Netflix is pretty reliable in terms of past history, and its pretty much guaranteed that they will do two things: cancel everyone’s favourite show, and milk sucessful premises as much as they can. They’ve proven the latter with their latest release, Class, which is an Indian adaptation of the hit Spanish mystery-drama, Elite, which is currently in its sixth season.
Class Season 1 Review
Class is the latest television show to be adapted from another Netflix Original, but this one stands out as it is just as alluring as Elite, the show from which it is adapted. The whole premise of the show is solid, and is filled with the same drama we found in Elite—namely, explorations of gender, sexuality, and identity. The show has solid writing and stellar acting from the cast, some of which are making their actorial debut with this show; they should be set on the right foot with this one.
The show follows Saba, Dheeraj, and Balli, who have been transferred from their old school (which burned down), to Hampton International, an upper-class school for Mumbai’s elite. The whole thing is—in similar fashion to Elite—a PR stunt, and the school believes this will put them in good steed with the media, a sort of ‘giving back to the community’ kind of thing. One interesting thing to draw your attention to here is that one of the students attending the school could’ve been responsible for the fire that burned down the school.
Things become increasingly complex for the three new transfers when Suhani, a student at the school, is found dead. In playing with the similarities with Elite, this happens in the first episode and the rest of the season reveals more information as we see how the death played out and who was repsonsible.
The series is definitely worth watching if you’re a fan of Elite, or even if you’ve never seen Elite before; watching Class may get you interested in Elite, and then everybody wins. If you can keep up with the choppy jumps through time and the narration from multiple perspectives, then you’ll definitely find this one interesting. It’s a familiar experience, and it did at times feel like I’d seen it all before, but nonetheless it was interesting and engaging. This was partly due to being introduced to a host of new characters.
I’d definitely recommend watching this one and I’d be willing to watch a second series if it is renewed by Netflix. In the meantime, don’t forget you can check out everything to do with Class over at our wiki!
