Social Savvy Class 101 (2024)

wasted potential

high school romance, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, he falls first, love triangle..

this drama had so much potential and i was so excited about it, but it turned out so badly.

first things first, the production was really bad. the acting wasn't good, the way it was filmed wasn't either, the ost always came up so randomly and sometimes didn’t even fit the mood.. everything felt so flat, rushed and forced/unatural.

it's only 8 episodes of around 20 minutes too, which obviously doesn't help since it was so short and therefore lacked many things.

an example would be that NONE of the characters has an actual backstory. not even the mcs. it's impossible to get attached to them because we literally don't know anything. the drama mostly takes place at school & in the their rooms, we don't even know who they live with or what their daily life is like..

this deserved a better production & proper episodes lengths to explore the plot, characters, their stories & personalities, their relationships.. so many things.

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8 episodes that really should have been at least 10

This drama has potential. If it wasn't for the limited screentime, the casts and directors could flesh-out a unique story on Korean students. However, since it may end as is, I cannot rate it any higher than a 6 personally.

CHARACTERS:

First of all, the FL is annoying. However, it works for this drama since she is suppose to be a loner and the awkwardness is presented well. She is not suppose to be smart or cunning or know how to perfectly help her friends. The unlikable FL is one of the reason many dislike it, but I beg to differ. I do cringe at her words and actions, but she is an awkward character and that makes it reasonable.

The ML is the actual problem for this drama though. He is a coward, but he is handsome and so he enjoys deceiving people. Yes it is unintentional that stalkers got his pic and mistaken him for a trainee, but he procrastinate his clarification and later enjoys the fame. If they had more time, I know ep 8 would not be the rush ending it is for him (he need a redemption arc).

Surprisingly, SML got the right amount of screentime ratio in the story. Yes he is the better man for FL, but he did not take too much screentime to elaborate their relationship as the FL only saw him as a childhood friend and he accepts it. This is what Kdrama SLs interactions should be in their relationship (not drama-making and diverging screentime from the main story).

SFL got a reasonable background (childhood friend with ML), reasonable actions (jealousy but not to the crazy harmful way), and is a well developed character. She is jealous, but ML betrayed her trust by hiding the truth as she waited for him to have courage to tell her. She is victim of circumstance of the FL actions and so ML has no rights to say that he forgives her in ep 8. She deserves better for being an understanding friend who got caught up with the FL disaster.

The last friend is great. He is a supporting character and rightfully so. This drama has done it right because not everyone's lives revolve around the main characters. He got his side story and that progresses his relationship in the friend group.

STORY:

Nothing much to say. It is about school popularity and rather than evolving into an unhealthy competition, it focus on personality and the truth. Students got multiple interests and groups rather than becoming the school's queen bee. Also, who was the owner of the admin phone? Why does the FL get to keep it forever? the answers regarding the admin phone will never be known.

The pacing was reasonable until ep 7 and 8 because they have to rush out the ending, the forgiven, the exposing, etc. which I think they could do better with more screentime.

ACTING (remember this is my personal take):

Out of the 5 'main' characters, SML, male friend, and SFL have great expressions for the limited screentime they get. FL acting is either cringy or that is what the character is supposed to be as directed. ML got the worst case of plastic surgery acting because I don't think wide open eyes and some squinting counts for great expression as most of his emotions rely on the lines delivery.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, it is unfortunate that this drama did not get more screentime and the rushed ending made sure that there is no second season. However, the story is very interesting and has a lot of potential so if there is a remake, I would watch it. This is a 6 for me as is.

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