‘There will be no going back. You really will either end today dead or with your freedom.’ While the Class-mates were detained, their teacher was going through a very different ordeal. With Ames and an alien prisoner called Ballon, Quill goes on a quest to battle angels and demons with the goal of freeing herself from the mind-controlling bug in her head. By the end, there seems to be a permanent shift in the balance of power between her and Charlie.

Throughout this watch-through (the first time I’ve seen any of Class beyond its first episode), I’ve consistently felt that Katherine Kelly is the best thing about it, so I had high hopes for this. I thought it was… OK, but curiously superficial given it upends Quill’s relationship with Charlie by freeing her from slavery, gives her a lover, and ends up with her apparently pregnant. Quill is a tough cookie, though, and despite a couple of shows of emotion there’s no great sense that this has been a hugely transformative experience for her. Her righteous anger as she goes full on War Doctor, declaring ‘no more’ and ‘I am war itself’ feel pretty much business as usual, and we already saw at the end of the last episode that she’s now got the means – if she wants – to exercise her freedom.

So, this almost feels like a necessary join-the-dots to get Quill from Brave-ish Heart to next time’s series finale. Ballon is a good one-shot. Ames continues to be an amusingly officious villain. The episode has some witty lines, good effects, a couple of gruesome moments and well-choreographed action sequences, but it ends up being a bit hollow and insubstantial.

Next Time: The Lost