Monday, June 5, 2017

Class 1x08 Recap: “The Lost” (5,000 Candles in the Wind) [Guest Poster: Stephanie Coats]


“The Lost”
Original Airdate: June 4, 2017

When Ram’s dad is stabbed in the heart by the Shadow Kin at the start of this episode, you know it’s going to be a grim hour. Have I mentioned before how Ram always seems to be suffering the most on this show? I know Charlie and Quill lost their entire race so it’s hard to play the comparison game with them in the room. But now Ram has seen his girlfriend and his father murdered in front of him, another woman eaten/skinned by a dragon, and had his leg cut off. And the worst thing is, there’s more to come before we finish this finale.

ORPHANS


Tanya starts the hour off with tragedy as well. Her mother is killed by Corakinus. Grief quickly turns to anger, because Tanya knows there’s a weapon that can avenge her mom and prevent others from being killed. She goes to Quill and voices her approval of weaponizing the Cabinet of Souls. Quill, very pregnant and still totally amazing, is delighted to have someone else on her side. She even agrees to teach Tanya how to fight.

As they move the Cabinet to Coal Hill, they stop off at the library to get Tanya’s brothers. Neither have answered their phones so she’s worried Corakinus is killing off her whole family. She’s almost right. It’s only Quill’s last-second intervention that saves what’s left of Tanya’s family.


THE ONCE AND USELESS PRINCE


Ram is ready to use the Cabinet as well but is stayed when April reminds him she’ll die along with the Shadow Kin. Which... okay, that’s true but couldn’t we have found a solution to this by now? And how many other people are worth April’s life? I like April and don’t want her to die and certainly don’t want Ram losing anyone else but at what point does her life stop being more important than anyone else’s?

What would really be helpful is if April could still control the Shadow Kin. However, her regal powers are kaput, as proven when Corakinus holds her mother at swordpoint. He wants April to live on his planet in order to keep their shared heart safe. Then Charlie is there with Quill’s gun aimed at the Shadow Kin, maybe finally prepared to actually do something. Instead, he’s hit in the heart with some shadow so, like April, if the Shadow Kin are killed, Charlie dies too.

Personally, I’m tired of Charlie’s whining and whimpering and wouldn’t mind terribly if he had to die in order to get rid of the Shadow Kin. I’d be more upset about April. Before we get to that decision, however, Charlie tries enlisting Headmistress Ames’ help. She’s utterly useless because the Governors are preparing for “the arrival” and can’t be bothered now.

SOULS VS. SHADOWS; FAMILY VS. FRIENDS


In the school gym, the friends face off. Ram has already run away because he couldn’t deal with the situation, so it’s Charlie and Matteusz on one side saying they can’t use the Cabinet and Quill and Tanya on the other saying the opposite. April busts in with a plan of her own. She’ll go with Corakinus, who by then is holding Matteusz at swordpoint, if he’ll leave in peace. He agrees but she reads his mind and knows he’s lying. The Shadow Kin have already invaded Earth and are ready to slaughter everyone at his command.

There’s nothing else to be done. April begs Charlie to shoot her and he agrees. Ram, who got a voicemail from April confessing her love for him, runs in to catch her as she falls. Knowing the Shadow Kin won’t follow his rule any longer than they followed April’s, Charlie activates the Cabinet and unleashes the souls of his people. Lights flood the Earth, killing every Shadow Kin and even swarming their planet and destroying it too. One last soul arises to take Charlie but Quill knocks him out of the way, telling him he must live with his decision and sacrifice. The soul strikes toward Ram and April instead. April wakes up... in Corakinus’ body.


THE ARRIVAL


Ames reports to the Governors that despite all predictions to the contrary, Charlie used the Cabinet. Displeased with her failure, they turn their backs to her, thereby allowing a Weeping Angel to attack. Instead of displacing her in time, it kills her.

Final Thoughts:
  • Honestly, Tanya and the Quill are the stars of this show. As much as the other characters have developed over just eight episodes, they are the only two who have proper perspectives on things. Even though Charlie is also an alien, he’s curiously more detached than Quill a lot of the time. I wish he’d been transported into Corakinus instead of April. 
  • We better get a second season. Eight episodes was far too little. 
  • Maybe the reason Charlie finds it easy to sacrifice people he doesn’t know (like Tanya’s family) in order to save the people he does know (April) is because he doesn’t have anyone except his friends. But for Tanya, Ram, and April, who have family and friends, the former definitely trumps the latter in life or death scenarios. 
  • Charlie: “If they die, April dies.” Matteusz: “And Charlie.” Tanya: “And I have to choose you over my mum? Over my brothers?” 
  • “Great, you can defend yourself against a pregnant woman.”
  • Charlie: “Is this the part where your offspring eats you?” 
  • Quill: “What the? Oh crap, that is part of it, isn't it?”
  • Corakinus: “You will die.”  Quill: “All of us die, genius.”
  • “This is the traditional end to a Quill life, did you know that? Here we die and our offspring consume us. They take our strength as their first gift, and our last legacy. But that's not what you humans do, is it? You give your strength every day. You give your legacy as you live. And that's because you can shape it, rather than it shaping you. So take what you've been given, take it, and give it back to those who hurt you. ‘Cause that's what I'm going to do.”

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