Graduation

I know what screenwrites wanted to make nice, light tendible drama.

Unfortunatelly the miscasted main male lead ruined everything.

Don't get m wrong, the dude just doesn't fit the drama. You simply can't believe that he - wooden, out of touch, annoying bodybuilder can learn and teach anything, to be good couple with main lead female, who has emotions, softness, tendible, tiresome and was perfect for the role.

Whole 7 episodes I watched I was sorry for the show and was sorry for the female lead that they were given such unsuitable male lead.

Also it was quite hard to see her spending so much time with new teacher, helping him knowing that all teachers competes between themselves. And if you add that bodybuilder rude no manner wooden dude. You just can't believe it. And feel sorry every minute they are on screen.

Such a pity...

This show is brilliant in every sense. It gave a good insight on the education system. The script and plot was through provoking and so realistic. Every scene felt natural. The casting was superb. Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha Joon's acting brilliantly showed the nuances of their characters. The romance between them was so beautiful to watch as it built up in every episode because their chemistry was in a whole other level. Seo Jung-Yeon who was Gray witch did pretty well and gave me Meryl Streep vibes in Devil wears prada. This is up there with One Spring Night and Something in the rain. I'll surely be this rewatching again.

Korean Drama '' The Midnight Romance in Hagwon '' is a school romantic melodrama.

The drama is slow paced and feels relaxing and comforting. The cinematography is soothing and the camerawork makes the viewing experience feel like the audience is peeking into the characters' lives.

The start of the drama, moreover, was nice, with the story taking its time to settle in.

However, after a while, nothing really happened. The romance was enjoyable, yes, but wasn't enough to save things, and the school drama wasn't intense enough to peek things up.

On the other hand, the performances were enjoyable by every actor and actress of the cast.

So, overall, three out of ten.

The conversations are so real and the storyline and character development make sense and the acting is so convincing and natural. It is very refreshing to come across an intelligent and fairly realistic drama like this in K-drama land. It is still a drama of course with plenty of conflict and tension and feelings, but it is free of flashy materialism, immature characters and antics, and unrealistic plot events. I really enjoyed watching this one.

If I could have made two requests of the director and production team, they would be:

(1) I wish they could have varied the music. I get that this is this director's style, to use the same songs over and over again. He did the same thing in SITR, another drama I really enjoyed. But the repetitive music was annoying there as it was here.

(2) I wish they had kept the original drama name of "Graduation" in the English marketing of this drama. "Graduation" is a much more poetic name for this drama than "Midnight Romance in Hagwon," which sounds like a paperback romance or Hallmark movie and this drama is far from those. Maybe the production team thought the drama would get even fewer views with the original name, but I think this drama will get the attention it deserves in time.

I hope more people discover this one and enjoy it as much as I did. Dramas like this one are why I keep watching K-dramas, even if worthwhile ones like this one are few and far between.

Firstly, we have a unusual dynamic duo of a famous teacher at a coaching institute pairing up with her former star student who has joined his former alma mater as a teacher himself. The chemistry is electric and both the main characters have delivered a sublime performance and fit together. The female protagonist Seo Hye-jin is initially extremely reluctant to have her student working alongside her but the universe conspires to work together closely. (Major friends to lovers and forced proximity tropes in here)

The drama also sheds light on the extremely competitive academic system in Korea. I also have prepared for one of the most competitive exams in India and was extremely lucky to have fantastic teachers at the coaching institute to focused on keeping us engaged and really making us understand the course content in depth. Initially I started off with extremely low scores at the bottom of the batch and slowly reached one of the top batches similar to the male protagonist Lee Joon-ho.

This drama will always hold a special place in my heart. I cannot wait for the subsequent episodes to come out.

P. S. Coming off watching Queen of Tears & Its ok to not be ok, Most Bollywood / Hollywood stuff has become disinteresting for me. Honestly thought I would never find another drama which measures up but I was dead wrong.