Still, plopped down among the skater punks and goth introverts of its ’80s backdrop, it’s hard to tell who’s really bad and who’s only bad enough to fake it. Marcus knows he’s not a killer, even though they think he’s one of the best, so he tries to seek out like-minded friends for protection. Maybe one out of every 10 will laugh at the blacker-than-black humor, but “Deadly Class” never coalesces into a coherent message around all the shock and awe. Others will shrug and continue bingeing, hoping for an episode that pulls all the big ideas together.
Some viewers may feel like they just got slapped in the face by Rick Remender and Miles Orion Feldsott’s adaptation of the former’s graphic novel.
Responses to the new Syfy series will probably be similar. A boy in the front row casually looks over his shoulder for an uncaring glance at the aftermath. They sit and listen more dutifully than if Master Lin (Benedict Wong) had taken away her cell phone. But the rest of the class doesn’t flinch.
He gasps and stares in stupefied horror while his indifferent teacher continues the lesson, as if he didn’t just physically assault a student. Marcus (Benjamin Wadsworth), the audience’s stand-in, is stunned.
Surprised, but silent, tears rolling down her face, the teenage student stares at the blood pouring from her nose, as the rest of the class reacts in peculiar fashion. “ Deadly Class” starts with a teacher whipping his cane into the face of a young girl.