Class (2016)

It took me quite a bit longer than usual to come around to the latest Doctor Who spin-off series.  I watched the pilot shortly after it came out and, while it had some interesting points, I thought it was just sort of okay and the characters didn’t grab me like any other Whoniverse show’s had.  After that, I just let pile up on the DVR (for a long time, as shown by the fact that it came out in 2016 and I’m only writing about it now.)  I never deleted it, though, because I always planned to get around to it eventually.  Well, the time has come!  (Premise spoilers.)

Coal Hill School, of course, is where everything started back in the day, but this is a new Coal Hill for a new audience!  As it happens, a Rift/Hellmouth/plot device to allow aliens to pop up every week has opened up at the school, and after sharing a disturbing alien-related experience together, a disparate group of students finds themselves with the unnerving task of trying to protect their school, their city, and the world from the further horrors of the universe.

First off, this is definitely a BBC-America-by-way-of-the-CW kind of show, for good and less-good.  It features a diverse group of young people, include a Sikh jock, a girl whose parents are from Nigeria, and a gay couple (convenient how most high schools on teen shows have the precise amount of LGBTQ kids of corresponding genders to pair up.)  It also features all sorts of teen romantic drama and sex, which, to be fair, only occasionally overshadows the fighting-aliens stuff.

Also?  Holy violence, Batman!  This shit gets graphic, considerably moreso than Torchwood, I’d say.  While Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures posit that the wonders of the universe are worth all the danger and fear that comes with the job of defending the Earth, I think these kids would have a hard time saying the same.  They don’t really choose this role; instead, once they have their first encounter, they realize that they pretty much have to take on this mantle if they don’t want to see everyone they love murdered/maybe eaten by aliens.  There’s very much a sci-fi horror aesthetic accompanying the show, maybe a tiny bit reminiscent of the original Alien (although alien is cooler.)

As the show goes on, though (briefly – it is only 8 episodes,) some neat stuff is brought to bear.  Even though it’s certainly less fun than any other Whoniverse show, I kind of like that the series deals with the trauma of all the stuff these kids have experienced.  It’s all original aliens for the major monsters here, and some of the concepts are pretty cool/original. 

There’s also a neat subplot involving one of the students and the only grown-up in the group, or at least tangential to it.  Both, the pilot reveals, aren’t actually human.  Teenage Charlie is the prince and sole survivor of a lost race, and the kids’ physics teacher, Miss Quill, is the sole survivor of a race that rebelled against his.  He’s a refugee on Earth, escaped-Russian-aristocrat-style, and for plot reasons, she’s now forced to serve as his bodyguard and in fact can literally only cause violence in order to protect him.  The two have a very complicated relationship, and it’s especially interesting to watch Quill’s journey over the course of the show.

Warnings

Lots of intense violence, disturbing images, sexual content, drinking, language, and strong thematic elements.