[HanCinema's Drama Review] "High School - Love On" Episode 15
By William Schwartz | Published on
Cliffhanger of the last episode notwithstanding, we do not, in fact, open up with a confrontation here. Apparently Seul-bi's presence alone is enough impetus to get Woo-hyeon to compromise with his mother. It's not exactly the kind of progress that Ji-hye was hoping for, but anything that gets Woo-hyeon to willingly spend time in her presence is a win for the older woman. Their relationship here thaws somewhat- not a whole lot, but "High School - Love On" has never been particularly interested in doing anything in a hurry.
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Seong-yeol is still sulking though. Seul-bi's presence in the house puts a damper on his behavior too. He appears to be limited in the number of people he'll act out in front of. If it's just his parents, Seong-yeol can be a brat. If it's just his school peers, Seong-yeol can be a brat. But all of them in the same place at once appears to be enough to stifle him. Which isn't necessarily a good thing, as he gets increasingly obsessed with the strange mark on Seul-bi's wrist.
I'm not really sure what to feel about the whole angel plot at this point. It certainly seems like there's enough drama to go around that more commentary on Seul-bi's divine nature feels a bit off. This episode calms a lot of the conflict down while still moving the storyline at a decent pace, but then we get to the cliffhanger and then the preview, and it's pretty inescapable that there's going to be a lot more fighting.
The subplots are in an awkward spot as well. "High School - Love On" takes a note from "Cart" of all places, denoting a certain kind of employment discrimination against teens. That bit made me feel a little awkward, because I'm not entirely sure who the characters involved even are. Most of the non-lead students are just backgound noise, so it's a little odd to see them given their own plots here.
This is especially true in light of the characters we haven't been following lately. Apparently Joo-ah does not, in fact, have any friends. This revelation comes off a little clumsily, given that what little she's done in the last few episodes would seem to indicate Joo-ah has been doing fine, but this is a problem mostly wrought by the drama's odd shift in focus lately concerning non-central characters. There's nothing that makes the drama unwatchable or anything- I just wish it would come to better a little more succintly.
Review by William Schwartz
"High School - Love On" is directed by Lee Eun-mi-II, Seong Joon-hae, written by Lee Jae-yeon and features Nam Woohyun, Kim Sae-ron, Lee Sung-yeol, Choi Su-rin, Shin Hyun-tak and Lee Joo-sil.
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Portland metropolitan area. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net, and is open to requests for content in future articles.