Detained 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 Wayne Che Yip with Patrick Ness,
Steven Moffat, and Brian Minchin as Executive Producer. It was originally broadcast on 19 November
2016 on BBC Three.
Using
an episode of a television show to feature the characters in a room and letting
them play off each other is nothing new.
It’s been done in many shows as a way to give us some development and
let all the dirty laundry so to speak come out into the open. The big shame is that Class’s trapped in a
confined space with the regulars episode is the sixth episode of an eight
episode run. This was really an idea
that needed to be done back as the third episode and then maybe I would be able
to actually like the series more than I have in the past. That won’t amend any
previous episodes’ scores as that is the past and this is the present. Detained
works overall as an episode as it takes our main cast plus Matteusz and takes
them into a prison outside of time and space in the form of a classroom. They’re meaning to take an hour’s detention
which alright I’ll give them that as it’s at least incorporating the school
setting into the plot pretty well. The
idea is that this is the episode where truths will be revealed as there is an
alien prisoner trapped in a rock that forces out the truth. It’s a great idea for a plot and executed
much better than the few throw away gags in The
Time of the Doctor. The plot is just
our main cast trying to escape the room which is simple but effective as there
really aren’t faults with the plot itself.
I
have to fault Ness’s bad dialogue in this episode
especially because the first fifteen minutes are this frantic mess of
exposition and establishment, getting the characters out of time, establishing
that Charlie has claustrophobia, and getting Matteusz to pick up the rock to
begin the conflict proper. The dialogue
really comes across as hokey with everyone complaining how angry they feel
which could have been done by showing it to the audience, not just saying it. Outside of the first fifteen minutes,
however, the episode proper really begins as the truths that come out allow us
to see into the minds of our characters.
Matteusz actually gets development as he remembers his grandmother and
her reaction to the fact that he is gay.
It’s actually a poignant piece of dialogue that shifts into an actual
showing of mistrust of his boyfriend.
It’s the easiest way of showing the audience as it isn’t just an
exposition dump which this episode so easily could have become.
Tanya
is the character built up as the leader of the group and for what she does in
this episode, except for some comments early on, I feel she’s the most
realistic one of the bunch. She’s
extremely intelligent and is always put down, not because of her race as many
would think the diversity quota laden BBC would force, but her age. She feels out of place because she’s only
fourteen years old and what fourteen year old is supposed to deal with being
three levels ahead of everyone else.
Vivian Oparah actually steals the show this episode taking the best bits
from Nightvisiting and using them to
advance the character ahead. Greg Austin
as Charlie is a character I’ve complained about in the past for not having much
character. Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart and Brave-ish
Heart gave us a starting point, but here we get the development. He communicates this inner struggle of
wanting to have revenge, but knowing that deep down revenge on the Shadow Kin
wouldn’t be the right thing to do. He
feels guilty considering he knows that his treatment of Miss Quill has been
horrible so the alien. April and Ram’s
arc is a bit less enjoyable as they just go off of how in love they are and how
they’re rushing things. I think they’re
still in love by the end of the episode, but it really isn’t clear as to the
ending.
The
direction is something I have to mention for how inconsistent it is. Wayne Che Yip returns to the style of choppy
editing in the first fifteen minutes which just gave my eyes a headache, but
after fifteen minutes he slowed down the pace of the direction to something
just a touch more manageable. It really
isn’t anything special, however, as some shots lingered on characters for too
long, while others gave us some interesting angles to play around with. Maybe it’s just the one set but the
background looks really boring after a while which might end up being the
point.
To
summarize, Detained is a quality
episode of Class. Yes that’s something I
really didn’t think I would be saying, but credit where credit is due, there
are flaws but many of these can be overlooked for a generally good episode. 75/100.
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