So I decided to watched the first episode, which is sadly didn't appeal to me as much. I stopped after around 10 minutes. I think I attempt to finish the first episode 3 times before I decided that I will really watch it.
The story is okay. Nothing much new. It's kind of predictable. I like it when they are finding X, but then when X got revealed, it got me bored. I remember fast forwarding some scenes after episode 8 or 9? (For the story, I like Sassy Go Go better)
The acting are fine. But I don't find chemistry between the leads, I actually like Dae Hwi and Nam Joo more.
Maybe younger ones prefer this show more. I'm way past this age so.. maybe just not my cup of tea.
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The lead's chemistry had me convinced that they had feelings in real life.
Plot: Ummm, very teenager-ish plot. Apart from ML and FL falling in love, I could not care about anything else that was happening.Watch it if you’re in the mood for: A teenage, school romance between a cocky, testosterone fuelled bad-boy (who is actually really good at heart) and a sweet, naive girl (who still has some spine and brains). What’s different is that both the leads communicate very well with each other throughout the series and never give a single moment of “gah-this-can-be-solved-if-you-two-just-DM-each-other’. Their chemistry is on fire, gave me a lot of feels and I was convinced that they liked each other for real.
Why I liked it:
*CHEMISTRY: The ML and FL had crazy physical chemistry. It is a testimony to their chemistry that even though they did not have a single lip lock in the entire series, they gave me more butterflies in the stomach than a lot of other romance series with a lot of skin ship. I always say, the romance is in the little details and the body language. Few scenes which got to me:
* When a sidey character hits the FL, the pent up aggression shown by the ML while bandaging her wounds (whooh).
* When he is pissed that she is turning down his proposal, banging his head against the almirah
* Mouthing silently “She is my girlfriend” through lips while introducing her to his mother’s grave
I so liked their chemistry that I watched a lot of BTS videos.
*MALE LEAD (Kim Jung-Hyun): The ML had a lot of screen presence, and he nailed the cocky characterisation of a teenage boy. Indifferent and vulnerable at the same time.
Korean MLs are mostly too feminine for me: They are pastel white, show no traces of facial hair, are almost never beefed up and have baby-like skin. Only their deep voices and strong jaws are a saving grace. In a country where all males enlist in the army, why are their beauty standards for men so feminine? Curious philosophical question :)
Anyhoo, this ML is not at all feminine looking, he always had traces of facial hair. Frankly his chapped lips in a few episodes were so hot to me.
*FEMALE LEAD (Kim Se-Jeong): A good FL is core to any romance. While viewers like me who are trying to get romance vicariously swoon over the ML, I am very cognizant that its the FL who has to work equally together to get the right sparks on screen. I really liked the FL. She seemed quite chill, her smile got to me too :D, so no wonder the ML fell for her.
My recommendation: Watch it folks. It’s an investment of 16 + hours in pure fluffy feels and it’s on Netflix!
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I must say, the plot is great. The investigation to find X, the relationship of the parents and the main roles, the corruption of the administration, the rich students and parents who dodges the bullet every time, the romances of the roles, the friendship, bullying, etc., there are a lot of things going on in the drama which makes me have mixed emotions like anger, happiness, anxiety and romantic excitement. The last 2 episodes are a bit rushed for me because I wanted it to be longer to keep the flow of the story smooth that's why the points are deducted. Other than that, I think the story is amazing and it leaves life lessons.
The cast, they executed their roles amazingly and it makes me amazed too. Kim Se Jung (Eun Ho) & Kim Jung Hyun (Tae Woo) fit through their roles and make up a cute and lovable couple which is great to watch, and their acting is so good for rookies and I didn't know that their just new to the acting business. Jang Dong Yoon (Dae Hwi) and Seol In Ah (Nam Joo) also make up a great couple. Can't believe they're new to acting too, they executed their roles so well. Other than that, other casts (villains, staff, other students) did executed their roles very well so I gave it a 10.
The music, I don't mind the music at all. I just deducted .5 because there are some music that didn't hit my emotions.
Overall, a great drama to watch and if you can handle your emotions well, you can watch this drama. :)
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Great school drama
I've never been a big fan of school dramas or series. But frankly, this drama made me change my mind.Of course there is the school side that I don't like but that i had to expect it.
The story is interesting, it's full of suspense and the actors play really well. The OSTs are really good and the filming well done. I immediately got attached to the character and their story.
If you wants to understand the pressure in Korean schools and the life of young people in Korea. I recommend it because I saw it in full and if you knew me you would be surprised.
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This review may contain spoilers
Completely Dreadful
As you can tell from the heading and overall score, you can probably tell that this is going to be a negative and critical review. Please bear with me~Regarding the story, I felt like it was just a basic high school story of "the rich bad boy falls in love with the poor hard working girl" trope. The only thing that made me raise the score a teeny bit was the side romances, the soundtrack, the fact that it actually had a real plot (the X student) going on.
The thing that made this drama really bad was the cast and characters. Let's talk about character first. I've never seen so many characters with such bad development. Literally every person in this show is a jerk. Starting with Eun Ho--she is literally the worst friend I have ever seen. I am a strong believer that one should pick best friends over boyfriends, and she did the exact opposite. In the first few episodes, she was always seen talking with her best friend, but once she got a boyfriend, there was 0 seconds of screen time showing their interaction anymore. It's like she forgot she even had a best friend. She never even tried to understand her friend a tiny bit. Second, Hyun Tae Woon was the worst of them all. He was obsessive, abusive, selfish and the biggest jerk with a hero syndrome. Everyone else was either too funny or not funny at all, but they are not as bad as the main leads so I won't mention them. Moving on to the cast, I came for Sejeong but stayed for Han Sun Hwa and Seorina. The acting wasn't bad on anyone's part, but it wasn't enjoyable either. Whoever casted them did a really bad job with the leads but okay with the side characters. Casting Kim Jung Hyun was a big mistake because he looks 20 years older than the average 18-year old student. Lee Jong Won (Taewoon's dad) also looks too young and too indifferent; he doesn't quite get the "bad" character concept past. Sejeong was alright - as in this wasn't her best work as she was just a rookie at this time. I also don't get the point of adding Rowoon; I feel like they just did that to attract more attention to the drama because his character had absolutely no value to the story. The rest of the cast was either acceptable or great (Sun Hwa and Seorina).
Overall, I would NOT recommend this drama.
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Potential Ruined By Bad Writing
LIKES:Cinematography
Location shots
Acting
Chemistry between FL & ML
The student X storyline
First few episodes had good: pacing, intrigue, chemistry, rebellious teens, everything a good high school drama should have
Music was okay.
Nothing that needed FX.
The friendships: between FL and supporting female friend (they grew apart but talked things through to reconcile), etc.
How they showed the FL trying to deal with her phobia at the end. [Attempt at character growth.]
DISLIKES:
PRODUCTION:
Shaky camera syndrome, no film stabilizer used.
Director failed with some of the pacing, to the point there was a lot of boring parts.
Pacing was bad, to the point I used fast forward to other scenes. Mostly done during the “plotting” of doing bad things by the adults.
WRITING: So much potential ruined by bad writing.
Over done on the sh!tty school that uses and abuses the students.
Didn’t handle the issues of bullying, study pressures, corruption of the school system, classism, etc., in a productive way
Unfinished storylines of the supporting characters (her best friend and who became her boyfriend; the idol or the guitar player)
No kisses, just teasing, holding hands and hugging: they are seniors by that point they would’ve had a few kisses at least.
Romance of the second ML and his girlfriend, was barely even a friendship, the writer at the end tried to fix it, but without any impact.
Big reveal of who Student X was, failed to have impact. And was way too easy to guess in the beginning.
Not as good as the other School series.
Usual trope of rich bad boy likes poor good girl
Character growth was missing, but they did show a little of it with the supporting characters.
ACTING/CAST:
The Educational Director (ML’s dad) couldn’t pull off the evil character at all.
Overdone Principle as bad character.
The students all looked like they were at least college age and not still in high school
OVERALL:
Quick easy watch, good for someone just starting out watching high school dramas.
I wont watch it again.
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- Kim Se Jung is adorable and lovable in this. Very easy to root for her.
- Plot and mystery was intriguing and kept me wanting more.
- The friendships being built or rebuilt in this was heartwarming and gave many feel good scenes.
- The main romance was cute and heartwarming, with simple acts of love that made you feel the love.
Dislikes
- Music was not memorable. I cant remember a single song from the series.
- The motivations of antagonists in this reach super villain level of silliness.
- Too slow of a build up of the main romance in my opinion.
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Excellent acting
Acting: Kim Jung Hyun as Hyun Tae Woon was really, really good. He's got an interesting look about him. He's kind of rough around the edges and isn't the typical Asian "pretty" actor. He does serious, he does funny, and I totally believed him in this role. I also enjoyed Kim Se Jeong as Ra Eun Ho, but what I enjoyed most was their chemistry. The hate to love didn't go on too terribly long, and they had an actual healthy relationship, based on mutual respect and support, with both of them having a good sense of humor, which, let's face it, is important in a relationship!Story: The plot started out okay, but got bogged down. There were the obligatory evil teachers, administrators and parents (did we really need so many?!?!). There was the one teacher that stood up for the kids - I enjoyed his character. However, ultimately it was less about good and evil, but more about how much the school sucked. I did enjoy the friendships in this drama.
I would have to say that my favorite parts of this show were watching the main couple together.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's trying to depict many issue in High School environment, from bully, unfair treatment of student based on their social standing, the stress of to get the best score, etc, but they are just fail miserably. There is the tenstion for the sake of tension, at times preachy, but it's just a bunch collection of problem throw it you down of your own throat. The writers certainly doesn't has talent to match between romance, bromance and realistic conflict they arise. But the good news is, This cast is the best casting compare to among other previous cast in school series in recent memory (well, compare to School 2013 and Schcool 2015). School 2013 and School 2015 has the same fail attempt to depict teenage environment in high school. But this School series has one advantage, is the cast and make the show become bearable.
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Example of how good story can be ruined with bad acting
Strong suite of this titleStory- it shows reality of schools and it’s students. The depiction of problems faced by modern day students and how their families can support or bring them down is accurate.
OST- some songs are well suited to situations
Weaknesses
The cast -
FL just could not do justice to the role. Her reaction to most situations is a smile and mostly it felt fake.
Second ML was a disappointment too. The romance looked too dull between second couple and failed to convince.
chairman character dint look like imposing father or show any emotions.
Principal and vice principal did justice to their roles.
Second FL though she tried her best to do her part , her part itself was too small.
ML - he was the reason I could endure the series. His expressions , attitude was perfect. The lead couple love story looked convincing only because of the of the ML else FL looked like she was lost throughout the series.
Teacher and police officer were good too
Episode number - the life of story was short but it was dragged too long and could’ve been over by 12 episodes
Dialogues- after a while they were repetitive
FL crisis syndrome- FL was target of every disaster and ML saves her was the cliche implemented over and over again. Along with face that FL was too good to be true as she was always righteous.
Overall - good story ruined by poor acting by the cast
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Best drama I've ever seen!!?
This is my favorite drama of all time! The story is so exciting and fascinating that you don't wanna stop watching it. Also the acting was so good that I can't even describe it in words !!😍 Every actor did such a great job I can't even believe that it was acted and not true!! They totally got me emotional with every scene and I would watch it over and over again!! The story is very unique and things happen that you totally not expect and that's what captivates you about this drama. I really love it so much and I just can recommend watching it!!!!❤️Was this review helpful to you?
The best "School" Installment so far
I literally have no idea why this drama isn't praised everywhere. I watched almost all of the new School-20xx installments and this is by far THE BEST one!I went in expecting something along the lines of School 2013, and instead it was so much better! The whole storyline with the mysterious Student X and the "rebels" is so thrilling and entertaining, keeps you always on your toes and makes you want to know more!
The romance in this drama is on the same level as the best romance kdramas you can think of. The chemistry between the leads is smoking hot, it will make your heart beat and you will giggle hard as if you were the one living their love story! There are so many parts of this drama that are a perfect example of what romance in dramas should be like.
I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about this drama. Please watch it! You really won't regret it. It's even on Netflix now!
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