REVIEW: Itaewon Class
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 2 out of 5 stars
SYNOPSIS
*From DramaList*
Park Saeroyi's life has been turned upside down after he gets expelled from school for punching a bully and his father is killed in an accident. Following his father's steps, he opens a pub named "DanBam" in Itaewon and, along with his manager and staff, strive towards success and reaching greater heights. (Source: Wikipedia) ~~ Adapted from the popular Daum webtoon of the same name.
RAMBLING
*beware of spoilers*
Park Seo-joon can do no wrong. The man knows how to pick gangbuster projects! The way this show seemed to dominate pop culture and achieve high ratings... so hard to do.
Itaewon Class had a lot of innovative elements that made it totally different from other K-dramas, which helped elevate it and push it to new heights. I found the entire show both diverse and progressive. The show also covers a span of about 15 years, which is insane! Pretty ambitious.
Park Saeroyi, played by the incomparable Park Seo-joon, started off the show as a sort of socially inept character. He didn’t try to make friends and shrugged off anyone who seemed to get too close. I found that fascinating! He could very well have been on the autism spectrum, but those around him just called him “crazy.” South Korea might have the BBQ, kimchi, beauty, and plastic surgery on lock, but they’re miles behind on the various social aspects and lifestyles that other Western countries have managed to accept. A possibly autistic character is one such thing. I adored his cute self-soothing mannerism of him reaching up and petting or stroking his own head; he did this anytime he felt nervous or uncomfortable.
(Sidenote: Park Seo-joon is one of the most handsome, finest men working in Korea today, yet they gave him a horrendously bad haircut for the entirety of this show. It was unsightly.)
Episode 1 starts with a therapy session. The character Jo Yi-seo is speaking candidly about her thoughts on life with a therapist, basically nonchalantly expressing her disillusionment of life, how she finds it so tedious to live, and if we die anyway then what’s the point? She goes on to say that her boss (Saeroyi) told her, in a nutshell, that if life is so hard then she should just die—casually suggesting she commit suicide. The therapist is mildly appalled, but Yi-seo is impressed that he called her bluff.
And just like that we have a massively different female lead—she’s not angelically kind or compassionate, traditionally beautiful, tall, or close in age to our male lead. Yi-seo is coldhearted, fierce, blunt, intelligent, insightful, aggressive, and slightly manipulative. Believe me when I say that this type of character in K-drama is ALWAYS a villain. I was so glad to see Yi-seo as a valid female lead; her flaws are what made her unique and beneficial to Saeroyi. She’s an incredibly strong woman, and I felt like I related more to her than to any character in K-drama ever.
The other leading lady was Oh Soo-ah, a traditionally beautiful, well-educated, smart woman. She plays Saeroyi’s first love, a person who grew up an orphan but found refuge and a father-figure in Park Saeroyi’s dad. The man even gifted her all the money she’d need for college tuition! She owes Park Saeroyi her allegiance, which for the majority of the show, is called into question. Instead of being wholly loyal to Saeroyi (following the hit-and-run murder of his dad and the systemic cover-up), she takes money from Jangga Co. and coasts through a fine education without worrying much. Of course, she gets hired at Jangga Co. after graduation, becoming an invaluable employee close to the evil Chairman.
So what gives? I found her extremely wishy-washy and selfish, whereas Yi-seo was selfish but not wishy-washy. It felt like Soo-ah was always caught off-guard whenever the Chairman used her against Saeroyi, since he understood their deep connection. At one particular checkmate, Soo-ah drops by Saeroyi’s ailing business with a potted plant with a ribbon that reads “Know your place.” She laments “Do you know how I felt when I had to bring you that plant on behalf of Chairman Jang?” Quick rebuttal question: Why the hell is she making herself the victim? How dare she tell him to stop his vendetta when she’s working for the devil himself!
I particularly enjoy the interactions between Soo-ah and Yi-seo because Yi-seo tells it like it is. “You just keep asking for things while you aren’t doing anything.” And she’s right. Soo-ah never contributed anything positive to Saeroyi and instead used his feelings to make outrageous, half-hearted requests, saying that she wants to be with a rich man and whatnot.
I loved how this show kept you guessing as to which female lead Saeroyi was going to end up with. I want to stress that this show is not a romance by any stretch. It’s a revenge story. One man at odds with a truly rotten chaebol family, and in particular the head of the family: Chairman Jang Dae-hee.
To that end, the romance between Yi-seo and Saeroyi was interesting. She confesses her love for him when she’s just 20 years old, while he’s nearly 30. He rejects her, but not before spouting excuses like their age difference and that she’s his employee. In a move that’s downright heroic, she blurts out, “Those are just excuses!” essentially saying that if you don’t like me, that’s all you have to say. Don’t cushion the blow or cop out with these excuses that play into societal norms. And it’s a huge deal to someone like me, who’s watched countless K-dramas where the main point of conflict in a romance is one of these trivial societal norms. These excuses are instantly made inconsequential by her.
It takes a further four years before Saeroyi sees her “as a woman” and the pair get together in the end. It’s wonderful. She’s the only reason he would ever “bend the knee” to Chairman Jang—and that’s exactly what happens when the old goat holds her location hostage just to see Saeroyi prostrate himself.
There was a black character and a transgender character. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. I have never experienced a show with either character, so this was truly breaking new ground. I couldn’t believe that the black character Kim Toni (played by American actor Chris Lyon) wasn’t just a cameo character. He’s part-time staff at DanBam pub, and the character is of Korean and Guinean descent, fluent in both French and Korean. The fact that everyone expects him to speak English is hilarious and sad. There’s major discrimination at a club, and he’s constantly telling, nearly begging, everyone that he’s KOREAN. That’s a very hard notion, this concept of stereotypically looking like where you’re from. It’s certainly more of a melting pot in the States, but there’s Hispanic people with blue eyes and red hair. There’re black people from Puerto Rico. The show explored this concept.
The amazing transgender character Hyun-yi is played by Lee Joo-young, which you might recognize from Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo! Swag! I found her story so compelling and divisive. Lots of different viewpoints on her lifestyle are shared, but the overarching message of the show is that It’s okay to be different, but it’s not okay to judge others or share another’s struggles without their consent.
The final act of the show was suitably ludicrous. I forgot that a lot of shows opt to have an outrageous ending. This one had a double kidnapping, a murder plot against Yi-seo, gangs, Saeroyi getting run over by a car, I mean—it was all sorts of crazy. Did I hate it? Not particularly.
A couple things stood out to me as far as writing goes: (1) Lee Ho-jin (played by Lee David) visits Geun-won in jail to gloat. Once Geun-won realizes who he is and what he’s done, Ho-jin simply says “Stop whining. It’s done. I forgive you.” And WALKS OUT. What a friggin’ beast! (2) Chairman Jang, realizing that he’s about to finally lose his company and he’s too close to death to do anything about it, goes to see Saeroyi and beg on his knees for mercy. Saeroyi calmly tells him to get up off the floor and then says “Do you think I’m a pushover? I’m a businessman.” And I slow clapped.
Why isn’t this a 4.5- or 5-star review? I thought there was just too much posturing and dick swinging and shit talking back and forth. Saeroyi and Chairman Jang constantly making huge promises to end the other while standing far too close to the other person’s face while doing it. I don’t appreciate filler. Doing this once or twice is one thing, but after that, it becomes tedious.
Did you see Itaewon Class? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
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