Whc1 - Blog Posts

the writers really said it’s not an ex best friend unless there’s some psychological torture involved

I forgot to say this last time. Baku, Gotak and I, we all know you visit your friend in the hospital and why he's there. But in my opinion it wasn’t your fault.

“I'm sorry that I forgot... everything that you taught me. how great it is to have friends. how nice it is to laugh. what you did for me... I want to try doing that for others.” — weak hero class 2

THIS!!!

if season 1 was a testament to sieun’s fight of self-determination — standing up for himself, punishing those who hurt him and his friends — and eventually realizing through beomseok’s plotline how damaging that sort of mindless violence can be, then season 2 is the portrayal of sieun’s reckoning with that, tempering down his viciousness, choosing force only when it is necessary, in an effort not to be cruel or do excessive harm.

it offsets so well with the baku-baekjin plotline — baekjin, a similarly intelligent and calculating boy who grew up bullied by others, who has that capacity for swift, harsh violence that sieun demonstrated all through season 1. but that’s not the person sieun is anymore, nor is it the person he wants to be.

“don’t cross the line” - that’s what embodies sieun’s approach to violence now. it’s why his takes resonate so much with his new friends at eunjang, who have all seen and felt very personally the harm of those who carelessly do so (jun-tae with hyoman, gotak with seungje, baku with baekjin). this is what broadly characterizes the motivations of our protagonists in s2, and it’s certainly a breath of fresh air in the vicious cycle they more broadly exist in.

"What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going, I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all"- The quote at the beginning of WHC.

And this is so perfect because:

This time Sieun didn't fight to avenge, he didn't to damage, to hurt, to win, he never fought for himself. Not once. This time, he fought to protect. And what makes WHC2 great is that you can actually SEE this difference in his fights this time. He is not vicious, just calculated, just enough to hold it at bay. He was calculating before, too, but this time it was subdued, quieter.

Park Jihoon truly is amazing as Yeon Sieun. Because everything this season, the way he acted genuinely showed the trauma, he embodied loss, hopelessness, not really belonging, the desperate plea to not get into a fight if he could avoid it, not to make the violence personal, Jihoon portrayed this all soo sooo well: from his body language to his eyes.

realizing that i actually was on the same wavelength🤞 as the whc2 writer was so surreal because tell me why sieun started becoming my mouthpiece from the very start of the season. the social applicability of newton’s third law (every action has an opposite and equal reaction) and the danger of perpetuating the cycle of violence were my Exact takeaways from the content of season 1 — sieun’s words were so incredibly familiar to me and that was SO Awesome.

whc2 spoilers

as if baku crying and blaming himself for sieun's condition AS A DIRECT PARALLEL TO HOW SIEUN FELT ABOUT SUHO WASN'T ENOUGH.

YOU HIT ME WITH THIS.

im gonna kill myself im so serious

HIS FACE WHEN BEOMSEOK ASKED ARE THEY MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU. HIS FACE. HIS TEAR SLIDING DOWN RIGHT AS BEOMSEOK'S DID. STFU. HE LOVED HIM SO MUCH OH MY GOD IM. I NEED A LOBOTOMY.

beomseok is told and shown his entire life - by his bullies, by his abusive father, all the way back to the fact that he is adopted - that he is unworthy of respect, that he belongs beneath others, and that he deserves to be hurt for it. he’s trapped in a perceived reality of give-and-take relationships, hierarchical struggle between peers, and friendships built upon facing a “common enemy,” and his perspective on human interaction and “acceptable” violence is extremely skewed by what he’s had to live through.

it’s tragic. beomseok was not ready to be the kind of friend that sieun was to him and suho, and beomseok was not ready to be friends with suho - a person who viewed them all as equals even as he echoed words and wounds all too familiar to beomseok’s past. beomseok was fighting and flailing, trying to find his place in the hierarchical world he felt he was stuck in, trying to battle his way to earning respect; he was not ready to recognize the genuine care and sense of equality that sieun and suho provided outside of that worldview, because that was not the kind of world he had ever experienced, and because his worst fear was to be the outsider. in actuality, he needed to heal his wounds and grow his self esteem in ways that didn’t rely on external validation. but… well.

in another story, beomseok’s arc could have been taken as a broken kid standing up for himself, and things could go very differently. but within the context of this show - delving into the damaging spiral of the cycle of violence - beomseok is punished for using the violence that he’s faced his whole life as a tool for his self-determination. he’s rebelling against what his father and bullies have told him, which should be something empowering. and yet because he does it in the wrong way, it all falls apart. his defensiveness and his fear and his resentment take him way too far into violence that comes to extreme ends, and his inability to take accountability (because genuinely, who ever even tried to do so in his view, other than sieun?) only feeds into blame shifting and worse behavior.

and none of this excuses him, and it doesn’t take away the very harmful consequence of his mistakes (suho!!!! suho nooo!!!!!) — but it’s very, very human. beomseok made mistakes, and the narrative didn’t let him get away with them whatsoever. there is no happy ending in continued violence, and so there is no happy ending for beomseok in this either.

“we need more complex male characters in korean dramas!!” you couldn’t even handle him.

whc2 spoilers

as if baku crying and blaming himself for sieun's condition AS A DIRECT PARALLEL TO HOW SIEUN FELT ABOUT SUHO WASN'T ENOUGH.

YOU HIT ME WITH THIS.

im gonna kill myself im so serious

HIS FACE WHEN BEOMSEOK ASKED ARE THEY MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU. HIS FACE. HIS TEAR SLIDING DOWN RIGHT AS BEOMSEOK'S DID. STFU. HE LOVED HIM SO MUCH OH MY GOD IM. I NEED A LOBOTOMY.

whc2 ep 6

baku, sieun, and baekjin having their little tension moment and then you have juntae and hyeontak on their Stakeout Date like :

whc2 spoilers

"i'll teach you how to fight."

"we're just....childhood friends.

i taught him how to fight."

i don't know who decided to change the entire baekjin backstory but FUCK YOU i can't stop fucking crying.

DO YOU GET THE PARALLELS YOU JUST CREATED???????? INSANE.

whc2 spoilers

just thinking about the fact that juntae gets introduced in the same way beomseok did, and parallels him all the time, and he's the one who ultimately tells sieun "it wasn't your fault" in regards to suho.

"sun & moon" okay but what about two moons who love each other with the faint glow they try so hard to muster up in the darkest night except that love flickers and dies because ultimately they need the sun's light to survive. haha.

"he didn't have any redeeming qualities" it's almost like.....that's the point. it's almost like a big part of his arc is literally that he's wandering around without a purpose, being cruel for the sake of it without even realising, as if he's desperately trying to prove himself to the whole world. it's almost like sieun himself recognised that which is why he couldn't bring himself to harm beomseok till the end. it's almost like he was mourning the loss of not one but TWO friends at the end. it's almost like being abused is a cycle that can easily tip a person into a pool of negative emotions which is incredibly hard to crawl out of. it's almost like a child will internalize the way they were treated and be incredibly insecure as a result. it's almost like jealousy stemming from inferiority will cause people to hate themselves more than anything and they'll project it onto others a lot of times. it's almost like beomseok's a fucking gray character not meant to fit into your classic tropes. if you want to hate simply for the sake of hating just go and read the damn webtoon. you can have your one dimensional characters and play with them.

nobody is denying that he fucked up royally, nor is anyone trying to provide a reasoning for it. we're simply being given an explanation of how his surroundings shaped him, how even if he escaped that pattern it was too little too late, and now he'll spend the rest of his life with crushing guilt on his shoulders. it's something real that occurs and it sucks for everyone involved and that is why it is MILES better than just using him as a blatant tool to move the plot along (which is what the webtoon did). you're still free to hate him but atleast watch the damn show properly.

“we need more complex male characters in korean dramas!!” you couldn’t even handle him.

New Drama Alert - Weak Hero Class 1 (Status: Finished)

Alright chat, let’s have a chat (haha, I’m sorry). So new post series alert. In this post, I’m going to rant about a kdrama all social media talks about when it comes to great dramas; Weak Hero Class 1. Just finished today since I got inspired by Study Group, a new drama I’ll post about later, and damn. Do I have to say, I was not disappointed. Expectations exceeded actually. Was actually bawling my eyes out a little bit ago, still kinda am, and just from that rare occurrence when watching a kdrama, an automatic 10/10 for me. But seriously, I need to rant about this show and its arcs, writing, just everything. So I’m not stop wasting time and yap to help cope with the emotional damage this show left me.

Weak Hero Class 1 Review

1. Introduction - Right from the start, Sieun slamming a book against someone was an amazing start to the series. Great hook, and great misleading character introduction for him. At least, that’s what you think when you first meet him after the intro. But another great this show does is the set up. As this little crash out was just gonna be pay off for the character arc later. And gosh, what genius writing. Also introducing my favorite, Suho, another misleading character intro as we see him sleeping in class and not caring about school. Even though it is using the typical kdrama bully trope, the show finds a way to make it fresh and not feel repetitive in future episodes. Great setup and great introduction again.

2. Writing - Again, let me glaze, but the writing in this show is incredible. One of the best I’ve seen in kdrama so far. This show excels in emotional writing and relationship writing that makes the audience feel attached to these characters while also making each character feel unique with their own personality. Hell, sometimes even the villains get a bit of the spotlight, even if they are just obstacles and setup for future characters. But, another thing I love is how everyone in this show is gray, morally wise. No one here is 100% good nor bad, their home lives and past setting up to make them understandable but not excusable from their actions later on. How it shows and poses questions of what it means to take it too far, how much pain you can take before you say enough and that just because you were hurt doesn’t make it right to dish it out on others, especially your friends. So when our favorite characters does something bad, we of course shout at them no but we understand why they’re doing it. All around, fantastic writing as it takes such a tired out and simple bully concept and finds a way to tell an engaging story about insecurity, pain, and morally questionable themes.

3. Characters - By god, have I never felt so horrible for such a set of characters. Like please, give my boys a break. Especially for Beomseok. And now, I’m going to defend my boy since I’ve been seeing a lot of hate for the character. Now, what he did was inexcusable, terrible. I’m denying that and neither is anyone else in the show. It’s goes back to one of my praises about the show; accountability for its characters. Both from the law and the characters themselves. Beomseok is someone not introduced till episode 2, and we see him as a very shy, quiet kid who keeps to himself. Or at least tries to till the bullies get a hold of him and start pushing the kid around like they did Sieun. But when Suho and Sieun come to his rescue, he still feels hesitant to hang around them, till Suho starts making him feel welcomed and part of the group. Then, they get into some trouble with a gang and Beomseok’s first choice is to just pay the money and get it over with. But his friends say they wanna catch him and lock him up for good, and we see him fighting back against it. Now, the audience may start to see him as a coward and they’re right. I did at this point, even when he goes back on their plan to just give them money, especially if it meant that Suho’s life was at stake. Then, the trio get into trouble, Suho and him get taken, and now they’ve beaten the gang leader and got him thrown in jail along with his associates. Still, Beomseok doesn’t too thrilled about it, and we see why when he gets home to his father who finds out the news and pays the police to keep it under wraps. And, sensitive content, but the little moment of just the punishment his piece of shit father gives him changes everything we know about Beomseok’s character. The complete perspective shift was well done and jarring to saw the least. Now we as an audience understand why he’s the way he is. He’s not a coward, he’s terrified of his father finding out and beating him for trying to make things right. For bringing attention to himself when his father told him to stay low. How he’s practically opposed to making friends or having people know him in fear of his father. So when he goes off the rails, does the bad shit, betrays his friends when he gets a moment of revenge against his bullies from the same people who bullied him, he feels accepted, completely buying into the venom the other bullies spilled about him being Suho’s gofer.

Also wanna talk about people saying ‘All this over Suho not following him on Insta.’ It wasn’t about the Insta following, it was about Beomseok’s insecurity getting the best of him and telling him that Suho was looking down on him and didn’t think he was good enough to follow him back. Remember, Beomseok’s character is all about impressions, how people view him. The first person to ever notice him didn’t bully him and actually treated him like a friend. So when, he doesn’t see that he followed him, but he followed a girl and was paying more attention to her after just barely meeting her, the thoughts in head started to spill lies. I can relate to him in that, but of course, I didn’t nearly kill anyone over this. But Beomseok’s character was a ticking time bomb. The kid was bullied so much that he had to transfer and get therapy for it, starts gettig bullied at his new school about it, then if he tries to ask his father for help, he’ll just get beaten for it. He’s abused everywhere, no wonder the kid went off the rails when given the chance. All the years of abuse, emotional degradation and self-hatred pilling on with no support or outlet, Beomseok finally snapped. Kids like him unfortunately sometimes go down this path as they feel some sense of control and validation through putting down others. He unironically became the people that treated him like shit, that pushed him down his path. His character really is the saying ‘Hurt people hurt people.’ But when he sees Suho not moving, the fog over his brain lifts and he sees through the glass clearly. And the way he breaks, everything crumbling around him was just heartbreaking. At the end of the day, he was a kid who needed proper reassurance, as all of this was due to miscommunication, insecurity and harsh reality.

But another character I wanted to rant about was Sieun and his fantastic character arc. How he went from the quiet boy to total badass was greatly written. It’s first established how smart he is, shown by how he’d rather study than talk to people and how great his grades are. I love this also goes into his personality and what makes him tick, as his parents have never really paid attention to him, not even his academic accomplishments. So he’s like, what’s the point in trying to make friends since no one really cares for me or what I’ve accomplished? Then Suho shows up and throws all that out the window. Suho was the first person in his life to really care for him, regardless of his grades or not. His first ever friend. Someone that stayed even when he tried to push him away. So when Suho nearly dies, his friend who cared for him and fought for him, he breaks. He crashes out and goes to get revenge just Suho would do for him. Taking what he learned from him to strike fear into the bullies and make them pay for they did. Really and truly this time. I love how it shows that while Sieun may not have the fighting skills that Suho does, he’s damn smart enough to make up for it. Using the environment and his smarts to his advantage when it comes to fight was such an ingenious way of making strong without making him a copy of Suho. It made his fighting style unique and in the ending episode, shows how he combined his knowledge with his fighting that gave him the under hand and victory against even an experienced UFC fighter. The arc of him standing up for himself and not being closed off anymore makes him one of the best kdrama characters in the genre. Of course, Suho was amazing as well, acting like a sort of shield and guardian for the others, even apologizing and trying to make Beomseok see reason after what Sieun tells him. That understanding someone and what they’re going through can make a difference. Let’s just pray that he wakes up next season.

4. Acting - Phenomenal. Absolutely brilliant. Brought me to tears, laughter, anger, all the emotions. The 7th episode was enough to make me bawl on its own. Just from the amazing chemistry between and them really getting the audience to be invested in their characters and relationships so when the emotional stuff happens, you feel the distraught emotions they feel as well. They made it feel so real and so fun to watch and I couldn’t be more happy with the cast they’ve presented to use today.

Overall, this show was a fantastic watch. One of the best shows, just in general, that I’ve ever watched. The story and writing make it engaging from the start and find a way to use a simple concept and make it exciting with new obstacles and writing that keep the audience hooked. If not the writing, then the characters themselves are enough to make you feel like part of the gang and cry with them when it all goes to hell. Highly recommend and give this one a try if you have time. But that does it for me, hope enjoyed this longgg ass tangent. Just had to get it off my list since it was so good.

Until next time, bye!