Itaewon Class (2020)

I loved itaewon class for the revenge, romance, healing and the ost.

It was really satisfying revenge, like marry my husband. I have seen a lot of hate in the main couple and the SML. Many wanted Saeroyi to end up with Soo Ah. My thoughts:

1. Soo Ah, Yi Seo, Saeroyi

Soo Ah never deserved Saeroyi. It's admirable she was an independent person and made a life for herself. It was not easy to change her way like how she did in the end. She is the most miserable character in the drama. But what she did to Seroyi was a massive. A massively worse version of using the other person like how Yi Seo did to Guen Won and Saeroyi to Yi Seon. But what made it worse was that she is not an immature kid and knew all along the extend of what she was doing, all on the excuse that Saeroyi will not be hut no matter what she did.

When Soo Ah used Saeroyi to justify her life, Yi Seo honestly wanted royi to be happy. In a way yi Seo and royi bet their lives in each other. They might have trouble being in a relationship, but for me they are perfect for each other.

What she did at the end was too little too late.

2) Geun Won

Usually I hate the SML and the love triangle in most series. But I did not hate Geun Won as a SML, but only as a misguided and irritating antagonist in the later episodes.

3) The ending

It is understandable that some did not like how the tone of the show changed from beginning to end. But it felt really natural to me. Especially the goosebumps raising 2 kneeling scenes. The last episode was absolutely perfect. Also the scene when the chairman was eating the tofu stew in the pub.

All in all, it was an inspiring, heartwarming and satisfying drama for me!

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Emotional Damage

Overview: "Itaewon Class" follows Park Sae-ro-yi's quest for revenge against a powerful conglomerate, intertwining themes of justice, friendship, and resilience.

Characterization: The characters are multifaceted and relatable, though some may lack depth compared to others.

Aesthetic Elements: The soundtrack and cinematography contribute to the series' emotional impact, although they may not stand out significantly.

Plot and Pacing: While the plot is engaging overall, pacing issues and predictable plot twists may hinder the viewing experience for some.

Critical Analysis: Critiques may focus on reliance on tropes, uneven character development, and pacing concerns.

Conclusion: "Itaewon Class" offers a compelling narrative with memorable characters and thought-provoking themes, despite its flaws.

Rating: 7.5/10

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Sometimes Great, Sometimes Insufferable

So when I first signed up for this site about a month ago, I sat down and did reviews for all the dramas I could remember watching. Tonight something relating to Itaewon Class came up (a show I watched only a few months back) and I couldn't remember talking about my biggest issue with the show. Turns out I accidentally forgot to do a review for this one, so let's get into it.

Occasionally someone's character in a drama is so nasty, awful, cruel, idiotic, annoying, narcissistic, etc., that I will struggle to want to watch anything with that person again. Usually that's a nod to how great of an actor they are, but this is definitely not one of those cases, as everything I've seen written about the FL's character Oh Soo Ah (Kwon Nara) in this drama has been weirdly positive. Despite that, I thought she was vile. Them writing that she wasn't actually the one who turned him into police for the underage selling as if we're all supposed to go, "Omg... I was sooo wrong about her!" after EVERYTHING else she did from the time he met her until the end of the drama... give me a break.

After all Park Sae-Ro-Yi (Park Seo-Joon) did for her, after all Sae-Ro-Yi's father did for her, she behaved that way? Not just once either. It was one selfish, narcissistic, cold-blooded decision after another. All I kept thinking throughout this whole movie was that he was 100% correct about her from the first time they met, and the time as kids after that was fake af. She had always been fake, and he was always unable to see it.

You can say what you want about Jo Yi-Seo (Kim Da Mi), and sure there were times where she was definitely wayyyy out of line, but at least she was real. Brutally honest and real. And of course, that brings us to another example of Soo Ah's fakery; the introduction of a beautiful, strong, and determined female who knew she wanted Seo-Ro-Yi from the beginning. After years of treating him either like sh*t, like she was too good for him, or like he didn't exist at all, suddenly she's interested in him when she learns this girl is? Bffr

The rest of the cast was decent. I loved the transformation of Choi Seung-Gwon (Ryu Kyung-Soo) over time and I also really loved his relationship with Sae-Ro-Yi. I definitely feel like they shafted Kim To-Ni (Chris Lyon) at the end a bit. They definitely should've all been more involved and more together.

Also, the romance thing went on for too long because every time he didn't return feelings, I didn't really care except for the fact that he'd then go and do some stupid sh*t for Soo Ah. I also hated the trans thing. It added nothing to the story and was totally irrelevant. The actress, Lee Joo-Young looked the same in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo so it feels like they were just like, "You have a boyish haircut, what if we make you a dude trying to be a woman for funsies!?" Like, instead of writing her as an interesting person, they just did this.

I was worried I'd feel the same about Chris Lyon being in it because Netflix tends to throw random diversity characters into shows so they give the appearance of virtue, when in reality there's just no good reason, and they can't be bothered to create one. I didn't dislike his placement at all though. They storyline with his dad and grandma and them hiring him to speak English because they assumed he could speak it... that all makes sense.

Anyways, I don't think I'd rewatch because it was too infuriating.

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Overall- would recommend to everyone

I watched this drama because i had previously seen dramas with Park Seo Joon and i was interested in watching this one. I think the story was interesting to follow through most of the series. I liked how there was a continuation of a sentimental moment Saeroyi had with his father before his father passed away early on in the series, the way the wine tasted. I think it was clever how the mention of weather the alcohol was sweet or bitter also reflected how things were going in each characters life. i think there was the perfect amount of suspense in this story and there was always something going on. I actually ended up really liking the character of Jang Geun Won despite the fact that he was meant to be unlikable through the series because of his actions i pitied the character because i think it was because of family pressures and not nececerally spite.

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Refreshing for me!

This drama really felt so fresh to me. I appreciated that for the most part things stayed relatively low stakes and focused on character relationships. There was some less believable aspects of the story and the character interactions, but for the most part it stayed grounded and realistic. This feels rare for a lot of dramas sometimes!

Those last few episodes after the final time jump though..... Woof. they really leaned so hard into the drama tropes! So much hospitalization, kidnappings, a coma, they did it all. It was like they strayed from the traditional drama writing for too long and they couldn't resist at the end.

Overall I thought the actors did well, I loved the music, and the story kept me interested.

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Good show with some issues

The reviews on here for Itaewon class are very interesting with a lot of very high or very low scores. At the end of the day I think it's somewhere in the middle.

I think Itaewon's biggest failing is the story, it's a revenge story but not a particularly good one. The ML is wronged and he spends the show attempting to get revenge, but it's not very interesting. It's a weird mix of "the best revenge is living well" and also attempting to take down his enemies. This really ends up being framing for a charming restaurant slice of life and romance with a great cast.

Kim Da Mi and Park Seo Joon play off each other very well with Kim's outgoing and forceful character picking up the slack for Park's more limited dialog. Watching them run a restaurant is great and the three employees at DanBam are good and fit in well. I want to give the show extra credit for having a transgender character and handling her well.

While I don't think the revenge plot is great Yoo Jae Myung does play a great villain. His actions are sometimes uncaring, sometimes cruel, but always feel like they're coming from the place of a real fleshed out character with his own motivations.

My largest issues with the show come near the end. The pacing starts to suffer and the writing starts to feel the need to inject extra tension and drama into the last few episodes rather than letting the story come to a more natural conclusion.

But at the end of the day I really like the show, it was my first kdrama and while it isn't my favorite it's certainly above average and the cast and setting are great.

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The message is the most significant

The message of this drama will always be, in my opinion, that our happiness and value are in the people around us. The money and things we have don't have any value and we will not be happy if we don't have people we love around us. I will always think that the enemy situation that drove the story was a little overwhelming since the beggining, it made me especially rethink about the fact that people with money really rule the world as they want without punishment and it is something that really should stop.
Geun Soo, Hyun Hi e Soo Ah were my favourites characters, Geun Soo and Soo Ah had theirs ups and downs, hurt people in the process but they are characters who really had a big evolution overall. Hyun Hi was definitely the character that stole my heart, the history, the way she is portrayed and how strong she is are an inspiration.

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Great Representation - Mediocre Story (and some annoying characters)

WOOO REPRESENTATION! Not just a black character but a trans woman!?! And their stories/characters are done pretty well and respectfully? I'm impressed.

Apart from that, the acting and production were solid though the story left room for improvement. The strongest aspect of this show was how each side characters differences lead to different challenges to overcome. Toni experiencing racism and struggling to deal with his citizenship, Hyun-yi's journey as a trans woman (including overcoming being outed without her consent), Seung-Kwon overcoming his past as an ex-con and even Geun-Soo and his relationship with his family as the child of a mistress. All these are pretty unique perspectives, especially from a k-drama, and allowed for unique stories and relationships to develop between characters. It's a shame we didn't get more of that as we saw these characters less and less as the series went on.

The main characters felt lacking and stale in comparison. Despite the story taking place over the span of 15 years Sae-Ro-Yi never changes and his beliefs are never really challenged. His relationship with Yi-Seo feels forced along with a lot of the typical k-drama clichés in the latter half (the kidnapping really came out of nowhere lol). Yi-Seo's character is grating - despite harassing Sae-Ro-Yi (even when he says he isn't interested and is uncomfortable from her advances), taking advantage of Geun-Soo's feelings (and leaving him for dead as she runs away from the kidnappers), and her consistent disrespect and bigotry towards other characters - she never really changes or faces any consequences.

There was a lot of potential with this show and it's a shame that it fell into mediocre writing reliant on tropes and forced romance.

Overall an enjoyable drama for the first like 1/2, falls into some of the typical k-drama pitfalls, and I'll admit I began to lose interest towards the end, especially as I got frustrated between Yi-seo and Saeroyi's relationship. Despite this, it has some of the best representation I've seen in k-drama to date. I love Toni and Hyun-yi so much. We're they perfect? No. Ideally Hyun-yi could have been played by an actual trans woman but I know that may be difficult in SK and a cis female actress is a lot better than a male actor in drag. Other series could learn a lot from these characters.

A solid 6.5/10

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A comeback revenge story but with central storylines that are heart warming

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean romantic drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

Park Sae-ro-yi (Park Seo-joon) is a person with a very strong sense of justice and moral integrity. He is an only child being raised by his widowed father and the father and son are the most important thing in each other's worlds. Sae-ro-yi is very goal driven, his dream is to become a police officer, but the dream is shattered when he inserts himself in a bully situation. As the eldest and only legitimate son if the Jangga group, Jang Geun-won (Ahn Bo-hyun) has been groomed by his father to think of those of lower socioeconomic status as beneath him. He is a bully at school, which leads to a violent conflict with Sae-ro-yi who is not the type to stand by and allow it. When the high schoolers are disciplined the school allows Jang Dae-hee (Yoo Jae-myung), Geun-won's father and CEO of Jangga group, to decide the punishment. Since Sae-ro-yi's father happens to work for Jangga group and is a favored employee Dae-hee says he will forgive what he perceives as an insult to his son and family if Sae-ro-yi will kneel and apologize. Sae-ro-yi does not feel as though he has done wrong and refuses to kneel. He is expelled at the recommendation of Dae-hee and Sae-ro-yi stands behind his son and is forced to resign. Things seem to level out when Sae-ro-yi's father utilizes savings to open a restaurant but tragedy strikes and Sae-ro-yi's father is killed in a traffic accident by, none other, than Geun-won. At first Sae-ro-yi does not know the culprit but when he chances to find out who it was, he nearly beats Dae-won to death and serves a 3 year prison sentence for attempted murder. Sae-ro-yi spends his time studying business toward the goal of opening a competing business, DanBam, and ruining Jangga group. An unlikely group of employees/friends work for Sae-ro-yi and he also has the help of a social media guru, Jo Yi-seo (Kim Da-mi) who, after several chance encounters with the affable Sae-ro-yi vows to stay by his side and help him reach his goals. Sae-ro-yi's school friend and first love, Oh Soo-ah (Kwon Nara) works for the Jangga group and Sae-ro-yi still has feelings for her. Will a school drop out and ex-con be able to pull off the take down of a well established conglomerate like the Jangga group? Will Sae-ro-yi go with his feelings for his old love or is this new woman more of his second half?

Spoiler Altert** This is a great story that reminds of so many other good stories I have seen in the past. It has elements of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and some Rocky Balboa like elements as well. Like his father who the viewer got to know briefly, Sae-ro-yi is one of those rare people who lets nothing deter him from the right path. He is kind to those that deserve it and harsh on those that do harm to others. The people around him make mistakes but he never holds those types of things against them and it causes everyone in his inner circle to like and admire him. At first I was cheering for his first love, to be the FL and main love interest, but as soon as Yi-seo entered the picture I loved her spunk, energy and the way she was all in with whatever she was doing, including her pursuit of Sae-ro-yi. One of his inner circle is transgender and I was surprised that it portrayed the South Korean people as not very tolerant of different sexual identities. She was one of my favorite characters. Another person in his inner circle was black and there was a lot of prejudice about him being a black Korean. I loved how his business model was about his people and how they, as a result, respected him and loved him like family. He accepted them all for the people they were black, transgender, a little bit psycho and helped them realize their own potential. There were some characters tome that did things that did not make sense. Sae-to-hi did change and harden just a bit which is not such a bad thing but did result in him not forgiving to the same level he did in the past. I loved the friendships and the love story. There were some slow parts toward the end where an element of the story was dragged out more than necessary. Very good and I highly recommend.

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Blind revenge is not pretty

This drama kept popping up on the trailers so I eventually got around to watching it. I think culturally this story was a mismatch for me there were more character traits that I disliked than what I liked.

From the smiley faced poster I was expecting a lighter story but it kicked off with bullying and went darker as we progressed.

Our hero has some strong caring characteristics but is also quite paternalistic and so focussed on revenge he became unlikable.
His long suffering love interest swung between keeping him interested, reporting him to the police and just blindly following nasty instructions of her boss.
The feisty female lead is fixated on trying to win over our hero who blindly ignores this much younger colleague but is very happy she is helping him in his revenge dream.
I like the transgender character there was so much more in her character that had strong, proud vibes.
The evil elder brother is well played for the weak moral person.
The father has no redeeming features and is nasty to the core.

My cultural background had me shouting at the screen I wanted to shake or slap someone around the head so this reaction made it a drag to finish.

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There are times when you need someone to stand by you

*** Minor Spoilers***

The series Iteawon Class follows Park Saeroyi (Park Seo Joon), a high schooler with a dream of becoming a police officer. However, after making critical decisions in high school, his life drastically changes. After arriving in Iteawon, a district known for its vibrant nightlife and clubs, Saeroyi and his friends open a small bar called "DanBam" to redeem himself.

As Park Saeroyi's business rival and nemesis Jang Hee (Yoojae Myung) owns Jangga, a fire competitor and the fuel and marker for Saeroyi, Iteawon Class follows an engaging and fast-paced plot that kept me hooked throughout its 16-episode run. Saeroyi's journey from expulsion to leading DanBam is inspiring. The series looks at ordinary individuals' struggles for justice and dreams. All the characters are great, but other than the two main pub leaders, I found Joy Yi Seo (Kim Da Mi), Ma Yi the chef (Lee Joo Young), Jang Geun Won, the bully (Ahn Bo Hyun) and Park Saeroyi's father Park Yul (Sun Hyun Joo) pivotal. They aren't perfect, they are different people from all walks of life. Pick ten random people at your workplace and try to avoid any clashes of personalities.

The cast delivers pretty convincing performances, bringing the characters to life and making things more relatable. Park Seo-Joon performance as Park Saeroyi showed determination, passion, leadership and charisma. He had that presence and strength about him that positively impacted his team and his personal life. Saeroyi was flawed and suppressed at times; however, when you bring enough passion, the right individual will enter your life and assist you on your path to your destiny.

The Iteawon Class is well-shot from a visual point of view. It had effective cinematography and attention to detail to capture the characters' emotions. The series captures the essence of Iteawon, from its bustling streets to its hidden nooks and crannies. The production design helped a lot. Before the series I really didn't know too much about the area until that Halloween disaster in 2022.

Iteawon Class's music and soundtrack are a big part of the experience. Mood and atmosphere were enhanced by the music choices. Overall, Iteawon Class was an engaging and entertaining drama. Themes of justice, redemption, and friendship and love. To this point the series is locked in at #8 for my all-time best Korean dramas. I don't give it ALL 10's but it resonates well with me!

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One of the best KDramas of 2020!

For those that are sceptical about watching this drama, do yourself a favour and watch it now!! I have only recently finished watching this drama and I can easily say that this is in my top 10!

Firstly, I just wanna mention the OST!! Each track matches the scenes really well, particularly Start Over and Stone Block. These two are the ones that I can just listen to or jam in the car all the time. I also love Still Fighting It. Just every time I listen to that song, it’s very uplifting but at the same time it makes me feel nostalgic and sad in a good way.

I love all the characters from the leads to even the supporting characters. Everyone would expect me to choose the ML as my favourite character but the FL is the one that stood out for me. It was sooo refreshing to see a female character who was a badass and can fight back rather than always being a damsel in distress. It was so satisfying watching her scenes. Now although the leads are what makes this drama, we must also give credit to all the supporting characters. They really uplifted the show and gave that light and funny element that we always crave for in dramas, making it a fun and enjoyable watch.

As many of you already know, Itaewon Class is a slice of life type of drama. So don’t expect a big plot with many twists and turns. It has none of that. It has a simple plot and it is very character driven. I know a lot of you get turned off with character driven dramas cause even I do sometimes but this is one of those times where it’s an exception. IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME.

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