High School Return of a Gangster: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by lovepark

A gangster finds himself in the body of a teenaged boy, but this body-swap drama isn’t actually about a trade. Instead, the first episode highlights an opportunity for an older man to help a younger one, and these vastly different individuals must find a way to navigate the scary world of high school together. It’s a story about starting over, fish-out-of-water gags, and the complex nature of relationships — both the good and the bad.

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

Right off the bat, High School Return of a Gangster treads familiar territory and even more familiar character tropes. There’s the gangster with a heart of gold, a bullied teen with a troubled family life, and our hero’s object of desire, excuse me, friendship. The premise is par for the course, the directing is straightforward, and the acting is textbook, which doesn’t come as a surprise given that most of the cast and crew are newcomers. However, there’s something endearing about the show with its unpretentious delivery that suggests a possible nugget of heart worth watching.

The first episode opens with one-half of our main duo KIM DEUK-PAL (special appearance by Lee Seo-jin). A middle-aged gangster trying to pass the CSAT, Deuk-pal is a bundle of contradictions and oddities. He grabs knives with his bare hands, rose to the rank of number two in a prominent gang, and has earned the unwavering loyalty of his men. However, he also struggles with middle-school math, dreams of going to college, and treats all educators with the utmost respect. In other words, Deuk-pal is at a crossroads when one fateful encounter upturns everything.

Enter our other hero SONG YI-HEON (Yoon Chan-young). A troubled teen who attempts to end his life, Yi-heon jumps from a pedestrian overpass only to be saved by Deuk-pal. In a twist of fate, our gangster dies in the ensuing crash, and for some unknown reason, wakes up in the younger man’s body. At first, this unbelievable situation feels like a dream, but when Deuk-pal sees his lifeless corpse in the morgue, the truth sinks in. Though he tries to recreate the impact that led to this predicament, it only results in a broken leg and a cremated body.

With the initial setup out of the way, Deuk-pal accepts his new reality rather quickly, but unlike most stories of the same ilk, our hero plans to move on and let the original soul return. This seemingly simple assertion, however, flips the script, both highlighting Deuk-pal’s strong moral character as well as the future direction of the show. Our gangster isn’t here to start over in life, but instead, help Yi-heon with his. Though Deuk-pal is also a victim of this unfortunate accident, he never once blames the young student for what happened and wishes him a better future — one where he doesn’t feel the need to end it.

Thus begins the story in earnest as Deuk-pal learns bits and pieces of Yi-heon’s history, and to put it mildly, it’s messy. From the teen’s diary, Deuk-pal knows that Yi-heon is bullied at school, rejected by his peers due to a vicious rumor, and longs for an unobtainable friendship with another classmate. As for his family, Yi-heon is the bastard (and only) son of a top construction company chairman, lives with his alcoholic mother, and is hounded by his father’s power-hungry secretary. Basically, the poor boy has nowhere to breathe, let alone think and be himself.

All the emotional baggage that weighed down Yi-heon, though, becomes fuel for Deuk-pal to turn things around, and the first thing he does to change the young man’s world is chop off his face-hiding hair. He also gets Yi-heon a fresh wardrobe, and while he might not be doing all of this for himself per se, that doesn’t mean Deuk-pal isn’t enjoying it, either. Yi-heon clearly isn’t the only one who missed out on his youth, and the way Deuk-pal smiles over silly things like a long-padded coat suggests that our two heroes may long for similar things in life.

Changing Yi-heon’s appearance, improving his health, and gaining muscle are all tasks that come easily to Deuk-pal, but alas, the real challenge is passing the CSAT. For an adult still stuck on middle-school questions, even buying workbooks proves too difficult, so Deuk-pal eagerly accepts the help of another student he bumps into at the bookstore. The boy in question is CHOI SE-KYUNG (Bong Jae-hyun), the classmate Yi-heon wanted to befriend, but of course, Deuk-pal has no way of knowing their connection. As for Se-kyung, he recognizes Yi-heon physically, but everything about him feels so different that he assumes it’s merely a look-alike.

By the time the new school year arrives, Deuk-pal’s leg has healed, and he makes his grand entrance with a pep in his step. Neither his classmates nor his teachers realize who he is until his name is called, and the other students murmur about his makeover. The real trouble begins after roll call when his bully strides up to his desk and asks why he ignored his texts over break. The bully is taken aback when Deuk-pal refuses to cower in fear, and our gangster turned high schooler smirks at the teen and tells him that he missed him, too.

Deuk-pal holds the bully accountable for what happened to Yi-heon and accuses him of pushing the boy — even if not physically, at least emotionally. He commands the bullies to attack first since he has a reputation to uphold, so the kids come swinging. Thanks to his previous experiences, Deuk-pal dodges the first punch and slaps his attacker across the face.

However, when a bigger student charges at him, Deuk-pal’s overconfidence from his old life clouds his judgment, and he realizes a second too late that he can’t flip his enemies over his shoulders like he did during his gangster days. Our hero ends up pancaked on the ground, and when the main bully goes in for a kick, Deuk-pal is too slow to avoid it. As he falls unconscious, he grumbles about his body… so much for that plan!

In the current landscape of big name leads and high-end productions, High School Return of a Gangster feels like an antithesis to those trends. Though Lee Seo-jin is the main character, he’s on screen for a quarter of the episode’s runtime and mostly sticks to voiceovers. The story also follows a batch of fresh faces, and even the supporting cast is filled with lesser-known talents like Lee Jung-eun (not to be confused with the other Lee Jung-eun) and Go Dong-hyung. While no one is necessarily blowing me away, neither is anyone sticking out as overly terrible. That being said, Yoon Chan-young is doing a great job so far portraying both the timid Yi-heon and self-assured Deuk-pal, but as a prolific child actor, I doubt anyone was worried about his performance.

My biggest concern for the show going forward is the director who seems to have mostly worked as a cinematographer for years. For someone working behind the camera for so long, it’s interesting to see how he handles his first directorial project, but a part of me wonders if his old habits are too ingrained in his creative process. This could be why the show feels less polished, and perhaps what I’ve thought were budget constraints are actually preferences. In particular, the show is well-lit (to put it positively), but sometimes the fluorescent lighting makes scenes look like sets rather than real places.

While I know some viewers dislike comparing adaptations to their source materials, it would be remiss of me to at least not mention the elephant in the room: is the story still a romance? At least on paper, the production has dropped the label, which raises the question of why they chose this story in the first place if they were going to get rid of a central plot point. However, while watching the first episode, I don’t think their relationship is quite that simple. Yi-heon says that he wants to be friends with Se-kyung, but from the stalker allegations to the across-the-room stares, it’s clear that there’s more than a “bromance” blooming in the horizon. Also, I do want to give the production company some leeway since their previous show was about gay romances, so there were probably a lot of different factors at play when they chose to adapt and promote their new drama. Granted, whatever direction they choose, I just hope the show remains entertaining to the end because I definitely see the potential of a heartfelt story.

 
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