Really like this defense! The idea of no true perfect drama resonates with me. It really is about finding your own version of a perfect drama. No drama is without flaws, and it's the drama that you don't notice or mind the flaws that become good and great dramas to you. Really speaks to this theme!

I also adored this drama as a romantic comedy, and the couple is still one of my favorites, for the reasons you mentioned and more. A lot of baggage can come with the School franchise, and had this just been a regular one off drama, I don't think it would have been under such scrutiny. If anyone has not seen this drama, do yourself a favor and put it on, sit back, and get ready to Tae SWOOOOOON!

Drama Rating = 100/100

This is the first kdrama that i have watched and i totally, totally love it. every episode brings all the feels and a lot of roller coaster ride of emotions. felt like a giggly teenager while watching each episode :D

i miss so much my lemonade couple, Kim SeJeong and KimJungHyun chemistry is out of this world and hope they get together for real... hehehe

I loved this drama, so no defense necessary although yours was nice.

thanks for writing this, because this is the drama that got me out of the drama watching slump! tae-swoon is the best!!!

love love love this defense..i think a lot were surprised when i listed Swoon School 2017 as one of my top 2017 dramas..but like what I have written either in the last recap or my farewell post for School 2017, "you have captured my heart,all rants,complaints and swooning,included"

And my favorite line from your piece

But Tae-woon, insecure Tae-woon with a history of being horribly rejected and misunderstood because he doesn’t stand up for himself, stands up for himself with Eun-ho.

captured one of the reasons why I loved and swooned over TaeSwoon.

I, too, thought it was primarily a high school romance drama and all the sideline was the rest. The chemistry between the leads was amazing. Can't wait to see Tae-Swoon's next drama. He portrayed first love perfectly. But let's be honest, i have NEVER met an 18 year old boy so smooth in my life (did that stop me from watching? heck no)

it was the first tv series where I was searching down all behind the scenes videos on youtube and it remained me of my old school days when I was dreaming of somebody like Taeswoon, but didn't have time for love, too occupied with life, but that doesn't stop you from dreaming... ;-)

I loved this show toooo! And honestly all I do is roll my eyes at the “too much romance”-type of criticism because I love that shit! Yes, yes, pressures of youth, friendships are hard, all that is true but really? Romance is what I’m here to slurp up like I’m dying of thirst, and boy did this show deliver me an extra large, extra thick chocolate milkshake with caramel and fudge drizzle, all topped with a frothy mountain of whipped cream.

(I might be starving. Don’t mind me and my strange food metaphors.)

No need to convince me. I love this show! Which is supported by the numerous posts (spam) on my fan wall.
I am a sucker for romcoms but would normally steer clear of high school dramas. But this show managed to make me love every minute of my fave characters.

I could not agree more! It is perfect with no but's and however's.

I started it but dropped it now it has moved way up my #dramathatIdroppedhastofinishwatching# list. Thanks...

Love the defense! This is the only of the School Franchise dramas I have watched. Tae-Swoon, 'nuff said.

Ooh, I loved reading this post thoroughly. It brought back lots of great memories watching the drama! I adored the romance as much as you did. It was the perfect warm, first-love school romance. Tae-swoon 4eva!

Love School 2017.
Hate to read "it wasn't perfect, but...".
Thank you for the post!!!

I tend to steer clear of high school dramas. The only one I’ve seen is Biscuit Teacher... but I do love a good romance if done well. Still on the fence about this one, but maybe someday I’ll get to it. Wonderful write up! Thank you!

Great write up anonymous person!

I haven't seen this drama yet but it's definitely on my list! I'm even more excited to watch it for good depiction of emotional male lead. I love that about kdramas, that they are not afraid to have their leading men actually show emotions and cry on screen so unlike Western media.

Thank you for this. Your arguments are so rational and reasonable they almost become a reason not to watch, but I do so agree School 2017 is close to perfect. Believe you me, were you my age (with youth departed long ago (but not forgotten, nor abandoned) you would be even more appreciated of this drama's positive qualities!

Actually the J-dramas that cover this genera are superior (IMO) because they are not so sacharin, they are very powerful and they do not try to paint an idealised picture whilest leaving intact the complexity and drama of human frailty and spirit.

Every time I saw Taewoon, I accidentally read it as TaeSwoon. What have you beanies done to me 😂
I really enjoyed reading your article. School 2017 was a great show and had such a cute couple.

This was my first school drama and it is now one of my favorite romcoms. The spam wall sure helped.

For me, this drama was perfect.
I loved everything about it. The romance, the lead actors, the friendship, the theachers, the story. I didn't watch many school dramas, what I should do more. And this one is tied up with Sassy Go Go..

school 2017 forever!!!

I’ll be the little grey raincloud:

I guess if I’d gone into it thinking it was a rom com set in school or ‘high school romance’ as you suggest I would have found it near perfect. But I didn’t because School 2013 and 2015 led me to believe it would be deeper than that: about friendship, about struggling against the odds, family, finding a dream, fighting for what’s right, etc. If a youth drama does romance without pretence I’m good (example: Girls Generstion 1979, which I loved). But School 2017 set off touching on all the themes just mentioned - with romance as one of them. I only realised around episode 12 that it was going to develop the romance mainly. Naturally I was disappointed that it did not deliver a meatier story. Can’t have it all I guess. 😔

I agree though that Tae (S)Woon showed a lot of character growth. Alas, I flipped my table at having yet another female lead who was bottom of her class and never made a real effort to study (c.f. GG1979, I was more satisfied in that case).

I like your definition of a "perfect" drama. For me it's simplified into one that (I of course enjoy) without thinking of a million things I feel should have been done differently!

I didn't like this drama at all in the beginning. I pretty much forced myself to watch it because I had yet to watch a highs school K-drama and one in the School series. I'm really glad I did though because the show became much better later on. The reason why I didn't like the show early on was because the subject matter was super heavy and depressing with not that much of a silver lining. The villains were having way too much fun at the expense of those with less power. Thankfully, the grey clouds parted later on.

I often find myself taking the approach the author does here, that is trying to bend the drama to better fit a perspective that would make me happy and satisfied. If we're being honest, the romance only really kicked in after the first third of the drama. Before that it was all struggles. In that sense, the drama was a reflection some aspects of society today. If showed really well how some villains can be created by the pressures of unduly rigorous academic systems and how the cycle perpetuates itself. In the end, as with life, there are many villains who get away with some truly messed up stuff. Having said that, as the author points out, if we change our perspective, we can find the stuff that makes us happy.

Thank you I feel very much the same.

Dear Anonymous,

Thanks for your excellent essay. It is well though-out and nicely written. I like your criteria for what constitutes a "close enough to perfect" drama for the 99.99% of viewers who are not professional drama critics.

One where the journey from initiation to climax to conclusion makes a lasting impression and leaves me feeling warm and satisfied.

How I feel during and after watching a show is one of my main rules of thumb for judging the success of a drama. If I don't have to bust a gut suspending my disbelief, and feel warm and fuzzy during and after watching the story unfold, I consider that a pretty darned good drama. Sometimes I'm in the mood to watch a drama that is thought-provoking, or that deals with the more problematic aspects of real life. Those kinds of shows have a different kind of pay-off, but can be every bit as satisfying.

You make a convincing case for SCHOOL 2017. Just like @greenfields made an excellent case for SOLOMON'S PERJURY -- which I finished watching yesterday. I don't usually watch school dramas because I'm an old fogey. (Who am I kidding? I've been an old fogey since I was young.) However, once in a while I can stand to revisit that socially-awkward time in life. From what you've written, SCHOOL 2017 might be just the ticket for a sentimental journey with an uplifting developmental arc. Thanks for your essay! ;-)

There’s this prevailing trend in media and in society as a whole that men aren’t as insecure or emotional as women. And even if they are, they shouldn’t show it. I think most people know that’s not actually true, but I haven’t seen many shows that portray an emotionally vulnerable male character as well and as naturally as School 2017 did with Tae-woon in that scene.

It's not just a trend. It's the same mythology that I grew up with as a kid watching westerns and WWII sagas during the Cold War. One of the most popular American leading men of the era, John Wayne, played hard-bitten heroes in both genres. I suspect that in order to survive the economic rigors of the Depression and the horrors of WWII, the men of my father's generation had to clamp down on their feelings lest they be overwhelmed with the losses they endured. They also had to differentiate themselves from women, who were supposed to be so much more in touch with their feelings. Women were sanctioned by society to express said feelings in public (while being written off as hysterical, bitchy, irrational, petty -- and bad at mathematics).

I read The Inexpressive Male when I was in college -- but it was as much to understand myself as the males of the species. Females can be inexpressive, too. ;-) In the America in which I grew up, guys were forced into emotional straitjackets -- and had a higher rate of heart attacks and stress-related illness, plus a shorter lifespan. Dudes who were too “touchy-feely” risked calling their masculinity into question. Other cultures, particularly Latin ones, permitted greater emotional expressivity. That was well before Hallyu brought Kdrama to international awareness.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL has a bunch of memorably expressive male characters, not just the iconic male OTP of Yang Tae-sub and Kim Kyung-soo (Song Chang-eui and Lee Sang-woo). Kim Young-chul is terrific as head of household Yang Byung-tae. His brothers, Byung-joon and Byung-kil (alias Big Uncle and Little Uncle, played by Kim Sang-joong and Yun Da-hun, respectively), are a feuding odd couple in their own many-layered and highly-nuanced right.

In HYENA, Shin Sung-rok's character, food consultant Lee Seok-jin, is touchingly portrayed, and one of my all-time favorite Kdrama personas. Although parts of the cable production are quite raunchy at times, SSR's character is a paragon of virtue, dignity, and unrequitable love. He is pursued by a medical student who has returned from America to marry someone else, only to ditch the wedding at the eleventh hour. One of his childhood buddies, tsundere TV producer Choi Jin-beom (Oh Man-seok), is a closet romantic who missed the boat with his first love back in college.

Great!!

I am not defending School 2017; i am OFFERING it. Whenever a peer ask for a good drama, I ask them to check out this one. Too bad that in my country, unless they see the drama eventually aired in the local channel, they will not give it a try.

I tend to think like you that there is no perfect drama in a sense that people watch out for flaws; but flaws and all, as long as the series give me the thrill, makes me happy (or sad), takes me along the ride, and generally keeps me glued to the screen (and wanting for the next episode to get aired) — that's great enough for me.

And School 2017 is just like that.

It made me agitated for the corruption of the school heads; hyped enough to feel like joining the group to expose such behavior; got swayed by the cuteness of the main couple; and cried along with them.