The School Nurse Files

 The School Nurse Files

4/10

The School Nurse Files

Genre:                                     Episodes: 6                  Year: 2020

Mystery

Comedy

Synopsis:

Ahn Eun Young is a nurse at a high school that has the ability to see jelly like monsters that are formed from the residue of human desires. She uses her special weapons and skills to eradicate these monsters from the school, with the help of the Chinese language teacher, Hong In Pyo, who has a resistance to the effects of the jellies.

Cast:

Jung Yoo Mi (Ahn Eun Young)

Nam Joo Hyuk (Hong In Pyo)

Moon So Ri (Hwa Soo)

Yoo Teo (Teacher Mackenzie)

Song Hee Joon (Baek Hye Min)

Park Hye Eun (Sung Ah Ra)

Hyun Woo Seok (Oh Sung Kwon)

Park Se Jin (Jang Radi)

General Thoughts:

This drama was whacky. And not exactly in a good way. I’m sure there were people that absolutely loved this show (and to be honest, I wanted to be one of them), but I just had absolutely no f*cking idea what was going on.

Just...baffled...

I know I say in a lot of reviews that I don’t know what is going on in a drama, but that’s usually because the plot is ignoring logical solutions or the characters are acting like idiots. In this case, I just literally did not understand what was happening. It’s such an interesting premise, and I loved that the tone was more colourful and off-kilter as opposed to dark and scary (which most supernatural shows are), and there were times when I kind of had a handle on what was happening and was quite enjoying the story.

I am all for Netflix airing odd little K-Drama shows

But then something would crop up and confuse the sh*t out of me again. I would be curious to see how fans of the webtoon found this drama, and whether having the knowledge of the story that the webtoon provides just really allows for the drama version to suck you in and get straight into the meat of the story. Alas, I shall not know, for I hath not partaken in the reading of said webtoon. It’s interesting to see Netflix getting in on the K-Drama game, as the K-Dramas I’ve seen/heard about (Kingdom, Extracurricular) that are Netflix originals have been vastly different in tone to K-Dramas aired on usual networks (SBS, TVN etc.), and tend to have a lower episode count. And you know I just love low episode K-Dramas- so snappy, so easy to get through! I love the experimental nature of these Netflix originals, and while ‘School Nurse Files’ wasn’t a hit for me personally, it was a great break in pace to the usual sort of K-Drama, and hopefully opens the way for more experimental and unique stories. As well as the quirky tone and the 6 episode count, another thing that intrigued me about this show was the casting. Jung Yoo Mi and Nam Joo Hyuk just seemed like such a spectacularly random pair that I was happy to give this little show a shot. Jung Yoo Mi is obviously a very experienced actress, and I don’t think I’ve seen her underperform in anything.

They worked weirdly well together

She tends pick more unique characters, and usually has a pretty good eye for interesting projects. She was a great fit for the role of Eun Young, as she really her threw herself into character and embodied Eun Young’s craziness. There were times when Eun Young would just awkwardly smile because she didn’t know how else to respond, and Jung Yoo Mi just had the perfect expression that showed Eon Young’s hesitation and discomfort, and she just seemed like the perfect embodiment of this strange, jelly-seeing woman.

She can be all kinds of quirky

Jung Yoo Mi brought an excellent balance of unsettling, humorous, and harmless to what I’m sure must have been a difficult character to portray. There was a lot going on with the character of Eun Young, and while I won’t pretend to understand half of it, Jung Yoo Mi did a great job at selling Eun Young’s emotions- I may not be sure what was going on in a scene, but I could be d*mn sure I knew how Eun Young felt about it. In Pyo was a less quirky character than Eun Young, and Nam Joo Hyuk is a less experienced actor. There’s a lot of people out there who don’t like him, but I tend to find him quite endearing and not a bad actor at all (except for ‘School 2015’ which we can all just pretend never happened). I really, really, really liked Nam Joo Hyuk in this role. I don’t know what it is about him as Teacher Hong- maybe it’s the limp, maybe it’s the quiet sadness and loneliness, maybe it’s the faint whisper at an attempt at a moustache, but it all just pulls together to form a really interesting character. Nam Joo Hyuk has a kind of unassumingness to him that perfectly fit in with the vibe of Teacher Hong. In Pyo was overlooked by his colleagues, students, and people in general, and there was something about the way Nam Joo Hyuk played this character that just oozed that sort of non-charisma (which is not a stab at Nam Joo Hyuk, because he can be very charismatic). The only person to really pay him much attention is the school nurse, Eun Young, and that’s because he has a jelly-forcefield that no one else can see.

Even though his forcefield did virtually nothing the entire time

There was one scene towards the end of the drama where In Pyo was struggling up the stairs thinking Eun Young had abandoned him and just broke down crying, and boy did that just pull at the heartstrings. There was a cute if slightly weird chemistry between the two leads, and I was never quite sure if it was a friendship type thing or a romance type thing. Just like the drama, the relationship between Eun Young and In Pyo was unique and a little bit weird- what can I say though, I kinda liked them together. There weren’t really a whole lot of other characters that we saw on a regular basis- Eun Young and In Pyo took up a whole lot of the screen time, which is fine, but leaves me little to talk about when it comes to the other characters and actors. The student characters were all a bit weird, and are one of the things I had trouble wrapping my head around.

Every student at this school was a weirdo

However, I thought Song Hee Joon did a pretty bang up job of being the mite-eater turned human, and she was quite fun (and convincing) to watch. I kind of wish the other students had been a bit more involved as it would have been nice to flesh out their characters a bit more, but as we only had 6 episodes, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I would trade the time we had with Eun Young and In Pyo for time with the kids. I sometimes maybe kinda knew what was happening with Eun Young and In Pyo. That was almost never the case when the story was focused on the students. 

What Was Great:

Hong Teacher:

I talked about this a bit in the above section, but Teacher Hong and his portrayal by Nam Joo Hyuk is what kept a lot of my interest in this show. While Eun Young was the titular character, I felt like we didn’t get a lot of development from her. There was the moment there at the end where she lost her ability to see jellies and her breakdown when it returned and she knew what sort of normal life she was missing out on,

Something about that almost moustache just works for him

but I still felt like a lot of the development and emotion came from In Pyo. Unlike Eun Young, In Pyo has only ever been completely ordinary, maybe even less so due to his leg injury. His small wish for something exciting to happen in his life is a relatable grievance- a lot of adult life feels like getting up and doing the same thing every day regardless of what happens or who notices you doing the same mundane tasks. In Pyo’s affection towards Eun Young and her welcome dose of weirdness was quite sweet, and you could feel his character just yearning to have a friend or just someone to spend time with him. The scenes where he is happily chatting away to Eun Young, oblivious to her completely not paying attention where a little sad, but also a little endearing. In Pyo was an easy character to like, and I felt more connected to his struggles than to Eun Young’s. Even the final act of destroying the school resonated more as In Pyo breaking free from whatever madness his grandfather had set up than Eun Young’s…whatever it was she was doing with the Basement Sanitation guys and Safe Happiness.

Soundtrack:

This drama is super high quality. Like not necessarily the plot and characters and whatnot, but the directing, filming, production- it’s all top notch. Usually these sorts of things fall by the wayside of my attention, but they were so good in ‘School Nurse Files’ that I was actively impressed by it. One of the best aspects of this was definitely the soundtrack. It was the score that could shift a scene from feeling creepy to more lighthearted, or as more often the case, making a regular and mundane shot (of someone standing near a door or in a hallway or something of the like) feel much more sinister and unsettling.

The CGI for the jellies was top notch too

The soundtrack really helped the drama balance nicely between creepy and fun, and the music was just as unique as the show. When you think creepy music you think something slow with bass and maybe strings- in this drama it was more like hearing the theme song clued you in that there was something sinister going on. It was slightly more upbeat than your usual spooky music, but felt a little too odd and strange to be classed as ‘happy’ or ‘comforting’ music. The tunes were often stuck in my head after I finished an episode, and I just adored how unique the soundtrack was to this show- you will not hear a soundtrack like this on many other, if any, K-Dramas out there. 

What Wasn’t:

In The Deep End:

Yeah so the big stumbling block of this drama is that it really gives you nothing solid to go on. Eun Young briefly mentions that the jellies are the remains of human desire and she can get rid of them using her light-up sword and toy gun.

And the gun ends up being less important than you think...

The show does not delve into why the jellies are harmful or why Eun Young needs to get rid of them. They are broadly labelled as ‘dangerous’ and seem to make the characters act in weird ways, but apart from the first giant jelly that made the kids try and throw themselves off the roof, the others didn’t seem that bad. They just made people get all sweaty? The show also glossed over a lot of the character and relationship development which was a bit of a bummer. I know there were only 6 episodes and they were rushing to get to the point of the school being fought over by two factions and Eun Young and In Pyo being caught in the middle,

Sorry but...why are the cleaner people bad again?

but it honestly sometimes felt like I had missed episodes because characters were just suddenly close or clued in on a situation. At the end of episode 1 In Pyo is wanting Eun Young to stay away and is telling her she’s creepy when she smiles (and she hasn’t even told him about her powers and the jellies), and in episode 2 he’s accompanying her to shrines and holding her hand so she can recharge her energy. Like, that’s a pretty big change and we saw none of that. It was a similar thing with the mite-eater girl. All the other students seemed clued in to who/what she was and really easily accepted it. But we never saw anyone tell them or try to convince them of the truth? They were all just suddenly up to speed on what was going on? It felt like a lot of important moments and conversations happened off screen, and I spent a lot of the show scrambling trying to figure out what was going on. Not very much is explained and a lot is left up to the audience to figure it out on their own. It’s not like I want or need dramas to spell out every single detail, but a little guidance on the main relationships and plot points would be nice. I mean, this drama only had 6 episodes and I only kinda started grasping at plot points and what was happening in episode 5- that’s over half the drama where I was just watching things unfold while having absolutely zero idea what relevance it had to anything.

Recommend?

No, I don’t think I would. Like, there is so much that sets it apart from other K-Dramas, but I’m not quite sure that’s a good thing. It’s kinda hard to follow…

But it's also only 6 episodes so if you're tempted, why not?

I Need Romance 2012

I Need Romance 2012

5.5/10

I Need Romance 2012 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2012

Romance

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Joo Yeol Mae and Yoon Seok Hyun were in an off-and-on relationship for 12 years before breaking up for the last time three years ago. Although they have been broken up for quite some time, the two remain incredibly close friends and continue to live together in the house they grew up in as children. Yeol Mae still has lingering feelings for Seok Hyun, but he appears indifferent towards her. Shin Ji Hoon, the owner of the coffee shop Yeol Mae frequents, confesses to her and tries to sway her feelings from Seok Hyun to himself.

Cast:

Jung Yu Mi (Joo Yeol Mae)

Lee Jin Wook (Yoon Seok Hyun)

Kim Ji Suk (Shin Ji Hoon)

Kang Ye Sol (Woo Ji Hee)

Kim Ji Woo (Sun Jae Kyung)

Kim Ye Won (Kang Na Hyun)

Heo Tae Hee (Kim Tae Woo)

General Thoughts:

No. This drama can p*ss right off if you want my brutal, honest opinion. What even was that? A monstrosity of an ending that’s what. Seriously, that ending gives ‘Big’ a good run for its money in ‘Worst K-Drama Endings of All Time’. Okay, seriously though. It’s not all bad- on the contrary, a lot of it is very, very good. Very good. I enjoyed a large portion of this drama immensely. Which sadly only made its slow and gruesome death that much more upsetting.

It just...didn't meet expectations

It turns out, it’s the exact opposite of ‘I Need Romance 2011’, in which I disliked a large portion of the series, but its beautifully poetic and justifiable ending made everything make sense and left a sweet aftertaste. In contrast, ‘I Need Romance 2012’ was an interesting and well-crafted drama whose unexplainable and absurd ending made everything make less sense than when we started, and left a rather vomitus aftertaste.

And it was at this point my love for the drama died

The writing in ‘I Need Romance 2011’ was so subtle that the audience was gently guided toward the ending the writers had in store, and everyone left remotely happy. Over the course of the whole drama, the couple acknowledged their mistakes and learned from them, giving the couple an authentic, long-lasting feel. The writers were like a parent holding the back of your seat while you learn to ride a bike, letting go only when you have the confidence and balance to ride on your own. The writing in ‘I Need Romance 2012’ however, was like a parent holding the back of your seat while you learn to ride a bike, letting go when their arm got tired and they couldn’t be assed supporting you anymore, only to watch you fall. And break your arm. On the road. Where you’re hit by a truck. I trusted the writers the way I trusted them for ‘INR 2011’ and they betrayed me. The sad fact is, Yoon Seok Hyun is a weak character with little development that only becomes open to the idea of changing himself in the last episode where he then promptly runs away from everybody after quite splendidly ruining everyone’s life. Top bloke. Throughout the drama he was short-tempered, uncommunicative, and selfish. By the end of the drama he has made no visible changes, yet a year has passed and suddenly he’s an enlightened man who knows how to communicate and treat his woman well. Believable? Not in the slightest.

He cried for a year, then magically learned to love

Joo Yeol Mae was a bit abrasive and could come across rude, but was likeable for the most part. She voiced her opinions and feelings and wanted Seok Hyun to do the same so they could discuss their problems, address them, and move on. She gave Seok Hyun every opportunity to grab onto her, but he didn’t, and right up to the end Yeol Mae was the one seeking out Seok Hyun to comfort him and help him while he sat in his puddle of self-pity tears.

Actually too perfect to be Man No. 2

And then there’s Shin Ji Hoon who is apparently perfect in every way. He’s supportive, understanding, and is able to communicate in order to resolve misunderstandings and fights. And he just gets massively screwed over here. Because apparently the writers (and Yeol Mae) are totally bipolar, and a little bit masochistic. The support characters are actually quite delightful. The acting’s not spectacular and does seem a little forced on occasion (particularly from Kim Ji Woo), but it quite nicely gets the job done. While not without their flaws, Yeol Mae’s friends and their men are constructed as continually changing and developing characters who learn from their mistakes in order to shape their future (unlike our supposed ‘hero’). The story arcs for our support characters are interesting enough and come to logical, satisfying conclusions. The relationship between the three girls was refreshing, and while they didn’t have that initial spark of chemistry that the girls had in ‘INR 2011’, they felt more like real, functional people than our original girls as they could talk about things other than just sex. Like work, social problems, and emotions.

Better characters, but slightly worse acting

The soundtrack was rather unexceptional and forgettable- bar Lasse Lindh’s ‘I Could Give You Love’ which I’ll be singing for the next week.

What Was Great:

Initial Character Setup:

The original character set up in the drama felt similar to the 2011 series. We have an interesting, driven woman with two extremely close friends, and a man she’s had a close relationship with for an extended period of time. Enter new, younger girl that puts a strain on the relationship between the main couple. Enter new, younger man that steps up to comfort the heroine while main man acts like a butt. Two side friends have their own story arcs with separate men.

New characters spice up a familiar situation

Very similar, but also new enough in that the characters were sufficiently different from the original. Yeol Mae was outspoken and headstrong, not afraid to chase after what she believed was her own happiness. Seok Hyun was withdrawn and mildly mysterious.

Got his happy-ever-after a year later (in true K-Drama style)

Ji Hoon was open, understanding and willing to let our heroine search for her happiness while simultaneously insisting that it was with him. There were enough differences with our characters and their relationships that it was interesting to imagine where the writers would take us this time with the differing dynamics. Spoiler alert: they take us to the same place as last time. Also, it was hilarious and interesting to see Heo Tae Hee return as Kim Tae Woo- who happened to be the ex-fiancé of Kang Hyun Joo who he dumped in ‘INR 2011’ for not being sexy.

Second Male Lead Syndrome:

So basically Kim Ji Suk is adorable, and he plays an adorable character. Shin Ji Hoon is every woman’s dream and the most unrealistic thing in the whole series is that he would still be single at 30. Because he’s more or less perfect. Granted, Lee Jin Wook is pretty gorgeous when he smiles- but sadly for him, his mopey character doesn’t do that often. Which means that Kim Ji Suk/Shin Ji Hoon was able to brilliantly outdazzle him in both looks and character. 

This is what we wanted. This is what we all wanted.

What Wasn’t:

F*ck Off:

This male protagonist just didn’t cut it for me. I felt he was selfish, irrational, and his decisions made less than no sense. For starters, he had clearly given Yeol Mae up and was not interested in having a relationship with her that had any sort of definable future.

His puppy-eyes are like a dead puppy's eyes

Why, you may ask? Because his family has a genetic disease which he may or may not have inherited, so he may or may not die. And yet he sticks around not having enough guts to bugger off, starting weird undefined relationships with our leading lady on a whim, then breaking them off on a whim- all while openly flirting and toying with the feelings of his younger co-writer Kang Na Hyun. Sound like a bit of a jackass? Probably because he is. He constantly hurts and pushes away this woman who he says he loves (in voiceover no less), then when she is finally moving on, being happy and forgetting him- he butts in to try and take her back. Only when she comes back…he doesn’t want a relationship with her. And he moves house…and vanishes for a year…so he can…cry? C’mon bud, get your sh*t together. Had there been an understandable reason behind why he’d been so secretive and pushing her away, his character may have been halfway acceptable. But there wasn’t. So he can’t promise a future to her because he might die and he wants to spare her that pain. Okay, acceptable reason- if you then let her go and have a future with someone else. But no, he keeps her hanging around in limbo, where his death would still end up hurting her just as much.

Once a wanker, always a wanker- that's what I always say

Also, what a selfish, d*ck move to not tell her about his sister’s death? Yeah, he’s trying to keep his family illness a secret or whatever, but he wasn’t the only one Yeol Mae grew up with. Yeol Mae had a relationship with his younger sister that was all her own and extended beyond ‘my boyfriend’s sibling’. She had every right to know about that death and mourn it in her own way. Seok Hyun just flip-flops more than any character ever should, and with no clear, understandable reasoning behind his decisions.

"Should I dump you? Nah. Should I date you? Nah."

He was so sweet and thoughtful to start (though still rather uncommunicative), then randomly became bitter, closed, and disagreeable, before arriving at expressive, communicative and understanding in the last 5 minutes. It was unbelievable that he could have such a turnaround in the space of 1 year when he’s spent the last 12 or so years making the same mistakes and being unwilling to change. From 2/3rds in right until the end, all I could think when Yoon Seok Hyun was on my screen was ‘F*ck off, buddy’.

Not Expressing Love:

Ji Hoon was actually the only character that was able to express his emotions through his words and actions. With our leading couple, unfortunately the writers relied far too heavily on the voiceovers as a tool to explain what our characters were feeling. I don’t want a voiceover telling me that Seok Hyun has realised in an instant what he couldn’t see for the last 12 years. I want you to show me how he came to that realisation, and how he’s going to express this change of heart to Yeol Mae. I don’t want to hear a voiceover telling me Yeol Mae is in love with Seok Hyun when all I’m seeing is her being perfectly happy and in love with Ji Hoon. It’s the tricky balance that the original struck just right that the sequel has sadly fallen short off. We heard about the apparent unbreakable connection between our two leads, but we didn’t see it. What we saw (and didn’t hear) was the connection between Yeol Mae and Ji Hoon, which led to their relationship being much more understandable to the viewers.

That tree got more loving looks than Seok Hyun ever did

What was so magic about the original ‘I Need Romance’, was that it was blaringly obvious that the main couple loved each other deeply and belonged together- and some sort of witchcraft kept the main male lead from coming across as the world’s biggest prat. There was also a viable reason behind why the newer relationship wouldn’t work that went beyond ‘I think I might still love my ex’. Sadly, in this drama our main couple was just plain unconvincing. While there was undoubtedly some chemistry between the actors, they sold an unbelievable couple.

Re-watch?

No. I repeat myself: f*ck off Yoon Seok Hyun.

Perfect example of how a sh*tty ending can ruin an otherwise fantastic drama