Class: Episode 1 & 2 Advance Review
Note: Doctor Who TV’s pre-air reviews aim to be as detail-free as we reasonably can while still offering a critique, but as everyone’s spoiler sensibilities are different, we advise you read on at your own discretion.
By the time Class airs it will have been half a decade since Doctor Who had a spin-off TV series. It’s rather surprising it’s taken this long, but Class’ arrival comes at a particularly apt time now in this most barren of years since Doctor Who returned in 2005. Is Class the spin-off fans have been waiting for?
Lead writer Patrick Ness, best known for his “YA” fiction (that’s ‘Young Adult’ for trendy people) including the “Chaos Walking” trilogy and “A Monster Calls”, delivers a competent if fairly unremarkable first couple of entries to the Doctor Who universe.
Class, on first impressions, is a mash-up of Doctor Who’s previous two spin-offs, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood. While the school setting suggests something closer to the former, there’s violence and subject matter to remind you it’s not a show for kids. Torchwood in its early days was guilty of excessively pushing the sex, gore and swearing in the mistaken belief it was being ‘grown-up’, but Class based on its first two episodes, is more balanced on that front. It doesn’t feel as gratuitous.
The first episode, as expected, has a lot of work to do introducing us to the main cast of new Coal Hill characters who will be battling monsters week-to-week. On the surface these do fall into some ‘high school’ genre trappings: There’s the nice girl (April), the alienated boy (Charlie), the brainiac (Tanya), the cocksure footballer (Ram), and their odd teacher (Miss Quill). But thankfully throughout the first couple of episodes they begin to get fleshed out into more than just these archetypes.
Episode one affords Charlie and Miss Quill the most depth, filling in their intriguingly out-there backgrounds that can’t be talked about within the confines of a spoiler-free review (though full details have of course already been revealed in other press). Episode two sees a little more development, with Ram granted a greater slice of the action and weightier material. Hopefully the remaining characters that still lack depth will have their moments to shine in subsequent episodes.
The performances from the young cast are fine, if not exactly testing for every cast member involved. Katherine Kelly’s icy educator comes across as the most memorable, with a more commanding performance from the off, even if a couple of lines misfire. It’s probably not unfair to say there’s a bit of a 12th Doctor vibe about the character, and maybe even a dash of Sherlock in one key scene. Though she’s not nearly as likable yet. Think early Capaldi.
Speaking of, it’s no secret that Peter Capaldi himself makes an appearance, with the Twelfth Doctor headlining marketing buzz. However he doesn’t appear until a good way into the first episode and vanishes around 10 minutes later. Seeing Capaldi is, regardless, still the most thrilling moment of either episode. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword however, as it’s also a reminder that we’d much rather be watching the Doctor every week instead.
Where would a Doctor Who spin-off be without the monsters? The first episode brings us the Shadow Kin as the main threat (and seemingly not the last time we’ll see them). As the name might suggest, they’re slowly introduced in several spookier scenes that may remind fans of a certain Vashta Nerada, but their actual form is the typical monster costume we’ve come to expect. The second episode features a more gruesome sounding enemy in the form of a skin-peeling dragon, though its CGI reveal is a little too goofy to be intimidating. It works much more effectively early on out of sight.
Visually the show is in capable hands with Ed Bazalgette, bringing his previous Doctor Who directorial experience (“The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived”) and this time injecting some Sherlock inspired textual trickery and flashy transitions. Class carries over several other Doctor Who crew including production designer Michael Pickwoad so the show looks the part even if Coal Hill itself doesn’t appear anything like how we last saw it, but at least that’s explained. Milk once again handles the visual effects, and although not as strong as the parent show’s best, that’s really to be expected on a much lesser budget.
Murray Gold is not responsible for the music score, but nevertheless you can expect some familiar musical themes and motifs courtesy of composer Blair Mowat, who does an admirable job instead. Audio drama listeners may recognize Mowat’s name as he more recently worked on the Big Finish’s Torchwood series.
If there’s one niggling flaw with the show at this early stage it’s that there’s nothing really here that fans haven’t seen before. Certain plot elements are straight out of past spin-offs, Doctor Who itself, or other media like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (referenced in the show and out in press interviews). A lot of it is rather vanilla, without offering something to make it really standout in the abundance of genre TV right now. There’s also couple of instances of dialogue that are a bit on the nose, where social commentary has taken precedence over naturalistic sounding conversations. It’s a tad jarring at times.
All in all though, Class is not bad and has potential for something special to emerge. It’s just not quite there yet. Episode 1 is the stronger of the two, with episode 2 featuring a few weaker elements. Hopefully in coming weeks the show will hit its stride and capitalise on its strengths.
Join us tomorrow for the first set of teasers on episode 2.
