T-ara number 1 searched on NEWSen again..and again and again and again! LOL
Dramabeans review of the pilot episode for Jiyeon's God of Study!
GOD OF STUDY (KBS)
I fired up God of Study first, thinking it would be the easiest to watch and recap. I wasn’t necessarily excited about this drama, but I was curious to see how it would handle the high school setting and obvious Boys Before Flowers comparisons.
Kim Su-ro is a lawyer who is brought in to Byungmun High School to consult with its board chair. The school is affiliated with the Byungmun corporation, whose future is shaky at present, meaning that the school may be shut down. Kim Su-ro’s lawyer character has painful memories of being a student at the school and would like nothing more than to help that happen. Bae Doo-na is a well-meaning English teacher who fears that closing the school would be disaster for these kids, who are already faring so poorly.
Surprisingly, my first thought was that I was bored. The setup wasn’t particularly striking, with the rowdy kids sleeping through classes and showing a general disinterest in learning. I thought Bae Doo-na — acknowledged as one of the top actresses of her generation — overacted. And I was disappointed to have been told Yoo Seung-ho would be this badass rebel, only to see that his goodness is pretty apparent on the surface. (Not that I wanted him to be a horrible person, but it seemed like the character wasn’t at all what we’d been told to expect. I did like his acting and he has a lot of presence — and it’s nice to see him playing something other than a king! — so there is that.)
However, this drama grew on me a lot over the hour, and perhaps I have my own expectations to blame for the initial surprise. Nobody said this was going to be Boys Before Flowers Redux — it was my assumption based on the descriptions, the casting of Kim Su-ro (who does comedy so well), the hip teen cast, and the KBS ties. But this is nothing at all like Boys Before Flowers — it’s not even a comedy. I was expecting light trendy stuff, and instead what we get is much more serious in tone. It actually reminded me a lot of American teen dramas — not over-the-top Gossip Girl or campy One Tree Hill but more toned-down, straight drama fare. I’ve thought that it’s too bad there weren’t more shows like those lower-budget youth dramas (such as those produced by EBS or aired outside of prime time), but upgraded with higher production values. So this fulfills that wish.
The narrative heaviness turned me off at first, but as we got to know more of the characters, I warmed to it. I do think they’re laying on the serious drama vibe too thick (especially with Kim Su-ro) and there are scenes that drag. Part of the slowness of the episode is because it takes some time to establish each of the characters, and we’ve got a good number of them — five students, plus the adults. What I hope this drama does is take realistic characters and bring them together with good chemistry, because the story itself is low-key and simple. We aren’t going to get exciting location shoots, super-dramatic plot twists, or over-the-top villains like in Boys Before Flowers, so the fate of the show rests on the relationship dynamics. Thankfully, most of the cast can act pretty well.
I’m not hooked on God of Study and I think it’s the slowest of the four to settle into its groove, but there’s something interesting about the vibe that has me intrigued.
^i agree with the review 98%.