Drama Review

Jang Yi-San (Yang Dong-Geun) is an incompetent high-school literature teacher at Myeong-Moon High who is bullied and mocked by his troublemaking students, but Yi-San accepts living life this way, because he was always bullied even as a kid and he only became a teacher because it was his father's death wish. Although he isn't particularly qualified or passionate about teaching, it pays for a humble living. The only piece of excitement in his life is his secret crush on Shin So-Yi (Son Tae-Yeong), the art teacher, but even that is full of mild anxieties. However things really change when a new student, Yoo Eun-Byeol (Park Min-Yeong), comes into Yi-San's life.

Eun-Byeol seems like yet another troublemaker in his class full of misfits, but she is also the only daughter of the mafia boss, and Yi-San is faced with the biggest shock of his life when Eun-Byeol's father, Mr. Yoo (Park Jun-Gyu), forces Yi-San to be Eun-Byeol's live-in tutor. At first Yi-San tackles this challenge like everything else in his life, with an evasive attitude, but Eun-Byeol turns out to be more than what she seems on the surface and Yi-San begins to develop a genuine concern for her. This jeopardizes his relationship with So-Yi, and forces Yi-San to clearly examine his life for the first time. To add to the mix, some of Yi-San's misfit students such as Mu-Shin (TOP) and Sa-Kang (Park Chae-Kyeong) turn out to be heroes and victims in their own way, and Yi-San, together with Eun-Byeol, teacher So-Yi, and So-Yi's admirer and confidant, nurse Ji (Ryan), reclaim the things that matter most at Myeong-Moon High and life outside of it.

Review:

This is a pretty straight-forward drama with great touching and funny dialogue, with equally solid performances, especially by actor and singer Yang Dong-Geun with his great balance of subtle and hilarious expressions. Park Min-Yeong really shines as well, as the beautiful and mischievous teen who is at a crossroads in her life between youth and womanhood, and all the awkward conflicts that come with it. Singer and newbie actors TOP and Ryan throw a good mix to the bunch with their eccentricity.

The romance line famous in Korean dramas takes a backseat in here, but the story holds up impressively with its various subplots, especially the prominent theme about fitting in. There are misfits in life everywhere we go and at times we are such misfits, but this drama not only offers a voice to characters who are otherwise easily ignored and shunned, it also shows us that the concept is just that, but not necessarily reality. Of course, there is more drama in here then you might see in a real-life classroom, but these incidences also offer the audience an opportunity to explore or reminisce what it's like to be a high-schooler trying to find an identity among all that pressure.

I was pleasantly entertained by the hilarious moments and genuinely touched by the moments in between. Don't miss this show!

Rating:

9/10

additional credit:

*edited by Aziraphale

graphic by: starlette*