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This review may contain spoilers
Remake of School 2013 is remake of School 2013
Not going to lie, I went into this cold thinking it was a BL having been fooled by... literally everything about it. Within one episode I was side-eyeing its obvious similarities to kdrama School 2013. By episode 2, I was wondering if they knew it was the plot of School 2013. By episode 3, I was convinced it was, indeed, a remake of School 2013. Then I noticed the credits where they literally say it's a remake of School 2013.
All other issues aside, having seen the original (albeit a while ago), I had a few gripes about it as a remake. Firstly, the original's entry point was the teachers and how the school deals with a variety of modern adolescent difficulties. As a Thai drama, the writers obviously wanted to front and centre the wildly bromantic Shin/Saint relationship so they could fool everybody (including the characters, audience, and ultimately themselves) into this being a BL This is supposedly not a BL.
By front-ending Saint and Shin's relationship and burying the rest of the class and teachers in the background, they failed to set up the characters for the much more interesting second half and left us rolling our eyes as Saint and Shin have the same conversation 18 times until I wanted to throw something at the TV. Saint is worried about Shin and wants him to forgive him, Shin wants Saint to stay away from him. On the roof, in the street, outside Shin's house, at school... these are the various places in which they had exactly the same angsty conversation. almost word for word for literal hours until I also wanted Saint to leave Shin alone. Because if you get told the same thing in no uncertain terms well over 10 times (I was counting but then gave up), then ignoring it verges on harassment. All of this was done in a way that never accidentally revealed the reason for their separation, which was held back excruciating until the big reveal. The whole thing was just turning its wheels to fill the insane 16 hour screentime and it was only curiosity about the adaptation that kept me watching.
Finally, the teachers and my cutie-pie Chadjen step in and the plot is allowed to advance and we get thrown into the full plot of the Korean original but with secondary characters who simply don't feel sufficiently fleshed out after being ignored for 8 episodes. Of course, the original is at least one third school staff meetings so it's probably not bad that those got jettisoned in lieu of cute boys declaring their undying love for each other in a way that's definitely just a really great friendship between male humans who want to spend time with only each other for the rest of their lives and want to see each other's faces when they wake up every morning.
Which brings us to my second issue, which is that this particular intensely homoerotic bromance works a lot better in a Kdrama where it doesn't always come across as... well... really really really really gay.
Queer baiting aside - which is the only way I can characterise the final scene of Shin and Saint declaring their undying love while gazing lovingly into each other's eyes sharing an umbrella in the rain - the back half leans heavily into the themes of young adults needing to forge their own path in life but still needing caring and responsible adults to step in and help when necessary. The Thai version leans even more heavily into friendship and the importance of social support and relationships to get us through difficult times.
Well acted and emotional but with poorly choreographed fight scenes and a soundtrack that verges on intrusive and obvious, Highschool Frenemy is an enjoyable, if overly long, watch whose back half is much superior to its first and is worth persisting for.
And if you choose to imagine Shin and Saint's eventual wedding with a somewhat resigned mother-in-law and little sister Chingching as an adorable flower girl, well, that's up to you.
All other issues aside, having seen the original (albeit a while ago), I had a few gripes about it as a remake. Firstly, the original's entry point was the teachers and how the school deals with a variety of modern adolescent difficulties. As a Thai drama, the writers obviously wanted to front and centre the wildly bromantic Shin/Saint relationship so they could fool everybody (including the characters, audience, and ultimately themselves) into this being a BL This is supposedly not a BL.
By front-ending Saint and Shin's relationship and burying the rest of the class and teachers in the background, they failed to set up the characters for the much more interesting second half and left us rolling our eyes as Saint and Shin have the same conversation 18 times until I wanted to throw something at the TV. Saint is worried about Shin and wants him to forgive him, Shin wants Saint to stay away from him. On the roof, in the street, outside Shin's house, at school... these are the various places in which they had exactly the same angsty conversation. almost word for word for literal hours until I also wanted Saint to leave Shin alone. Because if you get told the same thing in no uncertain terms well over 10 times (I was counting but then gave up), then ignoring it verges on harassment. All of this was done in a way that never accidentally revealed the reason for their separation, which was held back excruciating until the big reveal. The whole thing was just turning its wheels to fill the insane 16 hour screentime and it was only curiosity about the adaptation that kept me watching.
Finally, the teachers and my cutie-pie Chadjen step in and the plot is allowed to advance and we get thrown into the full plot of the Korean original but with secondary characters who simply don't feel sufficiently fleshed out after being ignored for 8 episodes. Of course, the original is at least one third school staff meetings so it's probably not bad that those got jettisoned in lieu of cute boys declaring their undying love for each other in a way that's definitely just a really great friendship between male humans who want to spend time with only each other for the rest of their lives and want to see each other's faces when they wake up every morning.
Which brings us to my second issue, which is that this particular intensely homoerotic bromance works a lot better in a Kdrama where it doesn't always come across as... well... really really really really gay.
Queer baiting aside - which is the only way I can characterise the final scene of Shin and Saint declaring their undying love while gazing lovingly into each other's eyes sharing an umbrella in the rain - the back half leans heavily into the themes of young adults needing to forge their own path in life but still needing caring and responsible adults to step in and help when necessary. The Thai version leans even more heavily into friendship and the importance of social support and relationships to get us through difficult times.
Well acted and emotional but with poorly choreographed fight scenes and a soundtrack that verges on intrusive and obvious, Highschool Frenemy is an enjoyable, if overly long, watch whose back half is much superior to its first and is worth persisting for.
And if you choose to imagine Shin and Saint's eventual wedding with a somewhat resigned mother-in-law and little sister Chingching as an adorable flower girl, well, that's up to you.
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