Aahana Swrup
Created by Kacie Anning, ‘Class of ’07’ is an Australian survivalist comedy revolving around an ensemble cast of characters after an apocalyptic flood strands them on their old high school campus. The show features Emily Browning, Megan Smart, and Caitlin Stasey in its forefront, alongside various other hilarious actresses. The all-girls Ridge High class of 2007 gets together after a decade for their high school reunion— however, their party is soon crashed as a cataclysmic climate disaster strikes and drowns everything around their school. With their mountain-top campus now turned into a floating island, the women are stuck with each other must try and survive.
‘Class of ’07’ has a gender-bent approach to the classic ‘Lord of The Flies’ premise, but instead of teenage boys presents the audience with a cast of middle-aged women with heavy teenage baggage. The show easily encaptures the audience’s attention with its interesting characters, and so if you want to know more about where this bizarre journey leads these women, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Class of ’07. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Class of ’07 Plot Synopsis
The story starts with Zoe, a reality-TV dating show participant, having a meltdown upon losing. After thoroughly embarrassing herself on television, Zoe decides to move out to the middle of nowhere in order to get away from social ridicule. However, a few months into her self-imposed exile, one day, she notices troubling environmental disturbances and drives out to the nearest evacuation center: her old high school. Unknowingly stumbling into her own high school 10-year reunion, Zeo reconnects with her old friends, Saskia, Sandy, Teresa, and ex-best friend Amelia. Though oblivious to the danger unfolding outside, the group soon realizes that while they have been busy partying, the outside world has been flooded.
Genevieve, the organizer of the reunion, tries to ration food and water while Amelia and Zoe, with a constant fraught tension between them, try to get the radio working to call out for help. Meanwhile, Sandy, an American exchange student with an influencer dog, acts as a hindrance to everything around with her constant whining, and Phoebe selfishly uses up their limited electricity supply. All their attempts at survival are wrecked by petty arguments and general intolerance. With the responsibility of their collective survival now in their individual hands, the group immediately starts to descend into chaos and ruin without a clear leader to guide them. Eventually, Saskia, an ex-bully turned redeemed ethical startup owner, takes up the role, knowing she has to regress back to some of her old ways to do so.
However, she regresses back a little too well and ends up putting a passed-out Sandy on a rowboat, and with Zoe’s help, pushes Sandy out to the sea, essentially writing her death certificate. Now the two have to keep their actions a secret while building a livable environment and keeping everyone alive. What follows is a deep dive into high school traumas, dwindling friendships, and general anarchy— all set in the background of an apocalyptic, hopeless world.
Class of ’07 Ending Explained: Does The Group Survive?
Throughout the various plotlines of this show and its base premise of survival, we see the inner clique of 07 Ridge High students— Zoe, Amelia, Saskia, Phoebe, Genevieve, Renee, Teresa, Megan, and Tegan are put through a lot. Saskia manages to keep everyone alive and thriving for a few months through her effective— if borderline authoritarian— leadership. After the assigned “nerds” of the group successfully find a way to use electricity, they hook it up to several elliptical machines that they use to power the radio and other items. Each individual has to charge up batteries with their workouts and, as an incentive, get to exchange them for goods and luxuries. However, Saskia’s ways are soon questioned by Genevieve, who thinks Saskia’s rules are damaging while also holding a grudge against Saskia for how she treated Genevieve 10 years ago.
The story soon takes a judicial turn, with the group now trying to prosecute Saskia when they start to suspect that she may have something to do with Sandy’s disappearance. Their mob rule is only stopped by Amelia standing up for Saskia regardless of their less-than-pleasant relationship and demanding a fair trial for Saskia. This plotline brings several emotional epiphanies and discoveries for the group— and one actual discovery of the fact that their old high school teacher Sister Bicky has been living with them on campus without them knowing. With Sister Bicky’s help, the group grows crops and farms chickens and soon starts actually surviving sustainably.
But things rarely have a way of working out for these women, and a month or two into this lifestyle, things erupt into more chaos and inevitably take a cynical turn. After realizing that their radio signals might have been for nothing and that they’re alone with no one coming for help, the group decides to throw one final “Last Day on Earth” party and give up on survival. Zoe tries to discourage this plan but is iced out by the group, now being led by Amelia. By the time they realize there might still be hope, they’ve run out of food and killed their very last chicken.
With their imminent doom out in the open, most ex-students, except for our inner clique— and Forgettable Laura— escape the island on boats and canoes. Somehow managing to survive without food for a few days, the group is now on the verge of death from organ failure. However, before things can turn well and truly dark, they finally get a radio signal back from other survivors. But when that crew of survivors— half a dozen men in a boat— show up on their shore, they smell like trouble. In the end, the women, upon realizing the danger these outsiders can bring to their island and take up whatever weapon they can find— ready for a fight. The show finishes with an opening for another season, but the characters, as we leave them, do survive until the end and seem more than willing to keep surviving in the future as well.
Why Did Amelia Disappear in High School?
Amelia’s disappearance in her last year of high school is referenced first in the pilot episode and then continues to be a topic of intrigue for a few episodes. Amelia, who used to be best friends with Zoe, had one day left school without a goodbye. This event causes the major reason for conflict between Zoe and Amelia throughout the show and plays an important part in both their character developments.
There have been plenty of rumors flying around— Amelia left because she had an affair, because she got knocked up— however, we don’t get an actual answer until Sister Bicky shows up. Sister Bicky makes her presence known on the heels of a lawless serving of justice against Saskia and Genevieve, where they are on the verge of getting their heads shaved as penance for their crimes. In an effort to discipline the women and show them the error of their ways, the Sister makes them dig up the old time capsule they had stored away ten years ago as high school students. The group goes around reading their letters— or refusing to read them— and lastly, the Sister urges Amelia to take her turn.
Amelia reminds Sister Bicky that she doesn’t have one as she had had to leave high school by then. This leads to the accidental disclosure of the reason behind Amelia’s sudden departure. Amelia’s mother had committed suicide. In an emotionally ripe sequence between Amelia and Zoe, the audience finds out that Amelia’s mother had been chronically depressed, something she passed down to Amelia as well, and had taken her own life. Amelia’s family hadn’t wanted anyone to know, which was why they had kept it a secret.
What Happens to Sandy?
Sandy, the American exchange student, was generally disliked by everyone around. Once the apocalypse hit, she ended up being an obstacle to everyone else’s survival. So when Saskia decides to take up the role of the leader, she concludes that Sandy must leave. Saskia and a confused Zoe put Sandy on a rowboat and let her float off across the ocean. As the months pass, everyone assumes Sandy must have died. However, then six months later, a harried, transformed Sandy shows up on the island to take her revenge on the group. She burns their food supplies and lies to them about the lack of help out there, leading everyone down their fatalistic spiral.
Additionally, not only is Sandy alive and has become an experienced survivor, but she is also pregnant now. When she returns back to the island, it isn’t just to make things miserable for the group but also to take Teresa with her to help her raise her child. Teresa has always wanted to be a mother, and that takes up most of her narrative in the show. Her role in the group’s survival is to be in charge of food and to feed everyone. Teresa and Sandy used to be friends back in high school, but Sandy had always resented Teresa for never standing up for her when Saskia and Zoe were awful to her. Still, Sandy knows can’t raise a kid on her own and that Teresa has always wanted to be a mother, so she comes back for her. Ultimately, Sandy and Teresa agree to raise the kid together on land as a team.
Read More: Where is Class of ’07 Filmed?
