By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
William Golding’s 1954 novel “Lord of the Flies” is a classic survivalist tale about a group of British schoolboys who get stranded on an uninhabited island. The children are forced to grow up and establish a governance system to thrive. In contrast, the 2023 comedy survival series “Class of ’07” follows a group of women in their late 20s who regress into their school selves as they try to survive the “end of the world”, after the Earth begins to crack up and seawater completely drowns out most land on the night of their reunion party, leaving the ladies stranded at their school campus. The basic similarities between the two works are uncanny, but while “Lord of the Flies” makes you seriously think, “Class of ‘07” is pure entertainment and an ode to female friendships. It’s a little like “Lord of the Flies” mashed with “Mean Girls”.
Directed by Kacie Anning, the eight episode show stars a string of talented actors, but Emily Browning, Megan Smart and Caitlin Stasey serve as the leading trio of the tale. Emily Browning plays Zoe, a failed reality-show star, who drives to her high-school when “apocalyptic tidal waves” begins to sweep everything. Turns out, her class is having a reunion party and none of the women believe her when she tell them the world is probably coming to an end. Not until too late. Megan Smart plays Zoe’s estranged best-friend Amelia, who leaves school mid-term, without telling anybody why. And Caitlin Stasey plays the bitchy Saskia, who becomes the leader to help the group survive on the island. How the oddball group of women manage to battle nervous breakdowns, build electricity, grow food, and not kill each other forms the rest of the story.
As a viewer, you need to understand that this is a farcical comedic take on the survival genre, only then will you be able to thoroughly enjoy “Class of ‘07”. I mean, I just LOVED this series, it’s hilarious and binge-worthy up until episode seven. The writers begin to lose their witty sense of humour in the last episode, but otherwise, the characters keep you amused through the runtime. A lot of things don’t make sense in the show, and those things just make everything so much more funnier. For example, while the women are slowly starving and have less and less to eat with each passing day, Saskia gives strict instructions to everybody to keep their hair well-groomed every day. So the girls look great for a bunch of people who have little supplies and are constantly exhausted.
The cinematography is bright, colourful and looks nothing like what you’d expect from a post-apocalyptic survival drama. “Class of ‘07” instead gives of sparkly-teen drama aura, has a soundtrack laden with dance hits like “That’s Not My Name”, “Milkshake”, “I don’t feel like dancing”, “Maneater”, etc. Despite all the fun bits, the series also explores themes like bullying, suicide, abuse and poignantly portrays the deep impact of school interactions and friendships on a person’s life.
While the lead trio was fantastic, I really enjoyed watching Steph Tisdell play Phoebe, a scholarship friendless student who grows into a shrewd calculating boss-woman. Sarah Krndija had a smaller supporting role, but was hilarious as the annoying exchange-student Sandy, who throws a tantrum about her designer bag instead of focussing on surviving. Chi Nguyen and Bernie Ban Tiel addes extra comic-relief as stoners/best-friends Megan and Tegan, who always managed to stay high and happy through all sorts of situations. Seriously, I just loved the cast so much, I can write an entire article on all the actors and their performances. Only the last episode was a slight disappointment, until then it was such a binge-worthy show!
It’s an 8/10 from me. Stream in on Prime.
Subscribe to our Podcast by the same name on YouTube.