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Have Tissues!
This has been on my “Plan to watch list” for a few months. Normally, with a lot of dramas, I’ll watch an episode or two, then decide if I’ll continue, or put it on hold. Or, I watch a drama, get bored and fast forward through most of it. But with this, I was hooked immediately, and didn’t fast forward once throughout the 16 episodes. It had everything I loved. It had revenge, which was the main theme of this drama, love, heartbreak, friendship, and best of all, an ending that tied up all the loose ends. Oh, and did I mention revenge?... Park Seo Joon was excellent as the main character, and his emotions and heartbreaks really played out well, and it made you believe everything he was supposed to be feeling. As far as revenge dramas, this is the best I’ve seen. If you aren’t into that kind of theme, don’t watch it. But if you are, it will satisfy you, especially the ending. There is nothing I would change about it. Just be sure to have tissues, because it is an emotional roller coaster of sad, happy, accomplishments, failures, failed love, happy love, pretty much everything!Was this review helpful to you?
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The main character did it for me
It really was an amazing K-drama. I have seen alot of opinions of people on this drama but for me, the story was really good. Especially when it comes to revenge and character development through out the whole thing. And the connection between past and present makes you realize that, it do be like that irl sometimes, people change even if you want to hold on to them. And plot twist around the end was amazing. I really rooted Saeroyi and Soo-ah but oh well, Yi-seo was the really supportive one. She is the type to fight for the world for her love. But then Soo-ah should have told him she was plotting smth too. But either way, it was really good drama, might be boring for some but alot for me.Was this review helpful to you?
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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).
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Although this drama tries to be like about how we should let go of racism and queerphobia and stuff, but its like too cliche and fails to achieve that aspect and ends up being a typical kdrama about the chabeol as the villian.
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A Perfectly Told Story, what TV Should Aspire to Be
I was absolutely blown away by this drama. It's the first full length show I've given a 10. With an incredibly unique story and satisfying romance, with interesting and diverse characters with multiple and changing dimensions, with setups and pay offs executed perfectly and just the right amount of unpredictability, I was drawn in from the beginning and gripped until the end. I fell in love with every character, loving the enemies while also hating them, and rooting those who were trying to change or overcome hardship. Every emotion, I was along for the ride. When the characters cried, I cried. When they cheered, I cheered. When they loved, I loved. It's perfectly done, and I wish every show I watched from this moment forward were just like it.It's not something to be taken lightly when I say I liked all the characters. In almost every other show I've watched, even the good ones, I tend to find a single character I care about above all others, and so my enjoyment of the show hinges on their experience and actions and plots. This time around, I cared about everyone. Not only did every person feel real and developed, they each were reaching towards their goals, all of them pushing past their own hardships. Instead of feeling for the characters through their attachment with the protagonist, I felt each one of them as a person, through what I knew about them and what I knew they valued. Because of this strong empathy, I was able to experience strong vicarious emotions in every situation. No moment felt unjustified or unearned. This one element is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of any show, and what makes or breaks whether you even decided to watch it, and whether it is memorable and exciting. These detailed and empathetic characters are exploited to their full extent, producing moments that lift you into the sky or crush you into the ground or set you on fire with rage, all while maintaining a balance of conflict and resolution that isn't too taxing on the viewer. Even better is that each character changes throughout the show, completing arcs which are believable and well-earned. I could easily name each internal flaw they all faced, although this is a spoiler free review and so I cannot (you can bet if there were spoilers the whole review would just be me ranting about every specific detailed that I loved). Long story short, the characters are perfect, and that's what's really important.
Let me quickly mention the diversity, which was extremely welcome amidst the generally homogenous production of Asian dramas. Perhaps there still isn't as much as we're used to in the west, but you have to admit they're making great strides. Obviously I'm referencing the Afro-Asian character Toni (although this could have been handled a tad bit better in certain areas), but what I'm really impressed by is the transgender character, Hyun Yi. She, after helping the other protagonists overcome their own preconceived judgements, manages to overcome her own flaws and learn to be confident about her identity, and the show fully accepts this identity in a mature way. Especially considering the often biased views of many other kdrama regarding even homosexuality, transgender representation is just great to see.
I loved the plot. Holy cow. I won't say it's the most genius plot, I've definitely seen shows that are smarter, but this plot embodies all that a drama should strive for. A clear set of values, a core message or two, and a thorough and interesting exploration of all these things wrapped into an intense and exciting main storyline. Where other shows might drop the ball while trying to subvert expectations, and others still might crank out something mind-numbingly predictable, Itaewon Class toes the line between the two effortlessly, leaving you without a clue as to where it'll end up but still being satisfying, justified, and most importantly gripping. This is one of the few long-form shows which have managed to keep me interested enough to binge it in a few sittings.
I hope I've said enough to convince that this is well-worth a watch. Don't judge it by it's premise like I almost did and just give it a chance to snag you and pull you along. I one hundred percent love this drama and implore you to watch it, as soon as possible.
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7.5 chestnuts?
It’s been a very long time where I can say that I was able to watch a number of episodes non-stop.I did put this drama on hold for a while, I wasn’t even going to consider it. I have to admit I completely judged it without even giving it a shot, I didn’t know what to expect when I started it and my little theories were very much proven wrong (For some reason I assumed it would be a martial arts drama, idk I saw ‘class’ in the title and I went with that). This drama is way different from what I thought it to be.
Although some elements were very predictable, I truly enjoyed the concept of this drama. It’s different and a change from the dramas that mainly focus on the romance and I liked that. It’s nice when you’re rooting for other things besides the romance.
About the predictability though, I cannot stress enough how many times I screamed at the screen “I’m disappointed but not surprised!”
I truly liked every character but I will have to say not one failed to not frustrate me. You will find yourself being frustrated by each character in this drama.
I have to also mention the time skips in this! I felt like I went through a time machine. I can see why they were used for the plot to an extent. But I feel like we could have got more glimpses of what happened during them. QUESTION, HOW IS HIS HAIR STILL THE SAME AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?!!!!
Overall, would I watch this drama again? Did I enjoy it all throughout? And would I recommend it?
I wouldn’t necessarily watch it again and that’s because personally I have to be in the right mood to watch angst-filled dramas kinda like this. I mostly go for light-hearted and fluffy dramas so this wouldn’t really normally be on my radar but I can still say that I enjoyed it and I’m glad I watched it. However, to answer the second question, I didn’t enjoy it all throughout, I kind of feel like the ending was dragging for it to be you know - predictable. That being said, I would still recommend it to anyone, it’s a good drama and a lot of life lessons that could be picked up. Park Seo Jun really did great with his role!
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This drama was quite emotional from the start. Story seemed really interesting and i thoroughly enjoyed watching the starting episodes but then it lost taste. Things seemed scattered. Nothing seemed to be on point but felt like the story is being dragged.What was the fault of oh so aah? saeroyi gave her hope for 15 years and then what happened? His heart changed. Yi seo was the most heartless and inconsiderate person. Nothing good came from her mouth. Her personality was so annoying. She destroyed the life of guen-soo and wasn't even ashamed for it. Now the revenge part. I couldn't see any revenge by saeroyi. Everything kept repeating. He knelt before jang dae hee, he was again a victim of hit and run, he was powerless at the end. So Aah did everything and eventually it benefited saeroyi.
I felt bad for oh so aah all the time and was disgusted by the personality of yi seo. The story could have been better. The revenge could have been better. Guen-soo's character could be better.
Acting of park seo joon was way too good. His acting was mindblowing and i cried with him in the first two episodes.
I hope others think like that too.
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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✌
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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.
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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.
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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
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