Deadly Class season 1, episode 7 recap: Rise Above

Deadly Class slams on the brakes in a world-building episode.

One of the highlights from Deadly Class thus far has been the fast pace and tight story-telling. Sure, there have been certain scenes that the show could have dedicated more time to but for the most part, the story has been moving along extremely well. “Rise Above” slows things way down in order to try and humanize Chester/F*ckface as well as reflect upon Marcus’ past.

Chico’s Head

In case anyone was wondering whether Chester is insane, Deadly Class drills that point home in this episode. Yes, this is a deranged serial killer who is attracted to animals, but he also thinks Chico’s head is still alive. In fact, Chester spends a majority of the episode confiding in Chico who he imagines is conversing back.

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Nevertheless, Chester isn’t dealing with management well. He has his cousins move into the house where he has them help out with his murderous schemes. What he wants is to get as much attention as possible for his F*ckface murders. However, when one of the cousins forgets a vital signature at a crime scene, he shoves the guy in a poop filled toilet. It’s enough to make any viewer cringe and gets the point across.

Later in “Rise Above”, Chester confides in Chico about his own past. His father was abusive and it’s hinted that he did something unforgivable to his son. He admits this experience forever scarred him, which is why he eventually murdered his father. At the boys’ home, he felt safe despite all of the horrible guards and even viewed Marcus as a friend. In fact, he saw that own pain he inflicted on Marcus as just “typical boys’ home stuff”. Nevertheless, Marcus betrayed his trust and now he needs to die so Chester can get the opportunity to get on television and turn his life around.

Honestly, I can understand why Deadly Class would want to make their villain have more than one layer. However, despite his own dark past, it’s really hard to sympathize with a guy who inflicts pain on animals. It might have been better just to leave Chester as a comic book villain who everyone is rooting to rot in a jail cell or die compared to humanizing him.

DEADLY CLASS — “Rise Above” Episode 106 — Pictured: (l-r) Benjamin Wadsworth as Marcus, Lana Condor as Saya — (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

The Boys’ Home

At least Deadly Class finally shows us what happened to Marcus. Once again, this entire sequence is ripped right out of the comic book pages. The boys’ home is basically a sweatshop where the kids are forced to do manual labor so the place can earn money. Marcus has been slipping needles into his mouth every day with the plan of creating a bomb. Unfortunately, one of the guards notices and forces Marcus to see the leader of the place.

She’s a cruel woman who hates immigrants and children. They force a poor, scarred, and naked Marcus to bend over while they violate him to search for the needles. Despite the torture, they find nothing and Marcus is able to return to his room.

Chester demands his sandwich, which Marcus happily hands over. Turns out, it’s poisoned and Marcus gloats above Chester as he watches his roommate slowly die. He calls out for help, hides behind a mattress, and the guards who come into the room are coated with needles. Marcus grabs their guns, shoots them, and takes off to escape as a free man.

What he doesn’t know is that a needle covered Chester managed to survive the attack. He kills all of the kids at the home and sets fire to the place in his own triumphant escape. However, Marcus gets all the credit which is what drives him crazy.

DEADLY CLASS — “Rise Above” Episode 106 — Pictured: (l-r) Benjamin Wadsworth as Marcus, Lana Condor as Saya, Liam James as Billy, French Stewart as Scorpio Slasher — (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Takes a Killer to Catch a Killer

Marcus is desperate to catch his old roommate so he goes to Saya for help. She’s furious they can’t drag Maria into this but Marcus thinks she’s too on edge to think clearly. After hearing about his past, she does agree to help out. Mainly, it’s self-preservation because Saya knows her own life is on the line if Chester dumps Chico’s body at school.

They decide to approach the Scorpio Slasher for help despite Marcus’ hatred for the guy. He finds the whole thing amusing considering Marcus made a big deal about despising bullies in class. The Slasher finds people who would hurt animals despicable and agrees to help for the price of one burrito. The kids immediately agree because they need to stop Chester at all costs.

However, they take a quick detour in the puzzle room where they run into Billy. He gets caught up about the current plan and decides to join the mission when Saya breaks them all out. The Scorpio Slasher spends a majority of “Rise Above” trying to learn more about Marcus and attempting to get under his skin. In fact, he thinks Marcus is more similar to him than he’d like. While Marcus desperately tries to find a cause to dedicate himself to which will help him make sense of his parents’ death, the Slasher ran to chaos with the hopes of dismantling the system.

Naturally, Marcus can’t stand the comparison and constantly tells the guy to cut it out. After they grab some burritos and ice cream, they’re back on track with their mission. The Scorpio Slasher takes them to an animal shelter where anyone can just drop off their pet. Low and behold, Chester is there! Turns out he had been hanging out around the place with his buddies waiting for his next target. He’s petting a woman’s dog while angrily questioning why she would give up such a sweet animal.

The Slasher takes out one of Chester’s goons before the rest of them take off. Chester is happy to meet one of his idols but furious that Marcus cheated at their game. It’s too early in this season of Deadly Class for the group to stop Chester, so the stakes here aren’t that high. He lives to see another day and still has Chico’s head.

DEADLY CLASS — “Rise Above” Episode 106 — Pictured: (l-r) Liam James as Billy, French Stewart as Scorpio Slasher, Benjamin Wadsworth as Marcus, Lana Condor as Saya — (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

El Alma del Diablo

Maria finds herself in deep trouble this week when Chico’s father and brother arrive at the school. They want answers for Chico’s disappearance and don’t believe that Maria is as clueless as she pretends to be. Especially when one of her underlings keeps pressing for the retribution against the Kuroki Syndicate after the library attacks.

While Master Lin is able to momentarily save her, Chico’s brother ambushes her in her room. He tells her she needs to get results or El Alma del Diablo will come for her. With no other options, Maria goes to a Kuroki hangout where she kills Yukio in the bathroom. On her way out, she is forced to kill a waiter as well before he gives away her location. She flees into El Alma del Diablo’s car, where he congratulates her on a job well done.

Needless to say, this act of aggression will probably spur a gang war on Deadly Class. She probably should have approached Saya to figure out a better way to deal with this. Unfortunately, the two aren’t on great terms and she still needs to hide her relationship with Marcus. With each passing episode, the kids seem to be digging a bigger hole for themselves.

DEADLY CLASS — “Rise Above” Episode 106 — Pictured: (l-r) Benedict Wong as Master Lin, Viva Lee as Nahia — (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Family Matters

Master Lin’s sister is still sticking around and sniffing around his school. However, she does finally discover the information she’s looking for. As it was revealed in last week’s episode, Lin’s daughter who he keeps saying died is actually alive. He had been hiding her because he didn’t want to send her to this school to try and survive finals week. Looks like he’s going to need to kills his sister if he wants to keep his daughter safe.

Elsewhere, Willie sleeps with his new comic book loving girlfriend who escaped from her own family to lead a life without crime. She tries to encourage Willie to do the same because he just wants to be a comic book writer. It’s cute to see him finally find someone to confide in about his real hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, Willie doesn’t think it can last and he’s eventually called back to school.

What did you think of this week’s Deadly Class? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!