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Recap / Class S01E07 "The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did"

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Ms. Ames leads Quill and a mysterious warrior named Ballon on a quest to recover items required to remove Quill's parasite without killing her.


Tropes that appear in the episode

  • And I Must Scream: Those in Lorr Hell are statues, which to the shapeshifting Lorr is a particularly terrifying concept.
  • Artificial Outdoors Display: Subverted, when Quill and Ballon are in the Cabinet of Souls, a hologram of Coal Hill makes them think they are inside.
  • Backwards-Firing Gun: The gun that is sent to Quill is one, meaning Ballon dies instead when he tries to kill her.
  • Bigger on the Inside: The Cabinet of Souls. Lampshaded by Quill, contributing to the Running Gag in Doctor Who.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The places the Metaphysical Engine can go to only exist because people believe in them. The Governors are somehow planning to use it to remake the world according to their desires, or create a new one.
  • Continuity Nod:
  • Distinction Without a Difference: Quill asks incredulously if they're in Arn Heaven; Dorthea says that they're inside the idea of Arn Heaven.
  • Due to the Dead: Quill buries Ballon in the cabinet under a Cairn of stones.
  • Either/Or Title: The title falls under this two-part structure.
  • Eye Scream: Quill's surgery scene.
  • Family-Unfriendly Violence: Again, Quill's surgery scene.
  • Fetch Quest: Three items from different religious otherworlds are needed to make sure the operation to remove Quill's parasite is a success.
  • Foregone Conclusion: The last episode ended with Miss Quill arriving at the classroom alive and free, so from the start we know she will succeed and survive the events of this episode.
  • Hard Light: The Headmistress says the school in the Cabinet was just a hologram, but Ballon could tear down music stands, put things on tables, etc.
  • Healing Hands: A variation. Ballon is able to use the flesh of the Lorr God to heal Quill's face after he's removed the Arn.
  • Holographic Disguise: A variation. Ballon and Quill think they are back at Coal Hill, but it turns out to be a hologram; they are really in the Cabinet of Souls.
  • Involuntary Battle to the Death: Quill and Ballon are forced to fight to the death so that one of them can escape from the Cabinet of Souls, as the machine that took them there only has energy to return one.
  • Kill the God: The Quill Goddess is killed so her brain can be used.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: Quill is forced to kill Ballon thanks to the Governors, after becoming close to him.
  • Lady of Adventure: Ms. Ames dresses in a sort of steampunk explorer costume.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: Ballon and Quill sleeping together once the former impregnates the latter.
  • Mental World: The places the Metaphysical Engine takes people are technically this.
  • Metaphysical Place: The Metaphysical Engine takes the characters to these places, including Arn Heaven, Lorr Hell, the Quill creation myth, and the Rhodian Cabinet of Souls.
  • Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Ms. Quill (a Quill) and Ballon (a Lorr) conceive a child. Although how humanoid it will be is an open question.
  • Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Quill emphasizes this about the Quill Goddess.
  • Partial Transformation: Ballon turns his hand into a scalpel using the blood of the Lorr God.
  • Plot Coupon: The Pheromones of Arns, the blood of the Lorr god, and a Quill brain are needed to enable the Arn's removal.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Ballon turns out to be from a culture with very similar attitudes to Quill's.
  • Sadistic Choice: There is only enough power for one person to make it out of the Cabinet of Souls, meaning Ballon and Quill have to fight to the death.
  • Scenery Porn: The Arn heaven.
  • Shapeshifter: Ballon. His race, the Lorr, see not shapeshifting as like being dead.
  • Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Ballon's punishment.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: Not really a weapon, but Ballon turns his hand into a scalpel to remove the Arn from Quill.
  • Surprise Pregnancy: At the end of the episode, it turns out Quill is heavily pregnant.
  • Swiss-Army Appendage: Ballon turns his hand into a scalpel to perform surgery on Quill.
  • Synchronous Episodes: Takes place at the same time as "Detained", but follows Quill.
  • To Hell and Back: One of the locations the group go to is Lorr Hell, to get blood from the Lorr God.
  • Wham Shot: One not present in the previous episode. Quill collapses after telling Charlie that things are going to change, and it's revealed that she's pregnant.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: They were in the metaphysical engine for a day, but Quill was only gone 45 minutes on Earth. The reverse also applies, as while in the cabinet of souls, Quill aged by several months, as shown by her longer hair and increased pregnancy.


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