Can the school just learn to be peaceful for once and can everyone just be friends? Why does that seem so hard for the students at Eunho’s school to accomplish? It doesn’t seem like things are getting better and in fact, it’s not. Things are only getting worse. Survival and the road to survival at the school is real and very well alive. Here’s to hoping that everyone will eventually learn that maybe in order to survive (and thrive), ranks and status isn’t everything and that maybe – just maybe – communication is how you get there.
School 2017 Episode 3: Suspect Your Friend
Episode 3 starts off with scenes of the culprit preparing the pranks that he pulled at the school the past few months. In addition to the drone one that he committed in last week’s episode, he’s seen decorating and ruining a car parked at the school parking lot. Officer Soo-ji and Teacher Shim watch him carefully from away and attempt to sneak up from behind him to catch the culprit, but a noise that Teacher Shim makes alarms the culprit and he runs away with both adults chasing after him.
It turns out that Eunho still faces the consequences of getting demerit points even though it was proven that she wasn’t the culprit. As she bids farewell to Sarang and is about to bike her way home, she sees Officer Soo-ji and Teacher Shim chasing after the culprit. She joins them in the chase and just when it seems like it’s impossible to catch the culprit, he gets caught – not by Teacher Shim or Officer Soo-ji or Eunho but by Teacher Jung (Min Sung-wook, aka the creepy boss in ‘Age of Youth’). Together, they all anticipate who exactly the culprit is as Teacher Jung pulls back the hoodie on the culprit’s head.
In the next scene, we find out that the culprit is one of Teacher Shim’s students, Duk-soo (Choi Sung Min)! However, he claims that he is not the actual culprit and that he was only actually copying what the actual culprit has been doing. Another student who is also replicating what the actual culprit has been doing is brought in into the principal’s office. It seems like this may be a trend at the school and will only make catching the culprit even more difficult (which one is it?!).
As the chase for the culprit gets more intense and time is running out, the principal becomes more strict and irrational. He announces that in exchange for clues or reports about the culprit, he will give students merit points. So basically, he wants the students to report each other and he will reward them by giving them points. Wow, just wow. He also adds that whoever has too many demerit points will be punished through suspension or expulsion. Of course the students aren’t too happy with the new system and although they mention talks of trust and reliance on one another, nothing is guaranteed and no one is safe.
Eunho is once again stuck in a difficult position. She blames herself for the new system that the principal created, recalling the meeting that she had with the principal prior to the announcement. Because she refused to catch the culprit herself, the principal then turned to the rest of the students to make them responsible for catching the culprit instead. Eunho worries that she won’t be able to graduate and attend college if she gets too many demerit points.
But that’s not the case as a counselor she meets up with comments that Eunho can still make it into Hanguk University as long as she earns third place in the competition (yaaay! something good is happening to Eunho for once lol) and submits her student records. But that’s what is holding Eunho back – her student record. She plans on catching the culprit (who the drama has been referring to as “X”) to get rid of all her demerit points.
Eunho catches up with Kyung-woo (ahhhh!) at school and together they discuss about X. She notices that he talks about X as if he is the culprit himself, but he refutes any possibility of him being X. He comments that there are things he knows, but that he just won’t tell anyone. Hmm, maybe Kyung-woo knows who X is.
We return to the ending scene of episode 2. Eunho discovers a note in her locker that hints how Dae-hwi nor Tae-woon were found to be anywhere at the site of the drone incident. Just when she finishes reading the note, both boys confront her in the classroom. They talk about the culprit and taunt each other in the process as if to scare the other about getting caught. Dae-hwi ends the conversation by offering his help and support to Eunho, leaving Tae-woon to get flustered and march out the classroom.
Eunho brings this detail to Teacher Shim’s attention, but he dismisses it. On the day of the drone incident, he had given Dae-hwi permission to leave to work on a school banner and Tae-woon was away because he wasn’t feeling well.
As Dae-hwi walks on campus, he passes by Kyung-woo who’s practicing on his guitar. Kyung-woo stops Dae-hwi to ask him about the drone and the banner he had apparently be working on. Dae-hwi seems flustered at both questions and walks away in a hurry.
Tae-woon joins Eunho outside on a bench where they then converse about X. Eunho is drawn to the possibility that X flown in the drone to possibly save Eunho from being further punished, but Tae-woon doesn’t believe so. Why would X want to be associated with someone like Eunho? While this doesn’t help answer Eunho’s question about what the intent behind X’s doing was, she is certain about one thing: Tae-woon is definitely not X.
Eunho shares the note with Sarang and together they discuss the possibility of either Dae-hwi or Tae-woon being X. But it’s impossible. Dae-hwi is the #1 ranked student in the school and he’s the President. And then Tae-woon is the director’s son who even teachers bow down too. So why would neither of them do something to the school? Things get confusing as they try to dig deeper into it. Although they conclude that X isn’t Dae-hwi or Tae-woon, there’s still a small possibility that either of them can be X as both of them weren’t there during the actual incident.
This conversation extends over at dinner with Eunho and her family. They start making guesses on whether X is Dae-hwi or Tae-woon but is shortly stopped by Dad who grows frustrated at the lack of attention he’s getting over his cooking. To cheer him up (and to be able to eat the food), Eunho and her brother praise their dad’s cooking.
The next morning at school, Eunho walks through the halls of the school only to find Tae-woon entering the principal’s office. She recalls the conversation that her and her family had the night before at dinner about X. Her brother justifies that Tae-woon could possibly be X because he had the money to purchase a drone in the first place. Alarmed, she also enters the principal’s office to catch up with Tae-woon, but to her surprise fails to find him in the room. It’s empty. Where did he go?
(OMG CAN YOU HEAR THAT? THAT’S MY HEART BEATING)
As she looks around the room, she hears the principal getting closer and closer to his office. Terrified, she rushes to find a spot to hide. Someone then grabs her arm just in time to prevent her from getting caught. The principal enters and leaves his office without noticing anything and we discover that it was Tae-woon who had grabbed Eunho to hide with him (oooh okay Tae-woon, I see what you did there). He explains that he was sent by his dad on a mission which was why he was in the office.
They exit the office only to get caught by the Principal and Vice Principal (Park Chul-min). Tae-woon reasons that he was in the room because he came to drop something off from his father. While they both let Tae-woon go, the principal and vice principal become suspicious of Eunho especially since she’s still questioned to be X. But Tae-woon comes to her defense. There’s no way she can be X or be an accomplice of X. Who would want to work with someone as dim-witted and slow as her? This surprises both the principal and vice principal who was not expecting this from Tae-woon at all even after he walks away.
Eunho grows angry at how Tae-woon called her dim-witted. But Tae-woon argues back that he only said that to save her from the dangerous situation she was in. She finds it hard to believe at first, but quiets down when Tae-woon suggests that maybe he can report her to the principal in exchange for merit points.
The principal and vice principal are in the office deciphering what Tae-woon meant before he walked away. Earlier, he had told them both that he would “tell his father” before leaving and walking away. But what did he mean by “tell his father” and what exactly would he report to his father? The realm of possibilities worry both principal’s, but they reassure themselves by mentioning about the trap that they have set up. All that needs to happen left is the culprit biting the bait they have set up and everything will be finished. Uh-oh… what’s gonna happen now? This is making me anxious. (I would also like to note how comical and funny the two veteran actors are even though this situation calls for seriousness lol).
Teacher Shim is alone in the teacher’s office room working. But too many things are on his mind that he can’t concentrate. He’s especially frustrated over the new merit system and in order to relieve himself of the stress and frustration, he role plays the staff and faculty members and what they would possibly say in regards to the merit system. Principal and Vice Principal believe it’s a great idea and the other teachers don’t find any faults with it (omg he’s doing such great job mocking everyone hahaha. This scene is gold! And he’s so good at this. How was the actor able to do this??). But the one-man role playing comes to a stop when Teacher Koo gets out of his seat in the teacher’s office room. HA, so Teacher Shim wasn’t alone the entire time. He shares a few words with Teacher Shim before leaving, causing Teacher Shim to be even more stressful and regretful. Maybe check next time to see if you’re actually alone Teacher Shim! Haha.
With the new merit system intact, charts indicating how many demerit points each student has is publicly displayed at school. Sarang has zero, Eunho has 39, and Dae-hwi has five. How does Dae-hwi have five? Who could have possibly reported him?
Turns out that one of Dae-hwi’s close friends Hee-chan had reported him. He did it with the thought of his rank in his mind as he is only one rank below Dae-hwi so if Dae-hwi gets enough demerit points he’ll fall in rank and Hee-chan can come out on top. Other students grow frustrated and mad at the demerit points they got and start questioning each other. One student in particular confronts Teacher Shim about his points, but finds out that he was caught smoking at school which would account for why he got the points. Teacher Shim still doesn’t seem comfortable with the idea of the new merit system, but there’s nothing he can do about it. Teacher Koo emphasizes that they’re just preparing the students for the real world – the real world that is even more harsh and violent out there.
The student who had been caught smoking returns to the classroom angry. As he tries to find out who the person behind the picture is, he gets caught up in a fight with another classmate only making things worse. Classmates have gotten so used to these types of situations that they don’t have any energy left in them to care anymore. Tae-woon heads back to nap while Eunho continues to focus on her drawing.
In Eun-ho’s drawing, she focuses on the new merit system and the corruption behind it using the style of ‘The Wailing’ (OMFGGGGG I’M SO MAD. THEY DID NOT JUST GO THERE LOL I’M LEGITIMATELY SCREAMING). Teacher Shim plays Kwak Do-won’s character in the movie as an officer who visits the school to investigate the cause behind a student’s death at the school. Eunho plays Chun Woo-hee’s character and accuses the principal’s merit system as the reason for the death (she even throws rocks at Teacher Shim! I’M SO MAD omg lol). Tae-woon and Dae-hwi then show up as X and confuses both Eunho and Teacher Shim on who the culprit is. The best has yet to come as Sarang pops up from behind them in a classroom window and takes pictures of them using her phone, portraying the devil’s (?) role from the actual movie (all of this is so genius and random and I’m so confused right now. Why is this happening? Why this movie out of all movies?). The movie ends and we return to Sarang and Eunho back in the classroom (phew thank goodness. I was enjoying the little parody but I was also getting nervous. Memories of the actual movie came back).
Eunho and Duk-soo do some schoolyard cleaning in order to reduce the amount of demerit points they have. While working, Dae-hwi visits them to give them some refreshing drinks. While Duk-soo is grateful, Eunho grows suspicious. Dae-hwi tries to divert her attention by suggesting that he ask the principal if there’s any way they can reduce their demerit points.
It’s class time and the students have been assigned to recite the poems they created out loud to the class. Titled “This is all because of X”, Eunho recites her poem saying:
This is all because of X.
Wrongful demerits.
Risk of expulsion.
Student record stinks.
I gave up on college.
Mom came to the teacher’s college
Made to kneel because of someone.
The one who ruined our beloved senior year is a person called ‘X.’
X.
When I call you by your name, you will… die for sure, got it?
Eunho steals glances at different people while reciting her poem, first Tae-woon and Dae-hwi then Teacher Koo and then back to the two boys. She repeats the line “you will die for sure” as she walks back to her seat. HAHAHA. Gold!
When Eunho witnesses Teacher Shim giving Dae-hwi a master key to all the classrooms, she begins to get even more suspicious of him. If he’s one of the only 2 people (the other being the VP) to have access to the master key, maybe he could have used it on the night of the incident to enter the teacher’s office room. Alarmed, Eunho follows him as he leaves the classroom confident that he’s off to do something fishy. However, it’s nothing like what she had expected.
Turns out that Dae-hwi had left the classroom to meet up with his girlfriend in secret! Just as they’re about to kiss, Tae-woon shows up and distracts Eunho. They leave Dae-hwi and his girlfriend alone and walk off together. Dae-hwi’s girlfriend Nam-joo is upset that he seems to only be with her for her looks, but he proves his love for her by kissing her on the forehead (okay this scene was really random, out of place, and too makjang for me..). Meanwhile, Eunho asks Tae-woon if he’s ever had his first kiss in which he bluffs that he has. HAHAHA. OF COURSE YOU HAVE TAE-WOON, OF COURSE YOU HAVE. He grows jealous when he thinks of how Eunho could possibly date and kiss Jong-geun Sunbae (Kang Min-hyuk’s character from episode one), but that jealousy stops when his friend interrupts their conversation (aww man).
As Eunho studies in her bedroom, her parents and her brother take turns visiting her. Her dad brings her some juice followed by her mother who brings her another cup of juice and then finally her brother who rewards her with some money. Hehe. Such a loving family.
The next morning, Sarang and Kyung-woo meet each other while waiting at the bus stop. She shows him clips of her favorite idol Issue (played by SF9’s Ro-swoon Ro-woon my precious bby) and compliments his dancing and vocals. But Kyung-woo the guitarist isn’t impressed and claims that her celebrity isn’t all that talented. Offended, Sarang snaps back at him for daring to even attack her favorite idol (LOL WHY DOES SHE REMIND ME OF ME).
At school, students prepare for exams. Sarang and Eunho are talking to each other when Teacher Shim stops the class to make an announcement about a new transfer student. Upon seeing who the transfer student is, Sarang stops everything in her tracks and can only focus on who’s right in front of her. It can’t be. This can’t be real. How does one get so lucky?
The transfer student is none other than Sarang’s favorite idol, Kang Hyun Il AKA Issue. He introduces himself to the class, but all Sarang can focus on is him and gushes at the sight of her favorite idol (HER FACE IS ME WHEN I SEE BTS HAHAHA. I CAN SO RELATE).
Eunho gets ready to head out to the drawing competition at Hanguk University. But her bike tire is flat once again so she has no way of getting there. Luckily, she catches Tae-woon who is also preparing to leave school and asks him for a ride on his motorcycle. But the only way he’ll take her to her competition is if she asks him politely and refer to him as “Oppa” (OMGGGGGGGG HE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. STOPPED THIS SECOND).
In the next scene, we see Eunho and Tae-woon riding on his motorcycle (OMG SHE CALLED HIM OPPA I’M CRYING). He drops her off at Hanguk University just in time for the competition. Eunho thanks him before running off but forgets to take her helmet off. He shoots her a reminder through text and waits on his motorcycle.
Bit Na and another one of Eunho’s classmates are in the teacher’s office room, questioning Teacher Shim on the merit-demerit system that has been stressing the students out. Some teachers in the office room overhear them and start blaming Eunho for the creation of the system. Since she didn’t want to catch X herself, the principal created the system so the students could. Upon hearing this, Bit Na and the classmate march over to the classroom bewildered. Everyone founds out that the system was created due to Eunho through Bit Na and when Dae-hwi tries to stand up for Eunho by claiming that it’s not Eunho’s fault Bit Na discloses that it is because of her. Teacher Shim said so.
Shocked and hurt, Eunho heads outside to take her mind off some things. She keeps herself busy by drawing, but is interrupted by 3 Sunbae students who blame her for the merit-demerit system that is stressing them out. Angry, they take away her drawing sketchpad from her to get revenge. But this bullying doesn’t last for long when savior Tae-woon swoops in to save the day. He grabs Eunho’s drawing sketchpad back and manages to get the 3 bullies to flee. Eunho is handed her sketchpad back, but she isn’t too happy. She feels ashamed and embarrassed.
Eunho returns to the classroom only to find one of her notebooks in her locker soaked from water. Angry, she marches to the principal’s office and reminds him once again that if she was to catch X he’ll get rid of all her demerit points and even write her a letter of recommendation. Outside, Eunho even snaps at Tae-woon who asks that she thank him. But she’s not and she doesn’t. She’s not thankful at all and tells him the same thing she told the principal – she’ll catch X and when she does, she’ll kill him.
It’s a sad day for everyone. Tae-woon spends some time alone on the rooftop of a building, reminiscing about the past memories he had with his best friends Dae-hwi and Joong-gi. It was just supposed to be a normal fun day, but on that day, things took a turn for the worse. While riding their motorcycles, Tae-woon’s friend Joong-gi gets into an accident and passes away. Tae-woon cries, feeling heart-broken and guilty for the accident. Eunho also takes the time to remember Joong-gi, placing a bouquet of flowers on the same street that he passed away on.
The day is familiar to Dae-hwi as well even as he’s busy studying for the upcoming college entrance exam. Also glancing at the watch that signified his friendship with Tae-woon and Joong-gi, he thinks about his friend who passed away and comes close to crying as tears form in his eyes.
Tae-woon’s father wants him to stop riding the motorcycle as it just brings back bad memories of the accident, but Tae-woon refuses to stop.
It’s another day of school. Everyone’s minding their own business and doing their own thing when Tae-woon finds his bag and watch on the floor in the classroom. He becomes even more furious when he notices that his watch broke. Who was the one who threw his stuff onto the ground and caused his watch to break? As he questions the classroom for answers, no one dares to say anything or speak up. Everyone is too afraid. Everyone except Dae-hwi.
Dae-hwi yells at Tae-woon to stop and then commands everyone in the classroom to leave. All the classmates head out in a hurry including Eunho who is dragged out by Duk-soo.
(OMG I CAN FEEL THE INTENSITY FROM HERE)
It gets more intense between Tae-woon and Dae-hwi. Dae-hwi calls Tae-woon’s beloved watch “garbage” which angers him even more than he already is. They get into a long and intense fight with each other with Dae-hwi calling Tae-woon a murderer and Tae-woon exposing Dae-hwi as the potential culprit.
They’re at each other’s necks again when Eunho barges into the classroom, shocked and worried by the horrible and scary sight she sees in front of her.
My Thoughts:
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. SO INTENSE. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY OR HOW TO FEEL.
I’m glad that we got some background context and story on what happened between Dae-hwi and Tae-woon. While I expected the drama to provide us with their back story, I didn’t expect it to be so soon into the drama. But I think the amount of time they used in this episode to cover it was adequate enough and made me satisfied but still crave more. We find out what happened that caused them to drift apart and go from best friends to enemies without seeing exactly everything else that unfolded after the accident (which I assume the drama will hopefully show to us in later episodes). The episode did a good job in introducing the problem and now what’s left is to see the aftermath between Dae-hwi and Tae-woon and then hopefully a solution where the two boys return to being friends (or at least just not enemies).
I think what’s the most interesting and touching to me is that even though Dae-hwi and Tae-woon are obviously no longer as close as they once used to be and in fact show hints of hate and despise towards each other, we can tell that they still highly value the friendship that they once had with Joong-gi and how traumatic and affected they were by the accident. Yes, they might not like each other, but they still can’t forget about what they once had and used to be and I also would like to go as far as to say they miss how things used to be. I’m curious as to what happened after the accident that left the boys in a position where they’re grabbing at each other’s necks and punching each other in the face when before they had their arms around each other and had friendship watches. Instead of supporting each other at the news of their friend’s death, why and how did they come to hating each other?
I enjoyed the pacing of this particular sub-plot in this episode because it didn’t give away too much but still gave away enough for us so that by the end of the episode when Tae-woon and Dae-hwi were throwing punches at each other we understood why they were doing that. While I enjoyed this episode and thought for the most part it was well-paced, I did notice that it didn’t have too much substance to work with and that they were dragging the whole merit-demerit system plot which had already taken up the majority of the episode and can only go on for so long. So in a way I’m glad that the episode brought in another sub-plot and focused on the complicated relationship between the two boys so that we were also occupied with something else and not just the usual merit-demerit system stuff.
Speaking of the merit system, wow, the principal is really going at it isn’t he? It’s like the school version of the hunger games. Of course, our Eunho is still heavily affected by it, but she’s no longer affected by herself. Now the rest of the students are also facing issues and challenges with the system and everyone is impacted in one way or the other. I like how the chase for X just keeps escalating more and more. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse it does. Not only is Eunho at risk now, but everyone else literally is as well and they’re willing to let go of friendships or bonds built with other classmates to save themselves. While Dae-hwi’s 5 point demerit came as a surprise to many, it wasn’t really a surprise that his close friend was the one who reported him – especially when the drama has emphasized over and over again just how crucial and important ranks are at school. It makes for an especially interesting case when you see the lengths people are willing to go to save themselves even if that means risking the friendships that you have with others. People aren’t always who you think they are.
(omgggg look at the way he’s staring at her *swoons*)
My wish was answered and in this episode Tae-woon did play a bigger role in the whole “let’s-just-blame-Eunho-for-everything” conflict. Before I had voiced that I would like to see him do more for Eunho and be more involved by advocating for her using his position in power to do that so I was so satisfied to see what he did for her multiple times in this episode. While I would ultimately like to see Eunho be the winner in the end and stick up for herself because I know fully well she’s perfectly capable of doing that and doesn’t necessarily need anyone to do the saving for her, she has so many odds stacked up against her right now that a little help from someone who genuinely cares about her wouldn’t hurt. I think of Tae-woon as that support network that is invisible and empty not only for Eunho but at the school in general because everyone’s so busy battling against each other for merit points. I’m glad that he offered her his support even if at times she didn’t want it or refused to acknowledge that help. I especially liked it even more that he didn’t help her just in regards to the X situation even though the majority of his help stemmed from that. He also showed her support in other aspects like her dream of winning the competition by giving her a ride to the competition. All in all, Eunho’s in a difficult position right now at school because everyone is against her – from the faculty to even her own classmates. No one believes her and everyone hates her. So it was nice to see someone help her when it seemed like things were getting hopeless. Sometimes not all hope is lost when you think it is and for Tae-woon and Eunho, they’re each other’s hope (and I’m so happy we got more Tae-woon and Eunho scenes in episode 3! More please! More!)
While I enjoyed this episode, I noticed that there were many things happening that at times it felt disjointed. The majority of the drama focused on the merit-demerit system which I appreciated for consistency. Yes, it is ruining the lives of the students and everyone hates it, but they necessarily can’t do anything about it because it could help boost their ranks which they want. I think the drama did a good job in setting this up and getting this particular message across. However, the sudden shift into Tae-woon and Dae-hwi’s complex friendship towards the end of the episode was an abrupt change that I wasn’t expecting. Eunho spoke about catching X so often and then in the next scene Tae-woon was thinking about his best friend who had passed away and so was Dae-hwi and Eunho. While this plot does involve our main characters, it’s a plot entirely on its own and if the drama can find a way to weave this storyline into the overall drama in general without making it too choppy like how it did this episode then I think the drama will turn out fine. I also didn’t like the one particular scene of Dae-hwi and his girlfriend meeting at school in secret. It seemed so out of place and as if it was a scene from another drama. It really didn’t go well with the rest of episode at all and I hope the drama never attempts to do anything like this ever again. Lol.
Some of the characters in this drama are frustrating as well. I don’t really have a reason to care for any of the other characters other than our main characters, but why does everyone have to be so dramatic and always gotta be picking fights at each other? I understand you’re mad, but does there have to be a multiple fights in one day or everyday? It gets especially boring and frustrating to watch when this is all that is happening (especially in this episode alone) so I’m glad that the drama brought in the Dae-hwi and Tae-woon friendship plot. Also, we have the addition of a new character Issue (I wished he was given a much better stage name. Why did they give him that name?!). I’m a fan of SF9 and Ro-woon’s at the top of my bias list so I’m glad to see him here. I wonder what kind of purpose he’ll serve in the drama in relation to X or if he’s here rather more for Sarang and to serve as a possible love interest for her. It’ll be interesting. And as usual, I’m still very much in love with Seo Ji-hoon who plays Kyung-woo. I become smitten every time he’s on screen with or without his guitar and his character is still as interesting as he was in the first two episodes.
I’m still in disbelief (in a comical and jokingly way) that the drama dared to do a parody of ‘The Wailing.’ Never in a million years would I have imagined seeing familiar scenes from a horror movie in a youth school drama. It was so funny and awesome, but still scary because of the original movie. I can’t stop thinking about the parody and think it might just be one of my most favorite parodies ever in a drama because it was actually well-done and made sense. Props to the writer (or should I say Eunho) for weaving in the parody not only in an entertaining and hilarious way but in a way where it made sense by connecting the parody back to the larger issue of the merit-demerit system. It was an excellent execution and could have gone wrong in many ways, but it didn’t because everything made sense and the issue was in the parody just like how it’s an issue in the actual drama.
Also, am I the only one who feels a bit iffy and bothered by Sarang? For the most part, she seems like a cool character, but I especially hate it when she points out Eunho’s rank and school records as if Eunho isn’t already aware, embarrassed, and insecure about it. She doesn’t have faith in her best friend getting into Hanguk University and is constantly reminding Eunho that she’s basically a failure. I don’t know – this made me upset. I’d like to see Sarang be a lot more supportive towards Eunho especially in regards to her academics. Yes, the girl has a shot of making it into college even if she’s not the smartest or successful student. Stop putting her down please just because you’re doing better.
(LOOK AT HIS PRECIOUS SMILE. ISN’T HE SO PRECIOUS? HE’S ADORABLE!)
As for Tae-woon, I’m in love with Kim Jung-hyun! I actually think he’s becoming one of my favorite newly discovered actors. I had never seen him in another drama prior to this so this is my first time seeing him in a drama ever and I think I’m falling in love with him! I love the way he portrays bad boy Tae-woon, pretending that he doesn’t care about her but waiting for her when school ends and giving her rides on his beloved motorcycle. Or like how he was a little jealous just thinking about Eunho and her college sunbaenim and what they could be like together. He’s so cute and adorable and while I don’t think he’s the greatest actor, he’s definitely growing and have sharp acting skills. I have a feeling I’ll be just as in love with Jung-hyun as much as I was with Seo In-guk when I watched ‘High School King of Conduct’ (and I was IN LOVE with Seo In-Guk during that drama. Like I was lowkey obsessed with him). It seems like history might be repeating itself over again x)
I really hope that Teacher Shim will one day have the courage and audacity to say what’s on his mind and speak up. Of course that’s a lot easier said than done and he isn’t necessarily in a position where he can say how he feels without being punished for it, but I think he’ll get there at that point one day. I think the drama is making him out to be a weak and hesitant teacher who wants to advocate for his students and the corruption behind the school and struggles to do so, but in later episodes he’ll transform into a strong teacher who is able to garner enough courage and support to finally advocate for himself and his students. He’ll transform from the weak and underestimated teacher to a strong and confident one who’ll give up everything he has to stand up for what’s right even if that means losing his job in the process.
Of course, I don’t think this is going to be possible without the help and collaboration of the students though. In order to get to a point where the corruption and suffering stops and everyone is stable again, maybe – just maybe – everyone needs to stop thinking for themselves and instead come together to rebel like how the culprit did. Hopefully the students will realize that in order to survive, it’s not exposing and calling each other out that will help them. It’s understanding that their one enemy isn’t each other but rather the unequal system set up by the principal and when they come upon this realization, then they can merge and align with one another. So instead of trying to find out who X is and giving up everything that they built for themselves along the way to do that, they should instead all collectively become X so that they can earn the the win they want and deserve in the end.
MaryMeKpop 