THE SHORT VERDICT:
Youthful, fresh, and with just the right amount of angst, Who Are You – School 2015 is an engaging watch for most of its run, and even manages to feel cracky in parts.
On top of the typical teen problems, Show layers a missing-twin-swopped-lives arc that amps up the dramatic tension. Add on a confusing love triangle which ups the crack factor, and I was a eager happy camper through much of the show.
Despite some of the acting falling on the stiff side and an ending that loses steam, Show manages to remain a fun watch overall.
THE LONG VERDICT:
To be honest, when I started watching this show, I’d just recently finished watching Angry Mom, and I wondered if the two shows would be too similar for me to properly enjoy School 2015, since both shows are set in high school, and both feature bullying quite prominently, to boot.
Thankfully, I actually had nothing to worry about. Even though there are some similar themes on paper, the two shows and their drama worlds feel different and easily distinct. While Angry Mom feels darker and grittier, and is often viewed through an adult lens, School 2015 shines more of the spotlight on actual student life, and tonally, feels more like a real high school drama than Angry Mom.
While my affection for School 2015 doesn’t quite match my (big, big) love for School 2013, I still liked it a whole lot, and consistently looked forward to its next episode.
I don’t regret watching it, but the ending and how they handled most of the storylines were a letdown for me. I mean, Show was so dramatic sometimes. Like in the early episodes with the girl who stole from her mom and she ended up transferring. By the way, Show made it look like it was so easy to transfer student from one school to another, when it’s not supposed to be so easy? The girl was living literally next door from Eun Byeol, so when she transferred to another school, did the whole family move to another neighborhood in like 2 days? I mean, if she weren’t Eun Byeol’s close neighbour, I would have been more touched by the whole emotional goodbye sequence. And more interactions between the girls and their friendship would have been appreciated… Especially after Shin Ji and Chong Joo found out about the twins. Their reaction of just rolling with this surreal story was verrrrry convenient. And when Eun Bi comes back, it looks like they had no contact at all for the past 6 months. And so she went to Seungri High School (I’m sure she had In Jae as her teacher 😂) just for 6 months to find her true self, then she transfers AGAIN to come back to Sekang High for her senior year. And it looks like that in all of this, the mom had to sell her store and they moved to another house and then they come back to their previous house? I really didn’t understand this aspect of the ending.
