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Five Thoughts on Deadly Class‘s “Mirror People”

By | February 7th, 2019
Posted in Television | % Comments

It’s a heist episode! Kinda! On this week’s episode of Deadly Class, we see an unlikely alliance between some of the top tier students, Maria goes behind Chico’s back (again), sword fighting makes for some exciting action scenes, and we get some quality time with Saya. It’s one of the darker episodes thus far, so buckle up readers, and keep an eye out for SPOILERS.

1. A Heist! Kinda!

The problem kids of King’s Dominion all get to go to detention in this episode, being locked away in the library for the whole weekend. What that means for us, however, is that we get to see the gang form up to try and break into the contraband room of King’s Dominion, storing everything from junk food to cultural objects, and straight up grenades. And look, I know it’s not really a heist. I just got really excited by the way that Petra started whispering in hushed tones about this veritable treasure room and the gang formed a plan to find it and raid it. So sue me!

Like every best heist story, of course, the plan all goes wrong – but not in a delightfully charming principal-caught-ya kind of way. A bunch of Yakuza-esque thugs (they get called something else but I didn’t understand it and I don’t want to butcher it) find them, and a high-paced fight scene ensues. The cannon-fodder student Jaden that I don’t think anyone really cared about gets killed predictably, and the rest of the episode feels a little more formulaic from this point. But hey! We had a faux-Heist!

2. A softer underside.

This episode deals with a lot more of the edgier members of the cast and humanizes them, much to my delight. The most obvious culprit is Saya, of whom the episode is more or less centered around. During the heist scene, we see Saya separate herself from enjoying the spoils of the treasure room, instead choosing to brood about her stolen katana. However, Marcus actually does a nice and genuine thing and encourages her to celebrate in the absurd yet childish situation they find themselves in (In which we, of course, get Marcus producing some sweaty dialogue like “Misery loves company… but company doesn’t care much for misery.”). Saya starts to get more comfortable, before then deciding to ride a motorbike off a small jump over a bed of spikes as a dare. When the group cheers her on for accomplishing the feat, we see Saya grin along with them, and it’s hard not to be warmed.

In addition to this, we actually see a sympathetic side of Chico in the treasure room scene. When Marcus plays a The Cure tape, we see Chico get nostalgic for his little brother, as this was allegedly his favorite album. Keyword being was as he tells that he died a few years back. Chico starts to show a little tenderness, and despite all that he’s done before, it’s hard not to be sympathetic at this moment. Until he betrays everyone a little later.

3. Unexpected character chemistry.

Because of the nature of the detention scene, we get a whole bunch of enemies in the same room together forced to get along if they wish to survive the weekend. It’s trope-y for sure, but it’s a lot of fun, especially considering that the show has spent a lot of time building up discourse between each character. Chico is the catalyst for this, especially after revealing the details of his brother to the group. It opens up a sense of ease between them all. Even though the Yakuza thugs come crashing in moments later, for a little while we get to see them all fairly relaxed, with The Cure playing in the background.

Not only this, but we actually start to see a relationship develop between Saya and Marcus, something that I dismayed at first but has grown on me somewhat. Marcus chides throughout the episode about how they ‘nearly kissed’ at Shabnam’s party, and faux-flirts with Saya, but we actually start to see the two get along more. Plus, the two share an intimate moment at the end of the episode on the rooftop of King’s where Saya spills her guts to him more than anyone, and the scene closes on them nearly holding hands. As much as I think Saya can do better, the two are kinda nice.

Continued below

4. Holy crap, Petra’s origin. Petra in general.

We get another token animated scene this episode, in what looks like Wes Craig’s art style but a little smoother than usual (perhaps it’s simply budget?). What it details is how Petra came to be how she is, and how she got to King’s Dominion. Basically? Her father started a satanic sex cult, assuming the status of a demonic messiah, killed Petra’s mother and kept her damn eyes in a jar in the fridge for Petra to eventually stumble across. How Petra is at all okay in the present day is completely beyond me, but it does add a lot of depth to her character as she is able to shoulder all the shit flung at her at King’s whilst living with this.

After the Yakuza fight scene, Petra is dealt a fatal wound along with Viktor. It’s during this that we get to see the animated sequence, but Taylor Hickson as Petra really kills it in this scene alongside Sean Depner as Viktor, a character who has become a little more tolerable and more interesting than just being the Russian stereotype. Watching Petra’s vacant stare into Viktor’s eyes is piercing and emotional, and affirms everything that the animated sequence told about her, showing her steely personality and steadfast disposition.

5. Oh BILLY!

Billy isn’t in this episode so much, to my dismay, but what screentime he gets is phenomenal. During the first half of the episode, we’re shown that he’s gone back to his family home for the weekend. He’s there to look after his little brother (AW!) but we notice that his mother isn’t quite okay either. Billy’s father then proceeds to march onto the scene, as the camera sneaks us a peek at his police badge before he yells and decides to attack Billy. It’s rough but justifies a lot of what Billy does in earlier episode, clinging with a group of outsiders and looking for affection and validation amongst them.

Cut to the end of the episode, and we see Billy returned to King’s covered in bruises and blood. He gets a monologue with some wording choices that would make Marcus green with envy, but he delivers it with such shaky adrenaline that it feels earned, especially considering the event with his father. However, we see the true genuine side of Billy as he reveals he couldn’t hit his father back, in some misguided attempt to shield his family from violence or a long lost paternal bond between the two resurfacing. It’s touching, but then Billy goes dark as he vows to Marcus that he will exact revenge, and it’s hard not to barrack for him.

That’s it for this week’s episode, and suffice to say, Deadly Class keeps getting better. Do you have any thoughts on the episode? Let them fly in the comments, and return next week for more coverage of the greatest new edgy teen drama.


//TAGS | deadly class

Rowan Grover

Rowan is from Sydney, Australia! Rowan writes about comics and reads the heck out of them, too. Talk to them on Twitter at @rowan_grover. You might just spur an insightful rant on what they're currently reading, but most likely, you'll just be interrupting a heated and intimate eating session.

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