Nightvisiting

"You died two years ago today."

Writer: Patrick Ness

Format: TV

Broadcast: 29th October 2016

Series: Class 1.03

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

Synopsis

When London is infiltrated by a powerful alien, an unexpected visitor comes to Tanya's window. The team must battle this strange new threat to stop Tanya from being lost forever.

Verdict

Nightvisiting was an outstanding episode of Class! This third story of the spinoff series to Doctor Who has instantly become my favourite and I honestly will be very surprised if any of the five remaining episodes in the series can beat it. From start to finish, it was just absolutely brilliant. The plot was excellent but that isn't all that makes a story and I really liked how we got some superb character development of each member of the main cast. We started off with a little bit of a family history for Tanya and the effects the anniversary of her father's death was having on. Of course, I don't think she expected him to return through her window attached to some horrific alien vine. April and Ram seem to have an interesting relationship and I'm just loving the former more and more as the series goes on. She's simply wonderful and I love how nice and just intelligent she is. I wasn't a fan of Ram mocking her for playing the keyboard but the way she stood up to that when they met in person was terrific. We learned a lot about her past as well as she opened up to Ram about how her mother was paralysed and why her father was imprisoned. The emotion behind her reveal was striking and the conversation ended with a kiss between April and Ram that she instigated but seemed quite surprised about. It was a great moment. This series is right up my street in terms of the target audience and Patrick Ness captures the issues of modern society for late teens very well indeed. Charlie didn't really do much in this episode other than engage in a physical relationship with Matteusz. Miss Quill meanwhile was downstairs and calmly conversing with her deceased sister. Well, the human image of her. She never once considered that it was actually her and I must say that the comedy Miss Quill brings to the story is just magnificent. Her reaction to having to answer the door was fantastic. The Lan Kin was quite a horribly brilliant enemy and the concept behind it was deeply disturbing. It brought the dead back to those who missed them most. It was feeding on the souls of humanity but it was intriguing how it couldn't force someone to join with it but could only persuade. Ram saw the full effect of that. The references to The Eleventh Hour, For Tonight We Might Die and The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo were excellent and the resolution behind the Lan Kin being defeated was fantastic. We had Tanya effectively poison the main root branch of the alien that was actually a person rather than a species and then Miss Quill superbly found herself a double decker bus and snapped the branch into pieces. The moment the whole main cast came together at the end to celebrate the achievement, Miss Quill wanting to vomit at their embraces was fantastic. Katherine Kelly really is a wonderful actress and an absolute asset to the show. Overall though, an incredible episode that was easily the best yet.

Rating: 10/10