Teach You a Lesson (2026)

Taxi Driver: School Bully Version

Teach You A Lesson was one of my most anticipated dramas this year and it didn't disappoint!

Ep 1 was a great start after which the momentum stabilizes to a case by case format of troublesome school after troublesome school. Through 10 episodes, the drama covers all the major bullying crimes including physical violence, substance use, cyber crimes, stalking, defamation and scamming.

Kim Mu Yeol and his slaps keep delivering until Jin Ki Joo, P.O and Lee Sung Min join the action. The main cast comprising these four Anti-Bully Avengers definitely carried the show with their friendly camaraderie. Kim Mu Yeol has charisma for days and the swagger of a believable action hero protagonist, while Jin Ki Joo and the rest of the cast are equally engaging in their roles.

Having said that, I do want to mention that this show seems to have a lot of fourth wall breaking, preach-heavy moments. Satire usually hits when the message is more subtle and indirect so I do wonder if the ones who truly need these lessons both among students and the adults around them will get the message.

At the same time, it's very evident that the makers put a lot of effort into shaping the script in such a way that they'd cover all the possible domains of potential criticism from viewers beforehand. From public outrage from hypocritical human rights warriors to making sure they mention that they're only after the bad apples among both teachers and students and acknowledging the good ones that do exist and reassuring that their mission is for their protection, they've done a good job presenting a neutral unbiased view that keeps educational rights at the forefront.

While this helps theme-wise, this creative choice may have tipped slightly into becoming an overcorrection with constant repetition of similar thoughts across multiple episodes which has then also compromised the overall pacing of the show. This can put off some viewers who are more used to the steady build up of anticipation and dread in more conventional action/thrillers, especially high school themed thrillers set around a single school and one common enemy.

Regardless, this was a fun watch overall with a solid theme. Lots of entertaining action choreography and a healthy balance of humor and emotion.

Teach You A Lesson is a really fun addition to high school themed revenge dramas, this time with adults delivering the slaps-err-justice!

Read More

Tries to make a point but has its own flaws

Show tells us how not only the students but also the teachers get bullied by student bullies and how a newly formed Govt org deals with those bullies. Each episode deals with different bullies in different schools.

Starting scenes of most eps were very traumatising to watch for me with all the graphic bullying of helpless students by their school bullies and few suicide scenes too, so I mostly ended up skipping all such scenes.

Then the ML arrives and kicks their asses - literally! 😁 And it was very satisfying to watch! And I think that satisfaction was the reason I continued to watch it till the end. Fl does great action too! Also special mention to all the actors who acted as bullies in each episode, they all did really good acting. 👏👏

But the show has few major issues. (Minor spoilers)

1) Firstly romance b/w fl and 2nd ml (Deputy Director Bong) was totally unnecessary because they didn't have an ounce of chemistry whatsoever! I understand they were trying to make an age appropriate pairing but then they should have checked the pair for chemistry before casting.

I have watched many of FL's work and I have always liked her pairings with her costars but this time they should have casted someone else to be her pair or should have skipped romance altogether because it wasn't necessary at all! The last few scenes b/w them look so forced and bad.

2) Secondly, the theme of the show itself is an issue in some episodes, especially where they showed that girl student make false SA accusation. They somehow indirectly made it seem as if all such cases are false and all teachers are innocent in the concluding scene of that ep when in reality so many teachers actually SA their students. And so many children are afraid to speak out fearing no one will believe them.

So I wish they had showed that the other foreign language school teacher had actually SAed her and because no one helped her, she became what she became instead of showing that just being denied admission in that school as the reason she became a bully, which didn't make any sense.

3) Also there was no need for that lady teacher to suddenly start using cane beating punishment on that student all of a sudden. It seemed so silly. She could have simply thrown her out of the class, cancelled her marks or put her name on the notice board for misbehaving in the class or done something else instead of just beating her which has only a temporary effect on such people.

Also couldn't the school or org just ban phones in classrooms? That would have saved so much bullying. They could have asked them to keep their phones in their lockers and not use it on the school premises.

4) Fourth being how they dealt with that psychological evaluation episode. Like it was so stupid the way they revealed that teacher's evaluation in front of her colleague and even revealing she was trying to kill herself indirectly.
I mean they should have called her separately and informed her about such sensitive matters especially for a person who was attempting suicide just mins before that evaluation scene and fl actually almost saw it herself!

Overall an interesting drama with a different perspective. 7.8/10

Read More