Class: The Lost
(1 episode, s01e08, 2016)
From the shadows rises a cliffhanger.
Six days after the detention events, bad omens rise as April debuts her song The Lost on a café stage. The Lost is obviously about the Coal Hill Defenders and their families. Of that group, Ram suffers immediate loss as his father is murdered by Corakinus. As his father disintegrates, Ram is confronted by the former Shadow King who says, “One.”
Matteusz visits Charlie and questions why Miss Quill isn’t restrained. She’s a threat to him if she awakens, but Charlie cannot bring himself to put her back in chains. When Quill awakens, she’s surprised to be pregnant but demands to have her gun. Meanwhile, Ram tells April about his father and she begins to spread the word. The only one who stands apart is Tanya, who immerses herself in her studies until Corakinus murders her mother. Tanya seeks solace with Miss Quill and asks to use the cabinet to seek vengeance.
The deposed Shadow King sets his sights on April’s mother next, holding her as ransom on the condition that April joins him. Charlie and Matteusz arrive with Quill’s gun as Corakinus reveals who he has killed thus far. Corakinus attacks Charlie with shadow, casting it on his heart and linking them together. After Corakinus leaves, Ram chastizes the group for their inaction before storming away. April gives chase but refuses to go with him and leave her mother unprotected.
Charlie and Matteusz petition Dorothea Ames (at gunpoint) for help. Ames takes them to a staff entrance for EverUpwardReach (a foundation of the Governors) but refuses to let them in. She does, however, speak of The Arrival before disappearing inside the mysterious room. She returns with news that they have a problem. The Shadow Kin are coming.
Miss Quill and Tanya take the cabinet to Coal Hill Academy. As Corakinus attacks Tanya’s brothers, April rushes to the school and Quill fights him hand-to-hand. After Corakinus retreats, Quill gives Tanya advice and defense training. April calls Ram and leaves him a message declaring her love for him before paying her respects at the Coal Hill honor board.
Tanya demands that Charlie kill the Shadow Kin, but he knows that doing so will kill April. Corakinus takes Matteusz hostage as April arrives and offers herself in exchange. Charlie is reluctant to let her go, but April convinces him otherwise. As Ram listens to April’s message, the Shadows arrive and begin their assault on Earth.
April reveals that the Shadows will kill everyone regardless as part of the King’s command, and Charlie shoots April to eliminate the Corakinus. Ram arrives in time to catch April as she falls lifeless to the floor. The Shadow Kin stand still as Charlie assumes the role of king and activates the Cabinet of Souls. Matteusz begs Charlie to stop, knowing that this will kill every Shadow Kin including their new king, but Charlie tells him that he’s already dead. Quill and Tanya defend Charlie as he activates the weapon and destroys the Shadows. The act also removes the Shadow from Jackie MacLean’s legs, consumes The Underneath, and resurrects April in Corakinus’s body. Charlie, meanwhile, must live with the sacrifice and his actions.
Because Dorothea Ames was unable to prevent Charlie from using the cabinet, she is sacrificed by the Governors to a Weeping Angel. The head of the organization promises the Angels that they will be ready for The Arrival.
In a somewhat intriguing ending, we find two who are the last of their kind (Charlie and Quill) giving rise to a third (April as Corakinus, the now last of the Shadow Kin) by sacrificing the remnants of the Rhoadian species. It’s powerful stuff, but it’s tainted by the fact that the team still doesn’t fight like a team and the decisions that each member makes are unilateral.
The challenging parts of this story are related to the Governors and the Weeping Angels. We get the revelations that the Governors are driving the space-time tears in support of The Arrival (whatever that is) and the Weeping Angels. Since this particular story thread remains untethered in the time since this episode aired, maybe it is fodder for the Doctor in a future adventure.
Rating: 3/5 – “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”
UP NEXT – Class Summary
The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.
