A friend and I were talking about Kdramas, and she mentioned how sometimes with dramas, it feels like we watch them knowing they will come to an end. But occasionally, you come across a drama that is so good, that you become so immersed and invested in the story, that instead of knowing the end will come, you become so focused on the fact that you need to know what happens next. Instead of you just watching to pass the time, it’s as if you are almost living in their world and need to know how things are going to finish. I knew exactly what she was talking about, I had not found a drama like this since earlier this year, but Itaewon Class was something else. There has yet to be a show that I have watched with Park Seo Joon that I did not enjoy. Though there were aspects of the show I thought it could do without, overall, I still quite enjoyed the show. I looked forward to every episode and was so invested in the characters’ lives that I needed to know how things were going to ultimately end.

Female Leads 1 & 2: To be blunt, I do not think this show needed the romance aspect, I would have enjoyed the show so much more without it. Honestly the female leads, Jo Yi Seo and Oh Soo Ah, were reasons I almost dropped the show. I thought that each one of their characters were so annoying, I don’t even know which one I liked more because of how much I disliked them both. I don’t think I have ever come across a show where I truly did not like the female leads, I hated them. Jo Yi Seo is an irresponsible sociopathic child. You could say young adult but common really? It’s mentioned the beginning of the show that Yi Seo is 10 years younger than Saeroyi, right off the bat for some people it’s a turn off because of the big age gap, personally, it did not matter to me, love is love. What bothered me about her character was (1) that she literally decided not to go to school for a man that she just met and (2) that she is said to have 70% sociopathic tendencies and that was never addressed. Sociopathic tendencies or being described as about 70% a sociopath, is not something to take lightly, yet in this show, it was. It was mentioned a few times at the beginning of the show, but never addressed again. The way that her character was depicted, the audience is let into some of her decisions and is shown how she lacks empathy, compassion, and kindness, yet about halfway through the show, she is fine. As if that was never said and she is just an angry child.

Our other female lead is none other than Oh Soo Ah. To put it simply, she was so wishy washy in the most terrible way, the type of person I would like to believe does not exist. As women, we need to remember that we are human, and we can take charge and make our own decisions. Somebody needed to remind her that. They also need to remind her that you can’t take things for granted because at some point, they’ll be gone, they’ll leave.

Another note: I did not think that Saeroyi had chemistry with either one of these women. Friendship, yes. Romantically, no.

Transgender Representation: Yes. Loved it. Love her. I did not like the way it was handled when she was exposed to literally the world by who was supposed to be her friend, because nothing was really done about it. We saw no consequences, but other than that, yes.

Villains: Old Man Jang ->10/10
Jang Junior -> a little over the top but really well done 9/10 * p.s. he gave Joker vibes, in both his character and clothing *

Saeroyi: I loved that he was a man of his principles. It was stated time and time again and he proved it over and over with actions. But see with that there needed to be a line drawn between sticking to your principles and not being walked on by other people. Because Saeroyi was a man of his principles, he had a hard time differentiating when someone was being genuine or not. He was continuously letting himself be used and abused by those he cared about because of his principles. He needed to be better