Doctor Who spin-off review: Class: Nightvisiting
By James Aggas
Tanya is visited by the last person she expected, as a very dark and manipulative creature works its way into London in the third episode of Doctor Who spin-off Class.
Nightvisiting begins with a simple but effective montage that focuses on her father. This is a brilliant way to begin this episode. Not just because it builds upon what Tanya had talked about in the previous episode of Class. It also gives you a strong indication of what this episode will be about, something that Doctor Who perhaps wouldn’t focus on.
We then have an episode with a very psychological focus, as Tanya is apparently visited by her dead father. This provides a really different kind of story. As the episode goes on, we know that this isn’t just an alien taking on the form of Tanya’s father, asking her to hold his hand. We also, of course, learn of its sinister intentions.
So it’s interesting watching Tanya’s struggle. She doesn’t want to believe that it’s really her father. And initially, she refuses to believe it. But as the episode goes on, bit by bit, she wants to believe it more and more. It’s interesting and horrifying watching this creature break Tanya down, especially when we find out just how nasty it really is.
Tanya is visited by the last person she expected in the third episode of Class, Nightivisiting.
(Image credit: Class/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Class website.)
Quill
There’s focus on other characters in this episode, but one regular who gets explored in particular is Quill. In a way, it’s similar to Tanya’s story, complete with someone she knows asking her to literally reach out to her.
But of course, with Quill’s nature, it’s also very different. She’s far more cynical and snarky about everything in general, so of course, she’s less affected by the person she sees.
We get more of a sense of her history, too, including the kind of relationships she had with her family. The more we learn about Quill, the clearer it is that she’s a fascinating character.
Charlie and his boyfriend Matteusz are further explored, too. Their relationship in Class is not only natural to watch, but also satisfying. It feels real and continues to develop beautifully. We learn each of their perspectives on things, which is always interesting, especially considering Charlie’s unique alien background. Charlie’s and Matteusz’s relationship is very nicely handled.
I’m not sure I can say the same of April and Ram’s relationship though. That seems to come out of nowhere, especially as we only really see them hang out with just each other in this episode. I’m wondering what exactly is going to happen with that storyline.
Where’s UNIT?
And while the monster of the episode is good, it’s a little too widespread to be believable. At the very least, you have to ask yourself: where’s UNIT in times like this? A school with regular disappearances and deaths, I can kind of understand why they’d miss it. Even when so many have been caused by a dragon, or an alien invasion only briefly shows up, at least.
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But a huge, widespread invasion of a small part of the city, even overnight? Considering this creature seems to be exactly the kind of thing that they’d handle, you’ve got to wonder where they are in this one.
It’s just one of those elements that pushes the suspension of disbelief, especially when trying to take Class as a natural part of the Whoniverse.
The early seasons of Torchwood never tried anything too big, they usually just found ways of making the threats as personal and relatively small-scale as possible, and it worked. It’s an approach that I wish I saw Class take more often. Particularly with this episode.
On the whole though, Nightvisiting is another clear example of what Class wanted to achieve. It’s dark and has a horrifying monster in the episode. But far more importantly, it explores very mature themes like grief and loss in an interesting way. It also explores the characters very nicely, overall. The more I watch of Class, the more I can see its appeal.
Next. Continuity – when does it work, and why?. dark
What do you think of Nightvisiting? How well do you think it handled the characters? Did you enjoy finding out more about both Tanya and Quill? Let us know in the comments below.