Duty After School: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by solstices

When aliens crash-land on Earth and high schoolers are called up to the front lines, what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, there’s already enough hostility to go around — and the alien invaders are about to make everything worse.

Editor’s note: This is an Episode 1 review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama with rampant spoilers, visit the Drama Hangout!

 
EPISODE 1

Through a fun bit of exposition via a YouTuber’s animated video, we learn that unidentified floating spheres simply appeared in the sky one day with no rhyme or reason. All over the world, governments tried to find ways to clear the foreign intruders away, but attacking them only caused them to multiply.

Eventually, lab tests determined that the spheres didn’t contain any harmful components. And so, people shrugged their shoulders and went on with life, figuring that the simplest way to deal with the odd spheres was to just coexist with them.

This facade of normalcy won’t last for long, though. Over at a military base, a sphere has crash landed for the first time. Unfortunately, my excitement at seeing some familiar faces amongst the soldiers — Ahn Chang-hwan (Henchman!) and Shin Jae-hwi — is immediately tempered upon realizing that the best adjectives to describe this squad are “bumbling” and “incompetent.”

As if that isn’t bad enough, the trigger-happy squad leader (Kim Won-hae) makes matters worse when he decides to buck every single protocol in the book. Keep a safe distance from the foreign object? Wait for orders from HQ? Nah, of course not. Why bother when you can just shoot it with a powerful blast?

It’s painfully apparent that soldier LEE CHUN-HO (Shin Hyun-soo) is the only one with a sensible head on his shoulders. Although he clearly recognizes how terrible of an idea this is, he’s powerless in the face of his superior’s authority. The blast is fired — and as the smoke clears and the dust settles, the alien sphere begins to glow and crackle ominously.

We fast-forward to four weeks later, shifting perspective to focus on the students of Sungjin High. It’s a sprawling young cast, but already we have a few standouts — first of all, there’s our bumbling protagonist KIM CHI-YEOL (Kim Ki-hae) who has a puppy crush on the taciturn LEE NA-RA (Choi Moon-hee). Then there’s the class clown WANG TAE-MAN (Moon Sang-min), whose stink bombs (read: farts) have the entire class sprinting for the windows, ha.

We also see the beginnings of latent conflict; the brash and brazen YEON BO-RA (Kwon Eun-bin) orders the meek NOH AE-SEOL (Lee Yeon) around like she’s her personal errand girl, and I hope it’s a rebellion just waiting to happen. Then there’s the blatant antagonism between the smug bully KWON IL-HA (Kim Soo-gyeom) and the reticent top scorer JANG YOUNG-HOON (Noh Jong-hyun) — Il-ha picks on Young-hoon at every opportunity, while Young-hoon has no qualms about fighting back.

It’s a regular school day like any other, with homeroom teacher PARK EUN-YOUNG (Im Se-mi) handing out test results to a cacophony of complaints. That is, until an announcement by the Ministry of Defense interrupts their morning routine. Due to the risk posed by the alien spheres, all young adults between the ages of 19-24 will henceforth be drafted into the military — as well as all third-year high school students. The CSAT will still go on, but early admissions are off the table.

The students react with disbelief and dissatisfaction, but their apprehension is soon abated by the incentive that’s offered up — all conscripted students will get extra credit on their university applications. That’s enough to sweeten the deal, and suddenly the students are a lot more keen on submitting their signed consent forms.

At first, it all seems like child’s play. The students move to their barracks, which are really just classrooms converted into communal sleeping areas. Almost none of the boys understand the gravity of the situation, choosing instead to horse around like they’re living out their favorite video game. As for the girls, they’ve packed a whole staycation’s worth of cosmetics and accessories, which promptly get confiscated.

Right off the bat, we see why enlisting teenagers is less than ideal— barely anyone takes their training seriously. The students get assigned personal firearms, which naturally means they’re fooling around with them in five seconds flat. Uh, who thought giving rifles to these kids was a good idea?

Chun-ho is the only one who’s able to command a modicum of respect, along with the reward point system that keeps the students in line with the threat of demerits and the promise of CSAT bonus points. However, some quarrels just can’t be quelled. The antagonism between our two bickering boys escalates when Young-hoon reports Il-ha’s illicit phone usage to Chun-ho, and it culminates in a physical altercation out in the school field that very night.

Chancing upon the fight, Chi-yeol rushes to break them up, but to no avail. That is, until an alien sphere comes crashing down right in front of them. Although Young-hoon stands up to Il-ha — and I’m really rooting for him here — his righteous defiance doesn’t last long. Il-ha shoves him hard, and Young-hoon goes sprawling until he collides into the sphere.

With a dreadful, growling noise, the sphere unfurls into a monstrous creature. Horror dawns upon the boys, and before any of them can react, the alien snatches Young-hoon up. Its tentacles slither around him, coiling tight — and then Young-hoon’s gone, swallowed into the depths of the unknown as the alien settles back into its spherical form.

Epilogue. Since Chi-yeol’s been chosen as the record-keeper, he’s been filming videos of his classmates. It’s Young-hoon’s turn, and Chi-yeol asks if he has anything to say to his friends — and then Chi-yeol backtracks, belatedly realizing that the only friends Young-hoon has are his textbooks. Not friends, then. How about his parents?

Instead, Young-hoon asks Chi-yeol about the internet cafe they used to frequent as middle schoolers. Do they still serve his favorite brand of instant ramyeon? Do they still pop the egg yolks? And… does Chi-yeol still have his game ID added as a friend?

Yes, yes, and yes, Chi-yeol answers. How about they head there and play together next time? “Okay,” Young-hoon answers, “let’s go after the CSAT.” And then Young-hoon cracks a small smile, faint and tentative, the first we’ve seen from him all episode.

Aww, my heart. To be honest, I wasn’t all that sold on the drama, until those last ten minutes. It felt like a relatively slow start, with the pacing taking a hit as some scenes meandered on. Most of this episode has already been covered in the drama’s teasers, making it a slow introduction for anyone who’s already seen the promotional material.

Even so, I’m sufficiently intrigued by the story setup, and there are just enough notable characters to pique my interest. The story’s webtoon roots shine through in the distinct character archetypes that the students embody, and despite the brief glimpses we’ve been afforded, most of them are memorable enough that I can already tell them apart (and root for the underdogs).

Amongst them, Young-hoon is the one I find the most compelling so far. He’s the typical smart kid, simmering quietly under the pressure of his helicopter mom — but underneath all his haughty bravado, he clearly yearns for a regular high school life. Yet Young-hoon holds himself back, consciously pushing his classmates away and isolating himself despite (or perhaps precisely because of) his loneliness.

It’s a pity, then, that Young-hoon is gone so soon. He may seem like a pushover at first, but contrary to expectations, he doesn’t take Il-ha’s bullying lying down. Instead, he fights back just as viciously. It reminds me of the dynamic in Weak Hero Class 1, and not just because Kim Soo-gyeom is the tyrant in both. Young-hoon had the potential to be a truly compelling protagonist, and in his absence, I really hope Chi-yeol steps up to the plate.

I can’t quite tell what kind of tale Duty After School is shaping up to be — is it a sci-fi thriller? Is it an action-comedy? Is it social satire? Right now it seems to be a blend of all three, but I think it’ll need some character development in order to stick its landing. If we aren’t invested in the characters, it’s difficult to care about what happens to them. That’s the issue I had with All of Us Are Dead, so I’m hoping this show doesn’t suffer from the same pitfalls.

Admittedly, I’m not sure if it’s simply that the webtoon’s quirks don’t translate well to the screen. I haven’t read the original webtoon, though I have enjoyed Ha Il-kwon’s other works (Annarasumanara is a particular favorite of mine). I came into this show anticipating his usual brand of absurd humor, like the tongue-in-cheek satire of Be Still My Heart — but here the wisecracks and physical gags are hit-or-miss for me. Then again, most of that can be chalked up to teenagers being teenagers. I suppose it’s realistic how exasperating their mischief can be, and with Chun-ho around to keep them in line, maybe we’ll get to see the students mature as they fight to protect one another. I might even be tempted to stick around for the rest of the show — let’s just hope curiosity doesn’t kill the cat.

 
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