Pilot Review: Deadly Class

Deadly Class (Syfy)
Premiered January 16 at 10pm

There are some shows that are just so unappealing, it’s hard to imagine how they came to be in the first place. I don’t have a problem with dark shows that create uninviting and deeply disturbing worlds in which their characters exist. Such series can often be extremely powerful and compelling, and then there are others that are far from it. One recent example is “The Purge,” though I honestly found that more palatable than this pilot. This episode featured extremely off-putting moments like Henry Rollins’ teacher instructing his students in poison lab to kill their animals and main character Marcus Lopez watching his parents get killed by someone jumping off a roof to their death. Training teenagers to become killers hardly seems like the kind of thing that needs to be featured on television right now, and there’s no hope of any sort of hero here, with Marcus still intent on killing Ronald Reagan even if he’s not quite as eager to get rid of anyone else who crosses his path along the way, which he is. The only actor aside from Rollins who I recognized in this pilot was Benedict Wong, who plays Master Lin, mainly from his role in “Doctor Strange” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” One hour was more than enough of this show for me, and I have no interest whatsoever in seeing how these budding killers grow and take out what they see as the scourge of society during their training.

How will it work as a series? Marcus knows that he can either be a part of this society or go on the run from it, but it seems like he’s more than happy to stick around and learn from them. There should be lots of murder and mayhem to come, something that might for some reason be enticing to viewers.
How long will it last? This pilot has been available to watch online since December 20th, and Syfy has proudly touted large audiences. The actual viewership numbers aren’t nearly as exciting, though somehow the reviews seem to be much better than I would expect given how abysmal I found this to be. I don’t think this will end up being renewed, but there’s always a chance if this kind of off-putting fare is what people want to watch.

Pilot grade: F-