Brave-ish Heart

" I got us here... but I can't get us back."

Writer: Patrick Ness
Format: TV
Broadcast: 12th November 2016
Series: Class 1.05

Featuring: April, Ram, Tanya, Charlie, Miss Quill

Synopsis

April must face the terrifying consequences of her actions and confront Corakinus in his alien realm. Meanwhile, the invasion is overwhelming as the gang try to save Earth.

Verdict

Brave-ish Heart was an incredible episode of Class that continued the Doctor Who spinoff series in quite some style! It's probably just eclipsed Nightvisiting as my favourite story yet from the series and I really must say that I'm absolutely loving the direction of this series. Obviously, we're five episodes in now so all of the characters are familiar but with just three episodes remaining of the series, there are still quite a lot of questions that need answering. This episode continued pretty much immediately where Co-Owner of a Broken Heart finished off and I'm actually not too sure if this is considered a second part but for now I'm just going to go on the assumption that every story is individual and that is why I'll give a rating to each one. This episode was once again filled with emotion and that is certainly a theme that is concurrent throughout the spinoff series. The four teenagers are all undergoing their own personal battles, whether big or small, and we can quite clearly see the effect it is having on them. I would argue that April has been put through the most emotional turmoil thus far but it's not exactly a competition. Her route to the Underneath, the realm of the Shadow Kin, was excellent and I really admired her for going despite knowing she had no way back to Earth. Ram didn't seem overly happy with that revelation and I liked how he didn't really have an explanation for why he followed her through. Obviously, despite them knowing each other for only a month and seeing quite a lot, as well as engaging in a physical relationship, I think it was quite clear that the pair are in love. They might not want to admit it or may not even know it but I'm pretty convinced they are. April knowing a great deal about the Underneath was great and I loved how Ram was continually shocked by everything she was saying. The connection between her and Corakinus was strong and I imagine that with her arrival on his planet, that connection only strengthened. The graphics of the Underneath were absolutely superb I must say and I also liked the prominence of the palace which was obviously the home of the Shadow King. April wanted to engage in battle and at what first appeared to be a mismatch, she seemed to be using her connection with Corakinus against the Shadow King and eventually slayed him in battle. She couldn't kill him though because of the connection she shared with the Shadow King but that didn't matter. Before the entire Shadow Kin, April had won the battle and defeated their ruler which meant that she now became Shadow King. I thought it was pretty harsh that her title wasn't Shadow Queen as that just sounds a sublime title but she now controlled the Shadow Kin. That would help things on Earth as while she was off fighting on alien planet, Earth was on the verge of being submerged by killer petals. They don't sound too threatening but the more they multiplied, the deadlier they got and their method of just attacking flesh was absolutely horrific. The images of some their victims were actually quite graphic and almost disturbing at times. Now, I have no problem with that as it escalated their threat brilliantly but with no sign of the Doctor, the situation seemed helpless. Charlie was pretty much being forced into using the Cabinet of Souls as a weapon and I was intrigued by Miss Quill throughout the episode. It was pretty interesting to see how much emotion she showed which was somewhat unusual but I would still very much like to know the agenda of Dorothea and the Governors. Their expectancy of April to save the day was a surprise I must say but I really liked how they were happy with the day's events as they learned a lot more about the Cabinet of Souls. How they know so much about Rhodea we don't yet know, but I look very forward to finding out. April helping her mother get back on the right track by healing her spine was good and the first step was taken and that's always the most difficult. She also ordered her father away which I didn't blame her for at all despite his emotional speech on the Underneath. Tanya added her usual humour with a comical line about her parents not being anywhere near the episode's events but overall, this story really was fantastic. An absolute joy to watch and I already look forward to next week!

Rating: 10/10