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MattPeddlesden

Kent, UK

MattPeddlesden

Kent, UK
Who Are You: School 2015 korean drama review
Completed
Who Are You: School 2015
3 people found this review helpful
by MattPeddlesden
May 9, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
Short: This one is about being bullied and surviving it. A slice of life for high schoolers and the problems they face, not the least of which are their parents. Enjoyed it from start to finish and found the music really catchy. Actors were all great, and the production was excellent too. Really recommend this one to everyone but especially those more aligned with its age group, it carries a powerful message delivered at the end.

Detail:
The writer was clearly bullied, or knows someone who was bullied, there's too much in here that I painfully recognise as someone who experienced elements of it myself at school. It's well told and presented, with a story that moves at a really good pace throughout, constantly adding more elements and threads and then progressively resolving those threads (and sometimes, adding a few more to resolve later too).

This one carries a strong message for high schoolers who will be experiencing turmoils of emotions and pressures from all sides, it explores the student who is under ridiculous pressure from his parents, loneliness of being the outcast, the pain of constant torture and beratement, humiliation - and just how calculatingly and appallingly mean school kids can be. It's easy for those who don't know to dismiss just how evil some kids can be.

Kim So Hyun plays as twin sisters, with the bullied orphan twin Eun-Bi who lives in a hospice, involved in an incident and losing her memories and finding herself in her sisters life, a sister she never knew even existed, with everyone calling her by her sisters name and she's got new friends and an entirely different place in the world, she even has a Mom now and is living life like it's a dream.

I've got to be honest and say my main reason for watching it was simply that it was another opportunity to see the amazing Kim So Hyun do her work - but I was hooked on the story from pretty much the first episode and had more than one late night squeezing in one more episode as the producer and writer deliver excellent (darn you) endings to each.

Honestly this one has had more of an impact on me that I probably realise, it's dredged up old memories and feelings and while they're not the best time of my life at all it's healthy to reflect that I got through it and that's the message in the drama, it gets better.

I liked the characters, and as painful as it was to watch, I enjoyed the evil machinations of So-Yeoung, a master manipulator who can find any situation and turn it to her advantage.

I liked how the story wraps up with one exception, there's one victim here who is left and it feels like the story creates a brand new outcast and leaves her in a terrible situation, and I was really hoping the story would find a way to more positively close her thread too. It's difficult because of who she is, but the underlying message of the story needs to apply equally to everyone or else you're leaving someone in the dark with no means of escape except something permanent and terrible.

I definitely recommend this one!
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