Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart stars Greg Austin as
Charlie, Fady Elsayed as Ram, Sophie Hopkins as April, Vivian Oparah as Tanya,
and Katherine Kelly as Mrs. Quill. It
was written by Patrick Ness and directed by Philippa Langdale with Patrick
Ness, Steven Moffat, and Brian Minchin as Executive Producer. It was originally broadcast on 5 November 2016
on BBC Three.
It’s
the halfway point for Class and we might have a good episode. The first half of the story
at the very least is average at best and it’s finally Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart that at least rises a little bit above
mediocrity. Yes I can actually say that
an episode of Class could be construed as good.
Albeit it isn’t that high above average, but still just a touch there. I’ll quickly get through the bad stuff of the
story as there is quite a lot of really bad stuff. First and foremost, Patrick Ness doesn’t do
well with the forty-five minutes of setup as the plot goes between three
storylines. First we have April dealing
with her father who has been released from prison and is trying to reconnect
with her. Second we have a plot with the
king of the Shadow Kin trying to get his heart back, a plotline that was
supposed to be the A plot of the episode, but because the third plot is so much
more interesting than either of the two.
The third plot is about Coal Hill getting a new head teacher, Dorothea
Ames, who promises Ms. Quill that she can get that creature out of his head
while carnivorous flower petals fall on London and multiply, starting to
consume things. Yes this is the
interesting plot, but Ness does not use his time to effectively flesh out the
three plots making many aspects of April’s story feel very flat and the stuff
with the Shadow Kin is just tedious. It
tries to flesh them out as a warrior race, but it doesn’t really allow the
fleshing out to actually happen as all we know still is that evil and
apparently they just randomly have orgies.
Yeah the king just starts going at it in the middle of the episode which
feels look at us, we’re edgy. It’s
something that comes out of nowhere and really doesn’t do anything to make the
Shadow Kin well rounded characters.
All
the romantic stuff in the episode is done badly. Ram and April have sex this episode because
April is in a state of distress, and they’re dating now. Yes this was sort of set up by them snogging
in Nightvisiting and some of the
scenes really do work for the episode as they actually reflect on the numerous
crimes you have them commiting, but there is no character development to see
them as forming a relationship. Heck Ram
actually had a prior friendship with Tanya whom he went to confide in for a lot
of things after his girlfriend was killed in the pilot. I mean really, Ram and April have barely had
any scenes together so the relationship comes out of nowhere and really feels
like we need to force people together because target audience. Also April hiding things from her mother
really doesn’t seem like it would be in character for her as she also has trust
for her mother. Her outbursts towards
her father actually make a bit of sense as how else would you react to the man
who tried to kill you. Her father however
at least seems to care even if he is mentally disturbed which could go on to
something extremely interesting if the second part of the full story really
follows up on this one.
This
episode is also the first one not directed by Ed Bazalgette and let’s be honest
it shows, but this is a double edged sword.
Philippa Langdale can direct some shots very well. The way she shoots Dorothea Ames and the
opening sequence are both really well done from a technical perspective. They just look really good, especially
considering the fast paced direction this series has been aiming for. The opening sequence of the falling flower
petal gives off this sense of wonder and intrigue that a show like this needs. It isn’t subtle, but it is very tastefully
done. The other edge of the sword comes
in whenever we have to direct the Shadow Kin as it’s all done in an extreme
amount of dark lighting and whenever there is a tone of red, the bad effects
really show which is a shame considering how a lot of the effects have actually
been, well practical. The computer
generated Shadow Kin in this episode just fall into that creepy area of the uncanny valley where they lose
their creativity which was a highlight of the pilot episode for Class.
Character development
guys! We have character development in
this episode and it actually feels partially natural for the series to actually
do. Charlie actually gets called out for
using Ms. Quill as a slave to just do his bidding. It’s the idea of having too much power for
one’s own good and Tanya actually calls him out on it. It isn’t very developed, but it’s better than
the bland as white bread we’ve been getting for the past three episodes. It’s something that actually makes sense for
the episode to do as we reflect on some of the horrible things that the main
characters have been doing since the pilot episode. Also Dorothea Ames while falling into the
Moffat trap of teasing something for the finale, at least interacts with the
characters when she is introduced as the mysterious Governors’ plotline decides
to rear its head and Ames is a good character.
Ms. Quill also gets some more to do in this episode instead of being a
background character which gives Catherine Kelly a chance to show off her
acting chops this episode as Ames acts very much like the devil making deals to
get the creature out of her head.
To summarize, Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart does have at
least some mark of quality on it for what it actually is. It’s an interesting set up for a story that
doesn’t exactly do much for advancement on many fronts while things that Ness
has done well are highlighted in the episode.
The direction feels fresh and to be honest a lot of the story has time
to be fleshed out in what is hopefully a good second half. 55/100.
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