This review may contain spoilers
A mundane take on espionage
An elite NIS agent is forced to take up the role of a high school student to cover up failure in his previous mission. In the aim of rediscovering the hidden treasure of Emperor Gojong, he comes close to the secret behind his birth father’s disappearance.Borrowing similarities from our endearing Main Hoon Na, this Korean drama takes a loud and mighty take on an espionage love tale. Just like Major Ram had her heart flutter for Ms. Chandni, Hae Song’s homeroom teacher O Su A finds herself attracted to her student. But here the mystery gets resolved fast and she gets in the process of helping the NIS agent.
The opening was quite dramatic and alluring. Skidding a bike and retrieving treasure by breaking through the sunroof was a high element to bring in an adrenaline rush. But the graph fell flat in the third and fourth episodes. Creating a typical villain out-of-school principal and a dramatic and greedy teacher who only pours cold water into the story.
The twist in the form of a mysterious and prestigious school council is a good idea. Since it is a Korean school drama, how can they miss showing bullying and depression?
Like in previous dramas, the school queen here also suffers immense pressure from her villain mother and starts developing a crush on the agent as he makes his way inside. She is conniving and misery-stricken like all dramas. You will find her pathetic and vicious at the same time. These types of shallow and copy subplots need to be handled more carefully. Also, O Su A should have been sketched better. Though the backstory behind her hiding her real name and learning kung fu deserves sobbing applause, it was still cliche.
ML and Fl share a poor chemistry. Your heart does not burn when they lock eyes. The villains are too predictable and their greed does not make them heinous. It appeared more like a 90s gimmick than a 2025 rush. If you are bored, give it a watch, but you will start anticipating the next moment after two or three episodes.
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Intriguing, well acted, often hilarious drama
I loved this mystery, action, and light romance drama for all the usual reasons, such as acting, story line, and production. But, the delightful comedy well placed in unexpected places made this a memorable drama. I am not a comedy fan, yet the routines interspersed throughout the episodes (especially in Ep. 11 from 23:16-30:02) were actually funny and oddly provided levity to the weightier sub-plots and characters.Was this review helpful to you?
If you are in the mood for a silly action cop show, with a side of buddy romance, this is an entertaining watch. There's lots of humor and an over the top villain, coupled with a mix of action/horror/mystery and the time enjoyably passes.
Props also to the main characters being normal people, and the evil character being a power hungry, unbalanced, corrupt panderer and enabler of the wealthy. Also! A hint of lgbtq romance amongst the side characters.
In the end though, like many other dramas, this drags at the end with a lot of nonsensical plot, especially the last 3 episodes. I loyally watched it to the end, as little has entertained me as much, but you really could stop at episode 10.
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fun if you don't take it too seriously
It was a fun watch and I loved KangJoon in this, just like some other have said, he carried the show. Because the storyline definitely did not make much sense, especially in the last few episodes the plot was getting a bit too ridiculous, the villan was just cartoon psycho evil, plot twists were a bit too predictable. The concept as a whole is actually a bit funny and unbelievable. Some parts and the side actors did make me physically cringe. Still, other parts were cute and genuinely funny. I think the female lead did a good job as well.Was this review helpful to you?
Second half was not even half of what First Half was.
Starring Seo Kang Joon and Jin Ki Joo, Undercover High School is a action drama that happens within a school, as the name suggests. With giving any spoilers, the drama starts strong, with some suspense and twists, good action and mature storytelling. The first half is engaging, although there are unserious moments at times.While the start was strong, the second half of the show falters to some extent, as there was not much fun left to the premise. I won't say the show is skippable, but it surely doesn't have a rewatch value.
While the show is a mystery-spy themed, the drama also focuses on tougher subjects like school bullying, student hierarchies, and the politics which govern the lives of both students and teachers.
A little romance with comedy elements in regular intervals somehow keeps the drama balanced. Maybe not strongly recommended as there are better dramas in this genre, but Undercover High School is a fun and watchable drama that does silly and clever things simultaneously.
3 stars for 'Undercover High School'.
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Good Enough
Korean Drama '' Undercover High School '' is a school mystery thriller with a strong comedic element.The story is not that original, but the mystery is, and the comedy part was well handled, with enough funny scenes to lighten the mood. The mystery was also intriguing, it was well paced, and had smooth twists.
The romance, on the other hand, could have been omitted, as it didn't really add anything to the plot, and was half baked in the end, as the drama opted to focus more on the mystery, thankfully, and not on the love story.
Finally, the performances were all great by everyone in the cast.
So, overall, eight out of ten.
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Its Good, but I feel like the story lacks depth, or maybe it's just me
The series really, I love the story and everything, but there is just something lacking, I feel like everything in the story was too fast, like the revelation and mystery solved thing, I dont know, I was looking for something more about this series, something more deeper. Nevertheless, this is a very promising action-comedy series, every actors really did a great job portraying their roles, especially the main leads, a must watchWas this review helpful to you?
Don't Expose Your True Identity
The story is about an agent that have to become a student in a school where there is a rumour that gold is being stored during the war era. He must solve several puzzles to get a hint/clue where the gold is located. But in the middle of the mission, a lot of events occurred, and He must protect those high school students. That's where the journey become much more interesting!Was this review helpful to you?
Silly? Yes. Serious? Also yes... Worth the watch? Sure...
Overall 7/10🌟🌟🌟⭐
Killer soundtrack and amazing cast! The drama was entertaining, however, there were a lot of plot holes that ruined the overall vibe at the end. Jeong Haeseong was something else, brother was running off pure adrenaline towards the end - it was crazy! Oh Su-ah has a heart of gold. I loved that she did her best to protect the kids, even if some of her methods were questionable. The NIS squad is what brought the show together. Without their comedic relief, I would have likely dropped the show. I liked that they gave us a glimpse of some of the kids' futures at the end.
Special mention: The actress who portrayed Seo Myeong Ju stole the show; her acting was truly convincing - by far my favourite and most complex character in the show. (I hated the character but loved the portrayal.)
Extra note:
Watching this on VIKI with timed comments was crazy - the comments were lowkey unhinged!
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One of my favorite drama
It entered my list of favorite dramas, the story grabs you right away, the main actors were great and had a wonderful chemistry, but also all the actors did an amazing job. This drama made me feel so many emotions, I laughed, I rejoiced and I even cried a lot. I haven't felt so many beautiful emotions with a drama since last year, after watching Lovely Runner, it completely won me over. I'm sure I'll choose to watch it again and I recommend to everyone to watching it because all the actors did an excellent job and it deserves to be seen!!Was this review helpful to you?
JUST GOOD NOTHING MORE
I was happy watching it, loved the school dynamic and it was fun when Seo was engaging with the other students!
The actors did good and played their part exceptionally well! They should have dived more into the other characters stories too!
It was termed romance and it was only a fraction of it that was shown, not like I really cared, but I don’t like liars 😭!!
I didn’t watch the last two episodes after seeing one edit and I knew ‘twas something I didn’t want to watch!!
Let my last episodes be at the scene where he saw the body!!
It could have been better but it wasn’t bad either!!
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Good Story with a mediocre finale
If you want a lot of romance scenes, go pas t this one. It has has slight romance, comedy and a few action scenes. Everything's average, or even below average at some point. But all those average things make it a light watch drama. So if you don't want any complex to watch at times like me, then go for it.If you are looking for a lot of action this ain't for you either, the action scenes are okeish and few in number.
As for the romance, it doesn't have many romance scenes, but at the same time doesn't have any love triangle either. So it's pretty much angst free to watch.
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