Class series one discussion thread (spoilers)
- Thread starter JoeZhang
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I've been wandering between 'OK this is getting interesting now' and 'why am I bothering?' With Class. We were discussing it last night and I came to the conclusion it mostly feels unearned. The emotions, the friendships, the big dramatic moments. It feels like we have barely seen them build anything resembling the relationships they're supposed to have. OK, Charlie and Matteusz, and April and Ram have had sex but we've seen little of a relationship besides that for the team as a whole.
Last week was the first time it seemed to be trying to earn the team dynamic and it was to tear them apart.
Also feels like it's trying to be Buffy, I don't think there been an episode this series without one aspect where I've thought 'it's like that time on Buffy.'
Last week was the first time it seemed to be trying to earn the team dynamic and it was to tear them apart.
Also feels like it's trying to be Buffy, I don't think there been an episode this series without one aspect where I've thought 'it's like that time on Buffy.'
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I think you're spot on @Bob The Skutter part of the problem is the short season length. Also Charlie and Matteusz have zero chemistry and whilst April and Ram works better it still feels contrived. For a show aimed at teens it's a bit ironic that the most well rounded 3 dimensional character is the one adult.
To be fair, everything happened on Buffy.
It was 7 years.
It was 7 years.
I was thinking what helped Buffy, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, etc is they all had the home base, as it were. The library, the TARDIS, the Torchwood hub, The Attic. Somewhere where they all interacted as a team, Class doesn't have that. They're all off in their own homes, having their own crises, they all appear but they spend very little time together. A scene of then Skyping doesn't make up for it.
Are BBC3 shows even counted in the same sample, since they are not on TV?
They could have had more viewers.
They could have had more viewers.
Wow, episode 7 was actually a good episode. I'm actually impressed with it, especially the stuff between Quill and the shapeshifter guy. Their relationship actually was well-developed, believable and damn, I actually felt bad for them both in the end. A total 180 for this show. It's shocking, considering how horrible the show has been in regards to how it handles the relationships between Charlie and Matteusz, or April and Ram as so grating I want to scream, and here we have these two where I actually got absorbed into the story. Is it because they're grown-ups and don't have to go through all this "I think I love you but what is love" crap?
I also find it ironic that Patrick Ness is apparently considered some great YA writer, yet the episode that focuses entirely on adult characters is the one he got right. A really good episode, and a good character piece for Quill. Damn it, she should be the star of the show. Hell, it is interesting that at this point I can relate to her perspective the most out of anyone on the show and I'm even starting to view Charlie with the same amount of loathing.
I also find it ironic that Patrick Ness is apparently considered some great YA writer, yet the episode that focuses entirely on adult characters is the one he got right. A really good episode, and a good character piece for Quill. Damn it, she should be the star of the show. Hell, it is interesting that at this point I can relate to her perspective the most out of anyone on the show and I'm even starting to view Charlie with the same amount of loathing.
@The Wormhole I completely agree. The only hesitation I have is over whether we just click more with the adult characters by virtue of being adults ourselves. I'd still like to know how teenagers are viewing this, do they empathise with Ram and co and find Miss Quill dull? At the end of the day the show isn't aimed at us and we can't lose sight of that. Although...obviously the SJA wasn't aimed at me either, yet I not only enjoyed it, but found that most of the time I empathised more with the kids (well at least Clyde and Rani) rather than Sarah Jane herself.
To be honest I don't like Quill much either.
Nerd girl with half an alien heart, and magic swords, transmitting and receiving orgasms to and from an evil alien.
Tiny child playing with children three years her senior, as if she is real people. (Teen on teen ageism is strong.)
Moron hoon with a robot foot plays soccer.
Boring Alien prince with WMD bones boring boy, and keeps blond on a leash as a pet.
Angry former blond terrorist thrashes on the end of her leash, while slumming it as a teacher to moron weak humans.
Tiny child playing with children three years her senior, as if she is real people. (Teen on teen ageism is strong.)
Moron hoon with a robot foot plays soccer.
Boring Alien prince with WMD bones boring boy, and keeps blond on a leash as a pet.
Angry former blond terrorist thrashes on the end of her leash, while slumming it as a teacher to moron weak humans.
Maybe, though even when I was a teenager I could never connect with teenage characters on any of the teen dramas on TV, not even the ones embraced by geek culture like Buffy or Smallville. Ironically, I thought Buffy got better in the later years when by virtue of the characters being older they moved away from the teen angst and high school drama, and that show aired during my teenage years (I was 18 when it ended). And it's my understanding the earlier years are generally considered the best. I could never get into Smallville at all.
I quite agree. Maybe it's the whole teen angst thing, of which there was very little, if any in SJA. Teen angst really isn't all that interesting a premise for a TV show, it astounds me that there are so many that center around it.
I know this is a spoiler thread, but just to be safe...
I really want to see what happens next, whether in another series of Class or in Doctor Who itself. Oh, yeah, there's a silly cliffhanger involving one of the kids, but that doesn't interest me nearly as much. The last episode takes the world of Class into something much more interesting than the Shadow Kin.
The Governors! The Weeping Angels!
I really want to see what happens next, whether in another series of Class or in Doctor Who itself. Oh, yeah, there's a silly cliffhanger involving one of the kids, but that doesn't interest me nearly as much. The last episode takes the world of Class into something much more interesting than the Shadow Kin.
Oh, damn. I missed the episode last night and am waiting to catch a re-run in half an hour but I figured I'd check out your spoiler, since this show really hasn't been interesting me that much. But damn, this is one of those few times I wish I hadn't spoiled myself. That does sound interesting, and I kind of wish I went into the episode clean without knowing that.
Yeah I have to say it was a hell of a surprise, almost makes the show worth watching (well Miss Quill already does that but still...)
As with most episodes this veered between terrible and slightly better than average (until the end which was wow!) Too many actors going "NOOOooooooooo!!!!!" Anakin stylie for my liking!
The Shadowkin ending did make me smile however!
As with most episodes this veered between terrible and slightly better than average (until the end which was wow!) Too many actors going "NOOOooooooooo!!!!!" Anakin stylie for my liking!
The Shadowkin ending did make me smile however!
Well, having seen the episode, I must say it should have been called Montages and Monologues. The show really overdoes it with both. And while I will once again repeat my loathing for monologues, I will say that I actually like montages, and the one in the opening scene with April singing her song was actually okay. But the show does something like two other montages, and by the end my attitude was that even good things can be overdone.
And then the monologues, sweet shit. Entire scenes of the Shadow King holding a blade to someone like April's mother or Matteusz or whoever with Charlie pointing a gun at the King and all it is is just threats and talk. I actually screamed at one point "someone do something!" Seriously, it's getting to the point now that when Chibnall takes over, I hope he institutes a franchise-wide ban on monologues.
And one again, I'm going to point out, a full-scale alien invasion takes place in London and once again, neither emergency services nor UNIT get involved.
And then the monologues, sweet shit. Entire scenes of the Shadow King holding a blade to someone like April's mother or Matteusz or whoever with Charlie pointing a gun at the King and all it is is just threats and talk. I actually screamed at one point "someone do something!" Seriously, it's getting to the point now that when Chibnall takes over, I hope he institutes a franchise-wide ban on monologues.
And one again, I'm going to point out, a full-scale alien invasion takes place in London and once again, neither emergency services nor UNIT get involved.
I do wonder if it's because Ness mainly writes prose? I could see some of those scenes working better on the page than they did in reality. They really did drag on!
The Weeping Angels are exactly what the show needs, I just wish they'd perhaps foreshadowed them a little more. That ending was one of the few points when the show has felt like a Who spinoff.
I know it's been stated before, but I suspect the first season is largely Patrick Ness's idea for a YA TV series that BBC decided to sandwich into the Doctor Who universe. Aside from being at Coal Hill and the Doctor's cameo, there really is no connection to the Who universe at all. Well, UNIT is frequently mentioned, but never seen.
The ending does seem to suggest the next season will actually be connected in some way to the Who universe, though whether this will be an improvement or not remains to be seen.
The ending does seem to suggest the next season will actually be connected in some way to the Who universe, though whether this will be an improvement or not remains to be seen.
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