Weak Hero (2022)

Why WHC1 might be one of the best dramas I've ever watched, if not the best

This is one of the best dramas I've ever watched, if not the best, for several reasons (spoiler alert):
- Park Jihoon's acting is incredibly impressive, though he gets the least lines out of the 3 mains characters. At first, he may even appear as cold and emotionless, but truth is that all of his emotions are in fact conveyed through his eyes. Pain, revenge, sadness, every single feeling that rushes through his body is shown to us on camera by the look in his eyes. On his way to avenge his friend, when Sieun gets out of the hospital after seeing Sooho's unresponsive body, Park Jihoon's facial expressions manage to make the switch from sadness to anger very obvious in a matter of seconds.
- The storyline is very realistic and it's as painful as it is enjoyable. We think Sieun is finally safe when he transfers schools, only for him to end up being harassed by bullies at his new school. Whether an open end or a hint at a future season, it does a great job at highlighting that bullying is often something that is suffered on the long-term by victims. When we finally start feeling some relief, thinking the whole situation has finally been solved, we are quickly drawn back to the harsh reality: Sieun only escaped the bullies from his previous school, not the bullies from every other place. WHC1 also shows how incredibly difficult it is for anyone to tackle this issue durably, as the parents, teachers, the police and all the other adults are portrayed as helpless AND unhelpful throughout the whole show.
- The contrast between Sooho and the bullies is very subtle, yet incredibly obvious. Sooho knows how to fight, yet he only does so when necessary, and more than often, puts his fists to a good cause. On the other hand, the bullies use any situation as an excuse to stir up violence. They are weak, and lack morals, which is reemphasized during the 1-1 fight of Episode 8. They use violence not out of love for violence itself, but out of ignorance: they know nothing better. They seem shocked to witness Sooho's lifeless body on the ground, when it is a logical consequence of the beating they inflicted upon him.
- Bumseok is the typical antagonist. Him being adopted and having a chaotic relationship -if any- with his father reinforces his need to feel like he belongs somewhere. He finds that for a while thanks to his short-term friendship with Sooho and Sieun, but his lack of self esteem is quickly triggered by Young Yi. When he starts feeling like he matters, even though he is probably aware that he is being used by the bullies for his money, he can no longer stop before it's too late because he is blinded by this feeling he has never once felt in his life. It is easier for him to convince himself that Sooho deserved this than it is for him to realize that he ruined the one good thing he had in his life. He gets tired of being a victim, and so at the first chance he gets, he becomes a perpetrator, prisoner of a vicious cycle he was once the scapegoat of. His character does an amazing job at showing how a history of trauma can shape you for the worst, when you know no better. Though we have every possible reason to hate him, we can't help but feel pity towards the end of the show, and that's where it also does a great job at showing that sadly, not all victims of bullying will manage to escape the pattern of violence brought upon them. Sieun was also being bullied, yet he chose a drastically different path from Bumseok. This clearly explains one of the last quotes of Episode 8, where BumSeok asks Sieun to understand him, to which Sieun replies that he does, but that BumSeok must make the effort to understand the position he's in too. It is therefore obvious why he refuses to hit him, even though we may agree that Bumseok deserved it: Sieun knows that all of this was only triggered by Bumseok's sad storyline.
- The show also underlines the power of friendship in a very interesting way: When Sieun, who was always a lone wolf focused on studying, befriends Sooho, constantly-sleepy-and-starving-while-uninterested-in-anything-school-related character, he is willing to put his own life at risk for a friend who once did the same thing to save him from bullies. However, Bumseok, who has poor relationship skills and therefore ends up sabotaging his friendships for egotistic reasons, puts himself first. Bumseok also pays attention to silly things (eg. Sooho not following him back on Instagram), which is understandable considering that he lives in a family where appearances and money are the only things that matter. This setting therefore makes him unable to realize that Sooho and Sieun did more for him than anyone ever did. Most characters from this show are likable, with attention mostly drawn to Sooho, who is portrayed as the main hero. However, it is not a black-and-white type of show, since it shows both the weaknesses and the strengths of each character: Seokdae, for instance, who is involved in very questionable matters, ends up being a key character that looks out for others.
- Bonus point, because the entire soundtrack is absolutely wonderful.

Overall, this was an incredibly painful show to sit through, because it does an amazing job at showing the length bullies will go through in order to crack a few smiles, but this is exactly what made it this great. Some of the shots are very long, and build up on this feeling that the scenes of violence are never-ending. Despite having very few episodes (8), all actors pulled an astonishing performance that allowed us to get a glimpse of the hell bullied people may go through. I am definitely going to start reading that webtoon...

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Keeps your interest

WOW, this was so good, I didn’t fast forward once, and I was glued to every scene. If you don’t like violence, revenge, bullies, kids fighting to be excepted for who they are, but are outcasts because of their family situation, fighting, (a lot of fighting), not the kind of ending you would have wanted, you shouldn’t watch this drama. Some good things… friendship, acceptance, revenge, bromance, and that’s about it. The acting, fight scenes, directing, and writing were all beyond great. It’s NOT the kind of drama that will put you in a good mood, especially the end. BUT I highly recommend it! I will say I cried through most of the last episode. Didn’t leave me with a good feeling, but I am really glad I watched it. I will definitely watch season 2, and I’m sure there will be one.

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Impact of bullying and wrong parenting on children

This is such a gem drama, action sequences are highly intense,it shows us the story of three friends who become close by standing against the bullies at school, they were happy and had good times together,but one of them become anti against the two and this drama shows us the impact of bullying and wrong parenting on children especially on school Children,but the lead actor wanted to avert the problem by pacifying the issue but finally the problem becomes bigger and one of the three friends become bed ridden and the hero is transferred to another school and bullying is the common thing there as well, and the story ends on a high note, the main attraction of this drama is the action sequences and the background score, this makes us addict to the story i finished 8 episodes in a row, there was never a dull moment in the drama, guy from 25 21 did a splendid job.

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Quite sad..

It was amazing in the beginning, but then it suddenly switched plots after episode 4 so I was like huh???? It was going good but if you don't like sad endings, episode 4 can be your happy ending. The sad ending is so similar to how I felt after watching 20th century girl. It's so hard to rate this low even with a sad ending, but I just wish I was prepared to cry and knew it'd be so so sad. All the characters were portrayed very well even if I've never read the webtoon so I don't know how accurate it is for that, but the acting was phenomenal. Park Jihoon only gets better and better as time goes on with his acting skills, I'm looking forward to see him in more things from now!

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It's definitely a worthy drama to watch

This might sound so exaggerated but to me, it is so far the best bullying themed drama I've watched and will definitely watch it over and over again and not get tired of it. It is oddly satisfying knowing that the part where a weak and nerdy boy gets to beat up those bullies in the end is somehow a cliche, I am very satisfied at how the turn of events don't look so cliche.

Normally, MCs get to start their game at the middle part of the story, this one's pretty intense since the action already started at episode 1.

It gives you a rollercoaster of emotions. You'll feel the rage at what the bullies do, you'll feel the happiness that the MC feels when he's with his friends, you'll get to feel the intense energy when he bursts and most of all, the sadness that he felt when their trio ended up in a solo. Too much heartbreaking for an ending but that's what made me so invested in it and it's season 2 that I am reading the webtoon already...

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Three's definitely a crowd in this series

OMG!!!!! I cannot believe I finished the entire season 1 as soon as I started watching it! I loved it!!!! I am a huge fan of the webtoon series and when I started reading it, I was having a wishful thinking that they would adapt it in a drama series and viola!!!! Here is our drama.

Season 1 gave the background story of Gray/Shi Eun and Stephen/Soo Ho's friendship and what happened way back there. The entire casts is superb! They really did a spectacular performance, with being a bully and a victim. I really abhor bullying, especially school violence as I don't get their reason in doing that? Self-fulfillment? Power? Validation? Why? If you're a victim yourself, why would you let others experience what your experiencing, instead of preventing it to happen to other people? You did bad things and then you justify what you did and blame it on other people, just to excuse your sorry self.

Really, Beom Seok/Bryce's character is really a sorry excuse for a human being, what a jerk, and definitely a coward person. I hate him!!!! I cannot wait for season 2 as Shi Eun will have a new set of friends/family in Eunjang High. Also, the fights there are superb! I want to watch if Shi Eun will use the "cola" can as a weapon. Anyway, I really enjoyed the series.

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Great drama, I recommend watching it.

Disclaimer! I have not read the webtoon, though I plan to soon, this review is just based on the drama and doesn’t have to do with the webtoon.

Personally, I really enjoyed watching this drama. Even though there may a be a lot of fighting scenes, they all make sense in the story and aren’t out of place. The actors are all so good in this drama, and I also found the overall plot interesting. I find the main character (Shi eun) pretty interesting as well. He may be weak to the others at is school, but he definitely isn’t stupid and he knows how yo handle things himself. If you’re looking for another drama to watch, or one to start watching kdramas, I really recommend Weak Hero Class 1. This is for sure one of my favorites by far.

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Just click, you'll know

I would just like to say that just try watching first episode, you'll see yourself afterwards.
I cried my heart out for the first time in a drama.... And I still can't believe it cause i rarely cry watching dramas... Yesterday at 11.00 pm, i just thought watching 1or 2 episodes of this drama cause i wanted to watch it so bad after my exams, and here i am bingewatched every episode, now its 3:30 am in the morning and my eyes are all swollen from crying and later i even have college to attend.
But as i watched i couldn't get out of it, the drama really displayed an emotional hardship of friendship , bullying, family problems faced by students in school.
And I hope nobody goes through all of these in their life.

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I rarely give 10/10s across the board but this IS A 10!

Wow... Just wow. I mean, really this show just has it all. An amazing plot, characters that you either want to hug or kill, impeccably choreographed fight scenes, multiple scenes that give you physical reactions, i could go on...

The acting in this is so good that you feel the threat behind each word and you can almost see into their heads on what they're thinking. And the soundtrack was also so well chosen and made this even more enjoyable (no real repetitive songs like some kdramas (not that this is a bad thing but sometimes you get sick of it as the episodes go by hahaha)).

I really don't want to spoil anything for those thinking of watching it but if you need a sign to dive into it, please take this as that sign. This is now one of my top 5s and I'm probably going to give it another rewatch straight away tbh.

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Get ready with tissues, stress ball and enough sleep!

This series will give you a roller coaster of emotions from funny to sad to getting worked up on the intense fight scenes. Every character is on point and gave justice to their own roles. The feel of the entire movie also gets you more curious and drawn into the backstories of the main characters.

Si eun was definitely destined for Park Ji hoon, he performed with everything he has to give justice to the character. One can never unsee him as an actor after even an episode alone.

I can only rewatch twice, I have to give it sometime, or else I can just keep dreaming about it all day!

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