Saturday, August 24, 2013

Review: School 2013


Premise: A drama that discusses the life of students beyond the school setting. This portrays a reflection on the student’s learning behavior that affects their performance in school. It basically wants to address the issue on why students hate studying. It includes family problems, personal background, and attitude that are crucial to the stage of a typical coming of age by adolescents as manifested in real life through this drama.

Commentaries:

The story: I’m not the biggest fan of school setting dramas, Japanese dramas aside, and after watching this series, my belief that this type of genre for K-dramas is auto-disliked by my taste has been made firmer because I can’t help but to compare. Unlike in Japanese dramas which are actually more expressive that really works for me, it is a huge disappointment to the Korean counterpart to reach such degree of effectiveness.

I found the drama lacking in so many aspect of expression, most especially in conveying the message of the story. Perhaps, it has something to do with a powerful OST to suffice the interaction that happens among everyone. With regards to the execution of the scenes that was truly distasteful and non-engaging in my opinion, I was looking for something more to it that would be worth praising for in the drama. The cinematography was the same as well due to a confined setting which is school, and in reference to what I’m asking for is that if you’ve seen Nobuta wo Produce, they utilized the rooftop and also, other settings possible aside from school to express the different kinds of environment that the students have which is a vital factor affecting the student's behavior and attitude. Theirs exemplified a very good characterization of the story and in revealing the important elements in contribution to the total being of a person, not just being a student. Adding to my list of must haves to this drama is filling the insufficient number of students involved in the scenes to express the energy of what a school is supposed to have, especially that we have high school students for this show. Probably I’m asking for more display of playfulness like what the characters have portrayed in the J-do series, Nobuta wo Produce. Basically, they only focused to a class of students where the story revolved around in itself, but when you think about it, it’s pretty much the same for Japanese dramas. However, in contrast to that, it seemed that there is isolation to their class because of not interacting with everyone else in the school other than their acquaintances and the members of the administration. Phew. Can we have more extra roles to this drama, please?

Perhaps, these disappointments are rooted from the high expectations I had to the series because of Jong Suk and Woo Bin being part of the show. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not their biggest fan out there but, since I’ve seen these two in few of their supporting roles in the past wherein both have left a good impression, I thought that this should be a great show to devote with. I think that the story and execution fell short to showcase their talent and this goes to apply to everyone in the show as well. It’s interesting though, because I really wanted to be hooked with them, and since there’s an opportunity like this, why not? Yes, they were the ones that draw me in to watching the show and even though I have complaints about it, I’m truly happy I was able finish it till the end. Though, I’d be lying if I say that I watched everything because I'm guilty of snoozing in most parts of it. But it’s because you’d get the gist of the drama even without reading the subtitles or even when you skip few scenes of it, it's okay you’d still understand it somehow. The pace of the show went through like that; nothing changed much other than everybody becoming more open to each other as the time goes by and as the stories unfold one by one.

What worked to me: 


I’m in for the bromance and the lovely exchange of brotherly skinship between Jong Suk and Woobin so maybe, I squealed on some scenes of them together. *Laughs* you can freely judge me now for that but you can’t really blame me, can you? *Excuses* but I’m really amused with myself that I went that far to fangirling. Hehe.

Adding to my list of appreciation is Jang Nara, I think that she has touched me the most in the series because of her role as a teacher whom has a lot of good qualities for having so much passion, love and understanding to give to her students. Other than that, she is really compassionate towards everyone and if you were a part of her class, you are heartless if you wouldn’t feel her efforts to address everyone’s concern. She even made me cry on a scene and it goes to show her experience as an actor. She’s already a senior compared to everyone in this series but her beauty is still daebak, the best! I thought that she’s at her peak of attractiveness here. How old is she now? I’m not sure but I'm positive that she’s over 30.

The most important thing that I liked is how the drama eventually replaced the question on why students hate being in the school to why students go to school. It is something that was unexpected despite of so many disliked points that I gave to this series. I feel good about it, regardless.

Characters:

We have our leading character Go Nam Soon who is far from being a perfect student and that is characterized with flaws surrounding his life, which is contrary to the role given to him as the class president. His identity is not exposed to everyone and has maintained discretion from everyone’s knowledge, until the appearance of someone who has truly known him for so long whom he’d shared memories with in the past. This is where Park Heung Soo character is inserted in the drama, a returning student who is troubled and can’t be disciplined. His character will start to bring out the issues that concern the students, the teachers, their internal conflicts, and their relationship as individuals.

The story basically progressed from dealing with the supporting role’s problems while the lead roles act towards its resolution. 


Rating: Average

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