School 2015- Who Are You

School 2015- Who Are You?

6.5/10

School 2015- Who Are You 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2015

School

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Go Eun Byul and Lee Eun Bi are orphaned twins who were separated as children after Eun Byul is adopted. Eun Bi remains in an orphanage in Tongyeong, where she is viciously bullied by other girls in her school. Eun Byul lives in Seoul with her adoptive mother where she is popular and doing well with her studies. Eun Byul’s class take a trip to Tongyeong, and while on the trip both twins disappear. Days later, one of the twins wakes in the hospital with no memory, while the other is still missing.

Cast:

Kim So Hyun (Lee Eun Bi/Go Eun Byul)

Yook Sung Jae (Gong Tae Kwang)

Nam Joo Hyuk (Han Yi An)

Lee Pil Mo (Kim Joon Seok)

Jo Soo Hyang (Kang So Young)

Lee David (Park min Joon)

General Thoughts:

I’ve not had any experience with the ‘School’ franchise before, so I can’t compare this drama to any of its predecessors, but only as a stand-alone drama. So basically, we get another drama that has a rocketing, if not brilliant start, before rapidly declining in the later stages.

The second half of this drama in a nutshell

The story has brilliant initial setup, where we are introduced to two different worlds with two separate sets of characters, and then watch as these worlds collide. There are hidden mysteries, horrific villains and a broken, yet inherently likeable heroine to cheer for. It appears as though the writers have sat down and meticulously mapped out a spectacular universe for our characters to live in, with a storyline that knew exactly where it wanted to go. And then it all turned to poop.

How I looked trying to hold onto hope for this series

Because we realise that actually, no, our writers haven’t meticulously mapped out anything, and the storyline has no idea where it wants to go- so it just flounders around for a couple of episodes before ultimately collapsing under its own weight. What a bummer. On the upside, the acting was phenomenal, bar Nam Joo Hyuk (sorry!) who was passable, and struggled with a haphazardly constructed character. Lee Pil Mo was criminally underutilized. He was dazzling in any scene he was in and killed it as the conflicted teacher who wanted the best for his students. He had great scenes with both Gong Tae Kwang and Park Min Joon, but was weirdly absent from the lives of our twins. Which was peculiar considering he and Eun Byul were being harassed by the same person. Jo Soo Hyang was spectacular. I hated her so much. Which is a missive credit to her acting- she embodied the vicious, relentless bully so completely. Never before have I wanted to see a boy smack a girl- but Jo Soo Hyang as Kang So Young made me want Tae Kwang to whack her teeth in. And Yook Sung Jae! Sungjae! Long live Yook Sung Jae! I didn’t even know he was an idol (sorry BtoB)- he delivered such a believable, lovable character with such apparent ease.

Oh my God- let me love you forever

Granted, Tae Kwang was probably the only adequately written character in the whole series, but that doesn’t take away from how brilliantly Sungjae was able to convey his underlying emotions. His acting was seamless and natural, and he was definitely able to stand alongside Kim So Hyun without being outshone or outacted. Sadly, you can’t really say the same for Nam Joo Hyuk. Unfortunately, he did fall victim to one of the worst cases of character misconstruction I’ve ever seen. I mean, what were the writers even trying to do with his character? He was so completely devoted to Eun Byul before making an unexplored, unexplainable switch to being head over heels for Eun Bi. Say what now? Not to mention he just stands around looking wistful for the large majority of the series.

Just get out of my face, Han Yi An

The only time I felt any compassion or sympathy for poor ol’ Yi An was when he was injured and he came to realise what a devastating impact that would have on his swimming career. But even how he got that injury was stupid- it was like the writers were just throwing in any random reason to force Yi An and Eun Bi to interact. The budding bromance between Tae Kwang and Teacher Kim as always welcome.

Best relationship in the whole school

It was perhaps the only relationship dynamic that the show actually got right. It was beautiful to watch how the same man had such a different, yet equally influential impact on these two men. Tae Kwang’s father was a source of inspiration and then crushing disappointment for Teacher Kim, and an unscaleable obstacle for Tae Kwang. It let our little viewer hearts go nuts with the teasing of the hyung-dongsaeng relationship. And while I did appreciate the snazzy new hair- I did find myself missing Tae Kwang’s blonde cut. The villains were set up beautifully, but then fell by the wayside in favour of cramming in more love triangle goodness (insert sarcasm here). It seemed as though the writers realised halfway through that they had no idea how to make these threats make sense and didn’t have time to construct a satisfying conclusion, so they decided to crush the mystery-villain storyline beneath unbearable amounts of poorly constructed teen angst. Because, you know, nothing saves a drama quite like colossal amounts of senseless teenage angst. Then again, sloppy as the story was, it did have its moments. I enjoyed that the drama showcased how children are a result of their parents- but that's not to say that all difficult children have bad parents.

"It's lethal to give your child the wings to fly while forcing them on their knees."

It was more a depiction on how abandonment and pressure can have devastating effects on children, even when their parents have the best intentions. The drama was scored beautifully. The music always matched the mood, or provided a clue on what kind of ambience the writers were aiming for (because with indecisive Eun Bi, sometimes it was hard to tell if the mood was getting romantic or awkward). The differing instrumentation of ‘Reset’ (by Tiger JK) provided a nice continuity to the drama without ruining the mood or overusing the song.

What Was Great:

Eun Bi would have been the worst character ever without Kim So Hyun

Young Actors:

Kim So Hyun finally gets to showcase exactly how awesome she is. We’ve seen hints of it before- but she really got to let loose here. Even though the twins weren’t exactly written as the most dynamic characters ever, Kim So Hyun was able to bring her own energy into the roles. She was able to deftly handle the differing personality traits of the two girls- even when she was acting as Eun Bi acting as Eun Byul. Even moments in the drama where the girls’ characteristics were blurring and becoming similar, Kim So Hyun was always able to clearly show the audience which twin we were seeing on our screen. Sungjae just stole the show as the mistreated, hard-on-the-outside-smooshy-on-the-inside schoolboy. I just wanted to reach through the screen and give him a hug. Or slap Eun Bi for not giving him a hug.

He was all kinds of amazing

Setting and Setup:

This drama had a stellar beginning. Characters were set up beautifully, with past and future relationships being hinted at. Mystery was everywhere and we were given one villain out in the open (So Young) in Eun Bi’s world and one in the shadows (Soo In’s sister) in Eun Byul’s world.

Secrets and drama and conflict, oh my!

After the disappearance of Eun Byul we were given a shift in the power plays going on around Eun Bi. Suddenly she has a great support system of family and friends who love her (well… they think she’s Eun Bi, but still). This causes a great shift in power between Eun Bi and So Young. Which is fantastic- we all wanted it and it was always awesome to see Eun Bi backing herself against her tormentor. Not only was it interesting to watch this shift in the drama, but it was a poignant point to display how bullying can only effectively take place when those around turn a blind eye. The second someone else questioned So Young’s treatment of Eun Bi (whether it be one of the boys, Eun Bi pretending to be Eun Byul, or Eun Byul herself), So Young was visibly shaken, confused and more unsure of her actions. It looked like this was paving the way for a dramatic collision between Eun Bi and So Young, with Eun Bi finally being able to take her bully down a couple of pegs. Sure, this never actually happened- but it was exciting to look forward to it while it was still in the realm of possibility. It was also a smart move to set this as a high school drama- because had the story been set anywhere else, it would have just been a tad ridiculous (I'm looking at you, 'Bride of the Century'). Much as I’m tired of love triangles, the love setup seemed promising as well.

Please don't screw it up, please don't screw it up. Oop. You screwed it up.

You’ve got two sisters (and twins at that) and two boys. The math adds up. Throw in a little confusion about which sister is which and you’ve got enough conflict in there romance-wise, but a conflict that is easy enough to clear up. But then, similarly to everything else in the drama, the writers found a way to ruin it.

What Wasn’t:

Loveline Mishandling:

It was so stupid. It was so, so stupid, and it remains my biggest issue with this drama. There were four main characters- two boys and two girls. The girls didn’t hate each other either- they didn't even see each other as rivals. Regardless of how predictable an ending that would have been- it was the one that made the most sense.

They just don't make sense together- no matter how much you try and force me to believe it

Now, I know I tend to get up in arms whenever the boy I like best isn’t the one the heroine ends up with, but I’m not unreasonable. What I consider to be a successful love triangle is a situation where there is a conflict between three or four characters regarding a romantic relationship, and the writers gently guide me in the direction they want to go. This drama is not an example of a successful love triangle.

I'm sorry- you don't want me to fall for this ball of cuteness?

As we continued our merry way down the road that is this drama, I could see the beautiful boat that was Tae Kwang. I was on that ship. I was on that ship so good. Honestly speaking, was there anyone that wasn’t? His ‘competition’ Han Yi An had less than no development, and had only marginal character to begin with. Then suddenly the writers were throwing in massive ‘HAN YI AN’ roadblocks that pointed to the drama’s end. But we didn’t want to go there. We’d seen where we wanted to go, and the writers weren’t letting us get there. It was frustrating to say the least. The basic rule of love triangles is this: don’t make the secondary man unquestionably better than your endgame man. Personally, hard-exterior-soft-interior guys are right up there with handsome idiots. They’re wonderful and I have a total weakness for them- so of course I was going to be swooning over Tae Kwang. But where’s the rule that you can’t have two awesome, differing males at the same time? Whenever Tae Kwang was getting character development, Yi An was suspiciously absent. Whenever Yi An was getting screen time (because he never actually got any development), Tae Kwang was hard to find. In some dramas this issue can be deemed passable as the final romance happens between the heroine and male who was most recently developed and given screen time. But no, we go from giving all this attention to Tae Kwang, his feelings and situation- and suddenly Eun Bi is shafting him and choosing Yi An.

Boooo Han Yi An, booooooo

It was like Chil Bong all over again. Not loving that. Seriously, writers. Didn’t you learn? You can’t give us abandoned, unloved outcasts who choose to do the the best with their lonely lives after meeting the heroine, sit them next to a happy boy who’s been loved all his life, and then expect us to be happy when our heroine turns her back on the outcast. We don’t like it when that happens. We never have, and we never will. We want our lonely boys to get some love too! Not only was the handling of the two boys’ characters poor, but there was no fluidity in our heroine’s choice- or Han Yi An’s for that matter.

They know literally nothing about each other

For starters- Han Yi An doesn’t actually know our heroine. He’s known her while she’s been pretending to be her twin sister with missing memories- and that doesn’t count. Even then he was making comparisons to the ‘her’ in the past and pointing out all the differences. I suppose you can argue that he didn’t dislike those differences- but he still thought she was someone else. When he discovered that she was Eun Bi, and not Eun Byul who he’d grown up with, Yi An was quick to distance himself and had no real interactions with Eun Bi beyond putting her down and telling her to get lost. And that all makes sense- because he’s been nursing a crush on Eun Byul going on ten years now. But then he finds his love Eun Byul again and suddenly he’s all ‘Oi, nah. I think I like your sister better.’ There was no gradual progression from one girl to the other- he was just suddenly there. This only gave the impression that it was the face he liked and everything else was secondary to that. He liked Eun Byul, but then found a girl with the same face and a less abrasive personality, so he drops Eun Byul to go for the twin. Either that or he simply can’t stand losing to Tae Kwang and couldn’t bear letting him have the girl- even after he found out Tae Kwang was never actually crushing on his girl.

Do you see two girls? I see two girls. Two boys, two girls- makes perfect sense to me

I personally would have preferred if Yi An’s great love had simply turned out to be swimming. Because frankly, the most interesting aspects of his character revolved around him identifying as a swimmer, and his loss of purpose immediately after his injury.

For f*ck's sake, someone help him- I don't even care who

Simply having Eun Bi be the friend that encouraged him to go after his dream again would have been enough- they didn’t need to get romantic about it. On the other hand, Tae Kwang was someone who actually needed the romance. He didn't receive adequate amounts of love from either of his parents, and didn’t have any friends either. It became increasingly frustrating to watch him go all out in supporting Eun Bi, only to have her completely overlook him at every turn and never pay attention to his needs. In the end, all Tae Kwang got was a father who was slightly less of a butt- but all the scars were still there, and are we just going to ignore the six months that poor boy spent completely on his own while his father was in prison? Apparently so.

Quick Fix:

None of our villains were brought down in a satisfying way. The award for most ridiculous conclusion ever would have to go to Soo In’s sister. She’s spent at least a year harassing Eun Byul and Teacher Kim via text messages, and goes as far as entering the school under the guise of a student-teacher to have more access to them.

Actually the least threatening villain out

She’s painted as a vengeful woman who won’t settle until the two people ‘responsible’ for Soo In’s death are trapped in eternal suffering. But then Teacher Kim says he’s always felt guilty, and Eun Byul cries and says she had a hard time too, and suddenly our rage-filled sister is satisfied. What. Even. And what was the deal with all Eun Byul’s screaming and tripping out? Was that older sister or just her being ‘haunted’ by her memories of Soo In? Because she seems way too mentally stable to be hallucinating to that extent, and sister’s resolution becomes even more unsatisfying if she’s actually been stalking and scaring Eun Byul all this time.

Eun Byul fighting all Eun Bi's battles for her

And then we have So Young- who was a great antagonist for the most part. We were given insight into why she enjoyed stepping on those weaker than her- but we never spent enough time on her backstory to sympathise with her. Thank goodness- it was nice to have a character we could just flat-out hate. She became less and less threatening as the drama continued and Eun Bi started making more friends on her own, and it seemed like we were just waiting for Eun Bi to give her what was coming to her. But then the last episode seemed to want to make a last ditch attempt to garner sympathy for her by showing what a giant monster her father was- but by this time it was too late, and we were all still calling for her head. However, in the end she just transfers schools (though she can’t escape her past as all her new classmates already know what's she's done) and even Eun Bi tries to give her the smallest piece of comfort. Totally lame. I’d waited all drama long for Eun Bi to finally stand up to So Young, but it never came.

Twin Fallout:

With a drama that bases its main conflict on twin shenanigans, there’s always the risk of having characters that appear too similar. Now, I believe all credit for that not happening rests solely with Kim So Hyun- because the writers did not help her at all.

Forget the writers- Kim So Hyun did all the work

We all know that Eun Bi has the courage to stand up to injustice- it’s what got her into trouble in the first place, and she even has a few moments where she stands up to So Young as she’s gained confidence from pretending to be someone else. However, apart from those few glimpses, Eun Bi is a rather boring heroine. She just stands around, not doing very much while her world changes around her.

I swear her progress actually went backwards

I had a lot of respect for her in the beginning as after she regained her memories she decided right away to return to her actual life, rather than continue lying to everyone around her. But after Eun Byul’s mum drags her back, her character reverts back to shy and introverted- even when we knew she had a little more substance buried in her somewhere. Next to Eun Bi we have Eun Byul- who is far more worthy of being our heroine in my books. Sure, she’s a little rude and arrogant, but she stands up for what she believes is right after experiencing the guilt that comes with backing down due to fear and/or ignorance. She had the honesty and maturity to sit down and talk her feelings out with Yi An (whereas Eun Bi just stood around looking confused and uncomfortable whenever either boy spoke to her) and even worked to reveal the truth behind Soo In’s death. But then the writers totally shaft her character and send her overseas. Writers, are you actually trying to see how angry you can make the viewers of your show? We’ve waited 16 episodes for our happy family of Mum, Eun Bi and Eun Byul- but all you gave us is the name tag ‘Go Eun Bi’.

Re-watch?

Dear Lord, no. I hope Kim So Hyun moves on to bigger and better things- because she’s definitely proven herself to be an actress capable of taking on a complex female lead. I also hope this series did something to spark Yook Sung Jae’s acting career because I really want to watch him in something where he gets the girl. 

I vote they shoot the whole thing again- but this time Tare Kwang wins