MaryMeKpop

Wow. This one took me by surprise.. in a mostly good way. I was not expecting to watch this drama at all but like I do with many others, I decided to give this one a watch because I was working out and I wanted something to play in the background. Little did I know that I would get hooked onto this drama quite easily and that I would end up finishing it within just a few days.

The second season of “Weak Hero Class” continues with Yeon Si-eun’s story after he transfers to a new high school. There, he comes across new classmates and friends Park Hu-min/Baku (Ryeo Un), Seo Jun-tae (Choi Min-yeong), and Hyun-tak (Lee Min-jae). The four of them form a close friendship and battle their way to victory against high school enemies, Na Baek-jin (Bae Na-ra) and Seong-je (Lee Jun-young).

As I finished watching the final episode, I had a good understanding of how I felt about the drama as a whole which was an interesting experience for me. I usually either have a good understanding of how I feel about a drama just a few episodes in or I remain uncertain about it by the time I finish it. But with “Weak Hero Class 2”, I immediately knew what my conclusion of the drama was: I liked what I saw but I was also bummed out at the missed opportunities and potential.

“Weak Hero Class 2” wasn’t bad and it was actually quite good. I liked it. Was it perfect? No. But was it bad and unwatchable and the worst thing ever? Absolutely not. As someone who didn’t watch the first season nor is familiar with the manhwa, I watched “Weak Hero Class 2” as its own separate work so I have no familiarity with the content prior to season 2 nor do I have anything to compare it to. And maybe that’s the reason why I enjoyed the drama as much as I did. It was interesting watching Si-eun’s character arc in this season because we watched as he dealt with the guilt over Su-ho’s hospitalization and coma. We watched as he attempted to isolate himself from others. We watched as he navigated life at a new high school. We watched as he found a new family. We also watched him fight to survive against bigger and more fearful enemies. Si-eun is such an interesting character and the drama did a good job in telling his story to the point where even new viewers like me – who was not familiar with season 1 or the manhwa – could follow along and understand what was going on.

And then there was the other part of the drama which was about “the Union” – a gang led by Na Baek-jin (along with Seong-je). Our group of 4 friends constantly find themselves up against Baek-jin and his guys throughout the drama. But it also showcased the childhood friendship between Baek-jin and Baku who eventually became distant over the years. They started off as friends and then found themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum. Baek-jin had changed and was no longer the person and friend who Baku thought he was and they drifted apart. Their friendship was something that the drama dedicated time into telling and it was intriguing to watch.

Now here’s where the drama fell apart for me: it just couldn’t find a way to mesh the two storylines together. Individually, I thought watching Si-eun’s character arc and then watching the parts about the Union was interesting. But the drama just didn’t quite know how to combine these two storylines together in a way where it felt seamless and smooth. One minute I’m watching Si-eun agonizing over Su-ho’s coma in the hospital and then the next, I’m watching Hyeon-tak and Jun-tae go off and do their own stuff or I’m watching the drama show the backstory on Baku and Baek-jin’s friendship. The drama knew what it wanted to be about, it just didn’t know how to properly execute all of its many ideas.

And maybe the reason for that was because it was only 8 episodes total so it tried to squeeze everything into one season as much as possible. I actually thought the drama would have benefitted if it was at least 12 episodes so that it could have more time to flesh out the characters and the storylines. I would have loved to see more of Si-eun’s story, his internal conflict and thoughts with himself, his desire to be alone, or the joy he experienced when with his friends. I would have loved to see more of our 4 friends hang out and spend time together. I would have loved to see more of Baku and Baek-jin’s friendship and how they eventually drifted apart over the years to the point where they found themselves as enemies and fought each other until the very end to reign victory. There was so much potential in showing more about their friendship; it was actually something I was quite interested in and would have loved to see more of. In some ways, Baku was sort of like the co-lead character alongside Si-eun because the drama also focused on him quite a bit. His friendship with Baek-jin was so complicated and complex and layered and I wished the drama had more time to dive deeper into that.

It’s such a shame that the drama didn’t have enough time to really flesh everything out because you could see the tidbits and flashes of brilliance sprinkled throughout. The ending of episode 1 caught my attention and made me want to tune into the next episode right away. Or how about the ending to episode 8 when Su-ho finally woke up from his coma and he reunited with Si-eun and chatted with him? That scene alone was so impactful, good, and heartwarming. The one wish that Si-eun wanted all along finally came true and we got to see it unfold. Even the ending to episode 5 when Si-eun was on the phone with Jun-tae at the airport was pretty strong and solid. Though it did feel a bit rushed to me, I liked the emotional impact that this scene carried as well as the validation that Si-eun felt. Those were the exact words he needed to hear at that exact time and he received it from a friend who he cherished and appreciated. Heck, even the epilogue to episode 8 was another great scene because we saw the reactions of our 4 characters and how Baku’s reaction was the most fascinating because of his relationship to Baek-jin. Though they may have turned out differently, Baku was still sad and heartbroken over the loss of someone who he once considered a friend. I don’t think it’s that Baku hated Baek-jin per se. I think that love and admiration he once had for him will always be there and exists somewhere; it was just that the two had a complex relationship with each other (and once again, I wished the drama had more time to dive deeper into their friendship because then Baku’s reaction to Baek-jin’s funeral would have hit even harder than it already did).

I do want to give props to the directing and the music for the roles that they played in elevating the drama. Whenever there’s an OST album that’s produced by Primary, I just know the songs are going to deliver and the drama is probably going to be just as good (I loved the music he created for “D.P.” Seriously, they were some of the best OST tracks and albums created for a series ever). I also thought the directing for this drama was pretty cool. The scenes leading up to the fights were pretty cool and intense (the actual fight scenes themselves were fine to me). Additionally, I thought the casting and the actors were all great. Everyone fit their characters pretty well. No one stood out in a bad way. This was a drama where everyone was good in their respective roles. And speaking of cast members, Lee Jun-young has been on a roll so far in 2025 and it’s always nice to see him on the screen. This is the 4th drama this year alone that I’ve seen him in LOL (First was “Melo Movie“, then “When Life Gives You Tangerines“, then this drama, and then I’m currently watching “Pump Up the Healthy Love”).

Even just writing this all out now makes me sad because I liked “Weak Hero Class 2” and yet I wished it was so much better. I wished I could have liked it so much more. Because the potential was there. The drama had things going for it. There was stuff going on. But maybe that was also the drama’s weakness and challenge: it had too much going on and not enough time to showcase everything so it struggled to strike that balance. It seemed like it wanted to continue with where it left off from season 1 as seen with Si-eun’s character arc. But at the same time, it seemed like it wanted to be something new and do something new as seen with the new characters. Because of this, it felt like you were in two different worlds or it felt as if you were watching two different dramas. The drama started off strong with the first 2 episodes and then slowed down from episode 3 onwards so there was a dip in the tone and feel of the drama. So while there were good things about the drama and I still liked it in the very end, I’m also heartbroken at how it could have been so much better. I guess that’s the hard part about watching dramas like “Weak Hero Class 2” where you enjoyed it and liked it: it eats you up inside and haunts you because you know the drama had what it took to be even greater and better. It hurts even more because the drama showed brief glimpses of that spark and brilliance throughout. There was so much missed potential for a drama that was already good.