Maria from Deadly Class in “Stigmata Martyr”: Episode Recap and Review

Maria from Deadly Class: the “Stigmata Martyr” recap

A month has passed since Las Vegas, and nobody has found Chico’s body. The episode picks up with the fallout. Maria and Marcus have started dating, the group is fraying, and everyone is working hard to keep what happened a secret. Maria, played by María Gabriela de Faría, is the focus of the hour, and the story gives her more room than she has had so far.

The structure is easy to follow because the episode runs on four tracks: Maria’s unraveling, Madame Gao’s new authority at the school, Marcus’ attempts to help everyone around him, and Billy’s experiment with Petra. A fifth, brief one closes the episode on a threat.

As a restart for the series, this episode does its job. It settles the aftermath of the Vegas trip, resets the relationships and sets up a ticking clock for the final stretch of the season. It also reveals how fragile the group’s hold on its own secret is.

Maria falls apart

Maria has been depressed since she killed Chico, and Marcus does not know how to help. He feels guilty because she killed Chico to save him, and he does not know how to repay that, so they are now dating, partly out of shared guilt. Maria is afraid that Chico’s father, a ruthless and dangerous cartel leader, will find out what they did. It does not help that he put her in charge of finding out what happened to his son.

To avoid suspicion, the gang decides that nobody can know Maria and Marcus are a couple. Maria’s mood swings make that difficult. Saya, meanwhile, has been avoiding her best friend in public. In the boys’ showers, Maria surprises Marcus with a one-month anniversary present, and he admits he has never been in a relationship and does not know the protocol. Billy walks in and scolds them for being so out in the open.

Rumors spread through the school. Saya asks whether Maria told Gao about killing Chico during an interrogation earlier that day, and Maria says she did not. Saya presses her, because Maria seems to be losing it. Maria shoots back that she is in a better place with Marcus and no longer needs her pills. Saya tells her not to skip her medication. Later, on the rooftop, Maria kisses Marcus in front of Petra, who says she will not tell. Saya pulls Maria aside to say she is putting everyone in danger, and Maria answers that Saya is simply jealous.

Alone in her room, Maria listens to Marcus’ mixtape, drinks, and looks at an old family photo album. A flashback shows her origin. Her father stole provisions from a village run by Chico’s father, only enough to feed his family. In response, Chico, then a child, and his father murdered her entire family and ended by crucifying her father. Chico told his father Maria could be useful, and she was spared and recruited into their family’s service.

The arrow, and Saya’s revelation

The next morning, one of the Soto Vatos tells Maria they need revenge on a kid they suspect had something to do with Chico’s disappearance. She reminds him she is in charge and orders him to do nothing. Moments later, she breaks down and harms herself, driving a pencil into her hand like a nail, reenacting her father’s crucifixion.

Saya tells Marcus he has to get Maria under control and reveals that Maria is bipolar and has stopped taking her medication. Marcus complains that he always ends up in this kind of mess. Saya is upset that he is making it about himself, and he calls her out, saying that is not why she is angry. They share an almost intimate moment, and an arrow flies. Saya catches it, but it grazes Marcus’ cheek.

Marcus chases the shooter and corners her. It is Maria. She says she knew Saya would not let the arrow hit him, just as she knew Saya would try to take him away. Marcus is furious that Maria tried to kill him. She is apologetic and falls apart, saying she is scared all the time. She kisses him, he responds, and they have sex right outside King’s Dominion. At combat class the next day, Marcus looks at Saya, who seems upset and appears to know what happened.

Madame Gao lays down the law

At the start of the episode, Gao interrogates Maria over Chico’s death. She condemns Maria for killing for love, calling love an exploitable weakness. Maria answers that Gao knows nothing about love, and Gao slaps her. Gao then tells a story whose moral is that telling the truth can save your life. Saya is brought in for interrogation soon after.

Later, Lin and Gao talk in a hallway. Gao is unhappy with how undisciplined the students have become. To underline the point, they find Billy being punished by Miss De Luca. In Atypical Combat Skills, Maria, Brandy and Saya fight ninjas. Master Zane gives Saya an A and scolds Brandy for assaulting her teammates, raising the Dixie Mob’s racist beliefs and saying he will fail her, even though she took down the most ninjas.

Gao intervenes and orders Zane to give Brandy an A and fail Saya. When Saya objects, Gao dislocates her arm, and Marcus snaps it back into place. Later, Gao spars with Zane and brings him to his knees, then has Brandy carve an A into his forehead. It is plain that Gao favors the legacies.

That night, Lin and Gao argue over their beliefs, their history and the school’s future. The scene reveals that Gao is Lin’s sister. Lin then goes home to a suburban house and a daughter, and to a woman he may be married to, the one with the tiger tattoo on her back. It matters because Gao treats love as a vulnerability, and Lin has a loving family behind the scenes. Benedict Wong, who plays Master Lin, gets the quiet beat of the episode.

Marcus, Billy, Chester and the three-day clock

Marcus makes a mixtape for Maria as a makeshift anniversary present, and Shabnam teases him about the unicorn-and-horse drawing on its cover. In hand-to-hand class, Billy remarks that Victor has become a bigger jerk since Chico went missing. Miss De Luca spars with Victor and beats him easily, saying that when faced with impossible odds it is better to decline. Victor later hazes Shabnam in the showers, and Marcus steps in by implying Victor attacks boys in the shower for a reason. Shabnam is upset, thinking Marcus has made it worse.

Willie gets Marcus a job at the comic shop. Willie is moping and struggling after Chico’s murder. A girl flirts with him, talking about Superman, and he rebuffs her, then apologizes. She turns out to be Gabrielle, and the two bond over a love of Alan Moore.

Billy tells Marcus that now that his father is dead, he and his family are free. When Marcus asks for advice on Maria, Billy says the easiest way to win a girl over is to pretend you do not like her. He tests it by showing an obvious love letter to Miss De Luca in front of Petra, and asks to be tied up. De Luca obliges, which is how Lin and Gao find her. At the graveyard, Petra says she saw him tied up and does not care. She adds that he has no idea what scenarios she has thought up, and it catches him off guard.

The episode ends on Chester, who has savagely murdered two civilians and finally given himself his signature name, written on the wall behind him. He forgets to record the killing. He phones Marcus at school, angry that Marcus took credit for the murders at the boys’ home, and says he has Chico’s head in an ice bucket. Marcus has three days to find him, or the head goes to the cartel.

Plot points to track after “Stigmata Martyr”

• Chico’s disappearance. Maria is in charge of the cartel’s search, which puts her in an impossible spot.
• Maria’s health. She has stopped taking her medication, and the episode ties her breakdown to that.
• Gao and Lin. They are siblings, and Gao has taken a harsher line.
• Marcus and Saya. She seems to know what happened between Marcus and Maria.
• Chester. He holds Chico’s head and gives Marcus three days.

Deadly Class “Stigmata Martyr” review

As a review, the verdict is mixed. The episode is a nice restart into King’s Dominion after the craziness of the Vegas trip, and the ramifications of Chico’s murder show the gang struggling to keep it quiet. Maria and Marcus’ relationship threatens to throw suspicion on Chico’s case. Willie is not handling the murder well, and Maria keeps watching over her shoulder. Master Lin’s story moves ahead too, as his private life shows a vulnerable side that is a liability for the head of a school for assassins.

Overall, though, it plays as mostly filler. There is some character building, but little that viewers have not seen, apart from Gao’s larger and more powerful role. Maria’s story is the focus, and it would have been stronger if her backstory had come before the previous episode, since that would have given Chico’s death more weight.

The portrayal of Maria’s mental illness is the weakest part. It feels closer to a made-for-television movie than to a grounded character, and it makes it harder to take her breakdown seriously. The build-up to the scene outside King’s Dominion is better. Verdict: a serviceable, uneven hour that sets up the back half of the season more than it stands on its own.

Sources

• Deadly Class (TV series), Wikipedia — cast, characters and episode details