Itaewon Class (2020)

This show had a lot of hype, and it had the incredible Park Seo Joon. I was expecting to fall in love with this one.

The beginning episodes went through the backstory in too much detail. The middle was definitely the best, although some characters got under my skin (both the FLs and all the villains... aka, way too many cast members!). I sincerely wish the show ended as soon as we established what happened to everyone in 2020. The plot lines after that were so unnecessary and farfetched.

I wish certain people were redeemable. I wish a certain early-story "boss" built some sort of loyalty with our protagonist, instead of being tempted by money.

I also did not ever like either of the female leads (okay, maybe I came around when Park Bo Gum showed up). I found Sooah to be too self-serving and took Saeroyi for granted. I wanted to shake Yi-Seo, because I don't think it's a good message to suggest that if you persist with your affections, someday it'll magically work out. I also felt that she had no growth in the story, still only caring about her boss above all.

The OST (especially the Gaho song) was lit though.

Leia Mais

An optimistic heartwarming revenge story that's all about the people

Firstly, I have to point out I'm not a big fan of revenge plots and rarely fall in love with them like I did with Itaewon Class which has a more refreshing and modern take on the usual one man VS corporation storyline.

I liked that this time, It wasn't a story of a tragedy but rather a fantastically optimistic telling of a person who got back at those who wronged him by not abandoning himself, his values or his precious people. Our main lead Sae Ro Yi got knocked down hard, at an early age, having lost his father, his dream of becoming a policeman and his freedom. Now following the footsteps of his greatest nemesis, he chooses a new dream, opens a restaurant and with the help of friends he met along the way they work together towards becoming the leading company in the food industry and thus taking his revenge on the current number one's leader.

------storyline gets a 10 from me
***Moving on to the characters/acting:***
1.Park Sae Ro Yi (SRY from now): SRY doesn't get much of a character development throughout the show nor does he necessarily have to. He is pure, inspiring, ambitious, never strays from his believes and protects his people no matter what. The consistency in his character is what makes him a such a great one and what draws people to him. Park Seo Joon never disappoints.
2. Oh Soo Ah (SA from this point): has to be the comment section's favorite character.SA is an orphan who relies only on herself and her ability, never asking or taking help from others, and always thinking and acting according to her best interests. She ends up receiving a scholarship from Jang Ga, the leading corporation in Korea's food industry which is also lead by our main villain and later gets accepted to work there. She is also SRY's first love. All and all she is a very well-written realistic character and the only flaw I find in her is her behavior towards our main lead. Despite also liking him she is always passive, never encourages him and acts as the devil's messenger in times not even by necessity, making me wonder does she really like him at all.
3. Jo Yi Seo: My personal favorite (sadly it seems I'm a minority): YS has some sociopathic tendencies, although never officially diagnosed, is a social media influencer with a large following, an extremely capable person and a genius who looks pretty like an angel but in truth is somewhat of a devil (loosely quoted). She meets our hero, falls in love with him and decides to do everything in her power to help him achieve both his dream and his revenge consequently becoming the new manager of his restaurant.
What I find so refreshing and endearing in her is how she, a 20 year old at the beginning of the show, never doubts her capabilities, bases her dream around a man but never feels apologetic for it or lets it diminish her value as a person. She strives to make him happy and to make him fall in love with her trough her actions as her financial and mental independence allow her to follow through with her decisions. YS's and SA's characters demonstrate that there are many ways to be a strong female, particularly YS who is both a strong female and is hopelessly in love with a man (because somehow dramas have them girls suddenly become all week and dependent on the man, and also a bit of change from the male lead who is always pulling strings for the girl is always a blessing). Now, some of YS's behavior is bit controversial and not to everyone's liking, I say you have to judge for yourselves how you deem her behavior to be as I find there's a big double standard in many of the comments on her.
4. villains: for the villains we have the CEO Jang Dae Hee (JDE) and his son Jang Geun Won (JDW). Honestly both actors did a good job, I pitted JDW and could never completely hate him even when he lost all hope of redemption as he was but a mere result of his father's values: the strong pray on the week and regular people outside of Jang Ga's ranks are livestock (there's a pig and chicken metaphor here but I won't get into it). But the true villain star is You Jae Myung who instead of hate got all my admiration for his acting skills and I secretly wanted to bow to him in admiration of his versatility. He did an amazing job playing a cold, collected, prideful and arrogant CEO who believes he's above everyone else. Also, apparently no makeup makes a scarier villain and those freckles should be added as a skill in his resume for playing bad guys. Overall, the "evil" characters weren't over the top and you could understand their reasoning. the only downside goes to JDW character development toward the end, frankly he lacked true conviction for his extreme actions and was kind of meh when he could have been a big source of feels and sobs from the viewers.
The side characters were awesome apart from Jang Geun Soo (the CEO's second son) who wasn't developed properly, and you got to give kudos for the diverse representation of people on the show.
----- charecters and acting get an 8.
***OST***: I have no complains-------it's a 10,I keep listening to it over and over. It fitted perfectly with everything that was going on in the drama and gave me a lot of feels.
***Rewatch value***: 7 because revenge still isn't my pick to relive boredom and yet Iteawon Class was simply too good.
***To sum it all up***, Itaewon Class had The Best Most Satisfying end for a drama I can remember in my almost 11 years of watching almost exclusively Kdramas and had me holding my breath for episodes come Friday and even during the entire week's wait. I don't like to criticize things especially if I enjoyed them so much, so even though it had some problems and sparked a lot of debate, I give it an overall 9 - to be objective , though i hardly am (in my heart it's still a 10).

Leia Mais

one of the best drama for me(A must watch)

I watched this drama when it was released.It was one of the best I have watched. It is great in every aspect such as acting which is best,music-one of the best OST's I've heard is there then cast is superb and they are well suited for there roles.
I don't really understand how people can dislike this drama..it has great start which keeps you watching till the end and with a great ending as well. I think one who dislikes this drama may be addicted to some fantasy type of drama and are not used to this type of genre and story.
As I end I shd say that this is a must watch and if you have chosen this as your first kdrama then it your choice and keep on watching it till end.
Thank you✌

Leia Mais

Worth the hype not the hate

Plot: The normal revenge plot with some predictable outcomes but convincing and believable acting and time stamps. Diverse cast integrated with topics of lgbt, morals, self-worth, business and second chances in everything.

Acting: PSJ will always be the most charming man for me. He did all the work with lots of help from the villains. The rest of the characters did good too.

Music: Only like a few songs but nothing remarkable.

Rewatch Value: I don’t think it’s a rewatchable type of drama but I believe it should be watched by everyone because the message of the drama is very important, especially in everyday life.

Overall: 8.5-9. The drama made an impact for me or maybe because i got the message or probably I understood something that some people didn’t notice because I’m the type of person who observes foreshadowing or meaning of every action. For example, as soon as Saeroyi woke up from his dream and cried like a baby, it made me think of a new born child who cries nonstop as soon as he was out of the womb. That moment, it reminded me that Saeroyi will be reborn, and I just knew that his revenge was not his priority anymore. Him kneeling down is not about his pride but more about peace of mind. I wasn’t annoyed with the female leads, I find them relevant with different personalities but still empowered. I like the diamond poem a lot too. Although some characters weren’t as amazing as the main leads they still deserve the recognition for their efforts and rather convincing roles. I didn’t expect romance in this drama as it wasn’t the main focus but the bonus was still cute. I didn’t feel like it’s forced too given the time stamps and their hardships together. It has some thought-provoking sentiments and lessons which are important for the youth and that’s why I gave high marks for this series.

Leia Mais

Story is just amazing

Fast paced and well scripted story immediately grabs the audience in the first episode.and its the same with this drama itaewon cass. Seeing him in school actually made me confuse for a bit but as the story progress and he becomes a convict I got totally excited that whats going to happen next. And with each episode this enthusiasm kept on increasing. The transgender and racism character also gave me a reason to watch the show as it was quite refreshing.
I liked that the story has less romance and more focused on the storytelling. Its hard to see dramas like this.

Park seo joon was as usual awesome. He just melted in the role of park sae ro yi. Kim Da Mi as Yi so was tough yet soothing character. It was her first drama and I really liked her.am gonna check out her other works.

Startover ost was has made its way into my playlist. Its usage in the BGM was perfect.
Rewatch after some time when the meomry fades away.

Leia Mais

I started watching this series spontaneously. Decided to watch first episode to decide whether I'll like it or not. Guess what, I got so invested in the plot that I finished watching it in a week. It was a first tv-series I watched after being in a slump for over a year. So yeah, the plot is amazing to the point you'll get addicted to it.
I fell in love with a character of Park Seojun - Park Saeroyi. I liked him so much that I thought that it would be great to have a husband like him. I think his character is so mature and hardworking. It would be great to have someone like him by your side

Leia Mais

Beautiful Drama and an amazing story

I rated Itaewon Class a 10 out of 10 because I really think that this drama is worth the rating. Having watched many asian dramas, there are only two that I have felt deserved a 10 out 10 waiting and this was one of them.
The story is heart wenching and had me crying so much at the beginning because I felt so much for the issues that our main protagonist had to go through at a young age and I was so touched at how he was able to rise up to every occasion that life threw at him. I love the diversity of thought and characters introduced here. How some characters were more accepting than others, and how the others had to grow and learn to accept and be open minded to people who saw the world and interacted with the world differently than them.
One of the things that really stood out to me with this drama was how many of the main characters came from single parent homes or they did not have parents at all. The one mother-daughter relationship that was portrayed in the drama, I thought was beautiful done and well portrayed. One of my favorite quotes in the drama came from a conversation that happened between Jo Yi Seo and her mother. The quote is the "That's not how I was raised." In the context of the show it makes perfect sense. Every single one of the parental-child relationships we saw shaped the lives of that child and how they were to ultimately live their lives.
Park Sae Ro Yi's dad raised him to be principled and good. In turn, Jang Dae Hee raised his children to with no principles. The defining moments of this show for me were in the little moments when you saw the human interactions, most especially the father to son interactions.

Leia Mais

short review;;;;

Great show!
I joined it being sceptic, but I'm glad they turned it around. This show is def not something I'd expect from South Korea, knowing how conservative and narrow-minded it is. And that's just a fact, for the majority of people there and the media that gets produced as a result. :/ But I'm glad to see something like this getting exposure and being received this well. this shows that steps are being made to improve the inclusivity in drama plotlines going forward.

also I absolutely loved the main couple. Sad they only finally got together so LATE! TT I desperately want a S2 just to see how they're fearing afterwards, but we all know no S2 is needed.

Itaewon Class achieved all that it needed to in those 16 eps imo. a S2 would do it dis-service :(

Chris Lyon's acting could be better, but im honestly just glad they casted a black person that can speak Korean, and that he still did a good job! It was a little cheesy, but hey, it's progress.

the show did kinda feel like there were many things it was tying to achieve, and i rlly was riveted by the little revenge plot going on. i felt like i was watching a manhwa with power scaling come to life.

Leia Mais

It’s just bad for many reasons

1. The only likeable characters are the male lead and his friends who most of them belong in minorities, so that’s the only positive thing that has as a kdrama. The diversity.
2. The female lead is so unnecessary mean. Not only that she’s racist and homophobic/transphobic and the only reason she “changed” towards the end is because she wanted the male lead to like her, which I find very wrong. You will say she’s a sociopath so that’s why, but please that’s not an excuse for everything.
3. The way the story goes on is a bit frustrating because everything happens fast and there’re throwbacks and then back to present, escalates at the start and at the end only. A bit messy I would say.
4. The love story between the leads is very forced because it gives you a very blunt ending. Not only that there’s a big age difference with the characters which makes you wonder are they really … gonna be together now!? Meh
5. The villains are not likeable at all obviously haha (you know sometimes you guilty like them) but in the end they’re the only ones making this kdrama interesting.

Leia Mais

strong female lead

I don't know if what I will say can be considered spoiler, so ⚠️⚠️
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[C]I just finished watching "Itaewon Class" and it's definitely one of my favorite K-dramas, not only because of the story itself, but also because of the characters (the story is good too, but what I really liked were the characters). It's a K-drama that makes you think from the beginning, at least that was my experience. I think it's a K-drama that brings good representation (although that might be an unpopular opinion). Something I liked is that each member of the Itaewon Class had a moment where we could learn more about them, their backstory, etc. This makes you like and maybe even relate to the characters.

[C]Something I've never had before while watching a K-drama, which is normal for almost everyone else, was the extreme difficulty I had in deciding which ship I wanted to end up together. Like, I was really loving Sae-ro-yi and Oh soo ah in the first two episodes, but then that ship got much weaker, and every interaction between those two made my heart sad because I could see it wasn't going well. On the other hand, there's Jo-Yi-seo (by the way, she's my favorite character), and every interaction with Sae-ro-yi was incredibly cute and funny, so I was like, do you understand me?

[C]In the end, I easily chose Sae-ro-yi with Jo-Yi-seo, I only had that difficulty in the beginning haha.

[C]Talking about Sae-ro-yi and Jo-Yi-seo, they were my favorite characters. Sae-ro-yi is a great leader, I love when he fights against everyone who mistreats his team (seriously, he's amazing). I liked Jo-Yi-seo's personality from the beginning, even though she has many flaws, to me she was amazing, I truly love her haha.

Leia Mais

Apart from all the regular stuff that we see in a k-drama this one does a great job of exposing the many problems that we face in our day to day lives. Being a member of LGBTQ and a POC in Korea. I started watching this because of the title that seemed catchy 😄
Boy I'm not disappointed. The acting by all the cast members was just brilliant. Especially Kim Da-mi was too perfect for her role. From being a talented and troubled kid who has lost her interest in life falls in love with a person who is the exact opposite of her and then tries so hard to make him fall in love with her and being with him through his troubled times and helping him get his revenge on the people who was responsible for his father's death. Through this journey she also starts to see herself changing. She is simply amazing. The ML Park Seo-joon who was a socially inept guy and lost his father to men in power strives to get justice for his father and to make his words have power and to lead a life with no regrets and consequences. Even with a poker face he was able to connect with us so well through his actions.
The OST was amazing.
Overall it's a good watch. I would recommend this 💯

Leia Mais