Itaewon Class was a drama about surviving the obstacles a person may face in opening a business. It talks about many issues such as corruption, bribery and how people might use their power for the wrong issues. The popularity of this drama is no surprise as when you have PSJ as your lead then there isn't much to worry out. However, something was missing in this which caused my rating to go down significantly.

The start of this drama was amazing, we meet Park Sae Royi and find out the reason for him wanting to take down Jangga. We meet all the main characters and find out their motives. This part of the drama is truly wonderful as you get to know these characters and you feel emotions for them. Even though it is probably the time you will weep the most tears for these characters.

During the first half, they also talk about various prejudices and obstacles the Danbam group face. Such as Hyun Yi coming out or Danbam not being successful even after all the effort Park Sae Royi faces. We see Kim Dami gradually falling in love with Park Sae Royi and genuinely root for her. We also see the inspiring story of ex-convicts trying to make a name for themself.

*Also on a side note: I know that this was the scriptwriters first ever drama and I think she did a great job for her first time. While what I'm about to say isn't nice I do genuinely believe she did an amazing job for her first time.

However, all of this beautiful base seemed to crumble in the second half. There is a lot of things I had a problem within the second half. It felt as if they just switched from a nice drama about youth to a makjang ( and don't get me wrong I love makjang just not in a scenario where it's not matching with the vibe of the drama) which didn't match with the original premise. There were unnecessary twists, completely useless side plots and ridiculous scenarios. I would prefer to break it down character by character.

First, Park Sae Royi. His character at the start was a youth full of idealism and was overall very lovable. However, to the end, you realise his true motivation is greed and not justice. You might ask, how did I come up with this conclusion? Well, there is a scene with Soo Ah when she begs him to stop going after revenge and live a normal life with her but he refuses. That was the first time I realised he wanted something more than justice. How when Jang Geun Won's arrest came, I realised now this is more of a battle of greed and pride.

I feel like this change of mentality is more due to the influence of the person right next to him. Jo Yi Seo. Her character at the start was nice and even though they claimed she was a sociopath she didn't fit that label. She also seemed to very obviously manipulate people and didn't realise the importance of networking. Another thing I didn't like was how she was a genius in everything even though she seemed to have never worked in an actual company. I felt her character was too perfect in the world of management and seemed to get everything her way in a very unconvincing manner.

I also felt that the romance plot between the two was very badly executed. Jo Yi Seo seemed to genuinely love him but the way they showed this was bad. As she seemed to ignore his direct requests of her behaviour when if it was the opposite most people would've claimed he was harassing her. Which gave an unrealistic message to viewers that would give people the wrong idea.

Also, many people said that Yi Seo was a better fit because of the way she stayed by his side. However, if you use that knowledge then he should've chosen Seung Kwan or Hyun Yi. As they were the people who stood by him just because they liked him and wanted to protect him not expecting anything in return. They genuinely wanted him to succeed and that was better than expecting something like affection. I think her character was great for the business aspect but the romance was pushed too much.

The romance could've been nicely executed however the fact that they did a 4-year skip makes it hard for us to connect with this ship as we don't know what all happened in 4 years. This skip is problematic in many ways however we can discuss that some other days. For example, Jang Geun Soo becomes a director in 4 years now even for dramas that's a stretch a high school graduate becoming a director in four years. Geun Soo was just used as an unnecessary side plot. He's good then he's bad now he's good again. There was no character development and there's no no sense to his whole character. I'm not kidding when I say that his character served almost no purpose to the story. I honestly started to cringe when he came on screen because unlike the other characters there's no motivation to his choices and is overall badly written.

Now onto characters, I liked. First was Hyun Yi, I honestly loved how she was the one who was normal in this drama and also how unlike many tv shows (Western and Asian) her being transgender is not her personality trait. She was what a genuinely good person is in real life. She helps people and seems to be the only person who sees what's going on at times. I loved her character and I think she shows a lot of the struggles with being a member of the LBTQ+ community even when it's not on the centre screen.

I liked Jang Geun Won and Jang Dae He a lot. I think they made you hate them yet pity them. Jang Geun Won is not an inherently evil person but his upbringing caused him to be. How Jang Dae Hee was also manipulated by business and how his objective became different after facing tragedy. I liked how they both had quite similar stories yet the way they grew up affected the way they looked at their situations. I think they both acted extremely well and I'm excited to see both of their new projects.

This one is more of an unpopular opinion. Its the fact that I liked Soo Ah a lot. I felt her character was something I could relate to a lot and how she was a real woman. The way she reacted to Royi rejecting her was was something I would expect a real woman to feel. Letting go is never easy but we need to do it because we may be what's holding the person back. I liked how her ending was with Park Bo Gum because it shows that she's starting a completely new life of satisfaction. Also, how she was the one who truly brought down Jangga, not Royi was a powerful moment as you realised he was not the only one affected by his father's death.

I felt like this drama missed a lot of potential ideas and themes like how unfair life is for ex-convicts, mental abuse and, the reality of bringing down a company. I feel like the revenge card was not well played as even though he was planning to make Jangga bankrupt the drama seemed to forget how many people would go bankrupt and how many enemies Royi would get.

Overall it was an okay drama that had a lot of potential which was wasted. It is not really rewatchable because it's too plot-driven to rewatch. Also, it was a little too predictable but it is enjoyable or at least tolerable till episode 12 so I'd recommend to either do that or forward watch