Weak Hero Class 2 (2025)

Action-packed — but rushed and without the charm of S1

So I really enjoyed the first season and decided to read through the webtoon before S2 came out. I enjoyed it thoroughly and grew to love the gigantic cast of characters. I was really excited to see how it would be adapted — all while keeping in mind that it’s very different.

With that being said, I don’t mind when an adaptation takes creative liberties, but I think this season is not only missing the structure of the webtoon but also the charm of the first season.

I think it’s pretty obvious that eight 40-minute episodes is not enough to go through the complete journey the main character goes through in the comics. It’s an epic journey of going to a new school and slowly learning how to make friends again, as well as fighting for them — starting from defeating the mindless bullies, to taking down the one at the top and dismantling the entire system.

The drama just goes through everything WAY too fast. It feels like we’re speed-running through fights, dropping backstories in 5-minute conversations, and going from place to place and defeating antagonists without even establishing who they are. It’s unclear why one plot point is leading to the next, and the final fight is so short and so quick, and the drama never established WHY we had to do everything to get to that point.

The webtoon really gets us deep inside Si Eun’s mind as he learns who’s who in the hierarchy and how to face each one. Choi Hyo Man / Colton Choi is the first fish — the one whose bark is larger than his bite. Geum Seong Je / Wolf Keum is second — the arrogant and prideful one who is quick to start fights and enjoy them. And finally the story works its way to the top, where we have Na Baek Jin / Donald Na — the charismatic leader and the mastermind fueled by his own tragic backstory.

In the drama, it feels like these antagonists run in parallel, and either their motivations aren’t fleshed out well, or they just feel underwhelming. The different schools/factions blur into each other, and the fight against the Union feels more surface level and small-scale — we’re simply shutting down an illegal business and beating an ex-friend, instead of dismantling the entire power structure.

Still, Geum Seong Je (played fantastically by Jun Young) is probably my favorite antagonist. Na Baek Jin has great visuals and great acting too, but the changes to the backstory made it too cliche for me, and I also don’t think the show did a great job of establishing how powerful he was and why.

As a sequel series, I also think it doesn’t quite have the charm of the previous season.

While S1 really focused on Si Eun’s personality of carefully observing personalities and surroundings and implementing science/math into fights — which is what made it stand out in the first place — this season feels a lot more simple, punch-punch-kick-kick. His calculated personality isn’t shining through in the fight scenes anymore, and even outside of fight scenes, he feels a lot more passive and a lot less intentional. Pacing has been the main issue so far and that affects this as well — Si Eun is just not given time to “study” his opponents. And when he does…I think we were in desperate need of more internal monologues because from the outside, it seems like he’s just running around, doing whatever the next plot calls for.

I like that we are seeing him go through grief and guilt though and the drama doesn’t shy away from reminding us how much Su Ho shaped his identity — the show is strongest in those moments.

I also think the friendships are just a tiny bit less strong, although I love the casting for every single character and I actually REALLY buy into them as a friend group when I see them together. Once again, though, they’re hampered by the short runtime. The group chemistry is fantastic when they’re having fun, but I just can’t buy into the more emotional moments.

Compared to season 1, it’s also pretty obvious there’s a new production team, The color grading and cinematography are a little off sometimes, and I really miss the gritty and darker vibes from the first season. This is minor compared to my other issues, but when you take a weirdly satured color scheme and combine it with the glaring pacing problem, it just feels like we lost a lot of tension.

One last gripe: I will never like the car accident trope lol. K-drama writers…stop it.

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A Brutal, Thrilling Sequel That Forgets What Made It Special

"UPDATED REVIEW"

I went into Weak Hero Class 2 with pretty high expectations, and while it definitely delivers a gripping continuation, I can’t say it completely lived up to the raw brilliance of Season 1.

On the surface, everything is bigger, and honestly, it’s impressive. Yeon Si-eun’s journey into a new school full of new dangers had me invested from the start. Watching him, Hu-min, Hyun-tak, and Jun-tae slowly forge a bond was probably the emotional highlight for me. Their brotherhood felt messy and real, full of guarded trust and bruised hearts. That part? The show absolutely nails it.

But where Season 1 thrived on slow-burn tension and devastating emotional buildup, Season 2 sometimes trades that for spectacle. The fights are frequent, beautifully choreographed, and absolutely brutal - but they’re also a little too polished at times. Some of the raw, desperate edge that made the first season so unforgettable feels sanded down here. It’s more "cool" than "gut-wrenching," and personally, I missed that rawness.

Another thing: the pacing feels uneven. The first half does a great job building new dynamics and setting up emotional stakes, but as the action ramps up, some of that careful character work gets sidelined. The heart is still there - it's just buried a little deeper under all the chaos.

That said, the performances are phenomenal. Ryeoun, especially as Hu-min, is magnetic. His layered performance brings a much-needed emotional anchor when the plot starts to sprint ahead. And Park Ji-hoon continues to be quietly devastating as Si-eun, managing to say so much with so little.

At the end of the day, Weak Hero Class 2 is a strong continuation that dares to expand its world, even if it sacrifices some of the emotional intimacy that made its predecessor special. It’s still absolutely binge-worthy - tense, brutal, and sometimes heartbreakingly honest - but it doesn’t quite reach the same unforgettable heights.

For me, it’s a solid 7 out of 10. Worth watching. Worth feeling a little heartbroken over. But not quite the masterpiece the first season was.

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