When I first read the synopsis for this drama (not having watched the movie version before), I was wondering if the show would end up over-glamorizing the teenage cheats or over-moralizing on how wrong it is for them to cheat. Thankfully, it does neither.

What we have is not only a good story that is paced and directed well but also a nuanced take on the rampant corruption and inequality in society. We are invested in the characters early on--the main characters, Lin and Bank, are definitely likable people in whom we invest our emotions. The scene in which Bank carries a small boy so that the boy could get a balloon that has floated to the ceiling shows the innate kindness in both Lin and him as they try their utmost to help the boy, who does not even seem friendly at first.

Lin and Bank are the geniuses that the title may refer to--they are really good academically, which is why they can help others cheat in exams. (I do wonder why the school seems to exclusively have MCQ tests, but we can probably ignore this lack of realism.) The other two main characters, Pat and Grace, are also developed in interesting ways although I thought they would be flat characters at first.

Although Bank later turns into someone we may have reservations feeling sympathy for, the story of his gradual loss of innocence is compelling and saddening story. Despite being an innocent and upright boy, he betrays his own principles when his mother is injured and requires a massive sum of money for surgery. However, after he is caught for taking part in a cheating scheme, he is expelled from school and will not be able to fulfill his dream of enrolling in medical school and becoming a doctor. At this point, his moral descent begins as he he sees his future destroyed and hatches another exam cheating scheme, even going to the point of betraying his friends and cheating the customers who pay him to help them cheat. Can we really blame him when his poverty drives him to cheat to get money for his mother's surgery and as a reward for his filial piety, he gets expelled from school and have his dreams destroyed without a second chance? (No doubt, had he the money to bribe the headmistress, he would perhaps have been able to continue studying in the school.)

The depiction of the characters is wonderfully executed. There is neither harsh judgement on their morally ambiguous actions nor unnecessary valorization of their behaviors. In contrast, the irony of the headmistress moralizing to Bank for cheating is hard to miss. She is, after all, one of the key faces of the corrupt society that benefits the privileged and exploits the underprivileged. The reason the cheating has become something like an organized crime is the corruption on the part of people like her in the first place: Lin realizes that her father has to borrow money and pay a hefty sum of money for her place in the prestigious school, and she only gets "half" the scholarship although the money used to bribe the headmistress is more than enough for her fees for a few years. The headmistress herself tries to get Lin to give up applying for a scholarship so that her nephew can get it. One feels a sense of injustice throughout the series, so even as we know that the cheating teens are doing something wrong, we may just find ourselves hoping that they get away with it.

With the story premised on teens trying to earn money by coming up with elaborate cheating schemes, the ending is a bound to be challenge to write. Do we let them be caught and punished and risk undermining the social critique of injustice by emphasizing the immorality of their actions? Do we let them get away with it and risk sending the message that society is unfair and cheating is a legitimate way of making things right?

Thankfully, the writers are clever enough to find a way out of the quandary. The students do get caught (after one confesses), but the story does not transform into one that simply moralizes about how the teens are wrong to cheat. The differing punishments for the four teens actually hammers in the message about inequality further. The wealthy Pat essentially gets away scot free because his father is able get him off the hook (presumably with money). Amongst the less privileged, however, the less privileged you are, the more you suffer: Grace and Lin get away with a suspended sentence whereas Bank is sent to a boys' home. Why the difference? Lin is lucky enough not to have a record for cheating in the earlier scandal because he mother is around to help her whereas Bank, the least privileged, has no one in a position to help him get away with it. On top of this, we shouldn't forget that the criminals who get punished here are minors whereas adults like the headmistress get away with accepting bribes that are more or less an open secret.

The inherent unfairness even in the repercussions suffered by the perpetrators of the cheating schemes is observed by Lin herself as she eventually concludes that she and her peers have to use their intelligence and talents to change society without breaking the law because they the legal repercussions they have to face will prevent them from fighting the unfairness in society further.

In the end, we see Lin realizing that cheating will not help her achieve what she wants. We might see that she is perhaps just following her father's footsteps, trying to change the system in small ways whilst being part of the system. However, she is also more ambitious and intelligent, and there is hope that she will achieve more with her peers. Perhaps the ending is a tad too optimistic, but I won't complain too much in this regard.

This is definitely one of the best dramas of 2020 that I have watched so far.