Class - 'Nightvisiting', 'Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart', 'Brave-ish Heart', 'Detained', 'The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did' and 'The Lost'

Well, that didn't take so long, did it.

The first season of Class is not long, and having missed it until close to the end I had to kind of spam it before iplayer cut me of.

'Nightvisiting' sees the dead coming back to visit the living, not as ghosts but as the puppets of a tentacular entity that feeds on loss. Tanya's dad is played by Kobna Holbrook-Smith, who reads the Rivers of London books for audio. This episode also sees the genesis of a relationship between Ram and April, and Mathieuz moving in with Charlie (and Quill.) It's a strongly acted episode, which serves to strengthen the team bond and at the same time push Quill further to the outside.

We follow this with a two-parter - 'Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart' and 'Brave-ish Heart' - in which the Shadowkin strive to reclaim their King's heart from April, but only succeed in strengthening the bond, causing April to grow shadowy scimitars and menace her estranged father, who has just been released from prison after nearly killing her and her mother as a byproduct of a vehicular suicide attempt.In the end she travels to the world of the Shadowkin through the rift and defeats the King to take his place. On Earth, however, a plague of carnivorous blossoms threatens all life, and the Governors - represented by the new headteacher - try to pressure Charlie into using the Cabinet of Souls to destroy them. Fortunately, April's new army of Shadowkin do the business before being dismissed and ordered to destroy all paths to Earth.

In 'Detained', the team are locked in during detention and then isolated by an alien prison meteorite which forces them all to confess their deepest guilty secrets, which pretty much ends them as a team and puts the mockers on Ram and April's relationship when they both affirm that he loves her more than she loves him. Its okay as bottle episodes go, but at the same time Quill is darting through imaginary places to get her control parasite removed in 'The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did'. This is a strong episode, benefiting from the focus on Quill, who is if not the most interesting of the characters, by far the most fun.

Finally, in 'The Lost' the Shadow King uses his connection to April to launch an invasion, first murdering those close to his previous thwarters, including Ram's father and Tanya's mother. with no other way to save Earth, Charlie opens the Cabinet of Souls, unleashing the spirits of the Rhodian race to sacrifice themselves in destroying the Shadowkin. Charlie himself is saved, but April is killed taking the Shadow King with her, until suddenly the Shadow King sits up and speaks with April's voice.

The series was, in the end, surprisingly short. It was far stronger than Torchwood's freshman year, although the final revelation that the Governors are planning for 'the Arrival' on behalf of the realy-good-once Weeping Angels is a Hail Mary and a half. While the monsters of the week were hit and miss, and the Shadowkin lost most of their punch after the pilot, the characters really made the series work. While Quill was the stand out with her non-human bluntness, the younger characters were convincing, well-acted and relatable, with realistic relationships in unrealistic situations.