Deadly Class is not your typical comic to TV adaptation. There are no super suits and the “heroes” of the story are young women and men trained in the art of killing. The school they find themselves in, where they’re learning all of this, bring different groups together that might’ve never met under normal circumstances.
1. Marcus Lopez is NOT your typical male lead.
Benjamin Wadsworth, the actor who plays Marcus Lopez, has helped bring to life a very atypical male lead. Marcus is broken, jaded, with a very real understanding of the world that he uses to stay positive. All of this seems like an impossible combination but here Marcus is actually feeling and doing these things on screen. And it’s characters like his that prove that men don’t have to be just one thing. They can be multifaceted and unapologetically human and we would watch. We will watch and we will be right there with him as he finds a home at Kings Dominion.
2. Lana Condor is a badass!
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before introduced us to Lana Condor. Deadly Class is where she cranks things up to eleven and shows us how much of an amazing actress she truly is. Her time as Saya is a brilliant combination of compassion, indifference, and survival. And for such a young woman it’s impressive to see her in a position of power in a typically male-driven gang life. Marcus can’t keep his eyes off of her and neither can we when she’s being a badass on a motorcycle, giving Marcus perspective when he needs it, and while sporting those tattoos that take hours to apply in the dressing room beforehand.
3. Friendships that surprise even our main characters.
A place like Kings Dominion doesn’t look like somewhere where strong friendships would be formed. But they are for the core cast of Deadly Class. They come from very different backgrounds and very different lives. And when you first meet them you don’t think that they could relate or work to survive together at this crazy school of assassins. But they do. All of these teens are putting up a front and surviving by the edge of their seat when they are alone. But when they are together, they face the challenges of their stay at Kings Dominion and end up on top!
4. The show visuals honor the comic.
If you’ve read the comic then you know that Deadly Class is trippy as fuck. It’s bright and colorful, with tons of dark scenes that you would never think would mesh well with the vibrancy of the rest of the show. The live-action show does a really good job of bringing those visuals to life. This attention to detail also makes every moment something that you should rewind and look through again to catch what you didn’t the first time. Basically, the cinematography department, the clothing department, and the special effects department have come together to create something visually stunning and worth watching!
5. The Latinos are ACTUALLY Latinos.
Having actual Latinos play Latinos on TV is happening on Deadly Class. I know that the bar is set pretty low right now where this is what I’m celebrating. But it’s worth making noise for all the times that non-latinos have been cast for POC roles. Marcus and Maria are actual Latinos who understand the Latino experience and who will bring that knowledge on screen. They’re not Italians like Theo Rossi or Floriana Lima who pretend to take on Latino roles because they can. And that right there matters almost more than anything else on this list Actual POC people playing POC characters deserves some respect and the time out of your day.
Deadly Class premieres Wednesday at 10/9c on SyFy. Episode 1 is available to view NOW!
