Looks pretty, sounds pretty, interesting premise, but the plot goes nowhere

The first episode promises a lot: mystery, sex, intrigue, and scandal. Except ultimately, the plot, character growth, and overall message of the show fell flat. Pretty cinematography, good acting, and a decent soundtrack can't make up for that. In the end, this drama comes off as a quick, shallow Korean remake of Gossip Girl.

The set up of the plot and characters is quite good; each character's motives and personality is well established, and is consistent with the actions they take. But that becomes a problem when it feels like the plot is going nowhere. When you've revealed to the audience the two biggest mysteries of the show by episode four, what do you do with the last three? Nothing it seems. Everyone at the school has these deep, juicy, life-ruining secrets about each other and yet there's no truly dramatic moment of rash revelations or impulsive angry decisions to expose one another. It feels like a missed opportunity that leaves the show directionless and empty.

The show was too concerned with trying to make its characters and relationships redeemable by the end that they chickened out with the scandalous antics. (For example, betrayal feels half-hearted when you screw over a character that was introduced that episode. Why not your best friend instead? That would be much more impactful.) Like yes, the point of the show can be that these are no-so-nice people doing terrible things, but they love each other and learn to grow. Despite the attempts in the final episode, it feels like none of the main characters truly received any tangible consequences (besides guilt lol). And that would be okay if that was the story you were trying to tell, but that isn't what's happening here. The final message is about atoning to your mistakes and accepting the consequences. But truly, there were none for these characters, leaving the entire message of the show fake, performative, and hollow.

In the end, this show had an interesting premise that fell flat into a disappointing mess of half-hearted character growth. I would only recommend the first couple of episodes.

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