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[KBS2 Drama 2015] Who Are You: School 2015 (후아유: 학교 2015) Official Thread


Chakras

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So after lurking in this thread since the very first episodes finally decided to write something now that it ended.

 

 Well, I just watched the finale and I'm a bit sad, not because my ship hadn't sailed or the drama had ended, but because dissapointingly I found myself suferring throughout all the last episode. I was literally watching some scenes with fingers before my eyes, because I couldn't force myself to look at the screen. And I'm sad, because when this drama took off, I was sure it would become my all time favourite. 

Not going to elaborate on characters, but I have to pinpoint that Yi Ahn was a pain in the ass these few last weeks, not entirely Nam Joo Hyuk's fault, but he didn't help Yi Ahn become more likable with his wooden two expressions. As for Eun Bi, nothing to say here, because despite Kim So Hyun's superb acting she was really really bland and felt more like an instrument to stir a war between the Yi Ahn and Tae Kwang, and of course their ships, at least these last few weeks. Tae Kwang and Eun Byul were my favourite characters and I don't want to talk about their mistreatment in the last episode, because everytime I think about it, I want to fly to Korea and feed the writers with a poisoned kimchi. 

When it comes to writing of this drama, there's a lot to desire, in fact I think it was actually (at least the second half of School 2015) as bad as the floppest flop of the flops and its predecessor, Blood. The development of Eun Bi stopped around the ninth episode, Yi Ahn didn't really have any development(to what he would actually need to have any character), Tae Kwang and Eun Byul at least in this department got a proper closures, with his parents for Tae Kwang and literally everyone in her life for Eun Byul. It didn't help much though because there is still nonsensical, completely anticlimatic and very played-safe ending to Soo In's case that came as bad as the last fight between the evil and the good in Blood.

Still bitter that they seemed to forget about Eun Byul's hallucinations as soon as she came back. Looking back, I think that this drama would be a lot better if the writers did what everyone and their mothers wanted and paired Eun Byul with Yi Ahn and Eun Bi with Tae Kwang, not because these are my ships and they have to happen, but because if they did so, there would be a lot more time to spend on the other storylines that got shoved aside. I think that what would save this drama would be an earlier return of Eun Byul, let's say around ninth episode. That wat they would have time on developing her relationship with Yi Ahn, her mental problems, Eun Bi's strenght to stand on her own feet, Tae Kwang would get his closure with his parents earlier and focus on himself, hell even the psycho teacher from the last episode could have been introduced earlier and made the school aspect of the drama more interesting, especially if you compare him and his methods of teaching with Teacher Kim. That I think would create a great philosophical conflict about two different aproaches to who teacher should be. 

My next big complaint is writers' pandering and intentional stirring up the war between the camps of YiBi and TaeBi, they've obviously seen the emotions the triangle was bringing all this time and purposefully played with it, throwing Eun Bi between the time continously. Truthfully, it felt like the writers changed the ending every two episodes, they even abandoned the obvious plot twist with Yi Ahn grabbing the both medals in episode 14 just for YiBi to happen at the end (btw the ending scene would be really cute and romantic if Yi Ahn wasn't so irritating). In the end, I wouldn't even be surprised if there would appear another Eun sister making them the triplets. If that was the case, Eun Bi had better never go on vacation or anywhere, because who knows? maybe Yi Ahn would shift his feelings to her if Eun Bi wasn't in Seoul for month. 

Also the editing in this chapter was so bad, it at the same time felt like they tried to squeeze in it as much of a story as possible, simultaneously not having enough material to cover the one hour episode lasts for. For example, I cringed so much during the scene with crying Tae Kwang in the car, not because of Sungjae's acting, because he was as wonderful as always, but because of the pointless flashback to his dad's words that we heard like two minutes ago. I think it would look better if they did only a voiceover or anything, but not a full on flashback. So cringeworthy and utterly bad.

To summarise, despite its drawbacks I found myself pretty captivated and waiting for every Monday, however I regret that I waited mostly for a triangle to resolve and not for a wonderful mystery story to unfold. Well, all in all, I think everything won with this drama, whatever the reception of it is. People (if they already didn't) learned about Kim So Hyun's outstanding acting skills and I don't see her jobless after School 2015 anytime soon, Sungjae skyrocketed to the super stardom thanks to this drama and his not stereotypical idol-actor image, with his looks and personality he is the current 'it boy' of Korea, even the KBS won because Who Are You - School 2015 revived the ratings for its timeslot, doubling the ones earned by terribad Blood. Only Nam Joo Hyuk seems not to be at the receiving ending of the stick, because everyone knows now that his acting sucks and he proved that the company behind you isn't all if you don't have a talent to back yourself up (even Ra Jin's child actress and her orphanage friends were a better actors than him to tell the truth), well at least his character got the girl as a some kind of a consolation price. 

I don't think I will go back to this drama, maybe only to see Sungjae's cuts, if he doesn't get any new drama project soon. But honestly, I don't think he'll stay from dramaland for long, because unlike Nam Joo Hyuk I can totally see him full-time leading a primetime drama in a near future. I'll think about School 2015 as a drama of very talented cast with Kim So Hyun, Yook Sungjae, Lee Pil Mo etc., but with a poor execution. Watching in once in a life is enough for me.

 

 

PS. Sorry for such a long rant as my first post. I couldn't help but spill it somewhere, hope you don't mind guys  :hurr:

Edited by opusmagnumlol
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^ i agree with all of you, if they kept the story and lovelines simple and Eun Byul returned earlier, I think everyone would have gotten what they wanted, proper development and compelling story, as I said, if they did more (or earlier) with the matters they only touched upon like the psycho teacher and budding bromance between Tae Kwang and Yi Ahn (more like moments of what could it look like) this drama would easily become one of the best of the year

well, yeah, instead we got this trainwreck

Edited by opusmagnumlol
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  • love changed the title to [KBS2 Drama 2015] Who Are You: School 2015 (후아유: 학교 2015) Official Thread

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