KBS’s coming-of-age drama School 2017 continues its optimistic underdog tone in its new teaser as IOI’s Kim Se-jung shows her fighting spirit by dreaming big and not accepting the school’s status quo. She plays Ra Eun-ho, the lowest-level (sixth tier) student, who consistently places last in her class, ranking 280 out of 280.
Ra Eun-ho explains that in her world, “Everything about a student is determined by this one question: What’s your rank?” It’s no wonder that jaws drop when she announces her decision to go to the elite Hankook University. She has lofty dreams of becoming a manga artist, and she’s highly interested in the webtoon-media department there, so she becomes determined to try.
But obstacles abound as the last-place student attempts to study and rise to the top of her class. Thankfully, a couple people are on her side. When she explains that it’s her dream, fellow student Kim Jung-hyun (Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People) remarks casually, “Oh, I guess things like that still exist now. How old-fashioned…” But we see in the scenes that he’s supporting her all along, taking her on rides on his scooter and breathing fresh air with her on the rooftop.
Model student Jang Dong-yoon (Solomon’s Perjury) also stands up for Eun-ho when she’s physically bullied by some other students who think she’s becoming too uppity. It still ends in a huge fight that disperses when homeroom teacher Han Joo-wan (Blow Breeze) arrives. In a disciplinary hearing, harsh adult voices say, “Cut this girl immediately. The students can’t be friends; they’re just competitors.”
However, Ra Eun-ho just reminds herself to keep her chin up and “Don’t lose confidence” as she walks away with tears in her eyes. The copy onscreen explains her as “The forever last-place loser student who flips Geumdo High School upside down with her daring college admission project to go to an elite school.”
The two recently released posters also show the youthful energy of our cast, and the first one says: “The emergency recovery project of the tangled, colliding lives of the 18-year-old sophomores from Class 1 of Geumdo High School,” while the three main students, their homeroom teacher, and the school’s policewoman (played by Han Sun-hwa) sit against a graffitied brick wall. The second poster has the same text, but gives us a glimpse at the larger cast of students in the drama.
I’m not quite sure where the mystery bit is supposed to fit in (the previous teaser hinted at dark criminal behavior), but I’m liking this refreshing, upbeat tone much better. Monday-Tuesday drama School 2017 begin airing on KBS starting next week after the conclusion of Fight My Way.
