Graduation

The first half of this drama was interesting and entertaining enough to keep me watching. The chemistry between the leads worked well, even if it wasn't spectacular, and the story had potential to be something memorable.

But after episode 8, everything started to fall apart. The plot became unnecessarily dragged out, repetitive, and lost all sense of direction. It felt like the writers were adding filler moments just to stretch it to 16 episodes, and instead of deepening the story, they completely diluted it. By the time it reached the finale, all the charm from the earlier episodes was gone, and it felt like a chore to finish.

This drama could have been so much better with a tighter script and fewer episodes. What started off as a promising and simple romance turned into something unnecessarily long and frustrating. A shorter, more focused series would have done wonders for the pacing and overall impact.

I know what screenwrites wanted to make nice, light tendible drama.

Unfortunatelly the miscasted main male lead ruined everything.

Don't get m wrong, the dude just doesn't fit the drama. You simply can't believe that he - wooden, out of touch, annoying bodybuilder can learn and teach anything, to be good couple with main lead female, who has emotions, softness, tendible, tiresome and was perfect for the role.

Whole 7 episodes I watched I was sorry for the show and was sorry for the female lead that they were given such unsuitable male lead.

Also it was quite hard to see her spending so much time with new teacher, helping him knowing that all teachers competes between themselves. And if you add that bodybuilder rude no manner wooden dude. You just can't believe it. And feel sorry every minute they are on screen.

Such a pity...

The plot, the story itself and its brilliant twists and turns are so captivating. The drama was directed in a perfect match to the story, adding the exact accurate light and setting, costumes and objects surrounding the characters. The casting was so perfect as well. The actors succeeded, in the most professional and talented way, to support their original and sooo important drama idea. Everything combined, it provided the viewer with a fascinating glimpse at the Korean world of education- a realistic portrait of both people and environment. As a teacher and a woman I would like to share my sheer admiration to all the wonderful people behind this amazing drama. May you all continue making such inspiring TV.

A romance between the Senior Golden Girl, long-time academy instructor, Seo Hye-jin, and her former student Lee Joon-ho, who returns after 10 years to teach at the same academy where he was previously the #1 student.

This romance is fundamentally of the older woman and young man genre. (But as there are ONLY 6 years between the ML & FL don't see it as anything to even be concerned about!)

The story is in the setting of after school cramming Academies. The rivalry amongst the teaching staff within, the incessant competition for students, and the disturbing unsettling power of the parents.

This is utterly baffling to those viewers from countries where the concept of cramming Academies and the competitive nature amongst them is non-existent, so the setting of this story is completely bewildering and it may as well be set on Mars in another future timezone!

Long lengthy explanations are plentiful and meaningless for a viewer from the UK. But did grasp (1) that the object of Academys is to teach the student to pass the Exams, not necessarily to understand what you are learning in education! And do not for one nanosecond deviate from this method and whatsoever! And (2) that it is first and foremost a BUSINESS!

Sadly these well-known fine actors (Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha-Joon) are totally and incredibly wasted, as the Director asks for clichéd performances. However the performance of Seo Jeong-yeon as the powerful Director of the rival academy was noteworthy. She acted out her nickname of "white-witch" with an appropriate amount of venom that one felt she didn't need the Director's suggestions!

Only one scene raises a smile - when the ML falls out the bed as he attempts to seduce the FL (fully clothed, of course, pleeeeze stop this at least a button-down shirt that can be unbuttoned I mean who gets into bed for obvious s*x with so many clothes on in 2024). The couple never seem to have fun together, quite unlike the other popular older woman/younger man genre "Something in the Rain", equally full of family angst and trauma, but where you could see that couple fall in love while having FUN, joyfully discovering each other together in the kitchen, the bedroom, or just walking!

At times it seemed as if this series was bordering on becoming a documentary about Korean Cramming Academies!

Just cannot recommend it.

Korean audio + English subtitles.

Firstly, we have a unusual dynamic duo of a famous teacher at a coaching institute pairing up with her former star student who has joined his former alma mater as a teacher himself. The chemistry is electric and both the main characters have delivered a sublime performance and fit together. The female protagonist Seo Hye-jin is initially extremely reluctant to have her student working alongside her but the universe conspires to work together closely. (Major friends to lovers and forced proximity tropes in here)

The drama also sheds light on the extremely competitive academic system in Korea. I also have prepared for one of the most competitive exams in India and was extremely lucky to have fantastic teachers at the coaching institute to focused on keeping us engaged and really making us understand the course content in depth. Initially I started off with extremely low scores at the bottom of the batch and slowly reached one of the top batches similar to the male protagonist Lee Joon-ho.

This drama will always hold a special place in my heart. I cannot wait for the subsequent episodes to come out.

P. S. Coming off watching Queen of Tears & Its ok to not be ok, Most Bollywood / Hollywood stuff has become disinteresting for me. Honestly thought I would never find another drama which measures up but I was dead wrong.