Lee Jong Suk Marathon: Phase 1, School 2013

I'm still a fairly new drama-watcher. I only started in early 2013, and it's felt like I've been playing catch up ever since, trying to watch all the important dramas, the popular ones, the ones with the hottest actors and actresses, so that I can begin to form any kind of coherent understanding and dialogue with the genre.

In this mad rush of drama watching, Lee Jong Suk for the most part passed me by. I saw him in some of his earlier roles (Prosecutor Princess, Secret Garden), liked him, and then never really thought about him. Of late, though, it's become hard not to think of Lee Jong Suk since he's become so big. I've heard so many good things, I decided the time was right to plunge into the wonder of his big parts.  Hence what I am dubbing the Great Lee Jong Suk Marathon of 2015.

First show up---School 2013. (Beware spoilers under the cut!)



Let me tell you. I was promised brooding, angsty bromances, and I was not lied to. There was so much brood, I might even have been turned off...except that it was Lee Jong Suk doing it, and let me tell you, he's damn good at it. He played the role of apathetic, numb-faced student (Go Nam Soon) living his life in a self-imposed isolation with skill.



Watching him slowly crack open to the honest and affectionate teacher Jung In Jae, become an unwilling class president suddenly forced to actually exist within the scope of his classmates, seeing him bullied ceaselessly but without any protest on his part. Watching his unexpected and genuine kindness to the mentally handicapped student in the class, watching him not even try in school but suddenly quote tender poetry when someone was hurt...God, I found myself wildly curious about this iced over gentle soul before the first two episodes were out and the true conflict was introduced.




I especially enjoyed his odd little friendship with school brain Song Ha Kyung, an arc that was ultimately neglected later on, but still allowed for interesting undercurrents. Her frustration with him, his mildly affectionate surprise for her icy efforts to save his ass when he got himself in too much trouble...it was an endearing pairing, and they brought out surprising  things in each other. No wonder she developed a crush on that profile. If he was sitting across from me in class sleeping, I'd be stealing looks too.

But of course, it was the main storyline that made this drama compelling and gave LJS scope to really act. And does it ever help that the person who plays opposite him is a favorite of mine, the talented Kim Woo Bin (character name: Park Heung Soo).

As a pair of former best friends deeply damaged by an accident that destroyed both their friendship and a future, their dynamic is complex and thoroughly well-explored.

Nam Soon's pain at unexpectedly seeing Heung Soo, his efforts to in some way compensate for their shared past...there was just so much ache whenever Nam Soon looked at Heung Soo over a a barrier he wanted to scale but was terrified of. The fact that the viewers don't even know what that barrier is for ages makes it worse. Or better. Whichever you want to call it.



And did Kim Woo Bin ever deliver as the injured friend, betrayed and hurting and furious and too young to know how to cope with the damage done to him. The way these two danced around each other, pushing each other, getting close to confrontation and then veering away, coping with the things only they knew about each other that when revealed, pushed them ever closer to being forced to face the past. It was flipping glorious. Well-written, well-acted, and so addictive.


And when that past began to unravel, showing us exactly what had been lost and what could be recovered given enough time and care....well. Just call me thoroughly invested.

It wasn't perfect, mind you. I, personally, could have used a few more of these flashbacks, which grounded this friendship and showed us exactly what we were rooting for. And also, they were just fun. Probably the happiest moments in a show that could get very grim indeed.



And sometimes the runaround could get repetitive. Yes, we get you two were hurt. But sometimes, the conflict needs to be spiced up a little. The constant revolving door plot of which of them was staying away from school because of the other, or about to get expelled because of the other, became bland. There was room for more than that, and personally I thought it actually nudged the the tenseness down a little, because this was so much more than just a schoolroom brawl and it needed to exist outside of the confines of school attendance.



Not to say we didn't get to a variety of bigger problems when they finally started being on the same side for a change towards the middle and end. I couldn't help but giggle when they eventually became the twin guardians of lost boys, shepherding wayward bullies and overtaxed ace students back into the fold. And the rebirth of their friendship, shaped by their shared perils, was a delight to watch, full of silly faces, irritated sighs and ball games.

In the end, this was really the story of two teenage boys finding a friendship again. Everything else just felt like window-dressing to me.









Final verdict: Solidly good, though a littly laggy and repetitive in spots.

Lee Jong Suk verdict: Pretty good...handles a potentially difficult character with care and focus.



(pictures courtesy of dramabeans)