Weak Hero Class 1 (2022)

YES YES YES YES YES

WOW.

Soo this is not going to be a long Review but I really need to put my opinion out here and praise this drama. When I saw the rating from other people I already had high expectations - and let me tell u it was WAAAYY BETTER then I could have imagined!! The acting in this series and the crazy fight scenes are OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! I just couldn't take my eyes of it not even a split second. This is definitely going into my top 3 favorite kdramas. I really hope the second season is coming soon !!

This drama is a big yes for me DEFINITELY RECOMMEND even if u are not in to dramas with fighting scenes then the story will change your mind on that !!! GO WATCH IT NOW!!

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its just So Good

like if i hve to be for real then this is one of the best adaptations from a webtoon like yes there has been some things switched around from the webtoon to the drama but it was still hella good and also not to mention that park jihoon’s acting in this was so phenomenal like the way he portrayed the emotions for each different episode like he is what you call an idol-actor like he is one of the best. even if you havent read the webtoon yet you can still enjoy without reading but i think it is better if you read the webtoon first because with this drama its a flashback with suho while as we were left off with a cliffhanger for when hes in eunjang the webtoon starts while hes in eunjang and goes on from there. but anyways this is hella recommended to watch and i absolutely love it.

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so so good

i watched this in one night, it is currently 5am and i am in tears at this series.
the acting is amazing, park jihoon done such an amazing job with the emotions and his eyes are just incredible
it had a good amount of violence and really just told the story of their friendships with each other which I enjoyed a lot

really hoping for a season 2, id like to see how shieun copes at his new school and whether sooho lives or not? and do they keep in touch? I really hope so

seeing how sooho brought shieun out of his bubble, made him smile, encouraged him to live a little was very nice so I hope they can continue living together

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THIS DRAMA IS SO GOOOOOD!!!

Brooo!!, I'm not a big fan of watching violent dramas, but this drama is just too good, I remember watching the first episode and saying "Wow, I'm probably going to drop this drama after episode 3" but yeah, I was wrong for the first time. This drama is well executed, Yeon Si Eun and Soo Ho, gosh, they're my favorite characters. That damn Oh Beum Seok, or whatever his name is, is so damn annoying, specifically his uncle, like bro, just send him to jail, and don't cover up for him. Anyway, I hope to see Weak Hero Class 2, cause that ending was such a good cliffhanger. Yeon Si Eun and Soo Ho, your acting was just too good, you have earned my respect, only Lee Jae Wook, Liu Te, and Cha Eun Woo have earned my favorite actors spot, now you have earned that spot too, I shall watch all of your dramas. My Overall Rating: ♾️ out of 10, more realistically》A MASTERPIECE.

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Brutally Bloody and a Whole Lot of Broken Bones (and spirits)

I am not crying but I think I want to... As I finish yet another drama about bullying in s. Krean schools I still feel that this was actually worth my time (as you may notice with the high rating).

I do not know if this brings a lot new to the table, as we get to see a bunch of grownups take advantage of kids use them as punchingbags and then blame them for paying it forward by punching others... There is a lot of splashing blood, sounds of bones cracking and legs flying in the air. Plus why take responsabilaty for stuff when you can blame others, done slighlty differently and really good.

Our leads are not always what they seem to be, but the friendships and fakefreindsabuserships are solid. The cinematography is brutally beautiful and the felling of f*** lingers in the air throughout the drama.

I love, love, love the bromance and appreciate the male trio in this as well as pretty much have a huge crush on Young Yis (LEon Yeon) character. Park Ji Hoon and Choi Hyun Wook did a phenomenal job portraying their characters.

A painful yet easy binge, but if you are the slightest sensetive to blood chances are you will have to look away now and then.

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SO FUCKING GOOD

Nov. 21, 2022

THIS WILL BE THE FUCKING KDRAMA REVIEW I WILL BE WRITING IN ALL CAPS AND ILL BE SWEARING THE FUCK UP.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. THE ADRENALINE RUSH I HAD WATCHING THIS SHOW. MY BLOOD PRESSURE WENT UP AND DOWN. I CRIED, I SCREAMED, I YELLED, I ALMOST BITCH SLAPPED A BITCH. YEA I DID THAT. I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHOW. I WISH THERE WAS MORE IN THE CLIMAX.

LIKE THAT UGLY ASS BONGSUN OR WHATEVER HIS CORNY ASS NAME IS. I WISH HE GETS BITCHED PUNCHED IN HIS GROIN AND FUCKING DIE. WHY TF IS HE GETTING SENT TO PH. FUCK HE BETTER PAY FOR HIS SINS. I HAVE NO EMPATHY OR SYMPATHY FOR HIS ASS. FUCKING DIE U BITCH!

I CAN'T BELIEVE MY MANS IN COMA. THIS IS SO NOT FUCKING UNFAIR. FUCK U AND ALL THEM BULLIES. HE NEEDS TO FUCKING WAKE UP I SWEAR TO GOD OR I WILL COMMIT MASSIVE CRIMES TOWARDS THESE DAMNED WRITERS.

AS FOR THE FUCKING CAST, I LOVE THEM ESPECIALLY PARK JIHOON. IN THE LAST EPISODE, I LITERALLY CRIED AND WAS RAGING. I FEEL IT, LIKE WHEN HE SLAMMED AND BROKE THE WINDOWS AT THE SCHOOL. AND HIS CHEMISTRY WITH THE SOO HOO IS JUST FUCKING AMAZING. I ALMOST THOUGHT THIS WAS A BL FOR A HOT MINUTE, LIES FOR THE WHOLE FUCKING SERIES. CAN THEY BE THE FUCKING ENDGAME PLEASE, LIKE THIS AINT FAIR. WAKE THE MAN UP FROM THE COMA, GIVE HIM A KISS LIKE IN THAT DISNEY MOVIE.

FUCK, THATS LITERALLY HOW I CAN SUM UP MY WHOLE EXPERIENCE WATCHING THIS SHOW. I SAT IN ONE SITTING FINISHED THIS SHOW. AND ALL I CAN SAY IS FUCK THAT BITCH, FUCK EVERYONE, FUCK EVERYTHING, FUCK. FUCK FUCK.

I WANT A HAPPY ENDING FOR THE AMOUNT OF SHIT I SUFFERED THROUGH SO WRITERS BETTER PULL THROUGH FOR SEASON 2 OR I WILL HUNT YALLS DOWN AT YOUR ADDY.

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A lot of shock value, but little story value

After seeing the high ratings this drama has on pretty much every platform I had pretty high expectations and was unfortunately kind of let down.
While the beginning (especially the first episode) starts off pretty strong, the drama soon wastes most of that potential within its first 4 episodes. A bunch of strikingly different characters are introduced very quickly, but instead of deepening their characters with detailed looks into their past the drama just gives a few superficial (and pretty stereotypical) glimpses of their backstory and never really developes past the characters being rather one dimensional and predictable. We have Sieun being a psychopath, Suho being a loyal, but mostly unserious cool guy and Beomseok... well, he is just kind of there.
Many interesting characters disappear as fast fast as they appear (for example Seokdae) and instead of taking their time to develop the story through more subtle changes of character we get fight scene after fight scene, with characters unrealistically changing within minutes and crossing, double crossing, triple crossing each other faster than you can blink.
All of what is happenning in these 8 episodes could have been easily spread over 16 or more episodes, giving more backstory and letting friendships (and enemyships) develop more slowly and naturally (and not pull so many last season of Game of Thrones moves).

The reason my rating is still relatively high after all this criticism is that nonetheless the acting is pretty good, and the teenage angst, insecurity and despair to belong definitely is palpable. And although the story seems rather rushed, it does keep you on the edge of your seat... even though that is mostly only thanks to the shock value of the extreme violence depicted.
Besides that the use of music is subtle, but effective, the show is beautifully shot and the fight scenes are well choreographed.

Overall it's not a bad show, just not as deep as people make it out to be, and not as interesting as to justify its astronomically high ratings.

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Emotional rollercoaster with phenomenal characters and brilliant storytelling

Yeon Shi Un is a smart student but he's physically frail, making him an easy target for the bullies who are jealous of his top grades. Based on a webtoon with the same title, it deals with an unlikely bonding heroes who stand up for themselves in their unique ways. The underdog become the alpha dog in this Pavlovian classic battle, fueled by rocking OST, amazing camera angles, unique film-editing and well-paced pen clicks!

It is short yet it covers a lot of deep values of youth fragility and found friendships. WHC1 seems to be grieving and questioning the youth fragility, showing how teenage life is like walking on thin ice, how the past leaves a trauma long after the incident. Trigger warning! There is much violence as it is a bullying story, all the blood, pain, violence, but... it is also very fun!

Sure, bullying drama is not new, but the storytelling is very unique. From the intro we see this cool blue-tone, it's quite mellow, I absolutely adore it, and adore seeing the intro even more as I get into the final. It doesn't look gory. It feels angsty. Loved the fighting scenes, the choreography for the fighting scenes are like dance, like I'm watching a musical.

the story wouldn't have the impact it has, if the characters didn't feel as real as they do. The journeys that they go on individually and then all together are just heartbreaking. I felt so much emotion watching them. I laughed, I cried, I felt angry, I have such a strong connection with the characters and I thought that's so rare nowadays... to feel so connected with characters. They're really easy to relate to and I think that's because they're teenagers and I was a teenager and I relate to a lot of the stuff they went through, not the like taking down a gambling gang, but the friendship troubles and the exams and part-time jobs, stuff like that... It had everything I might want from a show like this trio: cute fighter, psycho brain, cinnamon roll who just wants to help.

Absolutely award-winning levels of acting. Their facial expressions speak more than speeches and actions, the quiet gazes worth more than words. Even though they are all amazing, I'm not taking anything away from any of them… but Park Jihoon who played Shi Un really stood out for me and I watched this show months ago and the climax scene with Shin Un the last episode... that still sticks with me. That scene is so powerful and it is literally because of his acting.

The plot is tight without fillers, it has no romance, but there are tons of conflict and I love conflict. I really like the dialogue and I also the visual storytelling is just skillful. Well-written scripts are more than anything I really look up to the show and the writers who worked on it because it really is just phenomenal. It's literally flawless I don't have anything bad to say about it. Hands down the most heartbreaking drama I've ever seen and I genuinely mean that!

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The writing, directing, acting - pure magic!

I have not been able to stop thinking about Weak Hero Class 1. I'm such a huge fan of silent storytelling in shows and movies, and this series is full of it! So much of the storytelling is told through subtle images and through the actors faces, rather than through words. It's the magic of great writing, acting, and directing! There are plenty of cool fight scenes too. The cinematography and music are so beautiful. Genuinely, a show hasn't had this big of an impact on me in years. I've already watched it twice, which I rarely do with shows. I couldn't recommend it enough. Absolutely brilliant.

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A heart-wrenching and brutal depiction of the cycle of violence

When Meego and Primary are credited on the OST, that can only mean one thing : the drama you’re about to watch will shatter your heart in pieces (Yes, I’m talking about you D.P.).

“Weak Hero Class 1” is extremely violent and brutal. The emotions portrayed are so raw that it is sometimes unbearable to watch. This drama is infused with a despair so complete that you wonder how the characters found the inner strength to open their eyes every morning and get on with their lives.

Collecting my thoughts after watching such a heart-wrenching drama is harder than expected : I have so many things to say but, paradoxically, I am at a loss for words. I was truly shocked by how violent this drama was and how it accurately portrayed what bullying is like in South Korea.
The fight scenes are extremely well-choreographed and kudos to the persons in charge of creating them and extra kudos to all the actors who did their own stunts. Such well-choreographed fight scenes seem to hint at the fact that bullies are used to fighting : fighting has become nothing more than a morbid dance in which the one who is fast enough to lead the dance will win.

This series depicts the tragedy of bullying no matter the environment and emphasises how violence is always the answer for bullies. If some people felt that the violence was too much in this drama and even pointless, that means the director successfully conveyed the message this show carries : the cycle of violence is never-ending however absurd and destructive it gets.
Although the action scenes may look “cool” given how well-thought-out and well-filmed they are, they’re unbearable to watch. Teenagers these days — and even before — are beating people with a bat, a monkey wrench or a metal bar… I cannot fathom how teenagers can be so utterly violent and cruel to one another. We live in the sickest world. Bullies have their senses numb by their desire for revenge and only the lingering presence of death can make them scurry away.

The cycle of violence is nothing but a vicious circle which, by definition, has no end. Such a cycle is especially devious in bullying cases because bullying is never as simple as people think it is. It must not have escaped you that there are almost no adults in the drama, let alone adults who embody any kind of neutral authority. Victims of bullying have no one to talk to. Even when they do, the people they talk to cannot begin to imagine how absolutely wild the revenge gets once someone’s ego is bruised. Beyond the desire for revenge, toxic masculinity is at the core of this drama. Bullying is only seen as a means to “fulfil [one’s] ego” and revenge is shown as nothing else but the correct response to a bruised ego. Toxic masculinity makes men entitled to the use of violence once they’ve been humiliated especially by people they deemed inferior. Shi Eun strives to stand at the opposite of such a dynamic but he is forced to respond with violence because his life and those of his friends are at risk.

To make my point absolutely clear : I do not hate Beom Seok. You hate someone once you have made a judgement on them. However, I don’t have it in me to judge Beom Seok. I simply cannot. Beom Seok is an incredibly complex character and people putting all the blame on him like he is nothing but a coward misses how fleshed-out he is. Hong Kyung’s acting showed a profound level of understanding of his character and he did amazing as Beom Seok. Beom Seok is the tragic embodiment of the human condition, with all its sickening flaws.

Beom Seok desperately longs to belong somewhere, anywhere. He was adopted by a father who only did it to better his political image. His father never showed him anything but pure hatred and the beating he receives is absolutely horrid both because of how violent it is but also because it hammers home the point that he is not a part of their family. He is nothing and his father never misses a chance to brutally remind him of that fact.
He was harshly bullied in his previous school making him an outcast. When he arrives in his new class, more than blending in, he wants to belong to a group — no matter which one. Soo Ho and Shi Eun make the perfect group for him except for the fact that Soo Ho is only seen as a carefree antihero to Beom Seok. Beom Seok feels like he owes Soo Ho and he hates it. Soo Ho doesn’t make him feel like he belongs although Shi Eun does because of how attentive and careful he is towards him.

Soo Ho is also a complex character with whom friendships are complicated because of how above everyone else he feels. Although Shi Eun successfully communicated with him, Beom Seok never did and neither did Soo Ho (with Beom Seok). A friendship with Soo Ho implies an imbalance which has to be corrected somewhere along the way. Shi Eun is acutely aware of that and from the get-go, he tells Soo Ho that he shouldn’t tell him what to do. Their confrontation in the classroom is actually quite meaningful because both of them get a pretty solid understanding of each other afterwards.
Given how skilled Soo Ho is when it comes to fighting and fighting bullies in particular, people are humbled by his mere presence. Soo Ho is aware of that and so he seldom comes to the rescue — only when it is absolutely necessary — because he knows people are going to feel indebted to him. However, people deal with debt in different ways. Beom Seok feels as if he owes Soo Ho and that feeling runs so deep that it eventually destroys his friendship with Soo Ho.
Soo Ho doesn’t know how to communicate with Beom Seok but he knows how to talk to Shi Eun. For instance, when Soo Ho makes Shi Eun work to help him during his part time job, he’s actually being thoughtful in his own way. He doesn’t want to give Shi Eun the feeling that he was rescued. Making him work is a way to tell him that Shi Eun doesn’t owe him anything. Beom Seok also did work in the restaurant Soo Ho works in but he missed the point of the whole “help me with my work now that you’ve wasted my time”.

Beom Seok never found a way to shift the balance of power in his friendship with Soo Ho. Thus, he was always on the defensive and whenever Soo Ho tried to help him, he only interpreted his actions as another means to humiliate him to make him remember that he is the “weakest” member of the group. Neither do Soo Ho nor Shi Eun consider him inferior or weak but Beom Seok has convinced himself otherwise, especially when it comes to Soo Ho’s perception of him. Shi Eun tried to point that out to Soo Ho but Soo Ho isn’t as thoughtful as Shi Eun. He felt deeply pained by Beom Seok’s words and reactions to whatever he did or said and his growing frustration towards him did not allow him to analyse things in a rational way.

I am deeply heartbroken by how Shi Eun, Beom Seok and Soo Ho’s friendship ended. Nevertheless, the drama gave us one of the most genuine male friendships I have ever seen and this is the thing I liked most about “Weak Hero Class 1”.
Before I dive further into Shi Eun and Soo Ho’s friendship, I would like to remind everyone that Shi Eun understood Beom Seok till the very end. The scene in which he cannot punch him, despite all the anger and despair he feels, is highly symbolic and should encourage the viewers to be as understanding as Shi Eun. What Beom Seok did is wrong and unforgivable. But his suffering should not go unnoticed. If Shi Eun could notice it even when Beom Seok started his descent into hell then so should the viewers. I wish people were more nuanced when they talked about him. He is a tragic character in all its splendour.

Now on to Shi Eun and Soo Ho’s friendship. Even before everything that happened with Beom Seok, their trio — now turned into a duo — was genuine and beautiful and I have seldom seen such an accurate and subtle portrait of genuine male friendships. Both of them communicate rather well and deeply care for each other. Although the two of them might be new to the feeling, they both react in different ways and it was truly heartwarming to see how moved they were to each other’s affection — the hospital scene in which Soo Ho is speechless because of Shi Eun’s thoughtfulness and warmth was a superb scene.

Soo Ho brought such comfort and a sense of safety to Shi Eun that Shi Eun felt overwhelmed by such warmth. The way he sometimes only looks at him, without saying a word, and his gaze is so vulnerable and obvious. He is finally understood and he feels deeply relieved.

Soo Ho is quite a misleading character who is more complex than the happy-go-lucky type he uses to present himself. He sure is spontaneous and straight-forward but those traits of his character are in keeping with the fact that he has no time nor does he have the means necessary to dwell on his thoughts. He has to work a lot to get by and he barely has time to sleep so taking the necessary time to take care of himself is not something he can afford. I don’t believe he would find much use in that either. He seems used to muffling his emotions.
I wouldn’t say Soo Ho embodies a kind of toxic masculinity but some of his actions are not far from it. Shi Eun’s company invites him to be a bit more vulnerable although he seldom explicitly voices out his worries but his “Are you okay?” and his questioning gaze is enough for Shi Eun to understand his friend’s concern. In the same vein, the way his “See you tomorrow” addressed to Shi Eun always sounded like a promise never missed to squeeze my heart just as it must have squeezed Shi Eun’s heart in his chest.
However, he doesn’t know how to control his frustration and that’s why he could never talk things through with Beom Seok. The two of them were always engaged in a power struggle that none of them clearly understood. Shi Eun tried to act as a mediator between them but even when he talked to Soo Ho about Beom Seok, Soo Ho didn’t know how to react when faced with Beom Seok’s loneliness and angst. I’m not solemnly blaming Soo Ho for Beom Seok’s descent into hell. Beom Seok should have voiced his worries to Soo Ho without putting on a defying front whenever they talked to each other. But Beom Seok’s inferiority complex didn't allow him to do that and only Shi Eun saw right through him till the very end. Soo Ho also wished for Beom Seok to stop his nonsense but he hadn’t realised that his mere presence had become a burden to him. Their failed friendship is tragic because the two of them never succeeded in talking with each other on a neutral ground. They could never stand on equal footing however hard they tried.
Choi Hyun Wook did a wonderful job at balancing his character’s seemingly casualness to show, at times, a more emotionally vulnerable part of Soo Ho.

Although Shi Eun fights a lot and analyses things through in a way that might appear quite scary, he is the only soft-spoken character in the drama who always strived to talk things through first. He is a profoundly lonely character who lives his life like a programmed robot who should do what he is told to do just because he doesn’t know what he would do otherwise. His feelings are stifled deep within him and the way he fights so desperately gives the viewers a hint as to how long he has kept bottling up his thoughts and worries.
Park Ji Hoon’s eyes speak volume and thus everything Shi Eun felt found echoes in the viewers’ heart. Park Jihoon did a stellar job at portraying Shi Eun, from how devoid of colours his gaze could be to how soft and raw his voice sounded.

This drama could not have been as gut-wrenching without the actors and actresses’ amazing performances. I have only praised the three main actors’ acting but it goes without saying that they delivered such honest and heartbreaking performances because of how stimulated they must have been by the way people acted out all around them.

I don’t particularly enjoy watching dramas about bullying but I still watch them because they usually never miss to draw a true and nuanced portrait of the human condition with all its /hubris/. This drama highlighted how brutal the cycle of violence is and how revenge has no end since people with bruised egos lose all sense of rationality.
“Weak Hero Class 1” is, in many ways, similar to a Greek tragedy from the way the story unfolds to the characters themselves. Every character is so caught up in this vicious circle that they all lose control of what they’re doing — just like the hero of a tragedy has no control over their fate — leading them to almost kill one another. The bitter irony of bullying is that bullies long to completely destroy their victim without killing them. The prospect of them dying sends a wave of panic into them which is beyond understanding. Cruelty implies a long-term suffering which aims at hurting and humiliating relentlessly the person bullied to make them turn into the shell of themselves.

Male friendships are the reason I would recommend this drama to everyone because it is truly refreshing to see genuine friendships brought to the screen. However, this drama may not be suitable for everyone because of how terribly violent it is. There is something in “Weak Hero Class 1” — from the way it is filmed to the way characters speak and act — that reinforces the violence shown which makes it all the more shocking even if you are used to watching brutal series/movies.

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I LOVE IT!

I absolutely love this show! It was so GOOD! This will be organized by the RATINGS.

STORY
The story plotline was good, honestly, it was amazing. However the thing I would say is that there was a small part within the series where I was confused I believe it was the story between Bum Soek and Soo Ho. I get the anger that Bum Soek presented as being friends, but I think I was just slightly confused about the friendship. Why was Bum Soek so obsessed with a relationship with Soo Ho? I also think that Bum Soek's story was so GOOD! Like it was played throughout the series which I did like and it ALSO WASN'T FULLY DIRECT, whichI think was amazing.

ACTING
THE ACTING WAS CRAZY! Dude I loved it. The eyes and passion. Especially THE SMILE SCENCE AND THE CRYING SCENCE! It was all crazy and I love the entire cast acting.

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