The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did

07 – "The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did"
Class episode
Dorothea (Pooky Quesnel, center), Ballon (Chiké Okonkwo, right) and Miss Quill use the Metaphysical Engine to travel to a world long gone.
Cast
Starring Katherine Kelly – Miss Quill Greg Austin – Charlie Fady Elsayed – Ram Sophie Hopkins – April Vivian Oparah – Tanya
Others Jordan Renzo – Matteusz Pooky Quesnel – Dorothea Chiké Okonkwo – Ballon Spencer Wilding – Quill Goddess
Production
Directed by	Wayne Yip
Written by	Patrick Ness
Produced by	Derek Ritchie
Executive producer(s)	Patrick Ness Steven Moffat Brian Minchin
Music by	Blair Mowat
Series	Series 1
Running time	45 minutes
First broadcast	26 November 2016 (2016-11-26)
Chronology
← Preceded by "Detained" Followed by → "The Lost"
List of Class episodes

"The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did" is the seventh episode of the British

• In the episode, when learning that Ballon is a shapeshifter, Quill believes him at first to be a Zygon. Dorothea explains that Zygons are "protected on Earth", a reference to the peace treaty between humans and Zygons living on Earth negotiated by the Tenth, Eleventh and War Doctors in the Doctor Who episode "The Day of the Doctor" (2013).^[1]

Outside references

• Quill recalls an unnamed "Earth poem"; said poem is "Home" by Warsan Shire.^[2]

Production

The episode was directed by Wayne Che Yip, who also directed the preceding episode, "Detained". It premiered on 26 November 2016 at 10am. The episode was broadcast in the United States in early 2017 on BBC America.^[3]

Reception

The episode received very positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, pacing, visuals, and character development. Kelly's performance and her character's journey, in particular, were highly praised.

The A.V. Club called the episode "brilliant" and "the best example yet of the show’s wild inventiveness", highly praising its adult themes and characters.^[1] Vodzilla praised the performances of Kelly, Quesnel and Okonkwo, and the "imaginative world-building and character development", and calling it "the most vivid and ambitious episode of Class to date".^[2] Cult Box gave a positive review, praising Kelly's performance, Quill's character, and the visuals, stating that "the succession of contrasting locales were a treat".^[4]

Den of Geek gave a very positive review, praising Quill's character development, Kelly's performance, the writing and themes, and special effects. Stating that "the concurrent-episodes structure worked a treat", they felt that "what started out looking like a fun, straight-up adventure game [...] quickly pivoted into an intense exploration of character and the philosophy of liberty. As a result, the character of Quill became much more than an enjoyably sardonic warrior who does a good line in quips. She raged, empathised, grieved, challenged her existential beliefs and rediscovered her person-hood. Class stuffed a whole series’ worth of character development into forty-five gripping minutes. By so doing, it cemented its own identity as a brainy series with more ideas than you can shake a metaphysical stick at."^[5]

Flickering Myth gave a very positive review, praising the writing and Kelly's "wonderfully acerbic yet vulnerable performance". They felt that "there’s a real depth of textuality to ‘The Metaphysical Engine’, which demonstrates a lot of Patrick Ness’ greatest strengths as a writer" and that the writing was "both entertaining and thought provoking".^[6]

Mym Buzz gave a positive review, calling the episode "a gloriously entertaining mess" and "a fine, pacy, unpredictable, great-looking and unashamedly geeky piece of small screen sci-fi". They praised the visuals, Kelly and Quesnel's performances and its "interesting" themes, but felt that "a few elements felt underdeveloped and poorly explained".^[7]

Conversely, Doctor Who TV gave a mixed review, feeling that the episode failed to develop Quill further and criticized the lack of emotional investment in the episode, due to Quill herself being "barely invested in her adventure, as she is scripted with an overabundance of witty retorts [...] Unfortunately, rather than reveal Quill’s true, inner nature via her reactions to the episode’s impossible situations, writer Patrick Ness fills the script with Quill’s acerbic humor [...] This episode needed to reveal the layers of Quill’s character hidden underneath her bitterly sarcastic exterior, but the script’s reliance on one-liners do the titular character few favors."^[8]

References