I have to say I’m slightly disappointed with how the series turned out. Contrary to popular opinion, I thought the first two episodes were reasonably good. They laid the foundations for what could’ve been a very strong series. At first, I wasn’t averse to them killing Chlo off, if it meant it could firmly place Donte and his kids at the epicentre of this series, but this never really came to fruition. The only thing I thought was clever about her death, is how it mirrored the death in the first episode of the original series and how it meant Donte was now a single parent just like his dad was. Chlo’s death isolated Donte turning him into a resentful bitter man meaning the character regressed quite significantly by the end of the series. It would’ve been far more interesting watching Waterloo Road’s original golden couple navigate life as parents. I can’t fathom why on Earth TPTB chose to make the decision that they did. They could’ve killed one of the new students off and it probably would’ve had a greater impact than Chlo’s death, considering it would’ve evoked a bigger reaction amongst the current students at WR. Even Kim Campbell seemed completely unbothered by her passing despite knowing Chlo for over 20 years and she should’ve expressed more compassion given that her previous teaching role was a pastoral assistant. I thought her favouring Coral over Donte, was out of character. What’s worse is that we’ve come to find out it wasn’t even the actress’s (who played Chlo) decision to leave.
Chlo’s death brings me onto another negative point about this series. The lack of returnees makes the show at times feel unrecognisable at times. This is in many ways a requel. I understand it would’ve been hard to bring old characters back to a new school, considering the only thing this school, Rochdale and the school in Scotland all have in common is the name but there’s no excuse as to why more past characters couldn’t have been at Chlo’s funeral. Where the hell was Mica? Why couldn’t Kim, having witnessed Donte’s grief, have gotten in contact with his old school friends and encouraged them to come on down to the school, to remind him of the good times he shared with Chlo? Something akin to a high school reunion. Also, I imagine Denise Welch would’ve happily come back for a brief cameo as Steph Haydock, considering she lives in Cheshire so it wouldn’t have been hard for her to reach the filming location, and the fact in the past couple of years, she’s been on Hollyoaks and Loose Women indicates she’s quite desperate for work. The absences of Tom and Grantley are felt in this series, and this is a void that hasn’t been filled by members of the new teaching staff, despite how I think the staff are far better than the students.
I think the teachers are a fairly well-assembled cast. I like Kim’s secretary Wendy (she had some brilliant one-liners). She came across as a very warm character and instantly likeable. Joe/Joel who I assume was a pastoral teacher, was a brilliant addition. I thought he represented how a lot of modern day teachers behave. Coral was a good three-dimensional villain for what it’s worth. It’s a shame she suffered from poor writing and storylining as the actress really deserved better. It made no sense for her to wait until the inquest to tell Donte about her involvement in Chlo’s death. I also thought her bullying of the pink-haired teacher felt like a pointless storyline, as it paled into insignificance, by the end of the series. It would’ve been good if this storyline was explored further to raise awareness about workplace bullying. I’m not a fan of Mr. Guthrie. Maybe it’s because I had expected that he’d be the new Grantley, and my expectations weren’t met. The storyline whereby he pretended his wife had died was downright bizarre as was the plot where the kids went to his house to dig up his garden in search for his wife’s remains. Lindon was a character I just didn’t understand. I was unclear whether or not he was trying to take Kim’s job, meaning I wasn’t sure if his interactions with Kim, ever felt sincere. I didn’t know what the writers were trying to do with him. Val was someone who I felt was quite underused throughout the series. I thought her willingly letting Danny lived with her was a completely stupid storyline. First of all, what teacher would willingly let a student, unrelated to them live in their house, after giving the decision barely any thought? Secondly, surely that breached some form of safeguarding rule. I’m sure teachers aren’t allowed to have contact with students outside of school, if they aren’t related to them. This is one example of how I felt the series generally insulted the viewer’s intelligence at times.
Schools have moved on from the days where school kids were given free periods, and allowed to leave school grounds on their lunch break. It felt like the show had a very outdated view of educational institutions. For example, most schools today have become academies and comprehensives have pretty much become obsolete. Most schools have implemented behavioural units, so I don’t know why it was treated as such a big deal in this series. Also, did anyone actually know the exact professions of each teacher? It seemed they were a Jack of many trades, but a master of one. I thought Coral was an English teacher but was also hosting PE lessons? Who was the pastoral teache? Was it Joe or the pink-haired lady (I can’t remember her name)?
I think some of the new students were some of the best we’ve seen in years on the show (only a very small handful, however). Danny Lewis is brimming with potential, as is Preston (I hope there’s a correlation between his struggle with his sexuality, and his eating disorder so it doesn’t feel like they’re just constantly chucking issue-based storylines in his direction). Despite this, some students were absolutely atrocious characters. Kai, for example. I don’t know how the writers were intending to characterise him. Surely it’s pretty unforgivable to feign homelessness simply because you have a rocky relationship with your parents? However, this was completely brushed under the carpet. I also thought his friendship with Danny just felt really forced and odd. I can’t remember how the pair of them even became friends in the first place. Overall, he is not endearing, but is completely unwatchable and cringe-inducing, as is Samia. I thought Kellie-Jo’s (what kind of name is that?) ADHD storyline was a complete misrepresentation of the learning difficulty. The character was also very unsympathetic. Overall, it felt like the writers constructed stereotypical representations of Gen-Z students on the basis of how they’ve seen this generation being portrayed in the media. The truth is Gen-Z students aren’t that dissimilar to those who went to school in the early ‘00s. Sadly, sexism and homophobia is still rife in schools and it felt like this was barely tapped upon in this latest series. I also don’t think today’s kids care as much about the environment as portrayed in the media. Not everyone secondary school pupil is an activist and idolises Greta Thunberg.
One positive about this series, in comparison to the others, was how there was less block storytelling. For example, it got to a point in the older series’, when they would cover a different issue-based storyline, every episode and they’re would be no follow up to this storyline.
Overall, it wasn’t too bad but certainly could’ve been lightyears better. Hopefully the next batch of episodes is a significant improvement.
