Rating: ★★★★★
Based on a webtoon, Itaewon Class revolves around the journey of Park Sae-ro-yi and his determination to lead a normal life despite the social injustice that occurred in his life. To give a short summary, as a high schooler, he transferred to quite a few schools because of his dad’s job, but at one particular school, he ran into some trouble. Due to his righteous personality, he could not stand being a bystander watching an innocent student get bullied while everyone, including the teachers, turned a blind eye. So, he fought back to save the student. Except, there’s a twist. The well-known school bully, Jang Geun-won, was the son of a chairman who had connections everywhere. Even worse, Sae-ro-yi’s father worked for the chairman so a lot of people would not dare cross that family, including the principal. As a result, Geun-won was declared innocent with no consequences and Sae-ro-yi was forced to apologize for punching him along with his father quitting his job after a threat from the chairman.
Slowly, as Park Sae-ro-yi begins to move on with their lives, more complications arise with the chairman making it more difficult to stay as the highly moral and ethical person he was taught to be. As he stays on the path of creating a normal life for himself as a high school drop-out, he unexpectedly builds a team from trust and loyalty to accomplish a long-time, impractical goal for someone of his caliber.
Lastly, this show also rejects the common misconception that one can’t succeed in life without wealth and proper education. Don’t get me wrong, education is important. Stay in school kids! But since everyone isn’t given the same opportunities as others, this show demonstrates the importance of having ethics and a good personality. I strongly recommend this show to those who enjoy a nice that brings all sorts of emotions to the table. Betrayal. Frustration. Happiness. Everything.
