Itaewon Class

Episodes: 16

Synopsis: This drama focuses on Park Saeroyi, a righteous young man who refuses to be anything but straightforward. His life gets turned around after he is expelled from school for punching a bully, his father is killed in a car accident, and he is forced to carry the weight of knowing who did not pay for their crime. After coming out of prison for assault, he decides to open up a pub called DanBam in hopes of taking on the Jangga corporation. With the help of an interesting group of characters -- a smart sociopathic girl, a biracial Korean, an ex-gangster, and a transgender chef, Park Saeroyi begins to rise in the food industry. A true story of how revenge takes time and that bad karma can always be manifested and delivered to those who deserve it.

Review

I watched this drama as there were a lot of people hyping it up. In fact, a few of my friends have recommended it to me saying that they were currently watching it as well and that they enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it. A big part of the reason is the fact that most of the characters in this drama are unlikable and very shady. I spent most of the drama stressed out, frustrated, and angry. I found it hard to invest in the characters as many were inconsistent and unlikable. The characters that I did enjoy were either too rigid or too in the background. 

       Saeroyi felt so unrealistic about how rigid he was. I hated all the love interests in this drama because I felt none of the girls were particularly likable. There were many unrealistic aspects that threw me off in the drama such as: how poorly Saeroyi ran his pub when he first opened (a lot of the stuff seemed like common sense, but they needed to introduce Jo Yi Seo to the business somehow), how Saeroyi thought his pub could grow to tackle on a recognized and giant food industry, and how he actually managed to succeed. It jumped a lot so we never truly saw the process for success. While it was satisfying to see DanBam climb up the food hierarchy, it felt like things were too easy. I feel like characters such as Hyunyi, Toni, and Choi Seung Kwon were the most enjoyable to watch. However, we saw so little of them...especially Toni. I know many stressed how nice it was to see diversity in the Korean drama, especially as he acted as someone biracial and was highlighting the stigma he experiences of not being recognized as Korean. However, it felt like he wasn't on screen that often and the acting was subpar. The best acting in this drama has got to be from Jang Dae Hee...it gave me chills, and at the end, he confused me as to how I should treat him because I actually felt bad for him.  

            Also real talk: the hair was not a vibe in this drama...especially for the main leads.

I do want to commend the drama for a few things: 

- Their OSTs were very catchy 

- Their focus on issues such as transgenders in Korea and foreigners with Korean heritage in Korea -- it targetted a lot of discriminatory practices that occur, and it provided a good perspective on those individuals. It made you like those characters more and feel thankful they had DanBam to call their home. (I will never forgive what Geunsoo did to Hyunyi in episode 12)