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.

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.

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!!!!

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.