Drama Review: Detectives of Seonam Girls High School Episodes 1-4


I briefly forgot that this drama was airing, but quickly caught myself up on the first 4 episodes and was delighted it was as good as I had hoped.
Detectives of Seonam Girls High School (also known as Seonam Girls High School Investigators) is a jTBC drama based on a novel of the same name (Seonamyeogo Tamjungdan: Banggwa Hooui Miseuteori) by Park Ha Ik.The story follows 5 students at Seonam Girls High School as they investigate and solves problems around their school such as bullying, abortion, suicide, and issues within the Korean education system. (cr.koreandrama.org)

Let's have a little introduction to our detectives club: Ahn Chae Yool (Ji Jin Hee) is living in her genius brother's (Chae Joon played by Jang Ki Yong) shadow and has to live by her mother's rules that only good grades matter. She's never done what she wants and joining the Seonam Detectives Club is her first step towards some freedom never mind the fact that she has no close friends and often uses harsh words. Yoon Mi Do (Kang Min Ah) is the club leader who has always wanted to be an investigator. Because she's done this for so long, she's able to easily deceive people. Chae Yool has frequently called her a con artist. Lee Ye Hee (Girl's Day's Hyeri) is the dramatic one who wants to be an actress, but doesn't get good grades. Her confidence level is high as she has nicknamed herself "Canne's Queen". Kim Ha Jae (Lee Min Ji) is the member with the computer knowledge and has information on everyone in Seonam Girls High School...she also believes in ghosts, UFOs, the occult, and shamans. Our last member is Choi Sung Yoon (Stephanie Lee) who's 180cm height makes her very tall among her peers. She's very strong and tough, but doesn't really think she before acts. (descriptions from viki.com)
Even though I was very interested in this drama, I almost couldn't follow the first episode due to there being so much going on and them rushing us into the story (not exactly a bad thing btw). Some thing I still don't quite understand which is why the Literature teacher, Ha Yun Joon (Kim Min Joon) paid someone to bite the students just to get his mom to stop selling the exam answers. I mean, I can see why he didn't just expose it directly, but to go to that measure was a bit shocking to me. Well with Mr. Ha (as I will be calling him), his mother is the creepy principle Lee Yeo Joo (Hwang Suk Jung) who cares more for the school's image than to deal with problems in a better manner.
A perfect example would be the bullying scandal involving student Oh Hae Ni (Choi Shi Yoon), who was picked on and mocked by her classmates to the point where she almost committed suicide until Mr. Ha and the detectives stopped her. Principle Lee was very quick to believe Nam Hyo Joo (Han Ji Ahn) mainly due to her mother being on the school board. She was afraid to go against this and possibly have this story publicized because then all of her other wrongdoings would come to light. Hae Ni's story really made me emotional because you saw how alone she felt. I really enjoyed the scene where they got permission to lock everyone in a room and presented "evidence" to get someone to crack. I say "evidence" because we learned afterwards that everything they used as proof was fake, it was only used to have them turn on one another so the main bully would be forced to admit it. Being a teenager can be hard and it was nice to see Chae Yool struggling with the idea that Hae Ni could be the victim when the bullies put up a very convincing act that she was the aggressor. It showed that even she was susceptible into believing lies if they were convincing enough and she only saw one side of it. That's how social media can often work, you see only the side the poster wants you to see thus your likely to believe them and not the victim. 
So far, we've only gotten into Chae Yool's personal life (mainly due to her being the main character) and after you see her daily life, you really do feel for her. Her being harsh with people something she's gotten from her mother, but it's also a defense mechanism for her since she's been programmed to only focus on school. Watching her mother dote on her brother, Chae Joon, it's no wonder she's come to dislike him so much. The breakfast scene was interesting to watch, everyone was literally talking about her as if she wasn't there. You see how much she's ignored and no one wants to listen to her, which is why she chooses to join the detectives club and stay out longer. The simple fact that her mom pays people off to spy on her shows how much she wants Chae Yool to be like Chae Joon, but that's not going to happen. Chae Yool even goes as far as turning in a blank test. Was it rebellion for her mom or was it to show Mr. Ha that she wouldn't use the test answers he gave her? Maybe it was a bit of both. Mr. Ha knew she wouldn't use it, which is why he gave them to her in the first place. She's not the type to cheat plus she knows why she mom put her in Seonam Girls High School; it's much easier to get higher grades there so she would be able to get into that top high school her mother wants her to attend. Turning in a blank scantron sheet shows her defiance and sends a message that she's not a puppet for her mother's attempt to recreate another robot genius. 
So far. we've only gotten a mere introduction to the side characters. Mr. Ha is still in that grey area for me, is he good or bad? What are his real intentions? As of right now, he seems to be on a solo crusade to get his mother to change from being a corrupted principle and he uses the detectives as a means to do that. He can't do it himself (Principle Lee is his mom) so he gives hints and clues so that the girls was solve these cases themselves. When the bullying incident came out, he hinted towards Teacher Jung to use the detectives for the case to show that everything is not as it seems. He's one of those people who seems to be speak cryptically and doesn't give a direct answer, sort of like he's a wise leader to a team of Power Rangers (yes, I watch Power Rangers and used them as a metaphor).
Next, the team will investigate an incident at Mr. Ha's nephew's art show opening. Episode 5 has aired and we are currently awaiting subs. Will I review episode 5? Perhaps, but I make no promises. 
If you want to discuss areas I failed to cover or would like to give your thoughts on the show so far? Leave a comment :)

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