This review may contain spoilers
the flaws of Korean schools and society
A perfect episodic drama that displays the flaws of Korean schools and society throughout 10 episodes, each episode showing us another unique problem that happens not only in Korean school and society but globally. All told in a humorous yet dark way of storytelling.
As there are a lot of mainly Korean issues handled in this drama too, most of the themes can be applied to countries and schools everywhere: bullying, drug abuse, and game addiction are only a few of the major topics displayed.
Each episode deals with a new problem portrayed by another school.
Episode 1: Bullying by a spoiled son of a powerful politician who thinks he can get away with everything. All teachers and students are too scared to do anything. This issue seems to be the most common problem at schools in Korea.
Episode 2: The rise of school gangs who focus more on making quick money by being thugs than on studyinf for a proper job. Thus interfering with the interests of students who actually wanna study properly instead of becoming thugs. One of the ERPB members got introduced here too, Bong Geun-Dae who is a hacker and goes undercover at this school full of delinquents. This was one of the episodes that seemed the most over-the-top and is probably less common in Korea but might be more relatable to people abroad especially the US. It was quite a funny episode tho and the two main thugs were very handsome, one of them looking like Choi Siwon 😂😂😂
Episode 3: This episode deals with defamation of teachers caused by students who are active and popular on social media, and gain power through their followers and by sharing videos and articles online which causes them to manipulate everyone around them. Defamation and online manipulation also seem to be a uniquely Korean phenomenon that also happen a lot at school and from which both students and teachers suffer from. The third member of the ERPB, Im Han-Rim got introduced in this episode too! And I am obsessed with her from the first second!
Episode 4: This episode shows the bribing and manipulation of teachers and hagwons by the influential parents of students. This seems to happen a lot in Korea as well, parents pressuring teachers, those teachers then mistreating less-influential students who are smarter than the kids of influential parents. Up to the leaking of exam materials and answers…
Episode 5: This episode deals with the issue of parents pressuring teachers to favor their kids and it is shown through an elementary school where students don’t have much power but it is the parents that are causing problems for teachers, harrassing them, interfering in their personal lives and even stalking and physically and mentally abusing them. To the point that many teachers commit suicide. I think something like this actually happened in real life in Korea once when a teacher committed suicide due to the pressure from parents.
Episode 6: This episode is about juvenile delinquents and how they partake in violence, theft, and even drug abuse. Because they are still underaged they cannot go to prison. The ERPB changes the rules tho and sends them to a prison. This one was one of the darkest episodes so far. From this episode on, we also start seeing more of how these schools are all connected to drug dealing and drug abuse and all of this then connecting to the ML’s past trauma of loosing his wife who got murdered by a student.
Episode 7: This episode was about game addiction and gambling. This was one of the more unrealistic episodes too. I think debt in itself, especially to loan sharks seems to be a common thing in Korea or at least in K-Dramas. But I personally cannot imagine that this episode was a realistic depiction of it. Not saying it doesn’t happen. I am sure it does but i dont think it’s as common as some other things like bullying or pressure from parents.
Episode 8: This episode shows the pressure that students get from parents who want their kids to get into good schools like SKY or med / law school. I think this was one of the most realistic episodes and again we have the issue of drug abuse tied in this one too and how even mothers buy it for their kids just to see good results… I really wanted someone to slap that mother! she ticked me off soooo much!!!
Episode 9 +10: These two episodes take place at the same school, namely the one where the ML’s wife used to work at and also died by the hands of one of the students. The first of the two episodes is about exploitative bullying in which a group of students use one student to access all his online accounts without paying him. Which seemed a bit unrealistic too bcs how can a kid have so much access to money / a bank account or credit card ? This kind of exploitation does happen I think but more in cases of a rich student who is a loser and becomes the cash cow of the perpetrators… However, I liked how it all les up to the showdown in the last episode! I also liked how the heroes rarely had to lose and always came back with a smart way to get out of the accusations towards them. At the end they were even suspended too but they still came back in a satisfying way! I love dramas that do that! It might not be realistic but it is so cathartic! It makes me feel relieved and happy and thats what matters when watching drama!
In general, I loved the story, the realistic issues being presented in a somewhat unrealistic yet cathartic way, and ofc the characters! The 4 main characters of the ERPB were all so cool and fun and unique. Each of them had a different power and used it in a smart way! It was so pleasing to watch it every episode! I also think that this drama would actually be a great re-watch! It’s fun, satisfying but also dark with deep, serious topics being discussed. As a teacher myself I approve.
It had a controversial theme nonetheless but not even by the end of the drama, you will fully agree with the ERPB’s actions they take against students… It does such a good job at convincing the audience of their opinion 😂😂😂
Loved it! 10/10!!! Everyone has to watch!
As there are a lot of mainly Korean issues handled in this drama too, most of the themes can be applied to countries and schools everywhere: bullying, drug abuse, and game addiction are only a few of the major topics displayed.
Each episode deals with a new problem portrayed by another school.
Episode 1: Bullying by a spoiled son of a powerful politician who thinks he can get away with everything. All teachers and students are too scared to do anything. This issue seems to be the most common problem at schools in Korea.
Episode 2: The rise of school gangs who focus more on making quick money by being thugs than on studyinf for a proper job. Thus interfering with the interests of students who actually wanna study properly instead of becoming thugs. One of the ERPB members got introduced here too, Bong Geun-Dae who is a hacker and goes undercover at this school full of delinquents. This was one of the episodes that seemed the most over-the-top and is probably less common in Korea but might be more relatable to people abroad especially the US. It was quite a funny episode tho and the two main thugs were very handsome, one of them looking like Choi Siwon 😂😂😂
Episode 3: This episode deals with defamation of teachers caused by students who are active and popular on social media, and gain power through their followers and by sharing videos and articles online which causes them to manipulate everyone around them. Defamation and online manipulation also seem to be a uniquely Korean phenomenon that also happen a lot at school and from which both students and teachers suffer from. The third member of the ERPB, Im Han-Rim got introduced in this episode too! And I am obsessed with her from the first second!
Episode 4: This episode shows the bribing and manipulation of teachers and hagwons by the influential parents of students. This seems to happen a lot in Korea as well, parents pressuring teachers, those teachers then mistreating less-influential students who are smarter than the kids of influential parents. Up to the leaking of exam materials and answers…
Episode 5: This episode deals with the issue of parents pressuring teachers to favor their kids and it is shown through an elementary school where students don’t have much power but it is the parents that are causing problems for teachers, harrassing them, interfering in their personal lives and even stalking and physically and mentally abusing them. To the point that many teachers commit suicide. I think something like this actually happened in real life in Korea once when a teacher committed suicide due to the pressure from parents.
Episode 6: This episode is about juvenile delinquents and how they partake in violence, theft, and even drug abuse. Because they are still underaged they cannot go to prison. The ERPB changes the rules tho and sends them to a prison. This one was one of the darkest episodes so far. From this episode on, we also start seeing more of how these schools are all connected to drug dealing and drug abuse and all of this then connecting to the ML’s past trauma of loosing his wife who got murdered by a student.
Episode 7: This episode was about game addiction and gambling. This was one of the more unrealistic episodes too. I think debt in itself, especially to loan sharks seems to be a common thing in Korea or at least in K-Dramas. But I personally cannot imagine that this episode was a realistic depiction of it. Not saying it doesn’t happen. I am sure it does but i dont think it’s as common as some other things like bullying or pressure from parents.
Episode 8: This episode shows the pressure that students get from parents who want their kids to get into good schools like SKY or med / law school. I think this was one of the most realistic episodes and again we have the issue of drug abuse tied in this one too and how even mothers buy it for their kids just to see good results… I really wanted someone to slap that mother! she ticked me off soooo much!!!
Episode 9 +10: These two episodes take place at the same school, namely the one where the ML’s wife used to work at and also died by the hands of one of the students. The first of the two episodes is about exploitative bullying in which a group of students use one student to access all his online accounts without paying him. Which seemed a bit unrealistic too bcs how can a kid have so much access to money / a bank account or credit card ? This kind of exploitation does happen I think but more in cases of a rich student who is a loser and becomes the cash cow of the perpetrators… However, I liked how it all les up to the showdown in the last episode! I also liked how the heroes rarely had to lose and always came back with a smart way to get out of the accusations towards them. At the end they were even suspended too but they still came back in a satisfying way! I love dramas that do that! It might not be realistic but it is so cathartic! It makes me feel relieved and happy and thats what matters when watching drama!
In general, I loved the story, the realistic issues being presented in a somewhat unrealistic yet cathartic way, and ofc the characters! The 4 main characters of the ERPB were all so cool and fun and unique. Each of them had a different power and used it in a smart way! It was so pleasing to watch it every episode! I also think that this drama would actually be a great re-watch! It’s fun, satisfying but also dark with deep, serious topics being discussed. As a teacher myself I approve.
It had a controversial theme nonetheless but not even by the end of the drama, you will fully agree with the ERPB’s actions they take against students… It does such a good job at convincing the audience of their opinion 😂😂😂
Loved it! 10/10!!! Everyone has to watch!
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