This review may contain spoilers
Something feels off
I would like to start off by acknowledging how all the actors acted their parts so well in this drama. But something feels off about the plot.
I can't take the show too seriously. The bullies seem aggressive, but only because the victims are freaking doormats. We later learn about the greater bully, Ha Rin who psychs you out by manipulating and playing with power. Her motivations are:
1. Force everyone to play the pyramid game where she emerges as the very top of the structure.
2. Make her childhood friend turned foe the permanent victim.
What is insane is the way she wields power to set all the things in motion to play the pyramid game like getting adopted conveniently by the Baeks to deciding who joins her class in school to influencing literally everything she can in her power with whose help idk, definitely the principal because of her chairman grandma, but outside, how? She has dirt on her "father", knows her "mother" is a doormat to the grandma, and holds favor in the eyes of her "grandma", but none of them seem to be actively helping her other than ignoring the things she does but how does she get them done to be begin with is not shown. And this is kind of important because she is just an adopted freaking highschooler. Why do all these girls participate in the pyramid game barring the elite few? Do they all not care that one of them will be victimized by being a participant and a bystander? This kinda feels dumb considering the show shows how some of the girls are manipulative and strategic but most of these girls just look dumber than rocks for going with Ha Rin's games. It takes Su Ji for these girls to understand how democracy works.
The whole motivation for Ha Rin to play the game also feels very weak and is mysterious to us until the very last episode where the reveal falls very flat. I guess psychopaths dont need strong motivations. The first victim and her brother don't really need to be interwoven into the plot, and the brother being a genius coder is also not super necessary since he really didnt do any high level tech stuff: just installed a camera and uploaded the videos to social media; these things dont really need a genius in this day and age.
All in all, the show seems to present the story as a high stake, psychological game, but honestly feels like teenage shit that could be solved by just by the girls using brains and communication. There is power and corruption but the victims had plenty of proof to bring them down easily. There are a lot of similar shows that showcases bullying in high school like The Glory, Weak Hero, etc, but they all felt more serious and believable or as in Study Group, presents itself like a live action comic.
I can't take the show too seriously. The bullies seem aggressive, but only because the victims are freaking doormats. We later learn about the greater bully, Ha Rin who psychs you out by manipulating and playing with power. Her motivations are:
1. Force everyone to play the pyramid game where she emerges as the very top of the structure.
2. Make her childhood friend turned foe the permanent victim.
What is insane is the way she wields power to set all the things in motion to play the pyramid game like getting adopted conveniently by the Baeks to deciding who joins her class in school to influencing literally everything she can in her power with whose help idk, definitely the principal because of her chairman grandma, but outside, how? She has dirt on her "father", knows her "mother" is a doormat to the grandma, and holds favor in the eyes of her "grandma", but none of them seem to be actively helping her other than ignoring the things she does but how does she get them done to be begin with is not shown. And this is kind of important because she is just an adopted freaking highschooler. Why do all these girls participate in the pyramid game barring the elite few? Do they all not care that one of them will be victimized by being a participant and a bystander? This kinda feels dumb considering the show shows how some of the girls are manipulative and strategic but most of these girls just look dumber than rocks for going with Ha Rin's games. It takes Su Ji for these girls to understand how democracy works.
The whole motivation for Ha Rin to play the game also feels very weak and is mysterious to us until the very last episode where the reveal falls very flat. I guess psychopaths dont need strong motivations. The first victim and her brother don't really need to be interwoven into the plot, and the brother being a genius coder is also not super necessary since he really didnt do any high level tech stuff: just installed a camera and uploaded the videos to social media; these things dont really need a genius in this day and age.
All in all, the show seems to present the story as a high stake, psychological game, but honestly feels like teenage shit that could be solved by just by the girls using brains and communication. There is power and corruption but the victims had plenty of proof to bring them down easily. There are a lot of similar shows that showcases bullying in high school like The Glory, Weak Hero, etc, but they all felt more serious and believable or as in Study Group, presents itself like a live action comic.
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