Who said survival stories must be serious dramas? Why can’t they be humorous? Humorous in a sense that brings to the table subtlety, sarcasm, black comedy, and some situational humor. “Class of ’07” comes in this category, where all the above-mentioned humor is merged into one entire show, an eight episodic miniseries. A bunch of women who graduated from this high school come together for a 10-year reunion, and things change around them overnight. Circumstances force them to stay together for a long time, and a lot of old memories emerge. Will these women pull through in such conditions, or will anyone snap, which will lead to a domino effect on all of them?
Spoilers Ahead
The Apocalypse That Hit
Zoe is a former dating reality tv show participant who was humiliated when the prospective boyfriend broke up with her on camera. Zoe, unable to take the rejection, has a meltdown, and the producers and the director keep filming the meltdown because that would bring in more views for them. The meltdown ends badly for Zoe, as she is made fun of by television media and social media. Months after this incident, Zoe disconnected herself from the outside by shoving her smartphone away. She is now living in her father’s home, on the hills, and living the life of someone who does not want to get down the hill and face the world. The humiliation was too much to take, which made her decide to stay away from the limelight for some time. On one of the most unfortunate days, she sees the birds flying weirdly, and soon she can sense a tremor. Within a second, she witnesses the hill start bursting with water, and it keeps shooting water out of the earth. Unable to understand what is happening, she opens her phone, which leads her to her school, which is holding a school reunion. Her school is now branded as the safest place she can be as per information provided by her smartphone. Zoe, at this point, has no clue what led to this calamity. She is sure to lose her home to the emerging water. Zoe had not planned to head to the reunion because she knew all of them would only gossip about the incident that happened on the reality television show. But since she has to survive, she will have no choice but to head towards the school in her shabby home clothes.
The school reunion has all the girls from her class of ’07 gathered to celebrate what they have achieved in life so far. Genevieve is the one who handled the RSVP, and she is glad to see the event turning out the way she wanted it to. The rest of the women are happy to have gathered, but they seem to be hoping to see each other only for a night and then never again from then on. Sandy, the American exchange student, brags about her affluent life. Meanwhile, Saskia has become a rich entrepreneur who has changed as a person, as described by everyone who knew her during their school days. Theirs was a boarding Catholic convent school where the rich kids came to study, and they lived in the hostel. The school is still run by the nuns of the convent, and the women who have now gathered have memories of living amongst the strict nuns who may have made their lives miserable. Not one of them is willing to talk about any of those memories, but they are gathered for a night of merriment and celebration. Amelia, one of the alumni who left the school in her last year, comes back hoping to meet her best friend from the school, Zoe. But all everyone could talk about was Zoe’s meltdown on the show. Amelia is here for more than that; by the hopeful glances she makes toward the door, there seems to be a lot of unfinished business between her and Zoe.
A panicked Zoe, who did not RSVP for the event, rushes to the hall where the party was being held to let them know there has been a natural calamity and her home is now submerged in water. Zoe tries her level best to warn the women present at the event, but all they can talk about is her show. Zoe is unfortunately not given a chance to talk, which leads to Amelia and Saskia trying to pacify a distraught Zoe. This is the last place Zoe thought she would find herself because she has grown up with these women and knows their true nature. Growing up, she has seen their faces 24 hours a day, and she is aware of what they are capable of. Though she finds comfort in Amelie and Saskia, Zoe purposely decides to forget about the calamity and try to have a good time with the group.
Amelia, on the other hand, is having a hard time talking to anyone, and she hopes Zoe will converse with her since this is their first meeting in a decade. Amelia is constantly badgered about why she left school in the last year and is bombarded with rumors that fly around about her. Amelia is not bothered by it, but all she wants is to be able to converse with Zoe and let her know exactly what happened that year. Unable to recognize any of the women around her, she plans to leave the event. Amelia still cannot absorb the façade all the women are putting up and leaves the show. She comes back a few minutes later to let the women know of the catastrophic situation. There is endless water surrounding the property, which has submerged practically all the land. The women can’t seem to figure out how to save themselves from the situation at that moment, but all they know is that they are stuck. The bunch of women who thought they wouldn’t see each other after this night find themselves in a situation where they don’t know if they will be rescued. The girls initially corner Zoe for not letting them know of the calamity, but Zoe, being herself, tries her level best to justify that she warned them, but they’re unwilling to hear her out.
Again, Amelia is mad at her for not warning them before, and all of them who wouldn’t want to stay in this property might have to consider sticking around in this place for a long time. None of them have any clue on how to manage the situation and how they can save themselves or let anyone know that they need to be rescued from being submerged. Thankfully, the water level does not rise beyond what they have just witnessed. They can live with the satisfaction that they are alive. But will these women, who never wanted to see each other after this night, stand the fact that they will have to face each other and their quirks?
Saskia To The Rescue
As the days go by, Sandy is the most entitled of the lot and is constantly moping for her expensive handbag. Sandy is panicking, but she is diverting her attention from that fact to the fact that her prized possession, her handbag, cannot be found in this huge property, where just the previous night, all of them had a gala time indulging in dance, music, and alcohol. Genevieve volunteers to ration the food stored in the canteen for the women presently stuck on the school premises, which have become an island. Genevieve, who always considered herself to be the leader material, finds it difficult to find a solution to this problem, and with many women now stuck with each other, she will have to come forward with a solution that will help them survive without the situation degenerating to the point of them killing each other. The old-school rowing team, which included Amelia and Saskia, is thankfully present at the reunion. Amelia is shown to have some resentment toward Saskia. Saskia, on the other hand, comes across as a woman who has now drastically changed, for she is now a successful entrepreneur wanting to help women through her venture. Amelia is still not convinced that Saskia has changed, just like her memory of Zoe being controlled by Saskia during their school days. Amelia and Zoe ended up drifting apart in the final year, and though Amelia tried to inform Zoe about her exit, Zoe was too busy being bossed around by Saskia, a memory that is still fresh in Amelia’s mind. Amelia has shown signs of a person who has been disturbed ever since. Amelia always felt Saskia whisked Zoe away from her, and ten years later, she still feels the same, for Zoe is willing to listen to Saskia but not hear Amelia out.
Saskia, who is the calmest person in the group, is trying her level best to make sure the women around her remain calm and composed, and she helps them find logical solutions to the problem. Genevieve finds it hard to believe the newly improved nature of Saskia, but Saskia is making sure people around her remain composed as they slowly try to find a way out of this place. All of them are tired of the fits thrown by Sandy, who is making it difficult for anyone to do the jobs that would help them remain well-fed. Saskia, accompanied by Zoe, is tired of Sandy too, and that’s when Saskia’s actual personality comes out. As a drunk, sleepy, and tired Sandy is lying on the rowing canoe, Saskia pushes the canoe towards the water, hoping Sandy will never come back and not disrupt the mission to keep all of them on the school premises safe, hearty, and healthy. Zoe is shocked to see this side of Saskia, and she wonders if the act she put up so far was fake after all. Zoe has no clue who to side with at this point, but all she knows right now is that they need a leader who will assign work to the stranded women so that they survive. Zoe has no idea how long they will have to live off the school because there is no electricity or phone network for them to contact the outside. The women on the premises will have to find ways to survive. Knowing Sandy was an obstacle, Saskia makes up a story about Sandy leaving them to fend for themselves because she found her prized handbag.
Saskia is now the leader because she is an entrepreneur, and Genevieve cannot seem to handle a large group of women as she had hoped. Saskia, who was considered the epitome of goodness when she made an appearance for the reunion, starts showcasing her true face when she starts treating this mission to survive as her company and starts treating the women like her employees. She constantly triggers and pushes all of them to go to extremes to get the job done. She threatens not to feed Amelia, Phoebe, and Renee, who are finding ways to get the electricity started. She pushes women to the extreme to make sure they build toilets. Saskia turns out to be a horrible boss who has no sensitive cells in her body and is not considering the opinion of any of the women on the premises right now. She threatens to alienate women who question her authority. With Amelia, Phoebe, and Renee struggling to find a solution to their problem, their starvation is making their work worse. But it turns out her extreme behavior is aimed at making sure Saskia gets results, which she does. Finally, they get the electricity they are looking for, and all they must do is make sure to recharge the batteries by continuously cycling on the spin bike. The women are exhausted, especially Amelia and Genevieve. Amelia is on antidepressants, and the only way to get her those tablets in this time of calamity is to keep charging the battery for the electricity and in return she gets her medicines.
Saskia is not stopping at this point, and she is making sure the women on the school premises put in enough effort so that they can survive. The more electricity they generate, the more chances there are of them being able to make any contact with the outside world using the school radio, of which Zoe is in charge. Amelia and Zoe, though, are not on speaking terms because they soon realize things have changed between them and in their lives, so there is no point talking about what happened in the past. Amelia hoped that with the time that has passed, Zoe would be more mature, and Zoe hoped that Amelia would be easy to talk to, but it turns out they are still unable to communicate their issues, and with Saskia meandering around them like a poltergeist, they are finding it hard to communicate. Unable to take Saskia’s dictator-ish behavior, Phoebe finds Sandy’s prized bag, which they know she would not have left without it. Realizing Saskia has lied about Sandy leaving the island, Phoebe, Genevieve, and Renee plan to confront Saskia about her murderous tendencies and ask what exactly happened to Sandy. Phoebe was blackmailing Saskia before, for she found the bag a while back. But now, unable to take in Saskia’s toxic bossy nature, she submits the bag to Genevieve, hoping she will find a solution to end Saskia’s reign. Saskia turned out to be a toxic, gaslighting leader who had no intention of being nice to any of them. She carries awful memories from school, but she is making sure she does not let her emotions get the worst of her. Unable to withstand Saskia’s nature, they take it upon themselves to confront the boss lady.
‘Class Of ’07’ Ending Explained: Do The Women Find Someone Who Can Save Them?
With Phoebe and Genevieve finding a solid reason to confront Saskia, they plan to make sure she is made to answer for the disappearance of Sandy. The situation on the premises is slowly devolving into anarchy, where the group of women is now turning against Saskia. Sasakia, as a leader, did not anticipate that, but she is willing to surrender, for she is overpowered as she is alone and the women who dislike her outnumber her. Meanwhile, Amelia and Zoe finally find a breakthrough, and they start talking. Even though a lot of secrets and truths have not come out, they find a reason to talk to each other and not be angry anymore. Zoe also learns that Amelia takes antidepressants, which makes her approach her friend all over again, hoping this time she will not abandon her. Zoe feels the pain Amelia is going through, and she is making sure Amelia eventually opens up to her about her past and why she left the school. Zoe would want to know what she did wrong that made Amelia drift away from her. They eventually have a heart-to-heart talk when Amelia reveals she left the school in the final year because her mother had committed suicide. Zoe feels awful and has a meltdown because she was not there for her friend during the worst time in her life. Zoe, through her actions, now wants to prove that she is still the old friend Amelia can seek, but Amelia again has trust issues and is unwilling to rely on Zoe.
Phoebe and Genevieve, on the other hand, are planning to make sure they get hold of Saskia and bring her in front of the women on the school premises and let them know she is responsible for the disappearance of Sandy. They are also confronted by one of their school teachers, Sister Bicky. Sister Bicky’s appearance comes as a shock to them because all the women present right there made sure to make Sister Bicky’s life hell growing up. But Sister Bicky and Amelia put some sense into the group that is ready to lynch Saskia, saying that she deserves a fair trial. All the women have now been on the island for more than 4 months, and they are miserable only because of Saskia and her tyrant behavior. Now that they have lived in this place for a while, they turn it into a place where Saskia will be given a fair trial, and since they have lived in such proximity for a while, they make sure to grill Saskia in the hope of making her plead guilty. During the trial plenty of ugly truths about Saskia come out. Saskia was always a bully, which led to Genevieve going through a lot of bodily and psychological issues. She sets the trial up to make sure Saskia’s true nature comes out. It turns out Saskia was awful to a lot of girls in her class, and they want to make sure she pays for the crimes she committed. Saskia, at this point, has gone mum and made sure all of them let out their anger. Being stuck with her as their leader, a lot of memories are triggered from their school days when Saskia made sure their school life was hell.
Amelia takes Saskia’s side, hoping to give her a chance to come out clean. Saskia does come out clean when she reveals she was groomed by her teacher, with whom she was in a relationship during her time at the school. The man broke up with her the moment she was out of school. This had a psychological impact on young Saskia. Along with that, the nuns at the school were awful to her as well. All of this led to a cocktail of hatred Saskia had against the school, which came out in the form of her becoming a toxic boss lady who made sure the work was being done on time. Saskia is made aware that her toxic nature made the women turn against her. She is not pronounced guilty when it is revealed that Phoebe was found with the same handbag long before she submitted it to Genevieve, and thus she cannot be considered a reliable witness. Saskia tones down her behavior after the trial and steps back to recover from her traumas. Sandy reappears after remaining stranded on the water, but her ragged look makes all the women wonder if there was someone who helped Sandy, which means there is another side to this submerged place. Zoe is now hopeful that someone will rescue them or that there is someplace where they can head to help themselves.
Amelia has lost hope of ever surviving in this place. She is off the anti-depressant pills, and when the after-effects of them start showing up, she talks the entire group into believing that there is no way anyone will be coming to help them out and that all they can do is stay here until they die. Zoe knows Amelia’s depressive state is making her make such awful decisions for the people, where she is the Pied Piper, and the women are the rats following her into the ditch. Amelia announces a blowout party, which Zoe is not in favor of because a party would lessen the amount of food rationed for them for the time being. The rest of the gang is not willing to listen to her and makes sure to have one blowout party, which Zoe does not attend.
Sandy, the next day, makes sure to push women to leave from the premises, asking them to find land and help to make sure the rest are rescued. Sandy reveals that she was helped by people, which means what Zoe claimed was true. This again makes the women go into panic mode because, after the blowout party, there is not much food left. They will have to resort to cannibalism, where one of the women will be chosen to sacrifice themselves, with them consuming her as food. All of this is a result of the anarchy that is formed from following Saskia, forcing her to step down, and then following Amelia’s footsteps, convincing them this is the end. Amelia is in existential crisis mode, and she wonders if her being alive would even help anyone. Amelia offers to sacrifice herself, to Zoe’s horror. Zoe knows her unwillingness to live is due to her severe depression. On the day of the sacrifice, Zoe asks Amelia to leave on the boat made from a spinning bike. Zoe, for the final time, wants to make sure Amelia does not make a mistake, and she wants her friend to live. Knowing the mindset Amelia is in, Zoe would want to instill the idea of living for one’s own sake and being there for her friend no matter what.
Amelia leaves, but she asks Zoe to join her as well. The women waiting in the hall finally hear a rescue boat coming towards them to offer help. Saskia and the gang run in the direction of the craft that is coming their way. The women are more than happy to have been found. But on finding out who is on the boat, which is a bunch of run-down drunk men who are just coming by to have a good time, they realize the men have no plans to rescue them. Saskia and all the other women who have so far kept themselves alive are now ready to face the rowdy men. Zoe and Amelia’s departure comes as a sign of hope that they will find someone to help them, and the rest of the women get away from this place. The women who are stuck on the island know it will be a while before anyone comes for them to rescue them and take them back to civilization. Since they are unaware of Zoe and Amelia’s departure, they can only hope to stay on the premises for a longer time, but they will have to find a way to feed themselves.
‘Class Of ’07’ Season 2: Speculations
So far, there has been no official announcement regarding the greenlighting of a second season of “Class of ’07.” As a viewer, I can only hope there is a second season, the way the first season concludes. The gang is not rescued, and two of them go out on the water to find help. It will be interesting to see if they will be rescued at all. Even if they aren’t, how will they survive on the school grounds from here on? There will be more challenges put in front of them in the second season if it is announced, but it would be fascinating to know how a group of mature women survive this apocalyptic catastrophe that has abandoned them.
Final Thoughts
The most fascinating aspect of the “Class of ’07” is that women write about women. All the writers on board are women, the show is directed by a woman, and the cast is spearheaded by women. The humor balances dark comedy, situational comedy, and uncomfortable-looking gags, all of which are performed by women with utmost ease. A group of men writing this sort of comedy is a common sight, but a bunch of women performing such comedy is one of a kind, and it must be appreciated. The women burp and have digestive issues, barf, and whatnot.
“Class of ’07” portrays women as humans who have physiological issues apart from mental ones. Kudos to all the writers of the show who did not sugarcoat anything. The story and screenplay do get convoluted and messy in the second half, where plenty of subplots are introduced that make no sense. A lot of characters were introduced in the show, and their arcs did not have a proper closure except for Amelia, Saskia, and Zoe. But it was sensitive of the writers to also talk about how different women feel differently about motherhood. An honest take, indeed. Overall, the show gets messy in the second half as the narrative divulges into various paths with no end in sight. Hopefully, there will be a season two to close all the chapters. Women I know should watch “Class of ’07” because representation matters.
