We've had an episode for Ram, then an episode for Tanya, now it's time for April to get her own episode. April's link with Corikanus' heart, is strengthening and the situation is made more complicated by the fact that her father has recently been released from prison and is trying to see her, against her own wishes.
Sophie Hopkins gets a lot of good material this week as April, and the actor does a good job alternating between April's regular, sweet, personality and the angry and violent outbursts when the with Corikanus strengthens.
The Shadow Kin are also given greater depth by this story. Corikanus, the King, shows a more indecisive size, struggling with his vanishing heart. It is nice to see his world in its CGI glory, as well as getting to meet other members of his Kin. He even gets a monster sex-scene, which is pretty unusual for a creature in an all prosthetic suit. It's a disappointing that his voice has a generic deep and rumbly sound, but otherwise he is becoming interesting.
Charlie also gets some character development. His superior attitude towards Miss Quill, and thoughts of using the Cabinet as a weapon, is starting to alienate Matteusz and Tanya. It often seems to be the case that Tanya is less an interesting character in herself than the way she forces the others to think about themselves. She acts as a conscious to the increasingly arrogant Prince.
Miss Quill is becoming less and less happy with being Charlie's protector and this leads into her new deal with Miss Dawes, the new head teacher, who speaks for the Governors. Miss Dawes is amusingly camp and vicious. The progressing petal problem absorbing the blood of its victims is quite a creepy concept.
This episode is far more successful than Nightvisiting at developing the character it is focused on. Hopefully next week's episode will make the story better. The theme of not having to apologise to a parent is a good one, although the disabled parent being able to walk again felt false.
8/10
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