Rating: 3.5/5
Yeon Si-eun (Park Ji-hoon) brings out his pen once again to fight against bullies in ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ but did it change anything? Nope, the toxic cycle continues, in the end someone’s hurt again, and this time it’s fatal, because violence begets violence.
‘Twinkling Watermelon’ fame Ryeoun, ‘XO, Kitty’s Choi Min-yeong, ‘Melo Movie’ fame Lee Jun-young, ‘Crash Course in Romance’ actor Lee Min-jae, and ‘D.P.’ stars Yu Su-bin and Bae Na-ra, make their debut in the second installment of this harrowing Netflix K-drama, revolving around the theme of high-school bullying with nightmarish consequences.
(And this series should definitely come with a trigger warning for everyone.)
Just like season 1, Yeon Si-eun’s new school is a universe of fear which we cannot edit out from our memories. It is a difficult watch which elicits jittery feelings of rage and dread weaved together with nasty twists of a new tormentor, such that at crucial moments Yeon Si-eun neither has time nor the inclination to protect himself from falling into the vicious cycle again.
After Ahn Su-ho (Choi Hyun-wook) is left in a vegetative state, Yeon Si-eun transfers to Eunjang High, a private school with a bad reputation for hosting rowdy boys, but now he has developed a maxim for staying out of trouble: don’t react. He has seen what happened to his best friend and quickly recognizes, Eunjang is not only an enclave of brutality amplified but also suffers abuse at the hands of ‘The Union’, a criminal group of delinquents run by a high-school student, which has all nearby schools terrorised.
A horrifying premise indeed because bullying is frequently not a clear-cut issue. ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ reminds us of the complexity of negotiating the schoolyard and the classroom, how shifting allegiances and the need to survive can bring out the worst, and the best, in people. It is such an atmosphere that Yeon Si-eun is forced to react and strike up an uneasy friendship with Baku (Ryeoun), Jun-tae (Choi Min-yeong), and Go Hyun-tak (Lee Min-jae), and this is the most successful part of the K-drama.
Na Baek-jin (Bae Na-ra) is a delinquent teen who leads the gang of bullies but he isn’t just any hoodlum: he is smart, a top student with scholarship and an outstanding performance award, but also apparently has a dark childhood friends-to-enemies history with Baku. Another scary tough guy, Seong-je (Lee Jun-young), is Baek-jin’s henchman, but do not make the mistake of assuming he is lowest down the food chain.
The main villain here has a toxic obsession with harming everyone around Baku and by the end of season, it is made clear why. Our returning hero Yeon Si-eun is once again given a difficult choice to react, someone your heart hurts for, but not innocent enough to get behind. That may be the point of a show that interrogates guilt, memory and self-perception – but having a hero who is so hard to untangle makes it not an easy watch.
When young students are beating each other to near death, a world of adult indifference is revealed: those supposed authority figures are way out of the frame, be it parents or teachers. It is a reflection of the high-school bullying issue engulfing South Korea where the playground’s hidden theatre of violence echoes in the headteacher’s office and in the kitchens at home, among the grownups whose own childhoods involved dutifully learning the lesson that violence is unacceptable – but who find that anger is still a natural instinct when it comes to protecting and being seen to protect.
As for Yeon Si-eun, the K-drama shows us that he is not exactly a moral agent: he fiercely objects to bullying, but also unhelpfully denounces Jun-tae’s failure to stand up for himself, when he reaches out for help. He waits for Jun-tae to be kicked and punched mercilessly before finally stepping in to stop the commotion: tactless courage.
Everyone, be warned: ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ is quite adept at capturing the casual cruelty of high school. The show nails that teenage desperation for approval, the pathetic dance of trying to unfollow all rules, and the way a bully’s good graces can shine upon you one moment and then be revoked seemingly without cause – it takes you back to your worst teenage nightmare.
The show substitutes its lack of a tight plot with emotionally moving moments involving violence that swings hard from all corners and connects deep to get the wind knocked out of your lungs. Watching ‘Weak Hero Class 2’, it’s hard not to cast your mind back to the thematically similar ‘The Glory.’ There’s no laughs or lightness to be had with this Netflix show, it is so discomforting that it nearly touches the realm of being a psychological thriller. Why it never reaches there is because ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ feels like it’s waiting for a big reveal that never comes, unfurling a story that only knows how to draw blood. But that’s not to say it doesn’t leave an impact.
Taking action against violence and bullying can be difficult, but for those who do, the struggle can be long, with most victims unable to get any help, that’s exactly what ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ is trying to narrate.
Final thoughts:
Jun-tae is sexually harassed by a bully in his class who is trying to touch his male genitalia. This scene from the second season of ‘Weak Class Hero,’ shows viewers the depth of South Korea’s school bullying epidemic. It has deeply disturbing moments and it is this unapologetic depiction of pervasive school violence that’s sure to resonate within the country, reigniting calls for action to address the issue.
It is widely reported that students in South Korea are subjected to intense academic pressure and long hours of studying, primarily centred on university entrance exams. This creates a highly competitive, hierarchical, and monotonous environment devoid of physical activities to expend energy – and that can lead to some individuals bullying others merely as a source of amusement.
Though ‘Weak Hero Class 2’ attempts to be a raw reflection of this serious problem, its content is definitely rage-bait. By saying so I might be putting myself in cross with its admirers who may not like this perception. It is a show that a certain constituency of viewers are going to love so passionately that any who might suggest it is profoundly aggressive, manipulative, and violent in nature, might not be appreciated.
But it has to be said loud and clear for all the Yeon Si-eun’s in the world who struggle to do the right thing at times, and are stuck in a world that makes people bleed. They need to know that reaching out for help is also a way to react and make a difference, that kindness does exist in this world and that choosing violence isn’t the only solution.
But for all its flaws, what an incredible performance from the cast to depict fear, pain and moral outrage that goes beyond acting.
