Bad Guys Get Got (Then You Forget)
Teach You a Lesson is a wannabe Taxi Driver. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not a first copy either, more like a second copy.
The show takes on serious topics: school bullying, cyberbullying, competitive parenting, substance abuse, fake influencing, victim blaming, and more. But it's content to just touch base with these extremely serious social issues rather than dig into them. It settles for over-simplistic, instantly gratifying punishment for the culprits. That's not justice, that's just retribution dressed up as one. Every episode ends with a mini sermon, but nothing about it actually lingers.
As a result, it feels shallow. I don't expect every drama to offer real catharsis - social, psychological, or philosophical. But Teach You A Lesson builds up each case in a way that's deliberately disturbing, even infuriating. The bullies do things that make your blood boil, so when they're punished, you feel a rush of satisfaction in the moment. That satisfaction is momentary, though, and leaves no deeper impact behind.
None of this means you can't enjoy it. I did. But I also couldn't overlook the Texas-sized plot holes. The concept of the ERPB brings these punishments within the structure of law, but paradoxically, that also makes everything feel childishly simple. Taxi Driver ran a covert, parallel justice system operating outside the bounds of law. Teach You A Lesson works within it, which opens the door to a lot of things that are hard to overlook if you can't switch your mind off. And the show makes that impossible. The way each case is built up hits uncomfortably close to real life. These things do happen around us, so you can't watch mindlessly. But that's also the show's undoing: since you can't stop thinking, you can't ignore the holes in the script either. How is the ERPB all-powerful? How can they send kids to juvie just like that? Why does the opposition leader (a minor baddie) oppose the whole concept in the first place? How is a murderer forgivable but not a teenage drug peddler? To be clear, I wouldn't forgive either, but the show's moral logic (ML) does. It leaves you with far more questions than answers.
On the surface, it's fun to watch. There's instant satisfaction in seeing bad people get punished. But it doesn't stay with you. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Have I already started forgetting it? Also yes.
Characters & Performances:
The characters feel two-dimensional, without much depth to any of them. Hwa Jin and Han Rim's swagger is so commonplace it borders on farce. The performances themselves are fine. Nothing mind-blowing, but nothing bad either. The crimes and resolutions are so formulaic that even the genuinely good actors don't have much to work with. That said, Jin Ki Joo could've toned it down a notch. Her shouting made me wince more than once.
Overall:
Teach You a Lesson wants to be thoughtful but has no patience for actually being it. It leans instead on crowd-pleasing instant gratification, and loses substance in the process. I wouldn't drop everything to watch it. You watch it, shake your head, and move on to the next show.
The show takes on serious topics: school bullying, cyberbullying, competitive parenting, substance abuse, fake influencing, victim blaming, and more. But it's content to just touch base with these extremely serious social issues rather than dig into them. It settles for over-simplistic, instantly gratifying punishment for the culprits. That's not justice, that's just retribution dressed up as one. Every episode ends with a mini sermon, but nothing about it actually lingers.
As a result, it feels shallow. I don't expect every drama to offer real catharsis - social, psychological, or philosophical. But Teach You A Lesson builds up each case in a way that's deliberately disturbing, even infuriating. The bullies do things that make your blood boil, so when they're punished, you feel a rush of satisfaction in the moment. That satisfaction is momentary, though, and leaves no deeper impact behind.
None of this means you can't enjoy it. I did. But I also couldn't overlook the Texas-sized plot holes. The concept of the ERPB brings these punishments within the structure of law, but paradoxically, that also makes everything feel childishly simple. Taxi Driver ran a covert, parallel justice system operating outside the bounds of law. Teach You A Lesson works within it, which opens the door to a lot of things that are hard to overlook if you can't switch your mind off. And the show makes that impossible. The way each case is built up hits uncomfortably close to real life. These things do happen around us, so you can't watch mindlessly. But that's also the show's undoing: since you can't stop thinking, you can't ignore the holes in the script either. How is the ERPB all-powerful? How can they send kids to juvie just like that? Why does the opposition leader (a minor baddie) oppose the whole concept in the first place? How is a murderer forgivable but not a teenage drug peddler? To be clear, I wouldn't forgive either, but the show's moral logic (ML) does. It leaves you with far more questions than answers.
On the surface, it's fun to watch. There's instant satisfaction in seeing bad people get punished. But it doesn't stay with you. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Have I already started forgetting it? Also yes.
Characters & Performances:
The characters feel two-dimensional, without much depth to any of them. Hwa Jin and Han Rim's swagger is so commonplace it borders on farce. The performances themselves are fine. Nothing mind-blowing, but nothing bad either. The crimes and resolutions are so formulaic that even the genuinely good actors don't have much to work with. That said, Jin Ki Joo could've toned it down a notch. Her shouting made me wince more than once.
Overall:
Teach You a Lesson wants to be thoughtful but has no patience for actually being it. It leans instead on crowd-pleasing instant gratification, and loses substance in the process. I wouldn't drop everything to watch it. You watch it, shake your head, and move on to the next show.
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