Deadly Class - Mirror People - Review: The Kamiga Brothers + POLL

Need a refresher? Read my recap of last week’s episode here.

In the aftermath of the catastrophe of a legacy dance last week, everyone who was involved is paying the price through King’s Dominion-style detention. This isn’t your average Breakfast Club scenario. Instead, Saya, Chico, Jared, Marcus, Petra, and Viktor are quarantined in detention for an entire weekend alone. They get one box of rations to fight over but beyond that, they’ve got no one keeping an eye on them but each other.

Why did they get detention? They broke the cardinal rule. All of them were caught.

Pictured: Lana Condor as Saya -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Their bags of chips and other junk food (apparently the rations don’t include any healthy food) gets eaten up fast and then the group devolves into plaintive boredom, nothing better to do but pick at each other. At least, until Petra comes up with an idea. She knows of a room where all confiscated items go, a room so legendary that it’s only discussed in whispers through the student body. If they can go and break in, they’ll have enough junk food to lapse into a diabetic coma.

Saya is perhaps the most keen, as her katana was confiscated by Master Lin and she’ll do just about anything to get it back. It belonged to her father and it’s the only thing she has left of him, she explains to Marcus, who doesn’t understand why the sword is so important to her.

Pictured: (l-r) Sean Depner as Viktor, Michael Mitton as Jaden,
Benjamin Wadsworth as Marcus, Michel Duval as Chico, Lana
Condor as Saya, Taylor Hickson as Petra
 -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Even though he may not look like much, Marcus is actually an excellent lock-pick and it’s because of his skills the gang is able to gain access into the room.

And here is where things really take a sharp turn and make this episode the best of the season so far.

Remember when we saw that one guy get a phone call at the end of last week’s episode with a photo of Saya? Turns out he is part of the Kuroki Syndicate, a.k.a. Saya’s family. She didn’t exactly leave home on the best of terms and now her cousins have come to take her back. They’re ruthless killing machines. Laying waste to a nearby diner of patrons to get a hint of her location.

It’s sad to watch the groups bonding get ruined the way it does, I was enjoying watching Marcus trying to cheer Saya up.

Pictured: (l-r) Michel Duval as Chico, Sean Depner as Viktor,
Benjamin Wadsworth as Marcus, Taylor Hickson as Petra,
Lana Condor as Saya -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

But you can’t say the Kuroki don’t have style. Their entrance is marked by one of the more violent moments of the show so far as they chop off Jared’s outstretched hand like a knife through butter.

What results is an intense battle between the classmates and the assassins, with both Petra and Viktor getting brutally stabbed in the process.

They’re able to escape and barricade themselves into another room but Chico sacrifices Jared to the Kuroki. Marcus is livid with him but Chico points out he was a dead man anyways. It’s only the first of Chico’s betrayals since not long after he escapes through a hole in the room and locks everyone in. That guy is really the worst.

While Marcus and Saya are trying to find another way out, Petra and Viktor bleed out on the floor. Petra tells Viktor about her horrific backstory. I think she may have the worst out of everyone’s (so far). Petra gets the animated sequence this week as we learn her father was an occultist and involved in a strange cult of activity. He hosted orgies and painted bloody pentagrams on the wall, both he and Petra’s mother neglected her and often left her starving. One day, Petra opened the fridge to find a pair of bloody eyeballs in a jar - her mother’s eyes. He breaks open the jar and forced a young Petra to stare at them, telling her the only way to understand death is watch a soul leave the body through the eyes.

Pictured: Lana Condor as Saya -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Yikes. Regardless of how awful Viktor is, the scene between them is deeply emotional, specifically for Petra. I really believed they could end up dead, the stakes are high enough I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Meanwhile, Marcus and Saya run into the Kuroki again and they leave Marcus behind while kidnapping Saya and heading back to the diner where they meet up with Master Lin. A fight breaks out between Saya, Lin, the Kuroki, and surprisingly, Marcus. He’s a scrappy little dude and sneaks up behind them, holding one down for Saya to kill.

Back at the academy, Jared’s body is moved out, Petra and Viktor are being prepared to receive medical attention, and Marcus walks through the crowd relatively unscathed. But his night isn’t over. When he gets back to his room he finds Billy who has been on the receiving end of a brutal beating.

Pictured: The Kamiga Brothers -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

Billy tells Marcus about his violent, abusive father and Marcus cries with him. His biggest strength perhaps, is how much he really does care for his friends. It’s what makes Marcus such an interesting character. He’s not a typical nice protagonist, he is vicious to anyone who bullies others, he can kill people, but he is emotional, heartfelt, loyal, and genuine to his friends. Billy wants him to do what he couldn’t. To help him murder his dad and end the suffering, especially to protect his little brother from experiencing the same harrowing childhood he did.

Outside of the central story this week, Maria recruits Willie to get her a passport so she can escape from Chico. Master Lin is dealing with the potential repercussions of Jurgen’s escape and the guy with the burnt face makes a reappearance. Apparently he Shandy’s brother and they have very… odd relationship since at the episode’s end we see him keeping Shandy naked, on a leash and collar. Just when you thought it couldn't’ get any weirder than the goat banging.

Pictured: Taylor Hickson as Petra -- (Photo by: Katie Yu/SYFY)

ODDS & ENDS

- I’m definitely not complaining about Brandy being absent but I wonder why she wasn’t included in detention?

A new episode of Deadly Class titled “Saudade” airs February 15th on SYFY.