Graduation (2024)

Try it you might like it!

It's not as bad as the comments make it seem. I gleefully anticipated this drama since I LOVE Jung Ryeo Won and Wi Ha Joon. Also Wi Ha Joon finally in a romance? I was excited. Then after I saw it was out I almost didn't watch it because of what I read in the comments. SO if you are contemplating, just give it a chance to see how you like it. Don't rely too much on other opinions with this one.

It's a very mellow drama with a very cute romance. If you like Something in the Rain or One Spring Night you'll like this. I didn't know that this show had the same director until I was almost done with the show and was like "That's why it felt so familiar!" I have some complaints about the story and ending but the acting is amazing. I'm big on romance, it's hard for me to watch anything without it lol, so trust me when I say it was great. It also didn't feel that much like a Noona romance, probably because there isn't too much of an age difference. She treated him like her student but he never let that slide since his goal was HER lol. Romance 10/10.

My biggest gripe with the show was the ending. I both liked and disliked Ms. Nam. Ms. Nam alone is a great person and I loved her. It was iffy at the beginning because of how she wanted to compete with SHJ when that wasn't the normal practice at the academy, but she got better and was great. In the end they made me dislike her a bit because that woman gave her the position just because she wanted her and her son to get married. As if they wouldn't get married if she didn't get the position. The ending was not that satisfying because although SHJ decided to leave they never acknowledged all her contributions to the academy and instead were solely focused on mitigating their losses. They should have pursued legal action for those rumors at least. Like "oh, we've sucked you dry, wasted your youth, and let your reputation be destroyed but it's fine since you're leaving." That's not loyalty Shannon. That's not justice. It made me just see the new assistant direct and selfish and self-serving. Everyone just casually hated SHJ just because she was successful and good at her job. She never did anything to them but she was attacked left and right and no one moved to openly defend her, no matter how much she helped them in the past. Just nasty behavior all around.

Anyways, give it a try if you want. I enjoyed it a lot even though the ending irritated me lol.

Citeste mai mult

Slice-of-life series, with a sweet romance and a severe criticism of the Korean school system.

PLOT: FL, star teacher at a prestigious hagwon, finds one of his former students as a colleague.

+ Quite harsh criticism of the Korean school system: competition, cramming, over-importance of grades and rankings, pressure from parents, number of hours of daily work, ... But here we discover the world of hagwons (academies). I know it's part of Korean culture, but which parents want to impose that on their children? I understand why more and more Korean families are emigrating, especially to escape such a "massacre" of their children... => Kudos fro the producer Ahn Pan Seok !

+ Great cast: Wi Ha Joon & Jung Ryeo Won form a harmonious, respectful, confident couple, with great chemistry.
+ romance 2 is very cute (with So Ju Yeon)
+ very realistic context and tone
+ Excellent OSTs
+ pretty and sweet ending

# pace which slows down in the 2nd half

=> a very good slice-of-life series, realistic, with a sweet romance and a severe criticism of the Korean school system.
*************************************************************************************

PLOT : La FL, prof vedette d'un hagwon de prestige, retrouve un de ses anciens élèves, comme collègue.

+ Critique assez sévère du système scolaire coréen : compétition, bachotage, sur-importance des notes et des classements, pression des parents, nombre d'heures de travail quotidien, ... Mais on découvre ici le monde des hagwons (académies de cours de soutien/perfectionnement). Je sais que cela fait partie de la culture coréenne, mais quels parents souhaitent imposer ça à ses enfants ? Je comprends pourquoi de plus en plus de familles coréennes émigrent, notamment pour échapper à un tel "massacre" de leurs enfants ... => Bravo au réalisateur Ahn Pan Seok !
+ Super cast : Wi Ha Joon & Jung Ryeo Won forment un couple harmonieux, respectueux, confiant, avec une belle alchimie.
+ la romance 2 est très cute ( avec So Ju Yeon)
+ contexte et ton très réalistes
+ Excellentes OST
+ jolie et douce ending

# rythme qui se ralentit dans la 2nde moitié

=> une très bonne série slice-of-life, réaliste, avec une sweet romance et une sévère critique du système scolaire coréen.

Citeste mai mult

Dont let the title fool you

This drama advertises itself as a primarily romance orientated drama, but i would beg to differ. If you're looking to watch this drama, it is NOT a romance, it is just sixteen episodes of 'hagwon' (academy/tuition centre) politics, and how the hagwon is affected by said 'romance'.
So, that explains why i feel like i wasted my time with this drama.
What did i get out of it? Basically nothing.
See, i wouldnt have minded if it was vice versa and the romance took the main role with a side of hagwon politics, but that wasnt the case.
I would have still watched this anyways since i am a fan of wi ha jun, he's my type in men and an amazing actor to boot, so any drama that he works on that i like the premise of is a must watch for me, but no amount of ogling at his beautful face could save this drama from the trenches of a severe lack of romantic plotline, chemistry or development.
I wouldnt recommend this if you are looking for romance.
Theres no midnight romance, its just hagwon.
If you like hagwon politics however, you should watch it.
It's a well made drama, however it's romance plotline is very weak and this drags the drama down - nothing much really happens between them and they have barely any romantic tension after episode 8.
Basically, after episode 8 the drama is entirely focused on hagwon politics.
Quite disappointed. I like the ost a lot tho, an the acting is very good, if it didnt have these qualities it would have been a 6.
Love the actor playing si woo, i will be waiting for his future roles, and the actress playing hye jin is amazing and encompasses her role very well.

Citeste mai mult

ROMANCE with proper STORY

Briefing :
As for the current time most of romance drama are failing to deliver a proper story to back up the whole drama. Rom Com drama now a days instead of focusing on the strong story they are just going on with famous actors and intense scenes to catch the eye of audience. Which lets audience leave their seats or mind in middle of the drama. But this one right here has the capacity to hold someone by the belt and binge the whole drama in one go.

Spoilers Ahead :
This is a fantastic Romance drama focused on the story of two people and the rest are the supporting environment to provide a proper feel of the situation. Starting romance as a proper adult as it should be with having the old time memories as their support. On top of that a selecting suitable actors and actress who performs beyond the imagination builds a unbreakable story. The side roles or support role plays a vital role in making bridge between the main leads to audience without any intervention.

Pros :
1. This is sweet and suspenseful Romance drama with backing story.
2. Strong Bond and understanding between the main leads.
3. Instead of relationship the complications and hardship lies on profession.

Cons :
1. Loose Ends. ( There are a lot of loose ends for example no updates of family members of female lead and imaginative family no show of even parents.)
2. As i said in the starting this revolves are only two people without connecting with family as much. To be exact there is no involvement of family problems which tends to be the main climax of this type of dramas.
3. Speeding the drama after intervals, This drama with this story can easily take 4 more episodes to end the situation properly.
4. Happy but not a joyful ending. The satisfaction lacks in tail end of the story.

Summary:
This is great drama for me i enjoyed it to the fullest and yes i did hoped the if could have one or two more episodes to end the imagination properly. It kept me hooked to my seat during the entire show. A being working and getting tired all day in the night time it kept me smiling and happy for the entire journey.
Thank you 👍

Citeste mai mult

school/academies dramas were forced

im gonna say that i wanted to watch it because of wihajoon, of course he delivered and seo hyejin also played really good. i think that the cast and acting is the best thing about this show.
however, i do understand why the rating is higher than mine rating.
the chemistry, the tension, the couples - sooo good. main female lead was acting her age, shes grown woman and her behavior was appropriate for her age (some kdramas cant relate;()
anyway, what i didnt like was all the school/academy drama.
like when the teacher from public school was on screen, what was that? his bad character was so forced, maybe the writing was just bad
also, all the drama between academies, like chill, it was just boring and like what would grown people act that way about their students and academies?
why it was such a big deal that two teachers are dating? why there is this big drama about it?
so everything was nice if we are not looking about all the problems in school/academy/teacher.
i get it that we need 'bad' characters, like the teacher at first, or we need bad things and some drama, but ngl it was so forced and unreal.
i hope wi hajoon and seo heyjin will be cast in other romance kdrama;)

Citeste mai mult

Slow paced. Not living up to its potential. I used the fast forward button far too many times.

I am here because I found out we finally have Wi Ha joon as the male lead. The story didn't sound that interesting to me & I feel like this is one of the drama's where you are not sure if they will end up together or not.

Ep 1: The beginning is very slow paced, the characters seemed boring in the beginning. It was somewhere around the 20 minutes mark that things finally started to get interesting. The interactions between the FL & the school teacher was so charged with friction. I liked the way the FL approached it rationally, not a fan of how the school teacher reacted. Have seen that reaction from a few men while having rational conversation. You feel as if you'll get hit for sticking to your convictions. The romance part is a bit slow. But I could see the potential in the final minutes of the episode. They have known each other for a while so there's no instant spark or meet cute that we usually see with other romances. The acting is okay, the story lacks.

Ep 2: The pacing was pretty much the same as the first episode. 20 minutes in and I wanted to drop it, but for some reason I continued. I got to see Wi Ha Joon's pretty smile at the end. I'm sad to say I'm not looking forward to watching the next episodes.

Ep 3: It seems that my patience has been rewarded with some witty communication between the leads. I love the witch and her hairstyle, she looks amazing! Her all black outfit was such a stark contrast to her greyish white hair. She is a character that has made things interesting. This episode has made me look forward to the drama now.

Ep 4: Kinda saw it coming. At least the FL was open to a different style of teaching that would benefit the student the in the long run. Here's to hoping that they'll do better in their next round against the witch. The witch clearly won this round.

Ep 5: It was okay episode with some enjoyable moments. I can't believe they are just going to let the FL go for one mistake. They aren't even giving her the chance to rectify it or work together so that they can come up with a plan. At the same time, I also like the idea of FL working with the white witch! They'll make such a powerful team (Not a fun one like our leads but at least an interesting one)

Ep 6: Finally the romance is here. Even without reading the description of the drama, you are aware that the ML has feelings for the FL. It's not clear whether she pretends to not know about his feelings but she isn't all that surprised when he confesses. The rest of the story was okay, as expected. The white witch didn't get much screen time, I wanted to see more of her.

Ep 7: The problem with the drama is that, it is unable to create that curiosity that has people waiting for the next episodes. I'm sticking around for the two main characters, they are very low key adorable and comfortable to watch. I like that the main characters will be getting together, I am not sure who is against their relationship as shown in the preview. Right now, even the white witch is not enough to keep the storyline from getting boring.

Ep 8: Another sweet episode with the leads exploring their newfound relationship.

Citeste mai mult

COMFORT DRAMA

If you're looking for a drama that doesn't have over complicated, difficult plot or any other shenanigans going on, and you want to relax with a slow burning romance, I DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY recommend this drama...We all know, HOW AMAZZZZING our main leads are, but what I wanna talk about is the OST....😭😭❤❤❤❤That legit is one of the best OSTs of 2024...
Besides this, the overall cast is fantastic, I KNOW I KNOW, many of them still need character development, but that's why we're here, to see them become the BEST versions of themselves....
Sooooooo, If you're into such dramas, this drama will surely feel like, "HOME" to you...♡♡♡♡♡♡♡



byeeeeee♡♡♡♡♡♡ (I'll update this after I finish this drama...xoxo)

Citeste mai mult

The Midnight ____ in Hagwon

Such an amazing cast let down by a mediocre-at-best script. I went in to this show with rather low expectations considering the relatively low rating, yet I was still left disappointed. It's not all bad, like I enjoyed some scenes with the two leads together when they weren't arguing. But for the most part, the show is just boring and the story tries so hard to make things dramatic to the point that it becomes kind of unrealistic, which is not very good when you're trying to go for a more deep and realistic approach to a romance drama.

The overall tone of the show is supposed to be more mature, with less focus on cliche romance and more focus on genuine people struggling with normal life problems. The vibe is there, but the execution was very poorly done in my opinion. I suppose this was supposed to be more of a slow burn drama, which maybe just isn't my cup of tea, but I felt consistently bored and uninterested throughout the show and had to start watching the episodes on the computer in order to utilize playback speed options to watch at 2x speed. Even then it was kind of a struggle to get through some of the longer episodes. Everything felt rather muted, with long drawn out conversations and actual lectures you have to sit through like your actually in the class. There was one scene that focused on Mr. Pyo's lecture, and I understand it was supposed to be an important scene for his character development, but it just dragged on for so long and was basically just a full on lecture you have to sit through. Most of the school stuff (which is 90% of the show) I felt completed uninterested in, and often found myself tuning out which made it even harder to figure out what was going on later in the show. The show is titled "The Midnight Romance in Hagwon", but there really wasn't much romance. The very little romance we did get was admittingly pretty cute, and I think the two leads are great at acting and did their best with what they had. Most of the show focused on the education drama and the whole conflict with the grey witch or whatever. The chemistry between the leads was good for the most part, although it felt like most of the time the FL saw the ML as an immature kid and treated him as such. This was addressed in the show, but was still there up until the very end.

Some of the dialogue didn't feel very natural. The way that some of the characters talked to each other and interacted didn't seem like the way actual people would interact or have a conversation, which made it even harder to see this as a realistic drama. One of my least favorite episodes, episode 10 (which I'll talk about more later), had a scene between Mr. Pyo and Seo Hye Jin where he informs her that he's quitting, and the entire scene dragged on for what seemed like forever. Most of the dialogue didn't make much sense to me considering I was tuned out most of the time, so I had to sit there through 15+ minutes of Mr. Pyo talking in a very slow, monotonous manner with slight psychopath vibes as the FL sat there with an overly dramatic scared expression like she just saw a ghost.

More on episode 10... this episode was a struggle to get through for me, and I almost dropped the show at this point. As mentioned, the episode starts with the incredibly boring drawn-out scene between Pyo & Hye Jin. Honestly, I know that Pyo had probably some of the most development as a character in this show, but I still found it difficult to like him, so I hated having to sit through an entire episode essentially all about him. I'm not kidding when I say that the entire episode focused on Mr. Pyo. It seemed like every scene with dialogue mentioned his name at some point. This is the same guy that through a fit at the beginning of the show just because Hye Jin was challenging him and I think slapped her (or almost slapped her, I honestly don't remember) in front of everyone. Like, I don't know if you should really be a teacher if you can't even control your anger when someone challenges you, especially when you end up resorting to violence. The writers try to turn his character around, which seemed a little out of the blue considering he was barely in the show since his tantrum, and he wasn't established as a likeable character to begin with. He does sort of redeem himself by the end, even if his character seemingly did a 180 and all of sudden became a main protagonist. The FL frustrated me a lot during this episode, and was honestly kind of frustrating throughout most of the show. She was supposed to have a lot of inner turmoil and conflict with doing the right thing and surviving in her field while trying to educate the students, but most of the time came off as rather stubborn and somewhat arrogant. She spent most of the episode visibly shaken and scared during and after her conversation with Mr. Pyo. I was trying to wrap my head around why she was so terrified like she just witnessed the paranormal, and why she decided to visit the antagonist. She felt responsible for Mr. Pyo quitting and potentially ruining his life as she figured he wouldn't be able to survive elsewhere. This is great and all, but I could honestly care less about Mr. Pyo at this point, and he hasn't done anything likeable to justify her actions in trying to help him, and it definitely doesn't warrant an entire episode dedicated to him and the FL's dramatic shookness over something that seems so trivial. The FL does this multiple times throughout the show, where she'll encounter some form of conflict or setback and she'll act so distraught to the point that she's literally falling to the ground with a blank stare. It seemed a little too overly dramatic in my opinion, and I felt like the stakes with the conflict wasn't nearly serious enough to realistically evoke these reactions.

The FL & ML spend most of their screentime together arguing. The cute moments we do get are cute. The acting during these arguments are really good, but the constant fighting between two characters who are so firm with their beliefs and values made it pretty difficult to sit through. Like full on scenes between the two just yelling at each other trying to convince the other to do things their way, often leading to the FL storming off and the ML having to chase after her and apologize, even if both were being equally stubborn. It really annoyed me when, after the FL's conversation with Mr. Pyo, the ML sat down with her and basically tried to guide her through the situation without even bothering to ask what was really going on and how she felt. This obviously angers the FL and she storms off like usual (without explaining what was really going on to him so they could work it out), only for the ML to have to get lectured by side characters on how to be understanding and a "good boyfriend" so that he can learn his lesson and apologize. This didn't really make a lot of sense when looking at his character up until this point. I feel like his character was already supposed to be mature and understanding enough to be able to realize that that was the wrong approach. I feel like he should have been smart enough to realize these things without having to hear it from someone else? The FL's lack of communication and stubbornness also didn't help a lot of these conflicts with their relationship, and it seemed like she still viewed the ML has a student who needed guidance that only she could provide him.

As for the other characters, Kim Hyun Tak was there but I didn't really feel much for him at all (he was kind of annoying imo). The bad guys are obviously bad guys and do bad things, though I will say that Seo Jung Yeon was pretty good as a villain (albeit poorly written and cliche). The side relationship between Nam Cheong Mi & Choi Sung Gyu was cute but not really necessary. Cheong Mi was a good character, but I felt like she was a little too convenient at times and didn't really have much character development. She spent a lot of time being the "reasonable" one who guides the others during conflict and often showed up when other characters are crying to provide emotional support. I kind of wish they gave some of these scenes to the FL/ML instead to help develop their characters and relationships.

The ending felt very anticlimactic given the build-up throughout the entire show. I'll be honest, I wasn't really following much of the storyline at this point since I was mostly tuned out, so maybe if I was more invested it would have been a better pay off at the end. Many people seem to defend the writing by bringing up how it's supposed to be more realistic and dive deep into the intricacies of toxic education systems, but I'm not sure where the line is between a misunderstood and deep story versus a boring and confusing one. I'm leaning more towards boring, but maybe give it a shot and you might disagree?

Citeste mai mult

A slowwwwwww burn

So this drama requires one big thing from its audience: patience.

It starts out slow; a lot of the early episodes are focused on establishing setting — the competitiveness of and within academies, how it clashes with public schools, etc. We see our main female lead, a star academy teacher, get caught up right in the middle of it, and its only after all of this do we get a little glimpse of an interaction between her and the male lead. It looks like a lot of people had already dropped the drama by then, and those people missed out — the chemistry between them is FANTASTIC.

But I don't blame them. The unfortunate truth is that the academy setting and plot just...isn't that interesting, despite how well-written it is. We've seen similar themes in other dramas — pressure on students, overbearing parenting, backstabbing coworkers — and honestly, those dramas were right to do it with more flair and flamboyance. While I appreciate how down-to-earth and realistic the conversations and lessons are (There are some that are truly heartwarming, like seeing a teacher rediscover her passion), there's really only one A-plot, and it really does start to drag. There's only one thing going on; we're spending too much time on it when I'd rather be with the main leads, or even getting more depth for our second leads, who end up really underdeveloped.

The melodrama-style editing doesn't help the slowness; while the melo vibes of the show really work towards the drama's favor when we're just spending time with our leads and watching fall in love and be in love, it also means we linger on the other academy-centric moments, and I find myself zoning out when an academy lecture scene about the history of Korea (or something) goes on for ten minutes, or even if the antagonists are having some really long, drawn-out conversation.

By the end, it feels like the main plot is a little underwhelming for how much time we spent on it, and I wish we'd spent more time just seeing our main leads happy or even just doing something different, something that's not lecturing or eating dinner (lol).

Honestly though, the main leads are absolutely golden. The chemistry is amazing, I love love love the communication and the tension between them, and their little flashbacks were so cute. It's crazy that they're the the main leads and it still feels like they didn't get enough screentime together. We just needed this drama to be a little more romance and a little less everything else.

Citeste mai mult

Final de lista

Ao primeiro momento busquei assistir porque prefiro dramas com romances mais maduros. Ao passar alguns ep foi interessante ver o desenvolvimento do romance, entretanto é somente isso, depois de algumas coisas a trama não chama atenção não apresenta nada de novo de outros dramas com ambientação de cursinho. Se for assistir só para passar o tempo ele serve, mas se tiver outros na lista eu colocaria no final para assistir só quando não tivesse outras opções. Os personagens secundários em minha opinião foram desnecessários, os ditos vilões são rasos e parecem escritos somente para tomar tempo de tela.

Citeste mai mult