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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Class: Volume Three 3.2 - Catfish by Kate Thorman (REVIEW)

                                   Class: Volume Three 3.2 - Catfish (by Kate Thorman) Review 

By Ellie

Clarification: This is an in-depth review of the story and may contain spoilers. 

It may have been a long wait for the next two volumes returning to the beloved world and characters of Class but the strong stories, characterisation and themes of Volumes Three and Four have proved the wait worth it. Picking a story to review was no easy task but ultimately 3.2 ‘Catfish’, written by Kate Thorman, felt like the right one to discuss.


My initial predictions of Catfish had been far from the awkward story of first love and self-doubt: I had been imagining a Rhodian/Quill centric story with the ‘Catfish’ being both a reference to their alien forms and the act of hiding who you were. I was surprised to see a Tanya centric story instead (although the themes of Quill and Charlie’s identity come up a lot in volume four instead). Despite my wrong prediction, I found ‘Catfish’ an interesting, thoughtful character driven story.

The recasting of both Quill and Tanya for these volumes had caused a little concern before I listened to the story. Both voice actresses feature in this story, although naturally Joanna McGibbon as Tanya Adeola is the star. McGibbon does a wonderful job as Tanya, getting even her quirks and manner of speech across as well as original actress Vivian Oparah did. McGibbon fits Tanya very well, making the fact she has only one IMDB credit to her feel like a shame, she’s clearly a great actress. Dervla Kirwan as Quill features at the end too, although I feel her performance was a little jarring here. She is a brilliant and convincing replacement for Katherine Kelly in the other audios she stars in. Both actresses show a good understanding of the original characters, making them good replacements overall. 

Joanna McGibbon at Big Finish HQ for the recording
The central plot involves Tanya befriending and dating new kid Paul (as played by Jacob Daniels). Paul is the Catfish, as it turns out - a shapeshifter alien trying to find a place and friends after being left behind by his own people, who rely on each other for survival. I found Tanya and Paul’s relationship both interesting and potentially the weakest part of the audio. For one, Paul’s age seems a little concerning, he shares an A-level class with Tanya (strangely, French, making it a total of five canon subjects she takes), suggesting he is at least posing as a sixteen or seventeen year old. This could be a potential source of tension between the friends, as their concern over the age gap would only add to Tanya feeling like the little sister of the group. Paul is a shapeshifter, being left without his people for ‘years’, making his true age and maturity level ambiguous, a fact I found a little off-putting as he dates fourteen year old Tanya without it ever being addressed. 
Joanna McGibbon and Jacob Daniels, as Tanya and Paul
Besides the age gap, there is an inequality in the relationship. At some points Paul appears manipulative, seeming to push a bigger divide between Tanya and her friends. The end of the audio, in which he literally pushes her out by taking her place after tricking her into staying home from school makes it seem like this was his plan the whole time. However, his final confession of his true affection for Tanya contradicts this and she seems genuinely upset when they part ways. There are a few sweet moments between them, like Paul building Tanya a robot to cheer her up, but overall the relationship doesn’t seem right for Tanya. 

Tanya is plagued by insecurities throughout the story, feeling left out and too young to fit in with her friends. She becomes irritated and whingeing, making her seem immature. This starts to feel like her only character trait by the end, leading to April being able to tell between her and the shapeshifted Paul as the real Tanya moans they like Paul more anyway. The recurring joke throughout the story is about Tanya’s strict mother keeping her from being able to spend time with her boyfriend or friends. She appears resentful of this despite the intense bond she has with her mother in the show. This makes setting the story after ‘Nightvisiting’ (with Matteusz and Charlie still in the process of moving in together) seem strange, as Tanya seemed most content with her Mother in the end of ‘Nightvisiting’. 

Tanya and her mother, Vivian, in Nightvisiting
Overall, ‘Catfish’ reminded me a lot of Volume Two’s ‘Everybody Loves Reagan’, although Paul turns out to be much nicer and better intentioned than Reagan was. Unlike the other Tanya centric stories of the first two volumes - ‘Now You Know’ (which I reviewed before) and ‘Life Experience’ - I felt the story didn’t fully understand her character and made Tanya feel a little bit too insecure and like a whining teenager. Whilst in canon it’s clear Tanya does feel this way, she keeps it more subtle and only outbursts at her friends when pushed to her limit in ‘Detained’. 

However, I did enjoy the Quill moment at the end, which adds to the outsiders in the group bond they share (which comes up again in the wonderful ‘Queen of Rhodia’). ‘Catfish’ is still a strong story for me, bringing in the friendship dynamics of the gang and adding a little more depth to tanya as she desperately tries to prove her maturity to her friends, despite her childish behaviour. 

Whilst not the stand out story for me, ‘Catfish’ still holds strong and I’ll definitely be giving it a relisten in the future. 

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Class: Volume Four 4.3 - Queen of Rhodia by Blair Mowat (REVIEW)

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