If I took everything at face value, I can totally see why Deadly Class is going to be a show that a good number of people watch. It’s got a fun young cast including Ms. Lara Jean Covey herself, Lana Condor, Benedict Wong, and an intriguing premise (a high school for killers!) However, once you actually hit play these fresh elements are moved through an incredibly stale plot and stereotypes that are masquerading as character personalities. In short, unless the show improves quickly, it will continue to be a mess.
Honestly, a show with this kind of potential probably needs a couple episodes to get past the boring introductions and into the mess of the world. It is cool to how the high school scenario works when you throw in classes like poisoning and the deadly arts. Whatever my issues with the plot might be, the craftsmen and women on this show did their damnest to make sure every area of the frame would feel alive and look alive.
We get a brief flash of what the show could be when the main character tripping on angel dust stumbles into a Day of the Dead parade and the other students, using their skills save him. It’s one of the only times the show finds a way to use the characters and their racial stereotypes to visually and thematically interesting heights.
But then the show forgets these moments in order to pander to them. You see cause it’s supposed to be funny when the black guy jokes about how the head of the Dixie Mob is racist but they still had sex, and other versions of this. If the best you can do with these groups then you might need to hand over the sticks.
Perhaps most disappointing is Maria and Marcus’ flirtasionship. I get that they wanted to use his lust for her to drive towards him having to become aggressive and the killer he wasn’t, but to make a character as seemingly confident as Maria this weak is bad. When she tells him that she never had anyone stand up for her like that, I just rolled my eyes. She’s in murder school, the hell she need anyone’s help to stand up for herself? Now if it turns out that she’s running a long con like the shorter one Sawa put on Marcus to get him there, then I’d be all for it. But I fear that they are going down the path of least resistance and most bland, therefore Deadly Class has a lot of work to do to get on surer footing.