Could you survive your high school reunion? How about the apocalypse? What about both, at the same time? Get ready for Class of ‘07.

Class of ‘07 is a comedy about a never-ending high school reunion with life-and-death stakes. When an apocalyptic tidal wave hits during the 10-year reunion of an all-girls high school, a group of women must find a way to survive atop the island peak of their high school campus. Now freshly entangled in decade-old drama, their greatest threat to survival isn’t the end of the world, but each other.

The ensemble cast includes Emily Browning, Megan Smart, Caitlin Stasey, Claire Lovering, Emma Horn, Steph Tisdell, Sana’a Shaik, Rose Flanagan, Chi Nguyen, and Bernie Van Tiel, among others.

This review is based on the first four episodes of the season provided for consideration to critics.

Distinct characters and fun throwbacks draw you in

Class of ‘07 does a great job of introducing us to its cast of distinct characters, who – combined with some nice throwbacks to the early aughts – set the show up in a fun and compelling way. We kick things off with Zoe (Browning), who’s been living off the grid following a “bad edit” on a Bachelor-style reality dating competition. When a ton of geysers start shooting up around her trailer in the middle of nowhere, she’s forced to seek shelter on higher ground.

Unfortunately, her nearest option happens to be her old high school… on the night her ten year reunion happens to be taking place.

Zoe crashes the party and runs into – you guessed it – everyone she hasn’t seen or spoken to in the last decade. Who all saw her embarrassing stint on TV, and who all think she’s lost it a bit in isolation when she tries to tell them about the whole “impending natural disaster” problem.

At the reunion, we meet our extended cast of characters, including Amelia (Smart), Zoe’s former best friend who mysteriously left school before graduation; apparently reformed high school mean girl Saskia (Stasey); straight-and-narrow rules stickler Genevieve (Lovering); stoners Megan (Nguyen) and Tegan (Van Tiel); and sweet Renee (Horn), who after being embarrassed by a classmate for revealing she works as a nail technician, starts claiming she’s a doctor instead.

Class of ‘07 presents its ragtag bunch of women well, giving viewers just enough context to see how their experiences together at school have shaped their present-day lives. By the time the sinkhole opens up and there’s suddenly no sign of the surrounding landscape anymore – just water as far as the eye can see – you’re really invested in how these people are going to manage to navigate the apocalypse.

Class of ’07 brings a little bit of everything

Class of ‘07 really works because it brings a little bit of everything to the table. The high school reunion setup provides a really fun, relatable entry into the series; it’s easy for viewers to see these characters as themselves or people they went to school with. And similarly, the audience can easily relate to how the passage of time can change relationships. Seeing these women get drawn back into (or fight against) their old high school dynamics gives the plot plenty of dramatic and comedic potential.

Then, you pepper in the apocalypse. This ups the dramatic stakes, while giving the show even more comedic avenues to explore. These women are dealing with all the usual problems of a survival story – food shortages, dividing up responsibilities, trying to contact the outside world – while navigating their relationships from a decade ago. (Imagine trying to find a way to generate electricity with the people you went to high school with…)

Finally, Class of ‘07 throws in some mystery and intrigue as well. Everyone has their secrets from high school, and part of the series revolves around how the past comes back to haunt these characters at the least opportune times. As the audience, you get to unravel the past through the eyes of the different characters and see how everyone’s time at the school informs their current behavior and dynamics with one another.

All in all, Class of ‘07 brings a solid blend of comedy, drama, and intrigue to the table. Put simply, it’s just a fun, easy watch!

You can stream season 1 of Class of ‘07 on Prime Video beginning March 17.