Graduation

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.

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...

A quality drama, don't give up and watch until the end to understand its quality.

Casting is also perfect, there is no doubt, Wi Ha Joon is perfect in the role he plays (I love his acting in both Little Women and The Worst of Evil) the casting and acting of everyone is perfect as if they were chosen with tweezers.. there were moments that made me seethe with rage and there were also those that made me cry with rage.

The drama is a sharp indictment and criticism against the education system in Korea, the pursuit of excellence by memorization and not by self-thinking or analyzing situations, at the same time I have a reservation that the drama is apparently boring, there is a lot of talk about grades/tests and the grading system of tests. Sometimes I found myself repeating episodes or dialogue (one must say witty) to understand things, which leads me to think that the drama mainly speaks to viewers from Korea, they can better understand the depth of the drama than a western audience, most of the filming was done almost in the dark (even the room of The principal of the college it's dark not to talk about intimate scenes and a kiss lol) which made it difficult to watch. There are a lot of silences but the silences are so necessary for the plot (really wonderful acting) I've already seen series that deal with the strict education in South Korea and the attitude of the parents to their children and teachers regarding achievements, but it was on the edge (from what I saw), this drama gave me a different perspective ... Of course, it has many important and universal topics related to education and interpersonal communication, (relationships between students/teachers/and parents and interpersonal relationships on a romantic background and pure and supportive love) The soundtrack of the drama is great and pleasant throughout the drama I rated the drama 9/10 for me it was another introduction to culture and it takes time to get used to its pace and plot... And it may be true that she is not suitable for everyone, this is my personal opinion and I would recommend giving her a chance♥

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.

Upcoming Best Romance Drama currently!!

This looks promising drama!! The texture is same style and genre with "one spring night" drama.

If you like "one spring night" and "something in the rain", you will enjoy this drama too!!

Good directing and cinematography!!

A Realistic workplace plot will be with sweet romance!!!

I am fan of main lead actress and like their chemistry!!

Hope to see more romantic scenes!!!

This will be slow burn romance drama and same vibe and texture with "one spring night" and "something in the rain" drama.

They have 6 years age gap only. Female lead was third year of university student and part-time study guide/instructor (not real teacher) while male lead was in high-school student (will be 18 or 19 age) for matriculation exam.

As per photos of age chart, current FL age is 35 years old and ML is 29 years old , that is why 6 years age gap only.

I enjoy this drama a lot!!! Can't wait to see new episodes!!!!