Class 1.07
Nov. 27th, 2016 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we find out what Quill did during last week's events. It's the big Quill character episode of the season, and it rocks.
First of all, on a minor note, I take it that the Quill Goddess is what Quill's species looks like in their natural form? Or at least used to? Someone took their inspiration from Farscape. Also the fact that the last thing a Quill does is giving birth, and then they're then eaten by their offspring, sheds an interesting light on Quill's attitude towards the rest of the cast. (Not that she sees them as her children, I hasten to add. Just that this particular tradition presumably does not make for benevolent intergenerational habits.) (Also, I'm curious whether the show will show us the Rodian natural form as similarly alien or pull its punches there given the Charlie/Matteusz relationship.)
Quill's desperate desire for her freedom throughout, the lengths she will go to to achieve it, underlines again how horrible enslaving her free will is/was for her. That she bonds with Ballon on a fellow soldier level and has sex with him after they believe they've both achieved freedom wasn't a surprise, and I could also see the "only one of you can get out of here" twist coming, but the execution of this trope was superb, on every level - the intercutting between their conversation and their fight, their complete emotional understanding of what motivates the other. I mean, I knew Ballon was doomed from the moment the headmistress gave them the Hunger Games scenario, but they're just my kind of couple and I could have shipped them basedon this.
What I hadn't seen coming and yet what was in retrospect fairly prepared with the entire "Metaphysical Engine" device was that the last environment Quill ended up in, the trap which she had to free herself from, would turn out to be the cabinet of souls. (Though now I wonder: if the governors have a device that can transport people inside that thing, why do they need either Charlie or Quill to control it?) Katherine Kelly was fantastic in that scene, too, and if I was briefly reminded of Scarlett O'Hara's "as God is my witness..." scene, that wasn't a problem.
Given Quill's reaction to Ballon's death, though, I suspect that whatever reason the Governors wanted her to be free of the Ahn (spelling?), they'll find she's not likelyto be their instrument now, at least not without simultanously planning bloody vengeance on them, too, in addition to settling her issues with Charlie one way or the other.
As alien mythologies go, the Quill having a dead goddess reminds this Star Trek fan of the Klingons, inevitably, but when this was brought up in DS9 it was on a "this is how badass they are" note, whereas here it's Quill simultanously voicing resentment and need, since the goddess is really a representation of what is in her head and about to speak to her when Ballon decapitates her.
Ballon's niece: sounds so much like an obvious lie by the headmistress and the governors to blackmail Ballon that it probably isn't, in as much as she might actually be on Earth. If that's the case, what are the chances that she'll end up on Coal Hill next season?
It's not been lost on me that the kids last week were trapped in what was actually an alien prison cell and their escape ultimately hinged on Charlie killing someone, and this week we find out simultanously Quill was trapped and her escape hinged on her killing someone. What are the chances that last week's scenario was just an accident, as opposed to the Governors manipulating those events as well?
Ballon says he thought he'd be taken in by UNIT when arriving on Earth, but that the Governors found him first, which of course begs the question as to who they are. Now the headmistress prominently displaying a fobwatch at the start of the episode and the fact that both the kids' and Quill's trappings were dependent on bigger on the inside technology might all be coincidence, and the way the Metaphysical Engine's control room looks like Time Lord technology could simply be reused sets, but I would be very surprised if that'S the case. Especially given that the last DW season culminated in a two parter where the Doctor first spent a few millennia trapped in a Gallifreyan device, and this Class episode for no apparent reason had in its previouslies the bit from the Charlie-Quill conversation where he brings up the Doctor. Yes, the Governors could be old style Torchwood, Take II, but my money is on them being not human but Gallifreyan. Or related.
First of all, on a minor note, I take it that the Quill Goddess is what Quill's species looks like in their natural form? Or at least used to? Someone took their inspiration from Farscape. Also the fact that the last thing a Quill does is giving birth, and then they're then eaten by their offspring, sheds an interesting light on Quill's attitude towards the rest of the cast. (Not that she sees them as her children, I hasten to add. Just that this particular tradition presumably does not make for benevolent intergenerational habits.) (Also, I'm curious whether the show will show us the Rodian natural form as similarly alien or pull its punches there given the Charlie/Matteusz relationship.)
Quill's desperate desire for her freedom throughout, the lengths she will go to to achieve it, underlines again how horrible enslaving her free will is/was for her. That she bonds with Ballon on a fellow soldier level and has sex with him after they believe they've both achieved freedom wasn't a surprise, and I could also see the "only one of you can get out of here" twist coming, but the execution of this trope was superb, on every level - the intercutting between their conversation and their fight, their complete emotional understanding of what motivates the other. I mean, I knew Ballon was doomed from the moment the headmistress gave them the Hunger Games scenario, but they're just my kind of couple and I could have shipped them basedon this.
What I hadn't seen coming and yet what was in retrospect fairly prepared with the entire "Metaphysical Engine" device was that the last environment Quill ended up in, the trap which she had to free herself from, would turn out to be the cabinet of souls. (Though now I wonder: if the governors have a device that can transport people inside that thing, why do they need either Charlie or Quill to control it?) Katherine Kelly was fantastic in that scene, too, and if I was briefly reminded of Scarlett O'Hara's "as God is my witness..." scene, that wasn't a problem.
Given Quill's reaction to Ballon's death, though, I suspect that whatever reason the Governors wanted her to be free of the Ahn (spelling?), they'll find she's not likelyto be their instrument now, at least not without simultanously planning bloody vengeance on them, too, in addition to settling her issues with Charlie one way or the other.
As alien mythologies go, the Quill having a dead goddess reminds this Star Trek fan of the Klingons, inevitably, but when this was brought up in DS9 it was on a "this is how badass they are" note, whereas here it's Quill simultanously voicing resentment and need, since the goddess is really a representation of what is in her head and about to speak to her when Ballon decapitates her.
Ballon's niece: sounds so much like an obvious lie by the headmistress and the governors to blackmail Ballon that it probably isn't, in as much as she might actually be on Earth. If that's the case, what are the chances that she'll end up on Coal Hill next season?
It's not been lost on me that the kids last week were trapped in what was actually an alien prison cell and their escape ultimately hinged on Charlie killing someone, and this week we find out simultanously Quill was trapped and her escape hinged on her killing someone. What are the chances that last week's scenario was just an accident, as opposed to the Governors manipulating those events as well?
Ballon says he thought he'd be taken in by UNIT when arriving on Earth, but that the Governors found him first, which of course begs the question as to who they are. Now the headmistress prominently displaying a fobwatch at the start of the episode and the fact that both the kids' and Quill's trappings were dependent on bigger on the inside technology might all be coincidence, and the way the Metaphysical Engine's control room looks like Time Lord technology could simply be reused sets, but I would be very surprised if that'S the case. Especially given that the last DW season culminated in a two parter where the Doctor first spent a few millennia trapped in a Gallifreyan device, and this Class episode for no apparent reason had in its previouslies the bit from the Charlie-Quill conversation where he brings up the Doctor. Yes, the Governors could be old style Torchwood, Take II, but my money is on them being not human but Gallifreyan. Or related.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-27 09:33 pm (UTC)I did remember to switch on the subtitles this time - they reckoned the brain creature was an Arn*. Incidentally, Charlie's people are definitely the Rhodians (I was able to confirm that on the BBC website) - I've wondered from the start whether this was something to do with Rhodes scholarships, given that the flashback to Rhodia depicted them as humans in school uniform, and possibly also an allusion to recent demands for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes in Oxford because of his imperialist associations.
I couldn't quite work out what the Governors' game was in the closing stages; I presumed they wanted either the more ruthless soldier, or Quill, whether she was the more ruthless or not, because she's more likely to get Charlie to use the Cabinet. But if the former, why set the gun to kill the user**, and if the latter why bother with the fight? Was that just sadism, or did they spot the risk that Quill wouldn't co-operate if they simply killed her lover, but think she'd revert to maximum ruthlessness if she'd killed him herself/knew he was prepared to kill her? Which I really don't believe is going to work in their favour... I suppose we'll have a better idea next week.
I like the parallel you draw between the children being trapped in a prison and Quill & Ballon trapped in the Metaphysical Engine - but I also like the way that the friends found themselves turning on each other, whereas the strangers found understanding and friendship, perhaps even love.
* On the other hand, the subtitles said Ballon was a Law, and tardiswikia thinks he was a Lorr.
** The original gun was set to kill the shooter as well as the intended victim, wasn't it? I did wonder whether this one was set to kill Ballon but not Quill, whoever was holding it.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-28 06:21 am (UTC)(The flashback was April's imagination, though, wasn't it, inspired by what Charlie and Quill told her, which I thought was an ingenious money saving device by the BBC so they didn't have to do much costume, makeup and GCI for a brief scene.)
The original gun was set to kill the shooter as well as the intended victim, wasn't it? I did wonder whether this one was set to kill Ballon but not Quill, whoever was holding it.
Possible. And yes, the guns we see in the pilot are set to kill both shooter and target - which Quill knew, of course. (Her very introduction scene to the show is her using one of the students to fire the gun for her.) I suppose it's possible Quill herself changed the setting while they were grappling for the gun, since she's familiar with it, but I'm not even sure she ever held it in her hands during the struggle? So the Governors having modified the gun to kill "only" the user makes sense, but not only does this result in the victorious soldier not surviving (if they go for a "who's the best killer?" result), but the entire scenario guarantees the survivor, an experienced killer, will have issues with them. Fantastic hubris on their part?
but I also like the way that the friends found themselves turning on each other, whereas the strangers found understanding and friendship, perhaps even love.
Good point! And of course each is a more powerful combination with this particular set of characters than the other way around - the friends bonding more would have been trite, Quill and Ballon being hostile to each other throughout boring. AS it is, we saw Quill's capacity for emotions other than hate, and yet the show also refused to go the easy "all she needed was love" way. I genuinely have no idea how she'll end the season, and I love this unpredictability!
no subject
Date: 2016-11-28 04:02 pm (UTC)I think Quill said something about the head having set the gun, but I can't quite remember what and I couldn't find it when I flicked through the scene where I thought that had happened. My impression from her shouting "No!" was that she didn't expect Ballon to die, and perhaps at some level she let him win the struggle because, despite all her arguments about not trusting the Governors' claims about Ballon's niece, she agreed that he was right to take the chance. That might be a positive sign: they both believed they were the last of their species, but perhaps she was tacitly accepting that saving one other survivor took precedence over revenge for the dead?
I think the Governors are going to be in trouble. From her two episodes, the head likes to make out that they've thought of everything (even if they're not quite sure how the Metaphysical Engine will work out), so it's possible they'd foreseen the two soldiers bonding. But I bet they haven't quite thought through all the possible fall-out of Quill's emotions. I suspect they've now joined the list of Species That Quill Would Like to Expunge, though whether they come before or after Rhodians and Shadow Kin I cannot say.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-28 04:15 pm (UTC)Yes, I could see that. She didn't appear to be lying when she agreed that he was right to take the chance.
From her two episodes, the head likes to make out that they've thought of everything (even if they're not quite sure how the Metaphysical Engine will work out
Well, if she's an example, that's already somewhat contradicted, since she had to look up the small print in the how-to guide. :) I think Quill's current list probably ranks: 1.) Shadow Kin (because they managed to kill all her people except her), 2.) Rhodians (not just for constant war but for enslaving her, but she does have the problem that they are already dead except for Charlie, and if she truly wanted to kill Charlie, didn't she read the Evil Overlord list about death not being too good for one's enemies - she could have let the prison rock take him? Otoh I suspect she wants him to use the cabinet not just to get rid of the Shadow Kin but because that will detroy the Rhodians' souls, 3.) Governors. However, since the Rhodians aren't going anywhere, she may promote the Governors to point 2. Also, I suspect her current plan for Charlie might be the reason why she still had the smashed Arn with her - maybe she wants to clone it and put it in his brain so he finds out what it is like? (Also because then she could simply make him use the cabinet.)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-28 04:48 pm (UTC)Yes, I think you're probably right about order-of-revenge - also, assuming there will be further series, they're unlikely to kill off the Governors as soon as we meet them; they'd work better as a long-term adversary.
There is the interesting question of numbers - I think the head said that only one Rhodian soul would have been needed to wipe out the petal creatures, as they were a single entity. So if the Cabinet contains the souls of all Rhodians who ever lived, they probably outnumber the currently living Shadow Kin many times, in which case it's not a single-use weapon, though I'm not sure whether they'll carry that through.
PS Oh, fantastic! Chakoteya.net is doing Class transcripts.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-27 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-28 06:21 am (UTC)