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This review may contain spoilers
Midterms might not kill you. These kids will.
I started this drama thinking the reduced episode count meant an easy binge. Spoiler: it didn’t. Not because it was bad—on the contrary, it’s alarmingly good—but because each episode felt like getting body-slammed by a bowl of spaghetti. With extra tomato sauce. Everywhere. Since I already have a strong aversion to tomato-based anything, this drama was less “watchable entertainment” and more “sensory trauma with subtitles.” At one point, I literally paused mid-episode and asked myself, “Is this drama or just glorified punishment?” The answer depended on how soaked in red the screen was.
But I couldn’t walk away. The story is gripping. So gritty, I half-expected sandpaper to be listed in the props department. If any of this was inspired by a real school setting, I need those institutions flagged, tagged, and erased from Google Maps. The violence wasn’t just frequent—it was structured, institutionalized, and somehow more punctual than the morning bell. Yet under all the bruises and hallway brawls, there’s an unexpected pulse of sincerity. I found myself caring when the characters stopped long enough to talk about something deeper than revenge or test scores.
Casting-wise, Hwang Min Hyun as Yun Ga Min is a bullseye. He nails that unassuming, quiet intensity—someone who’ll solve equations by day (abysmally) and crack skulls by night (astonishingly). Admittedly, I did mistake him for Cha Eun Woo in the beginning. Not my proudest K-drama fan moment, but let’s be honest, one soft lighting setup and half the cast starts to blend into each other like a visual group project. Still, Min Hyun brought gravitas to the chaos, even when I started side-eyeing the production team for making some of those fight scenes a bit too… stylish. Like, are we selling justice or launching a blood-splattered fashion line?
And yet—amid the trauma Olympics—they actually study. Like, real books. Real effort. That sliver of academic earnestness kept me going. Study Group might be wrapped in violence, but its core is underdog warmth. These kids want more than to win a fight—they want a future. It wasn’t an easy watch, but it was a worthwhile one. Bloody, bonkers, and strangely moving.
But I couldn’t walk away. The story is gripping. So gritty, I half-expected sandpaper to be listed in the props department. If any of this was inspired by a real school setting, I need those institutions flagged, tagged, and erased from Google Maps. The violence wasn’t just frequent—it was structured, institutionalized, and somehow more punctual than the morning bell. Yet under all the bruises and hallway brawls, there’s an unexpected pulse of sincerity. I found myself caring when the characters stopped long enough to talk about something deeper than revenge or test scores.
Casting-wise, Hwang Min Hyun as Yun Ga Min is a bullseye. He nails that unassuming, quiet intensity—someone who’ll solve equations by day (abysmally) and crack skulls by night (astonishingly). Admittedly, I did mistake him for Cha Eun Woo in the beginning. Not my proudest K-drama fan moment, but let’s be honest, one soft lighting setup and half the cast starts to blend into each other like a visual group project. Still, Min Hyun brought gravitas to the chaos, even when I started side-eyeing the production team for making some of those fight scenes a bit too… stylish. Like, are we selling justice or launching a blood-splattered fashion line?
And yet—amid the trauma Olympics—they actually study. Like, real books. Real effort. That sliver of academic earnestness kept me going. Study Group might be wrapped in violence, but its core is underdog warmth. These kids want more than to win a fight—they want a future. It wasn’t an easy watch, but it was a worthwhile one. Bloody, bonkers, and strangely moving.
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