HuinsuyeomGolae
Pilipinas
Bears the "School" in its title, but not really a "School franchise"
Let's start with the only good thing in this drama - ACTING.
Some of the main actors definitely needs improvement in the first few episodes, and they really did improved throughout the series. Hwang Bo Reum Byeol caught my attention since the beginning, and she has the most solid acting among all young actors. Next to her is Jo Yi Hyun, and I also saw Yoon Yi Reh's potential. The others did a little bit below average to average, but I think it's okay, and most of them have potential too tbh.
Now, for the STORY.
The plot is meh... they used common tropes used in the School series but ended up ruining it. Still, it's not bad but it's below average compared to it's predecessors (2013-2017; I haven't watched the OG School 1 to 4). It seems like the writers didn't know what they wanted to focus on (I'll write more about this in a bit) . At the end, the students shouted "passion" so I think that's the main theme, yet passion was barely shown in this drama. The characters and subplots were poorly written despite having a lot of potential. It 's kinda slow-paced for me, yet they inserted a lot of unnecessary drama in the end, so it feels rushed. It was like a rollercoaster which slowly goes up then suddenly went down very fast.
The next two paragraphs are still connected to the story, but this is more on about the drama being PART OF THE SCHOOL FRANCHISE, YET DOESN'T FEEL LIKE ONE.
As I have said, a lot of actors, characters, and subplot have potential, yet it seems like the writers didn't know what to do with it. The story was okay for me at first but I can't really feel that it is "School" 2021. After I finished watching all the episodes, I realized that the distribution of subplots was their problem. See, in the past (2013-2017), they tackled different school issues and distributed it to different characters. There's at least 8 characters whose story was shown, and the others serves as crowd, yet they still humanized them in a way. In this drama, they only have 6 students who are main characters if I am not mistaken, but the writers chose to give most subplots to only 4 students (Ki Joon, Young Joo, Seo Young, Ji Won) and the stories of Ho Sung and Eun Bi were not even explored that much. I think they want to fit a lot of stories unto the main casts (but failed to explore it) to make them appeal more to the viewers, but I really don't think I was able to connect with them that much (this sentence may be more subjective than the rest of what I wrote here since I am now a graduating college student, and I watched the past 3 franchise when I was in high school).
Another thing is that, they barely showed the main characters in the classroom which is very unusual for a School franchise. Yes, the workshop is also a classroom, but it is more of a 'club' than 'class', which was stated in the drama (I know).. I think they were in school a lot (didn't they??) but I didn't really felt it. I don't know why, but School 2021 is just like any other teen-romance drama set in school, but it isn't a "School" series. Sorry, but I can't help to compare because it is part of the franchise, so at least it should have the same vibes (if not format) with the past series...
Though, this is still a pretty good watch if you want a filler drama. If you are not a fan of the School franchise, you might enjoy this more (though I don't generalize, just my opinion) because it still shows things that you can ponder upon. I hope everything that I wrote made sense. Thank you for reading!!!
Initial Rating: 8.5/10
FINAL RATING: 7.0/10
Some of the main actors definitely needs improvement in the first few episodes, and they really did improved throughout the series. Hwang Bo Reum Byeol caught my attention since the beginning, and she has the most solid acting among all young actors. Next to her is Jo Yi Hyun, and I also saw Yoon Yi Reh's potential. The others did a little bit below average to average, but I think it's okay, and most of them have potential too tbh.
Now, for the STORY.
The plot is meh... they used common tropes used in the School series but ended up ruining it. Still, it's not bad but it's below average compared to it's predecessors (2013-2017; I haven't watched the OG School 1 to 4). It seems like the writers didn't know what they wanted to focus on (I'll write more about this in a bit) . At the end, the students shouted "passion" so I think that's the main theme, yet passion was barely shown in this drama. The characters and subplots were poorly written despite having a lot of potential. It 's kinda slow-paced for me, yet they inserted a lot of unnecessary drama in the end, so it feels rushed. It was like a rollercoaster which slowly goes up then suddenly went down very fast.
The next two paragraphs are still connected to the story, but this is more on about the drama being PART OF THE SCHOOL FRANCHISE, YET DOESN'T FEEL LIKE ONE.
As I have said, a lot of actors, characters, and subplot have potential, yet it seems like the writers didn't know what to do with it. The story was okay for me at first but I can't really feel that it is "School" 2021. After I finished watching all the episodes, I realized that the distribution of subplots was their problem. See, in the past (2013-2017), they tackled different school issues and distributed it to different characters. There's at least 8 characters whose story was shown, and the others serves as crowd, yet they still humanized them in a way. In this drama, they only have 6 students who are main characters if I am not mistaken, but the writers chose to give most subplots to only 4 students (Ki Joon, Young Joo, Seo Young, Ji Won) and the stories of Ho Sung and Eun Bi were not even explored that much. I think they want to fit a lot of stories unto the main casts (but failed to explore it) to make them appeal more to the viewers, but I really don't think I was able to connect with them that much (this sentence may be more subjective than the rest of what I wrote here since I am now a graduating college student, and I watched the past 3 franchise when I was in high school).
Another thing is that, they barely showed the main characters in the classroom which is very unusual for a School franchise. Yes, the workshop is also a classroom, but it is more of a 'club' than 'class', which was stated in the drama (I know).. I think they were in school a lot (didn't they??) but I didn't really felt it. I don't know why, but School 2021 is just like any other teen-romance drama set in school, but it isn't a "School" series. Sorry, but I can't help to compare because it is part of the franchise, so at least it should have the same vibes (if not format) with the past series...
Though, this is still a pretty good watch if you want a filler drama. If you are not a fan of the School franchise, you might enjoy this more (though I don't generalize, just my opinion) because it still shows things that you can ponder upon. I hope everything that I wrote made sense. Thank you for reading!!!
Initial Rating: 8.5/10
FINAL RATING: 7.0/10
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