week’s episode, ‘The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did,’ the characters still had a fair amount of time for conversation, reflection, sex… While the Series Finale, ‘The Lost,’ begins with a sentimental tone and lovely music, a crisis very quickly puts everything into fast forward, allowing for mostly only defensive and offensive action (but still a little sentimentality) from those involved. A good number of major events happen during this time.
The basic premise is that Corakinus has broken out of prison and has found a way for the Shadow Kin to slip through “infinitesimal tears in space-time” in order to return to Earth. He carries out a campaign of terror in order to get April to come back with him to the Shadow Realm. With the way that things go down, using the Cabinet of Souls against the Shadow Kin is an increasingly appealing option. But will Charlie do it?
At the beginning of Episode Eight, it is revealed that Quill is pregnant, likely by her one sexual encounter with the now deceased Ballon in Episode Seven. Under Charlie’s care, she has been in a hibernation coma for nearly a week (normal for Quill), her pregnancy now in a late stage due to her time in the cabinet. Meanwhile, Corakinus kills Varun in front of Ram, who then runs to find April.
There is a small detail to this entire series that I have found to be intriguing: Ram’s mother, Janeeta, is occasionally referred to, but never seen or heard. In this episode, she is said to be away “at a convention” in Leeds. It is unclear, however, whether she is never around simply due to travel, or that she and Varun are no longer together. Either scenario would be perfectly rational, but it is unusual for a show to deal with a character in such a manner. Seeing as how the finale has set the stage for more, we are likely to eventually meet her… or her perpetual absence could turn into a running gag. Either way, is there more than meets the eye to this distant figure?
Tanya and Quill in ‘The Lost’ (credit: BBC)
Another strange reoccurance over this series is people not answering their phones. This is even after a pattern being established of not answering the phone leading to being less prepared for a horrible occurrence. Shouldn’t whatever problem you have with a person be far less important than the threat of imminent danger? We see one of the most blatant examples of this when Vivian is killed by Corakinus right after Tanya ignores a call from April. Either way, this likely could not have been prevented, but a warning could have potentially helped in some way.
Corakinus briefly takes Jackie hostage, but cannot kill her without killing himself because she is still connected to him through the shadow in her legs. He puts a shadow in Charlie so that he will die if he kills the king, or uses the cabinet against the Shadow Kin. Matteusz is then marked as the fifth to be killed.
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Tanya and her brothers, Damon and Jarvis, are now orphans. She goes to Quill, who is now awake and reluctantly takes the girl under her wing. They go (with the cabinet) to the school and successfully stop Corakinus from killing the twin brothers, obviously third and fourth in line for death. Upon Tanya’s request, Quill gives her a crash course on how to fight.
At Coal Hill Academy, room M017 is for “EverUpwardReach Staff Only.” Dorothea has a clockwork key with the Roman numerals “MXVII,” which grants her access to the room. Before stepping through the door, she says to Charlie and Matteusz that, “We manage Time in here. You won’t even know I’m gone.” She is noticeably absent for a while, so perhaps she was implying something else with her statement. Anyway, could there be more significance to 1017 than simply a room number?
Dorothea holds the key to room M017 in ‘The Lost’ (credit: BBC)
Charlie, April, Matteusz, and Corakinus in ‘The Lost’ (credit: BBC)
On her way to face Corakinus, April finally confesses — by means of voicemail — her love to Ram, who has chosen to flee. Corakinus takes Matteusz hostage. To temporarily placate the king, April offers to go with him, but then instructs Charlie to kill them both in order to end the violence. To up the ante, the Shadow Kin army appears all over the city. By using the cabinet with them on Earth, the planet will be destroyed. April reads the king’s mind and learns that he intends to kill everyone, no matter what. She prompts Charlie to shoot, knowing that he will gain control of the army if Corakinus dies. He does so, but his command over them is weak due to his intention to order them back to the Shadow Realm, and then use the cabinet to destroy their world.
And now we come to the Governors, who are finally revealed. The cabinet no longer valuable to them, they sick a Weeping Angel on Dorothea as punishment for her failure. Uncharacteristically, it does not send her back in time, but snaps her neck. Wait… What?! Yes, as we reported the other day, the Weeping Angels are the benefactors behind the Governors. Talk about an unexpected twist! The “arrival” which Dorothea vaguely mentions is to be that of the Angels. A strange fresco of a huge Angel attacking a city is shown on the wall. It is cracked, pieced together with shards of various materials, the face the only missing piece.
Back to our heroes, somehow, Charlie is still alive and April’s soul is now inhabiting the body of Corakinus. To Charlie’s dismay, there is no sign of the souls of his people.
So, yeah. There is plenty of material to carry Class into at least one more season. It is unclear whether this will happen, or the story will just be carried on within Doctor Who.
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