High School King of Savvy
7/10
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| High School King of Savvy |
Genre: Episodes: 17 Year: 2014
Romance
Comedy
Synopsis:
Lee Min Suk is a high school student who is good at nothing except ice hockey. On the day his highly successful brother is due to come home, Min Suk gets a mysterious phone call from him saying he won’t be able to return. He convinces Min Suk to go to work and pretend to be him, as the brothers look almost identical, and Min Suk finds himself trapped trying to balance ice hockey and pretending to be a corporate director.
Cast:
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| Seo In Guk (Lee Min Suk/Lee Hyung Suk) |
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| Lee Ha Na (Jung Soo Young) |
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| Lee Soo Hyuk (Yoo Jin Woo) |
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| Lee Yeol Eum (Jung Yoo Ah) |
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| Jo Han Chul (Kim Chang Soo) |
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| Oh Kwang Rok (Choi Jang Ho) |
General Thoughts:
It’s not my favourite drama in the world, but it’s enjoyable enough. The writers really owe a lot to Seo In Guk’s portrayal of their character, because he did a splendid job as our hero. He was charming and funny, and was just so entertaining to watch- he does the best angry/disbelief stutter-rants I’ve ever seen. And any scene with him swearing was just hilarious.
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| Seo In Guk is the king of youthful hilarity |
On the other hand, I actually think Lee Ha Na made her character seem worse than she was written. I can see how she was going for a quirky individual character, but I almost would have preferred a stock-standard Candy heroine- as I just flat-out didn’t like Lee Ha Na’s interpretation of the character. Rather than sweetly naive and clumsy, I found Soo Young more stupid and sloppy- which aren’t really traits I like in my characters.
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| Doesn't make much of an impression |
I found Min Suk so appealing and Soo Young so not that it took a while for me to warm up to her character at all. I enjoyed the main romance purely because Min Suk was so into it, and anything Min Suk was into I rooted for because I loved him so completely as a character. The story-line was a little odd in that not much happened, but the eccentricities of our characters allowed for the episodes to flow nicely without becoming boring. Min Suk’s interactions with everyone were either cute or funny (or both), so it was quite nice to just watch this loveable teen flounder in his beautifully confident way. The love-triangle was never really a real thing for me, as I could honestly not root for Jin Woo at all. It wasn’t just due to my Min Suk love (because he could do better than Soo Young anyway), but Jin Woo was just such a wanker at the start of the series. And I don’t just mean he was kind of an asshole, but some of his actions were borderline sexual harassment. Sure, if you make a character hit rock bottom there’s nowhere to go but up- but I was a tad uncomfortable any time Soo Young was alone with him after his very creepy, almost rapey attitude in the carpark when he forced himself all over her. Of course, this also did little for our heroine as when she knowingly met Jin Woo alone she just seemed so incredibly stupid. Like, how has this woman lived as an adult for 10 years?
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| Just let him hit him once |
Apart from his brief slip into creepy territory, Jin Woo had a nice progression throughout the story. Lee Soo Hyuk acted him brilliantly, so most of the time he was understandable even if you didn’t agree with him. Lee Soo Hyuk acted Jin Woo with an air of vulnerability that made it easy to sympathise with him. It was nice how Jin Woo and Min Suk became friends in the end, and do wish we’d had a bit more of that sprinkled throughout the show. I wasn’t super crazy about Jin Woo getting a girl in the final hour either, as I felt it was much more important he had a solid, loyal, supportive friend like Min Suk than a cute girl he didn’t know. But alas, K-Dramas tend to like tying up every single loose end there is, even if it doesn’t hurt to leave some ends untied. The Noona Romance was very cute (all because of Seo In Guk), and as with all Noona Romacnes, we get our dose of complete and utter angst.
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| What to do? He's sooooo cute, but he's sooooo young |
I actually really liked the way the angst was handled here, as it played out in a natural way. Soo Young has to come to terms with the fact that the guy she loves is 10 years younger. There’s no magic spell that can fix this problem because it’s a problem that can’t be fixed.
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| Whatever makes our Min Sukie happy |
It’s part of what makes Noona Romances so entertaining- it’s not so much a ‘will they?’ but a ‘how will they?’. While I did find the marriage a bit of a cop-out, I was at least happy that the writers didn’t solve the issue with a time skip so that Min Suk was older and thus the relationship more acceptable. The wedding itself was kinda on the tacky side, and it doesn’t actually solve any of their problems- Min Suk is still in high school, he still doesn’t have a job or money, and he’s still going to get embarrassed in front of Soo Young’s friends. But it's still better than the dreaded 1-5 years of needless separation. Most of the time I found the writing to be on the better side of okay, but there were instances (such as the rushed wedding) that felt pretty weak. Most of the characters were really fun, and their world mixed with the gimmick of Min Suk pretending to be his brother was hilarious, but sometimes there were just situations or dialogue that didn’t feel natural at all. I also didn’t feel it was strictly necessary to take hockey away from Min Suk in the end either. While it was horrifically sad the first time it happened, it was less so the next time, if only for the fact that we’d been there before. It seemed like the only reason Min Suk couldn’t play hockey was that they wanted him to end up in the business world where he’d been pretending to be all along, and I wasn’t super crazy about that. I guess you could view it as Min Suk growing up, but I kind of wanted our ice-hockey boy to…well…play hockey.
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| Why did you have to kill his dreams, show? |
What Was Great:
Seo In Guk:
Seo In Guk is the star of this show. There was never a single moment that I didn’t like the character of Min Suk, and Seo In Guk filled him with such life and personality. He let his comedy come easily and just completely nailed the role of a young man brimming with unwarranted confidence thrown into a world of adults.
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| Can Seo In Guk just not age so he can be in every youth drama ever? Please? |
Although much of Min Suk’s character was based around humour, he never felt gimmicky or unnatural. Seo In Guk always ensured that there was a base of genuine emotion for the humour to work around that gave Min Suk an extremely genuine and humane quality. While Min Suk was childish in many ways, I appreciated that the show didn’t portray this in a negative light. While there were downsides to being romantically involved with someone that young, the show did still point out that many adults lose something important as we transition into the ‘real’ world. Next to the company men that were so jaded and so desperate to get ahead, Min Suk was like a breath of fresh air. I also appreciated that the drama kept those traits about Min Suk even after the time skip. He was still confident and fun, just a little less naive. Seo In Guk also did a great job in portraying the two different brothers. While Hyung Suk didn’t get a lot of screen time, he still felt like a real and distinct character- one that was entirely different from Min Suk. I don’t think this drama could have been half as good as it is without Seo In Guk behind our youthful, loveable hero (and his brother).
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| Let Min Suk have everything cuz he's the best |
Extended Cast:
The supporting cast added a lot to the drama. While they weren’t necessarily important to the story, they were essential elements in making the drama something you could invest in emotionally.
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| This family could never have too much screen-time |
All the characters felt like they led their own lives offscreen whether they were company employees, high school students or family members. The high school kids were mostly there for laughs, but did provide a nice dose of heart every now and then. While I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Yoo Ah (I dislike pushy people/characters), I did find her growth interesting to watch. The company workers were similar in that they were mostly there to react to situations, but they were given enough personality and just enough time on screen to solidify that these could be real, functional adults just going about their working lives. The characters that really snagged my heart were Dad and Grandad. They were both so cute, and were essential as characters that shaped our loveable hero into who he was. Much of the emotion and heart of the series came from Min Suk’s interactions with his family, and any scene with Grandpa was lovely to watch- even if some were sad, they hurt in just the right ways.
What Wasn’t:
Almost Too Much In Guk Love:
The best thing about this drama by far is Seo In Guk. However, I will admit that this hurt the show a little as well. The only other people I felt were on Seo In Guk’s acting level were Oh Kwang Rok (Min Suk’s father) and Lee Soo Hyuk. Not our heroine. Because Seo In Guk dazzled so much brighter than everyone else, it was extremely easy to latch onto him as a character.
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| I want what our hero wants |
Not only was he so wonderfully likeable, but we were seeing the new world of Comfo through this young man’s eyes. Min Suk was easy to connect with and relate to and became a completely brilliant character. However this complete character adoration can have a downside when the other half of the romance isn’t up to scratch.
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| Maybe you could, I dunno, talk to him sometimes |
Seo In Guk was much more dynamic, interesting and likeable than Lee Ha Na, which unfortunately for Lee Ha Na meant that I didn’t connect with her character at all. Whatever was going on in the story, I was 100% on Team Min Suk. If Min Suk was mad at someone- so was I. If Min Suk was sad about something- so was I. Every emotion our hero felt I felt as well, which is a wonderful thing 95% of the time. But when the show is trying to create angst and tension between the two leads, I didn’t feel the heartbreak intended, because I only liked Min Suk and only really cared about the way he saw things. I only really cared for Soo Young when Min Suk did, so when the two had fights I didn’t think ‘oh no, poor couple, Min Suk didn’t understand’, I thought ‘oh no, damn Soo Young, she should have communicated properly’. It was a mix of pure love for the character Seo In Guk gave us and constant terrible communication from Soo Young that led to a little piece of dissatisfaction in the love-line.
Where’s BroBro?:
One of the more interesting plot points of the show is Min Suk’s brother. I mean, he’s the whole point there even is a show as he’s the reason behind the main gimmick- Hyung Suk can’t go to work so Min Suk goes in his place. It’s an interesting set-up with a lot of mystery surrounding Hyung Suk.
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| Where you at? What you do? Why you do it? |
I was a bit disappointed when the whole fiasco was part of some rather poorly constructed revenge plot (his whole revenge was based around his un-studious teenage brother not being discovered impersonating a highly educated, successful businessman). I understand that it would have been difficult to do much with Min Suk and Hyung Suk together as Seo In Guk played both roles, but I found the wrap-up for main plot rather quick and not all that satisfying.
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| I could've watched a couple more episodes of this |
Hyung Suk has spent months, maybe even years constructing this revenge, then Gramps dies so he stops and goes back to Germany. I would have really appreciated if the show had got onto the revenge-story a little earlier so that we had time to flesh it out and give it more depth. As it was, we learned about the death of the boys’ biological father at the same time as we learnt of the revenge plot, so it lacked impact because we were too invested in the Comfo employees. I would have loved to explore more dynamics between the brothers and how they became two very different people, and how they could help and understand each other, but it never really came. Even the reconciliation after Hyung Suk stopped his revenge was pretty light and unsubstantial. There’s a text message and they wave at the airport. Like, c’mon, where’s the emotion in that?
Re-watch?
Nope. Seo In Guk was spectacular and the Noona Romance was sweet at times, but it’s a one-time-only sort of show for me.
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| I came, I saw |
