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School 2017: Episode 14

With each episode, School 2017 somehow finds a way to make me laugh, cry, and cheer alongside our Geumdo High School crew, and I’m loving every minute of it. When faced with the challenges that inevitably come with being eighteen and trying to live your best, there’s nothing more important than friends and family who help keep you honest and true to yourself—and luckily for our students, they seem to have that in spades.

 
EPISODE 14 RECAP

Principal Yang and his security guards finally catch Tae-woon in his X gear in the school cafeteria. Eun-ho, also dressed as X, appears in the doorway just in time to witness the principal reach for Tae-woon’s hood.

Seconds before Tae-woon’s identity is revealed, Tae-woon and Eun-ho lock eyes, and they exchange tiny nods of understanding. Eun-ho then sends a stack of cups flying onto the floor, creating just enough of a distraction for Tae-woon to fight off the security guards and escape with Eun-ho in tow.

Outside the building, Tae-woon hides Eun-ho behind a column and tells her that he’ll see her back at the warehouse. Eun-ho watches in worry as he takes off.

Tae-woon manages to evade the guards for a while, but he soon comes to a halt on the stairs. With flashlights and shadows coming at him from all directions, it looks like he’s trapped.

Cut to: a hoodie-less, red-shirted Tae-woon running full speed into one of the security guards. Tae-woon jumps back in shock, and when the full group catches up to him, he explains that he’s been chasing after X. Ha!

After looking around, he points off to the distance and exclaims, “X is over there!” before running off again. With a slight smile on his face, he zigzags his way across campus, leading the adults on a useless and exhausting chase.

Eventually, he heads back to the stairs, where he pulls out his hoodie from the bushes. He makes a big show of it to the adults, saying that X must have taken it off and escaped, before casually sauntering away and commending the group for their efforts.

As they watch him walk off, a security guard asks who Tae-woon is. Vice Principal Park responds that he’s Director Hyun’s son, “the future director of Geumdo High School.”

Eun-ho rushes up to Tae-woon when he finally returns to the warehouse, her face sick with worry. Tae-woon assures her that he won’t be caught that easily, but she still frets over him, asking if he’s been hurt anywhere.

Tae-woon says he’s fine—but with a mischievous glint in his eye, he puts his arms around Eun-ho and takes a step forward, only to yelp out in (fake) pain: “My leg, my leg!” Pfft.

He says that he must have sprained his ankle and moans about how painful his injury is, so Eun-ho tells him that they should hurry home. He wonders if he can even walk properly, which naturally leads to Tae-woon draping himself all over Eun-ho on their way out of the warehouse (and smiling to himself when she’s not looking).

As they limp along, Eun-ho notes that he probably can’t ride his motorcycle. Tae-woon looks cornered for a second, only to brighten when Eun-ho says she’ll take him home.

Once there, Tae-woon continues to put on a performance, telling Eun-ho that he thinks it’ll take a looooong time to recover. Massaging his ankle, Eun-ho says with concern that Principal Yang must now think X is a team of two. She beats herself up for showing up at the cafeteria, muttering that she was just so worried.

His voice dripping with honey, Tae-woon asks, “Were you worried about me? Why were you worried so much?” as he holds her hand. In response, Eun-ho stands up abruptly, trying to hide her smile. Before she can head out though, Tae-woon hobbles over to say a proper goodbye, pinching her cheeks and calling her his girlfriend. She can’t hide her smile at that.

As soon as she’s gone, Tae-woon shakes out his perfectly fine leg and makes plans to continue his act the next day, lol.

Back at school, Principal Yang stares at his whiteboard of suspects, thinking out loud that with two culprits at large, one must be Eun-ho. He wonders if the second one’s Dae-hwi, but convinces himself that it can’t be true, since he and Tae-woon were in the warehouse when X showed up last. After hypothesizing that Dae-hwi must be a decoy to hide X’s identity, he congratulates himself for his investigative prowess.

The X gang gathers in their hideout to assess the situation. Bo-ra tells Tae-woon to be more careful, while Sa-rang echoes the concern to Eun-ho. Tae-woon acknowledges that it seems as if the school’s thrown out their expired food, but says that they should wait and see how things go.

Vice Principal Park tells Principal Yang that they can’t continue serving gourmet lunches. Principal Yang agrees, telling him to go back to serving terrible food but to do it in secret, so no one notices.

Tae-woon uses his “injury” as an excuse to get close to Eun-ho again, this time discreetly slipping his hand in hers. Eun-ho looks down in shock, then hurriedly untangles her fingers from his when she sees several classmates approaching.

When they’re alone again, Eun-ho hisses, “Are you crazy? We’re at school.” She tells Tae-woon that other kids will start talking, but ha, Tae-woon says he’d be happy if that happened, and offers to tell the world himself. Eun-ho smacks him before he can blab the news, prompting him to protest that he wants everyone to know, so that other guys won’t dream of confessing to her.

Eun-ho says that they won’t be able to turn back once the rumor gets out, but all that does is give Tae-woon more motivation. He grabs his trusty friend Byung-gu to execute his plan, leaving Eun-ho behind to freak out.

At the student lounge, Tae-woon tries to get Byung-gu to spread the “rumor” that Eun-ho now has a boyfriend. Byung-gu just matter-of-factly says that everyone already knows: “It’s the guy who left the post-it note on her poster last time.”

Tae-woon grabs Byung-gu’s shoulders in frustration and insists that he’s got the wrong guy. Just as Tae-woon starts to say who Eun-ho’s boyfriend really is, Eun-ho pops up from around the corner to interrupt: “Do you want to die?”

Tae-woon gets up and backs away from Eun-ho, forgetting about his fake injury. Eun-ho’s jaw drops at Tae-woon’s perfectly fine leg, and though Tae-woon tries limping again, he quickly gives up and apologizes before running away, hee.

Eun-ho chases Tae-woon all around the classroom, where Dae-hwi watches their playful fighting with a smile. Looking over at Nam-joo’s desk, which still sits empty, his smile fades.

Nam-joo wanders the streets, staring wistfully at the storefront of a musical instrument shop displaying cellos. Meanwhile, Teacher Shim fields a call from her father, reassuring him that he’s spoken to Nam-joo and that she’ll return soon.

Nam-joo’s dad is waiting for her outside their house when she comes home later that night, and anxiously, he asks where she’s been. He tells her that things must be tough for her and apologizes. “You must’ve had so many things you wanted to do, but you gave up your dream because of me,” he says.

Nam-joo tells him to stop, then brushes past him to go inside. From a distance, Dae-hwi approaches their house and watches as Nam-joo’s father trudges sadly after her.

The next day at lunch, Byung-gu asks Eun-ho about her boyfriend, saying that he heard the news from Tae-woon. After giving Tae-woon the evil eye, Eun-ho lightly says that her boyfriend’s someone who’s good at acting—acting like he hurt his leg, that is—leading them to wonder if Eun-ho’s dating a celebrity, ha.

Thankfully for Eun-ho, Kyung-woo changes the subject to ask why lunches at Korean high schools are so awful. As Eun-ho examines her food warily, Dae-hwi cautions her to be careful so that she doesn’t get sick again. Eun-ho brushes off both his concern and Tae-woon’s tide of jealousy at Dae-hwi’s comment, telling them both that everything’s fine.

But things are decidedly not fine. Later that afternoon, Eun-ho looks like death, and she rushes out of the classroom gagging. Tae-woon runs after her, and Sa-rang watches worriedly. Eun-ho barely makes it into the hall before losing consciousness entirely, but Tae-woon’s there to catch her, and Teacher Shim heads over to help.

They take Eun-ho to the hospital, where the doctor tells them it’s food poisoning, but that she was at risk for complications because of her weak immune system. The doctor says she’ll be okay after resting for a few hours, so Teacher Shim suggests that Tae-woon return to school.

Much to Teacher Shim’s amusement, Tae-woon tries to think of reasons to stay, rambling about how he’s worried for his classmate. But luck’s on Tae-woon’s side, as Teacher Shim gets called back to school, leaving Tae-woon with the perfect excuse to look after Eun-ho.

Tae-woon looks down at Eun-ho’s sleeping figure tenderly, then sighs that it’s rude of her to be pretty even when she’s sick. Cute.

After a few hours, they get the okay to leave the hospital. When Eun-ho wonders why she’s been so sick recently, Tae-woon pinpoints the school lunch as the culprit, saying other students have gotten sick too.

After expressing his outrage over the cafeteria food poisoning Eun-ho, Tae-woon presses his hands against her cheeks to cluck over how much weight she’s lost. She puts her hands over his and tries her hand at some aegyo, but Tae-woon mocks her and tells her to stop with the aegyo because it’s unnatural, lol.

As they walk, Eun-ho stops outside a floral shop to admire a basket of flowers. Tae-woon gruffly asks if she wants flowers, and she nods enthusiastically. He ponders for a beat, but then leads her away, telling her he’ll buy her meat (a “flower sirloin cut”) instead, since it suits her better.

That night, after wishing Eun-ho a good night over the phone, Tae-woon vows to take revenge on the school.

The next day, Principal Yang’s thrilled to receive a fancy lunchbox—it’s supposedly from Director Hyun, thanking the principal for a job well done. After sending away Vice Principal Park to have lunch on his own, he greedily stuffs his face with the delicious food.

As our X crew keeps an eye on Principal Yang’s door from the hallway, the principal notices a note tucked into his tray at the tail end of his meal, which reads:

“Did you enjoy the food? It was made using expired, rotten ingredients. You fed this kind of food to us in our school lunches, too. If you get food poisoning from eating this, it’s because you’re weak—it’s not because there’s something wrong with the food. Just like you’ve always said.”

Principal Yang freaks out and runs out of his office, gagging and sputtering. Despite the skeptical reactions from staff, he yells for an ambulance, insisting that he has food poisoning.

Tae-woon and the group bust a gut laughing at the principal’s dramatic antics, and after a minute, Eun-ho wonders if they went too far. But when Tae-woon tells them the principal’s food was completely fresh—meaning that it’s all in his mind—the five students burst into another round of laughter.

After being told at the hospital that he’s perfectly fine, Principal Yang returns to school to take his anger out on Sa-rang’s mom. When Mom asks if he’s acting this way because of her complaint about the school lunches, Principal Yang kicks over the recycling bin, yelling that she shouldn’t have made that complaint.

Just then, someone kicks a soda can over to him. He looks over to see Eun-ho and Sa-rang, who sarcastically apologize for “missing” the trash can in their attempt to copy the principal’s kick. Principal Yang leers at them, getting uncomfortably close as he calls the girls suspicious.

The next thing we know, Principal Yang throws down a folder full of custodial vendors in front of Sa-rang and tells her that there’s plenty of people to take her mom’s job. Principal Yang says her mom’s caused a lot of trouble with her complaint about the cafeteria food, and threatens to fire her unless Sa-rang reveals X’s identity. What a scumbag.

Poor Sa-rang looks weighed down and depressed as she hangs with Eun-ho at the hideout, but sadly, Eun-ho doesn’t notice, raving instead about how amazing Tae-woon is for coming up with X. Sa-rang asks if Tae-woon has any intention of turning himself in; she notes that everything would be fixed if he confessed, and he wouldn’t even be punished, given who he is.

Sa-rang continues to criticize Tae-woon for engaging in childish cosplay through X, repeating the fact that Tae-woon’s background is the only reason he can pull those pranks. When Eun-ho tries to defend Tae-woon, Sa-rang says Eun-ho’s the same: “How long have you guys dated, that you can treat me this way? If you like him so much, just hang out with him. You don’t need someone like me anymore.”

Looking stricken, Eun-ho asks Sa-rang to tell her what she’s really mad about, instead of beating around the bush. Her eyes flashing with anger, Sa-rang says icily that Eun-ho’s lucky to be able to say whatever she wants.

Kyung-woo catches up to Sa-rang and walks with her for a while, not saying a word. When she notes his silence, wondering if he isn’t curious what’s going on with her, he says he isn’t curious, but worried that she’ll be hurt. Sa-rang smiles up at him gratefully, and he returns her smile.

Meanwhile, Eun-ho unloads her frustrations about Sa-rang onto Tae-woon, who listens supportively. He wonders if Sa-rang’s feeling hurt and left out because of their new relationship, but Eun-ho dismisses the suggestion, claiming that they resolved that issue already. Tae-woon says that since Sa-rang’s a thoughtful person, there must be a reason for her actions.

Later, Sa-rang runs across her mother begging her supervisor for her job back. Oh no, she’s fired already? When Mom pleads for another chance, the boss says that he didn’t have a choice—the decision came from up high.

Sa-rang bursts into the principal’s office to protest, telling Principal Yang about how hard her mom works to keep the school clean. Scoffing, the principal says her mom will have to clean her own house now, thanks to her loyal daughter. Dang. He reminds Sa-rang that she has the power to keep her mom employed and asks, “Is X more important than your own mom?”

After crossing paths with Sa-rang and getting ignored, Eun-ho stops at a bench to look up at the sky. When Officer Han joins her and asks if she’s troubled, Eun-ho responds in vague terms: “I thought I knew her the best and that I understood her the most. But now, I wonder what we were to each other.”

Officer Han replies that relationships get harder the deeper they get, and offers Eun-ho some advice: “Relationships are hard to maintain. That’s why you have to give your all to keep them.”

At the police station, Officer Han is notified that she’s being removed from Geumdo High in a month for failing to do her job. Her boss seems perplexed by her newfound incompetence, and he tells her that there’s still time to turn the tables and show off the skills that she’s been hiding.

Back at the hideout, Tae-woon suggests another prank on the principal to Eun-ho. That gets Sa-rang’s ire going, and she asks Tae-woon if being X is a just a joke to him. When Tae-woon asks what other reason there could be, Sa-rang retorts that they’re in this mess because of his immature actions.

Sa-rang says that she’d initially thought he had his own sense of justice, but tells him she’s disappointed to find out his pranks were just for fun. “Because of you, I…” she trails off.

Before Tae-woon’s temper flares, Eun-ho jumps in to defuse the tension, but that leads Sa-rang to attack Eun-ho for only caring about Tae-woon. Looking frustrated, Eun-ho asks Sa-rang again what’s wrong, telling her that she’s been having a tough time because of her lately. Sa-rang gives an insincere apology, then takes off.

Eun-ho cools off at the outdoor sink, while Tae-woon holds a towel out for her, looking contrite. Eun-ho complains to Tae-woon for not appeasing Sa-rang, telling him that he should have let her win, given all the surprising news she’s had to absorb about the two of them recently.

Tae-woon says he’s sorry, but adds that Sa-rang was harsh too. Eun-ho gives him that, and wonders why Sa-rang’s been so sensitive lately. “If she doesn’t tell me, how am I supposed to know?” she asks miserably.

Principal Yang stops Eun-ho to gleefully tell her that he’ll have proof of her involvement in X’s affairs soon, as his spy is going to bring him evidence. He tells her that if she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences, she should confess now.

That evening, Teacher Shim runs into a drunk Teacher Jung outside of a convenience store. Teacher Jung says that he can’t help but drink tonight, citing the news that Officer Han’s been fired for not catching X.

Teacher Shim immediately heads to the police station, where a smiling Officer Han meets him outside. Teacher Shim blames himself for her failure to catch X, but Officer Han says it was actually because of her: “Because I was blinded by love. The man I like wants to protect the kids, so how could I catch them?”

She complains that this guy would rather protect the kids than her, but admits that it’s also his charm. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Teacher Shim vows to find a way to protect both the kids and the woman he likes, and asks her to wait.

He bows formally before turning to leave, but then doubles back to softly kiss Officer Han on the cheek. He says he’s returning the kiss from last time, adding that the man is supposed to do that first. Then he pulls her in for a real kiss.

On her way home, Sa-rang sees her mom just ahead of her. She’s reminded of the day her mom showed off her janitor uniform for the first time—Mom had been so happy to land the job, but she wondered if it would be embarrassing for Sa-rang to have her working at the school. Sa-rang assured her that she’d love seeing her all the time, and Mom promised to work extra hard for her.

In the present, Sa-rang blinks back tears and catches up to her mom, telling her that from now on, she’ll only think of her, since Mom is all she needs.

The next day, Sa-rang walks out of the hideout with a box containing X’s drone and heads to the principal’s office. After a brief moment of hesitation, she reaches for the door.

That’s when a hand grabs Sa-rang’s arm to stop her, and Sa-rang turns to face an angry Eun-ho. Outside, Eun-ho demands to know if Sa-rang is really the principal’s spy, wailing why she’d do such a thing to her.

When Sa-rang continues to be cold to her, Eun-ho demands to know why Sa-rang can’t just tell her the truth, when they used to tell each other everything. When Sa-rang accuses Eun-ho of keeping secrets first, Eun-ho cries that she did tell Sa-rang: “I explained to you the situation, so why are you doing this?”

Sa-rang tells Eun-ho that she simply notified her after the fact, but that still, she tried to understand Eun-ho, figuring that she had a reason. When Eun-ho protests that it wasn’t her secret to tell, Sa-rang responds, “You got a boyfriend. You didn’t need a friend anymore.”

Eun-ho screams out Sa-rang’s name in frustration, then asks if Sa-rang’s planning to go expose Tae-woon. Angrily, Eun-ho asks, “Is this all you amounted to?” Ouch.

Sa-rang spits out that it is all that she amounts to, and that she’ll do everything Eun-ho said. “This is all you think of me, so I have no reason not to,” she says.

Sa-rang keeps her word, delivering the drone to Principal Yang, but interestingly, she also offers to arrange an in-person meeting with X. She tells the principal to go alone, as that’s the only way X will appear. Hmmm.

With his game face on, Principal Yang heads to the designated spot to wait for X. He cocks his head at the sound of footsteps, then breaks out into a sinister grin when he sees Eun-ho appear. Wagging his finger at her, he crows about finally catching her, and how he knew she was X all along.

But Eun-ho just blinks up at him, pretending not to know anything about X. Principal Yang doesn’t believe her, but reconsiders when he receives a text from Sa-rang saying that X won’t appear because Eun-ho’s there with him. Looking around in confusion, Principal Yang shoos Eun-ho away, though Eun-ho purposely tries to stick around to annoy him, heh.

As we see Director Hyun pull up to the school to meet Tae-woon, someone else walks towards Principal Yang, heels clicking on the pavement. Principal Yang’s mouth drops open when he turns around and comes face to face with… Sa-rang’s mom. Yeah!

After his initial shock wears off, Principal Yang laughs and asks if she’s X. Mom retorts that she’s just there to return the cash he tried to shut her up with, and he threatens to fire her once again. Mom tells him to do whatever he wants, saying she won’t keep quiet about what she saw.

She dumps a bag of discarded food packaging at his feet, telling him she has several more boxes of the same, all with past-due expiration labels. Showing absolutely no remorse, Principal Yang sneers that the kids won’t die from eating expired food, then adds that she has no proof that these packages actually came from their cafeteria.

At that, Sa-rang’s mom pulls out a cell phone. “You kept talking about proof, so I got it for you,” she says, before sending a message to the principal’s phone. His eyes widen when he sees what she sent: X’s video documenting the contents of the school’s freezer, which was filled with expired food.

A flashback shows our X crew sharing the video with Sa-rang’s mom in their hideout. Tae-woon had then given her his phone, coaching her on how to send the video over to Principal Yang at the designated time. Awesome.

Back in the present, Sa-rang’s mom tells the principal that she’s planning to share the video widely with the media and the Board of Education. Desperate to stop her, Principal Yang grabs at her and tries to force her to take back the cash.

Just then, a voice shouts out, “What are you doing?” It’s Director Hyun, who’s conveniently witnessed the disturbing exchange with Tae-woon by his side. When the X crew spills out of a nearby classroom to watch the scene unfold, Tae-woon gives his friends a sly thumbs-up, and they return his gesture.

We flash back to Eun-ho and Sa-rang’s big fight to get the full story: After Sa-rang had initially walked away, Eun-ho had chased her down to continue their fight. With tears spilling down her face, Eun-ho called Sa-rang a brat for turning her into a jerk.

Sa-rang had started to cry by then too, and angrily told Eun-ho how hurt and left out she’d been feeling. She then asked Eun-ho why she was crying, when she was the bigger jerk.

The two had a real heart-to-heart after that, with Sa-rang filling Eun-ho in on the principal’s threats. Calling herself a bad friend, Eun-ho had asked for Sa-rang’s forgiveness. In turn, Sa-rang said that if it weren’t for Eun-ho, she would have turned Tae-woon in, having convinced herself that he’d be okay.

Eun-ho confidently told Sa-rang that they’d do whatever it took to protect her mom. At that, Sa-rang cracked a tiny smile, likening Eun-ho to X, and that’s when Eun-ho started to hatch their plan to get revenge on the principal.

In the present, Sa-rang narrates: “Minor misunderstandings weaken relationships. But that weakness creates an opportunity. An opportunity for a new encounter, an opportunity to reaffirm a longstanding relationship. The best way to heal the weakness is to hold each other’s hands firmly.” In class, Eun-ho and Bo-ra head over to Sa-rang’s desk and Eun-ho holds out her hand for Sa-rang to join them.

Eun-ho’s dad packs lunch for her, worried about her health, and asks if the school lunches are still terrible. After saying that they are, Eun-ho adds, “But at the same time, not exactly.”

At school, Eun-ho finds a pretty bouquet of flowers inside her locker. She teasingly reminds Tae-woon that he’d said meat suited her better than flowers, but Tae-woon tells her that the flower shop from earlier didn’t have the kind of flowers that she liked, and calls her out for being disappointed in him unnecessarily.

Smiling, she tells him that she doesn’t need to eat lunch today, since she’s full already. Without a word, Tae-woon sticks an earphone in her ear, and the two share a sweet moment, listening to music together.

Tae-woon returns home that night to find his father in the living room, along with his drone, hoodie, and other X materials sprawled out on the coffee table. Nooooooo.

Dad quietly tells Tae-woon, “I told you not to do anything stupid.” Tae-woon looks terrified as he unsuccessfully tries to stammer out an explanation, and Dad reminds him of his promise to get only Tae-woon out of trouble. “But that girl, Eun-ho—she’s expelled,” he says.

 
COMMENTS

This show’s doing such a great job of adding layers of depth to our characters throughout the series, and Sa-rang’s mom is one example of a seemingly minor character who ends up being so much more—both in terms of plot, and the impact she has on her daughter and the rest of the students. I love that we’re given a full picture of who Sa-rang’s mom is as a person—yes, she’s a low-level employee who doesn’t have much money, and yes, she’s an awesome mom who wants the moon for her kid. But she’s also someone with dignity and a strong sense of justice, and as we see in this hour, someone who can be fearless when she needs to be. I mean, how badass was she during her stand-off with Principal Yang? I pick her as MVP of the hour for sure.

It’s interesting that Sa-rang is learning about these other aspects of her mom in tandem with us—she’s spent a lot of her time trying to protect her mom and putting on a brave face for her, and it’s only recently that she’s realized how strong her mom really is. Sa-rang’s tendency to pretend that everything’s okay is partly why her fight with Eun-ho got to the level that it did—after all, Eun-ho’s the type of person who wears her emotions on her sleeve, so it makes sense that she’d just assume things are good if Sa-rang doesn’t say otherwise.

As with the conflict between Eun-ho and Tae-woon last week, I found the fight between Eun-ho and Sa-rang this week to be well done and believable. I loved that Eun-ho was persistent with Sa-rang when she was being pushed away, and how Eun-ho’s sincerity finally allowed Sa-rang to be honest with her friend about her anger and helplessness. The only thing better than getting our BFFs back on track is the fact that Eun-ho came up with the revenge against Principal Yang herself—she’s truly become the kind of hero that she was hoping X would be when she only knew about his pranks, and it’s so fun to watch her fulfill the role that she wanted X to be.

If there was one thing that didn’t quite sit right with me this hour, it was Officer Han’s storyline. I have nothing against a little romance between her and Teacher Shim, but I hate that she’s now become a woman who’s failed at her job because she let her feelings for some guy get in the way. I don’t think it’s consistent with the character we’ve gotten to know so far (although to be fair, we really haven’t gotten to know her all that well), and it would have been infinitely more satisfying if her inability to catch X was tied to the relationships she’s been building with students like Young-gun. We’ve seen throughout the series that she and Teacher Shim have had plenty of philosophical differences when it comes to educating and disciplining students—so why not make that the conflict that she’s wrestling with, instead of making it about not wanting to go against the guy she likes?

But other than that, I can’t complain too much, since I’m still getting pretty much everything else I want from the show—and we’ve only got two more episodes to go! I’m excited to see what kind of showdown awaits us between the powers that be and our growing X crew (plus a Teacher Shim on the side), as the students undertaking vigilante justice against the school is one of my favorite things to come out of this show. But of course, in addition to that, I can’t wait to stock up on more adorable moments from all of our kids, especially our main trio (also, more Dae-hwi please!). Though I’ve officially run out of ways to express how ridiculously cute Tae-woon and Eun-ho are together, I’ve not run out of scenarios I’d like to see them in—whether it’s them goofing around, romancing each other, or dreaming about the future together, I’m all in for the remainder of this ride.

 
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Thanks for the recap ?
My 14 moments of ep14 ?
◾ He appeared : Tae Flower is here wow Kyaaaaaaaaaah~ ???? (HydranTae flower ?)
He asked her what flower she likes before and I was waiting for it, thank you writer -nim
These two you can’t be more obvious with the flowers and earphones sharing ?
Wait earphones ? he’s using earphones, is he Tae Wimp ? ? ? ? Nope, because Tae Swoon knows how to counter Tae Wimp : swoony power ? ?
◾ It’s Tae hot ? Then you need a TaeWel ??
◾ Thank you Kyung Woo for being there for SaRang ?
◾ SaRang asking Issue during lunch : “You want to go have some ramyun instead ?” ???
So school franchise can’t have a kiss, but that is allowed ? I was so glad I wasn’t eating or drinking anything : my laptop could have died ? ?!
◾ Eun Ho & SaRang time for an honest conversation YEAH ???
◾ Tae Teasing : sport is important for your health dear Principal and Vice Principal ??
◾ Never miss on opportuniTae feat. Tae Leg (he’s hot in that red T-shirt ?)
◾ Tae Rumor : the world needs to know she’s my girlfriend ?
◾ Tae Classmate : “I’m worried as her classmate”
*rolling eyes, yeah sure Tae Boyfriend , smooth smooth ??*
◾ Raw fish & seafood : mmh perfect for food poisoning ??, X gang strikes again ?, how the principal jumped was ridiculous ?
◾ Eun Ho & SaRang : oops aiming for the trash can but it hit the Principal, oops ?
◾ New level of idiocy reached : congrats Principal ????
A spy is effective when you don’t talk about it *just saying ?*
◾ PE Teacher got drunk with 2 cans of beer , aigoo ? ; PE Teacher Hwaiting ?
◾ Teacher Shim kissed Police officer Han omo omo omo ???

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I love how they keep bringing up the ramyun. First with Teacher Shim and now Sarang. ?

HYDRANGTAE!! They're one of my favourite flowers too and now they'll forever be unforgettable in my memory. ?

Let's not forget the terrible Tae-cting (geddit geddit? Acting?) skills and his little smirk when EH had to literally hug him all the way back home.

I died of laughter when the principal started scratching himself all over because he thought the food was poisoned. How did someone like him become the principal ?

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TaeWel is still my favourite...

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That earphone scene... I wonder if he's gonna buy her Fererro Rocher next.

I have to disagree with that red shirt though. For me the blue shirts that he wore in previous episodes look best on him. But I won't argue on the fact that he's a hottie ?

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I never said he was hot only in that red shirt ?

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What's this argument about my colors? I'll have you know I look especially good when I am white and best when I am invisible.

Yours truly

Tae Shirt

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You my friend shall receive the "best in attendance" award! So consistent ;)

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i always look forward to read your posts ❤

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Can I just say how much I love that EH's hand/arm is constantly around TW's neck/shoulders when they're on the staircase laughing at the principal? It's such a natural, simple gesture that just shows how comfortable they are with each other. And how Kyung-woo always searches for SR just to give her support. JUST GET TOGETHER, GUYS.

On Tae-woon: Is there a way to bottle up the way he gazes at her? I just... just can't. The way he looked at her as she fussed over his leg, in the hospital, and when she saw the flowers in her locker... Boy's such a diehard romantic, and it just breaks my heart because he must have spent a long year being so lonely after JG's death, and now he has somebody who's slowly mending the pieces of his heart back together. To be honest I love how EH brought together a gang of lonely people (Dae-hwi, Bo-ra, Tae-woon) and they all became friends.

On that note, I really don't understand how these parents would rather their kids not learn important values like responsibility, than to see a black mark on their records. Obviously they want the best for their children, but shielding them with their privilege only makes their children grow up into twisted beings. Don't they realize that such actions from 18 year olds are silent cries for help? TW always brushes off his actions as X to be a "fun joke", but he's been hurting on the inside ever since JG took the blame for the accident, and Dad can't see it. It's no wonder TW built up so many walls around himself, because all Dad does is threaten him with ruining the people around him.

On Sa-rang & Eun-ho: So much emotions! T_T I felt bad for SR because her heart must be breaking watching her mother suffering, but I was also on EH's side during the argument because I think the fact that SR wasn't telling her anything was just making things worse for both of them. I really loved SR's voiceover at the end about how misunderstandings give rise to new opportunities. I'm so thankful that they made up and it just made their friendship stronger. And bless the lovely relationship SR has with her mom - those rich parents in the school really have some learning to do. And that principal deserves all the fury in hell (that I hope is coming to him soon!).

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Convenient writing aside, I'm still glad we got the escalated argument between Eun-ho and Sa-rang, which in consequence, affected the whole X squad. It felt inevitable, and I'm certain it could be chalked up to the "disadvantage" of having new perspective. Now that Eun-ho knew the whole story between Tae-woon, Dae-hwi, and Joon-ki, she couldn't let others easily dub what X did as childish prank. And while Sa-rang always knows how hard her Mom works, it wasn't until the principal threatened them that she truly understood how they fully depended on Mom's job. It's no-brainer which side she would pick then, given the choice between protecting Tae-woon and her Mom.

I also appreciated the writer for including the "If I told you, what would change?" trapping that got so many teenagers (and even adults) made stupid decision. It drove me frustrated, shouting uselessly to my screen, but I can understand why Sa-rang did that. And that's what ultimately made me forgive their almost noble idiocy. Now that that problem has passed, I can't wait for the finale showdown.

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if this kind of noble idiocy had been between two fully-grown adults, i'd have definitely given up halfway through this episode, because it'd be a very obvious mark of lazy writing. but it's kind of characteristic of teens to withdraw and suppress their emotions during difficult times, and then lash out passive aggressively or otherwise, so i was definitely more tolerant of sa-rang here. but man, am i glad it didn't last past this episode LOL.

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Actually, now that you mention the "If I told you, what would change?" thing, I remembered that this was exactly what Bora said. Except with Bora's case, she was scalded by Teacher Jang who turn her back on her after she confided.

The show's recurring theme is still that if you reach out to the right people, someone will help you, but I do feel that it was better executed in Bora's storyline than Sarang's.

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this seems like an unpopular opinion, but i still think the writing sometimes feels very muddled and lacks structure. it's strange in that i /like/ a lot of the interactions as separate, standalone scenes (kyung-woo and sa-rang, young-gun and bora), but there isn't enough buildup and continuity for these scenes to actually feel organic. theoretically, i like each strand of the plot we're given, but when i'm actually watching it come together onscreen, it feels like the jigsaw pieces don't quite fit together as well as intended.

on another note, i'm super glad that sa-rang and eun-ho have made up. although i kinda wish the cheesy take-my-hand scenes didn't feel so staged LOL. i miss those cute, natural interactions they shared during the first few episodes.

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Nope, I agree with you. I think it partly has to do with the editing actually, how it's played out on screen is awkward and jumps around a lot that actually detracts a lot from emotional impact at times. For example, the cut and flashback of EH and SR's make-up.
Super weird ordering there.

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yep, i definitely agree about the editing. it makes each transition feel really abrupt and disjointed. i've noticed that school 2017 shares a lot of the same writing flaws as the writer's other drama, sassy go go (it's almost comical how similarly flawed they are actually), but sassy go go definitely felt a lot more cohesive in this regard.

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People keep saying it's the same writer, and I can see the similarities everywhere (and I love both dramas) but when I googled it, it didn't have the same writer credited? Idk...

If that's their weakness, then it's normal for that to be a repetitive occurrence! haha
From what I remember re. SGG I think it was overall more cohesive too.
The structure though- could not all be the writers fault though. Could be how they chose to play out the scenes she wrote on screen. And that's on the rest of the team. *shrugs*

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if i remember correctly, i think it's because SGG had two writers, and only one of them is writing school 2017. i think her name's jung chan-mi, if i'm not mistaken!

yeah, i feel like the main writing flaw that both SGG and school 2017 share is the use of reaaaally exaggerated plot devices to fuel the conflict (e.g. principals/directors with an enormous amount of power and very little nuance in character). but the overall lack of flow and cohesiveness between subplots is definitely just a school 2017 thing, so it could very well just be a directing/editing problem!

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Ahhh okay. THank you!

Hahaha yes! To the plot devices! Like the whole cheerleading thing in general... :P
Probably a combination of all of the things we've mentioned to be honest.

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No, you're not alone in this. I like that the writing picks up on trails it leaves around, but sometimes it does this episodes later when you've almost forgotten it exists. First case in point: the gaps between when we see Bora being bullied by Younggun, there being something between her and Teacher Jang, the Bitna incident, the Heechan incident, and before finally going back to Younggun. Second: we get the first episode where Taewoon and Daehwi bump into each other and exchange barbed remarks, then after the whole Eunho-as-X saga unfolds suddenly they drop the Joonggi accident on us.

It works fine for some episodes, like the dream-themed one, but not always. But overall I find it's not overly distracting for me because at least the characters' stories hold my attention (and my feelings).

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But in real life it is like this - it's not smooth, because there's lots of things happening in the same time and lots of regrets resurfacing.
My best friend from childhood is far away and there were lots of misunderstandings and sometimes they occur as well while we have occasional skype talk, but with little kid around on both sides we're not having the real conversation we are aiming for. First time we've parted ways when we went to different high schools and I was annoyed that it was me all the time who searched for her and I told myself I would stop. But I couldn't, she was my bestie. Later on she thanked me for that time, because she was in deep depression and doubting herself (I didn't see that) and I pushed her forward. Sometimes I got jealous when I saw her bonding with other women but I have other very good friends as well but it's not the same.

What I wanted to tell is, that in life everyday seems sometimes identical to us, but it isn't the real case, especially when young. The time goes on but there are these little breaks when we get sentimental, angry, sick of ourselfs, incredulously happy, terribly worried and so on and our life stories get tangled with somebody else's ones. We forget or try to forget about something or somebody and unexpectedly it jumps in front of us, takes us in surprise or we go for it naturally or we try to deny it or potpone it.

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Oh yeah, I'm not denying that the real-time gaps in the characters' relationships with each other are realistic in how they stretch out over time.

I was referring more to the way it's arranged in terms of screen time—that is how the directors take the material and then represent it artistically to us. It's this handling that is bumpier.

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it keeps us amused ;-)

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Agree,though I'm more after the editing.sometimes,scene transitions are just meh and "where did that come from?"

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I've discovered that it actually flows better as a whole than as episodes. If you marathon it, it (to me) makes more sense in how it it is edited. Even just the way episodes fare better as a movie than as two separate entities.

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I feel the same too. Since I watched it per episode it released I get irritated with the flow of the scenes making me less confident on recommending the show and just watched it myself. This is already my first ever kdrama bias.

I agree with you though, because last Sunday I've tried binge watching it. I expect myself to get bored with none taeEunHo scenes, but I wasn't. I actually enjoyed it more.

I'll start recommending this when it finished and with note that they have to binge watch this.

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I think many would agree that editing is the main problem with this show. One thing that bothers me is the narration at the beginning / end of episode. The narration felt more like an afterthought as it doesn't give that much impact to me as a viewer. The narrations are meaningful but it confuses me at times, like how I have to figure out whose voice it is or why Taewoon suddenly quoted Helen Keller.

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I've had nothing but praise for this drama so far, but I was quite disappointed with the way the conflict between Eunho and Sarang escalated. It relied on the injection of an external plot factor that felt too conveniently timed—the principal using Sarang's mum as bait to blackmail her. It could've been a more nuanced exploration of the insecurities that breed tensions in female friendships, but by sticking in this plot device, it became easier to blame Sarang for not telling Eunho about the principal's threat, rather than what I think the writers were trying to show, the precise reason why she didn't.

One thing I wish were emphasised more, and not just thrown in at the end of their fight, was that it wasn't about the secrets, but about how Eunho continued neglecting Sarang. She apologised to Sarang very quickly when Sarang first brought up the rift, but it didn't translate into action as Eunho continued hanging out with Taewoon most of the time. Maybe she couldn't reveal that Taewoon was X, but couldn't she have shared things like the webtoon she was drawing (mentioned by some Beanies in previous recaps), or even her confusion over Taewoon's confession? It's little wonder Sarang feels unwanted and replaced.

Eunho kept saying that Sarang should have spoken up, but aside from the blackmail thing, she did speak up. And the same thing continued to happen. At least from my own experience with friendship problems, beyond a certain point you develop a fear of coming off as insecure/possessive and petty for bringing up a repeated issue, or you feel pressure to be more understanding.

Sarang is a really loyal friend, so the last thing she wants is to appear as not understanding, and that's probably why she ended up bottling her feelings after her first attempt achieved little change. It's not that she should have spoken up and stubbornly chose not to, but that she felt very strongly that she just couldn't have spoken up because of the way Eunho has been behaving towards her.

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Also, I was talking to @faraway about this on the fanwall, but I was really shocked when Eunho said to Sarang "I'm having a tough time because of you lately". What on earth did Sarang do to make her life difficult? Aside from that one conversation they had in which Sarang asks why Taewoon can't confess, I can't think of anything else; the way Eunho said "lately" implies it has been ongoing for some time, so I don't think she meant that one incident. I can't tell if it was a slip on the writer's part, or if she was being consistent with how Eunho tends to be wrapped up in her own feelings in a situation of conflict like what happened with Taewoon before.

This isn't to say there weren't things I was grateful for—how after that scene Taewoon showed more empathy to Sarang and tried to talk Eunho round, for instance, or Eunho setting Taewoon in his place for fuelling the quarrel. But in front of Sarang, Eunho instinctively took Taewoon's side, and I can't imagine how much that must've hurt for Sarang.

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They way I interpreted that scene was that EH knew something was wrong and off with SaRang but SR wouldn't conifide with her and tell her what WAS wrong, so EH was getting frustrated.
Kinda like how we talked about the parallels between the falling out with TW- Lack of communication was making EH feel burdened by SOMETHING only she didn't know what.
That's how I read it anyway, I didn't see it as a criticism to SR, it was more like EH just didn't know what to do.

But, (as we've talked about lol) I do think the writing of the two girls' conflict was not as strong as it could've been, or the conflicts in the past have been.

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I took it to mean that recently, SR's been giving EH quite a lot of sour looks and EH might have noticed, and EH seems like the type to really harp and focus on her specific feelings in a conflict, so she might have been overthinking Sarang's actions quite a bit.

I do agree with you. It was very easy for me to blame Sarang for not telling EH anything, and then lashing out at her afterward for "not caring about her", which made me a little frustrated because I couldn't understand why SR wouldn't confide in EH. In the sense that she expected EH to tell her everything, but she couldn't do the same, and using the "you didn't tell me first anyway" doesn't sit right with me because pettiness doesn't help a friendship.

I do think that it was partly TW's fault for brushing off his actions as "for fun", because it just made SR a lot more hurt, especially because his "fun" resulted in her mum being fired. I can see why EH jumped instantly to his defence (because she knows him better than that, and she knows it's not for fun), but SR doesn't know the reason why. No wonder she got so mad. I know TW has his own walls up though, and he doesn't want to look like a softie, so I'm glad at least that they talked it out and he helped SR with taking revenge on the principal.

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As someone who has... uhm actually personally bottled up some very big things for a very long time from people I love because I didn't trust them, SR's action are not wise (srsly, don't do it, it's such a bad idea) but accurate.
Thankfully, when I did eventually tell people, they weren't teenage girls with a lot of other emotions and kdrama writing in the way of a good conversation.

I think... there were a lot of issues that weren't actually explored in this conflict.
Compare to DH and TW's conflict- we sort of dealt with all the layers there.
Here- we barely brushed the surface (TW's immaturity, EH's neglect, SR bottling things up, lack of communications AND explanation)... and that's a bit sad. Because both those scenes are in the same show!

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I really liked how the DH-TW conflict was resolved. The two of them were hurting so much, both of them misunderstanding each other and desperately hoping for the other person to do something so that they could make up... that was a good conflict that hurt in good ways. BR's storyline also felt more layered in the sense that I felt compelled to really understand why BR was keeping everything bottled up.

In the writer's defence though, perhaps it's because SR and EH were already so close, the only realistic conflict she could really think of was this convenient way of using the whole blackmail-and-you-prefer-your-boyfriend.

But I really do wish that TW would, just once, allow himself to confide in this group of people that he calls friends. As he had been able to show BR his secret, I'd hoped that he would be able to be serious about his actions as X in front of SR.

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definitely agree! there was plenty of material for some really meaty, realistic conflict between the two girls without having to resort to such a transparent plot device, and i'm disappointed that the writer missed such a golden opportunity to explore that. :(

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^this

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+1 on this..we had bits of causes that could have been used to show the two girls' conflict,but the writer it seems took the easy way.

hate to compare,but BoRa's story arc was better explored,fleshed out for me

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Did anyone else spot Issue putting food on Sa-rang's tray this week?

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I did! But I kind of thought it was because he didn't want it, then Sarang asked him, so he gave it to her.

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OMO I didn't! But tbh issue's not my favourite character... He always seems sour-faced (even though yes he does have a lot going on for him) and rejects SR's fangirling all the time. I can't see the reason for injecting this idol-oppa plotline other than the fact that it made for some cute Kyung-woo-Sa-rang scenes, but otherwise it seems to be a dangling thread.

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Yes, I did! But I take it as Issue's been slowly accepting Sarang and the rest of lunch buddies as friends which is why he got a bit mad again when Sarang called him, "oppa" and went fangirl mode toward him. I won't ask for more, I just wanna see all the lunch buddies hang out together as friends. I also want Issue and Kyung woo hang out together playing some music. I thought that's what Kyung Woo wanted to asked Issue since he's free now.

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Agreed. I wish his I-need-friends plot point had a little more room to breathe.

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yes i caught that little moment i thought it was sweet but sarang belongs to guitar boy lol

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Is Tae Dad redeemable?

Where are his morals? I don't see them at all. He is complicit in all the school's wrongdoings including this latest school lunch fiasco which means his son is eating food gone bad.

I know Tae Woon and Dad's issue has to be resolved but I had hope it would not take too much time. With this latest development, I'm sure it would be biggest conflict , the last which they have to solve before the end.

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Exactly, I also asked in the previous recap why on earth he is okay with his only child and heir eating the expired food. But maybe because he gets less screen time and is less of an annoying caricature than the principal, the principal and his blackmailing / underhanded techniques and the ridiculous way they run the school are so much more vexing.

Can't wait for the future where Director hyun will step down / die eventually and with Tae Woon as the director , there won't be any more of this expired food or unfair practices nonsense ( and he can appoint Teacher Gu as principal and teacher shim as vice principal ) .

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"Can't wait for the future where Director hyun will step down / die eventually and with Tae Woon as the director"

No, Director Hyun can't die. As much as I dislike him, he's the only parent that Tae Woon has. I just want him to be a more layered character than what is written. There was a glimmer of hope when he brought back fried chicken for Tae Woon but we need something more.

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Haha I meant eventually he will die of old age and Tae Woon will assumablu be the next director. There are moments where we can sense/ infer that there is that something more in their father-son relationship ( besides bringing him chicken, when Tae Woon brought Eun Ho to greet his mother and said that he and his dad promised that they would only come and see her on good days ) all these seem almost incongruent with the other parts of their relationship. Also on some level , Tae Woon fears / respects his dad ( as seen from the polite proper manner he asks for things from him ) and relies on him ( as seen from how he called his dad after the accident - not cause he wanted his dad to get him off scot free, but cause he was a person he depended on )

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Agreed that there's something more there—I also remember Taewoon's promise with his dad that each of them would only visit his mum's grave when they have something happy to share.

I hope that the showdown the cliffhanger left us with will be more focused on their father-son relationship rather than falling back on the "I will protect my girl" trope or worse, noble idiocy.

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I actually haven't seen Tae Dad do anything good other than bring Tae Woon sweets. In all 14 episodes not once did he do anything good for the school!

For me Tae Dad is the least fleshed out character in this drama. As mentioned in the recap even Sarang's mom, a menial worker in the school, gets to be a hero.

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This probably is an unpopular opinion, but when Tae-woon's dad finally confronted him about being X, I was just like, finallyyyy. Tbh I'm ready for the X plot to be over, because the incompetence of the admin was annoying me a lot. I love love love how X has brought about new friends and relationships with our team, but at the same time all the X evasion tactics and near-misses are becoming a little silly, haha. I also wanted Tae-woon's dad to find out sooner so that we could resolve that, as well as we're able anyway, I'm not sure we can do that now with only 2 eps left, and focus on other relationships, such as with the inevitable(?) school graduation phase and then uni. There'll be a lot to cram into finale week, like Nam-joo's family situation, Dae-hwi's, Hee-chan(?), but I'm trusting the writer will handle it all satisfactorily.

The flower and headphones thing though. Haha, because we saw Tae Woon's (very hilarious) attempts at sharing music with Eunho in the past, I was just giggling the moment I saw him holding his earbuds. How many times must he have practiced that move? How long must he have been waiting to do it? Now I'm imagining how many fanfics he must have written in his head ?? Before any of us, he would've been the first shipper of him and Eunho lololol.

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wait, i think these kids are only in their junior year of high school, so they should still have one more year to go before they graduate!

YES, the moment i saw those earphones in tae-woon's hands, i just started laughing. can you imagine the kind of triumph he must've felt when he FINALLY put that earbud in eun-ho's ears. HAHA.

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*ear oops

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I do agree that the near misses are becoming a bit repetitive and silly......it doesn't make sense that almost half dozen security guards all loosen their hold on X upon hearing some clanking noise!

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I can't even express how much I love TW because he's such a dork? Calling earbuds a wimpy way, blasting music using a speaker, and then FINALLY getting his chance? I think it's so sweet that he's been liking EH for a long time, and even when she didn't accept him straightaway, he didn't get pissed off? He just continued being an amazing friend to her.

I didn't want dad to find out about X, but I do agree with you that it's been a long time coming. There are a lot of issues to settle here and only 2 more episodes! X/Team X represented the huge need for a change in the school. X already fought for a lot of justice (lunchtime discrimination, expired food), and I wonder if Dad sort of suspected it but never really wanted to face it. TW and Dad need to clear up their issues and Dad needs to realize that his son is growing up and wants to be a responsible adult, which he should be proud of, not angry about.

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right?? my favourite thing about tae-woon is how dorky he is (and by extension, my favourite thing about kim jung-hyun is how unafraid he is of acting dorky). especially that scene in episode 13, where he busts out his chest and acts all macho when eun-ho confesses to sa-rang that he's her boyfriend. kim jung-hyun might look older than a teen, but he's somehow really made this weird dorky adolescent/cool rebel combo his own. i'm so glad he was chosen for this role LOL.

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I absolutely love it when the writer unfolds a significant moment from an early episode and brings it forth. Flowers and earbud scene....... Aaaaaaawwww! Lavet!

Though I thought it was too mean to follow this lovely scene with Dad's confrontation.

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Tae swoon and his attempt to spread a gossip turned out funny?. This episode I loved sa-rang a lot her struggle to choose between his friend and mom. That too the conflict was more interesting when their friendship seemed to waver. The friends were shown drifting from each other, especially sa-rang feeling left out. So it was nice to see how they cleared their misunderstanding and helped out each other.
What makes high school series magical is these friendship which are just pure care and the conflicts in it. As adults people mostly stop to believe in magic. So it's nice to see this selfless care and how hurting it might be.

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I love how Byung-gu's like the gossip column of the school. What a ray of sunshine! ??

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Yes! He is officially Geumdo High School's social media app Byung-tweet!

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I said it and i'll say it again that milk boy is just too precious ❤

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Ep 14
Taeboyfriend is legendary ?
the flowers plus the earphones and of course,trying to spread his own rumors ???

SaRang,I'm so glad she has a strong support with her Mom and Kyungwoo.
Kyungwoo is so good,knows when to pry and when just to show support.

Please show,can we please have an official SaRang❤Kyungwoo date or at least Kyungwoo asking her out.

1 of the strongest things about Swoon2017 is that it does not extend the angst and issues are resolved.

Principal & Dir Hyun are just arrgghh ?

Swoon 2017 PDs/Writers, we know you are among Beanies lurking around. Give us a great finale week! ?

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Eun Ho and Sarang ? I just love how things work out for both of them. At least now Eun Ho knows what Sarang'd been feeling rather than just Sarang accepted everything as it is without having a say.

Now, what's wrong with daddy Hyun? Why is he blaming other students just when his own son is the one who did the pranks. I understand that he just wants to protect Tae Woon, but hmmmmmm. ☹️

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To me it seems like he only wants to protect his own reputation and the reputation of the person who will succeed him, cause if he really wanted to protect Tae Woon he would stop serving him expired food ( sorry I can't get over the expired food thing I think it's a personal trauma )

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As some Beanies commented before that we might not get a kiss from our OTP in the School Series, and this fact intensifies my disappointment of the kiss between our adults Teacher Shim and Officer Han. It would have been so awesome if the soft-spoken and gentle Teacher Shim delivers a passionate kiss and Officer Han returns it without the "deer in the headlights" look! Perhaps I am asking too much from School.

Also Teacher Shim, it does not always have to be men to initiate the first kisses!

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I'm not too worried about Teacher Shim. Remember Officer Han has the handcuffs, she can always prove him wrong in other ways.

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Omo omo!!!

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who needs a kiss scene from the OTP when there are comments like this?!

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We both have peck on the cheek with two couple and I'll say, TaeEunHo won that part.

Teacher already had the lip action, and I'm confident if we get 'kiss' from our OTP it will be MORE than what we saw with the teacher. They will also win, if they do 'kiss'.

☺️Taewon's lips ? I can decide who will be more lucky, Sejeong or Jeonghyun. Sejeong mentioned before on interview she had her first kiss by the playground, her fans knows her lips are not untouched. For god sake, give Sejeong permission to kiss!

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lol if the adults kissed that awkwardly i wonder how it's going to be for the OTP or maybe like eveyone said they will be no kiss like in every school drama.

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I really hope eunho and tae woon will share at least a small quick kiss on the lips just one even if it's a stolen kiss i would gladly take that. The drama teased us so many times let's make it happen pdnim.

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We are angry about Principal Yang but he is just a puppet in the hands of Director Hyun. I hope all the stories get wrapped up, there's not too much time let, I wish it continued!

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Yes i hope the writer will wrap up all the storylines and give us a satisfying ending.

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Arrrrgggghhhh..... What will happen to Eunho now.. Hopefully taehero finds a way to keep her from being expelled.

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I'm i the only one hoping for kyung woo and sarang couple... He basically understands her every feeling without her having to explain. Omo

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Not even close to the only one. They have a loyal bunch of shippers on here for sure hahaha. Been shipping them since their first scene together. :)

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My favorite moment was how their arms brushed again st each other when walking back from the hospidali.

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I have to admit that I skipped most of Namjoo-related scenes. But after reading this recap, I somehow became interested in her. Was her family once rich? Is that why she despised the dad so much (though that feels like a very immature reason). Did I miss anything?

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I didn't see one. Which is why NamJoo irritated the bejeezus out of me and I want DaeHwi to move on to someone better. I can't figure out why he likes the brat so much.

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Most of what I loved has already been said, but Daddy has made a huge mistake. It's obvious to me that TaeWoon will protect EunHo at all costs, even sacrificing himself. Add that to the brew of past betrayal of JoongKi and his growing strength of purpose and justice and you have a very dangerous person. Daddy, if the scene ends here without some twist next week, has just made himself a very strong enemy.
I'd previously thought he was trying to reach his son, but he's not even opening his eyes to the blatantly obvious, so I'm questioning how serious his is.

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Thank goodness those two got away from the principal through the trick played by Taewoon.

I felt bad for Sarang, she was put in a tough spot to chose between her Mom and her friends but thanks to her friends they were all saved.

Why will only Eunho be expelled ? she is not even X. What discrimination, well I know Taewoon will not let that happen.

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I loved this episode for illustrating how fragile relationships outside of the "nuclear family" are. I've seen more than my fair share of girls who have lost friends due to a boyfriend coming in the picture--often times it's really silly. The episode did a good job of showing how we (wittingly/unwittingly) prioritize our relationships: mom and daughter, boyfriend and girlfriend--potential husband and wife, and father and son.

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"Eun-ho’s the type of person who wears her emotions on her sleeve, so it makes sense that she’d just assume things are good if Sa-rang doesn’t say otherwise." THIS! SR's pity party and ready willingness to betray her friends made me want to slap the bees out of her! It shouldn't be EH's responsibility to ferret out what SR's feeling, SR needs to SPEAK UP and spill what's on her mind! Watching her so readily betray her friends makes her someone unreliable and untrustworthy. Even though she changed at the last minute, I'd never trust her again because she's such a weak character.

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What I appreciate about this show is that it explores the dynamics between relationships among the characters, may that be friendship, family, lovelines, etc. True to form, there is no such thing as a relationship without conflict. Conflict is a part of life. It exists as a reality of any relationship, and is not necessarily bad. In fact, a relationship with no apparent conflict may be unhealthier than one with frequent ones. Conflicts are critical events that can weaken or strengthen a relationship. These can be productive, creating deeper understanding, closeness and respect, or they can be destructive, causing resentment, or hostility. For Eun-ho and Sarang, their conflict was rooted from misunderstanding. They are 18 years old by the way and we cannot blame them for acting or even reacting immaturely. EH felt that it was enough to tell SR what is going on. For SR, her feelings were disregarded and felt that the understanding the situation was just imposed on her by EH. We are sure that EH did not mean to make SR feel that way. Gladly these two girls have resolved this with more maturity than one could ever expect for teenagers (look at DW and TW, Bora and YG) without creating deeper damage to each other. I cannot imagine what a tragedy it would be to their friendship if Sarang's plan to tattle TW as X would be realized. That would create an irreparable damage to their friendship. Fortunately, they were able to prevent this by opening the channel of communication to resolve the misunderstanding. It is a good thing that even EH admitted her mistakes, meaning she sets down her pride in order to understand where Sarang's hurt is coming from.

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I am curious how knetz is responding to this drama. This drama has covered so many issues from bullying, school politics, student politics, academic pressure, corrupt higher ups and violence. Doesn't this paint a bad picture of Korea's education system? I know it is fiction but drama fiction depicts the realities of the present time.

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Many school-themed kdrama have that kind of trope for years already particularly in some of the School series, even SGG, Dreamhigh, etc, so this is not new to them.

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Tea-se is such a flirt!

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This episode was all about fixing strained relationships.

TaeWoon making those two princes, I mean 'principals', run around for nothing...classic!!! TW was definitely like a problem-solver...teacher 'Gu-style'. It looks like at least these two old-timers are on the same page about catching X. And later when Yang thinks he got food poisoning and vice-principal is so caring,...?...gold, funny how Gu replaces TW as mediator, in a sense, again at Yang's hospital bed.

Just when TaeWoon's adorableness couldn't be topped, he pretends to have a sprained ankle. Heesh, how could he??? So Tae-rrible of him!!! I am strangely missing TW's jabs at DaeHwi... Oh yeah...but wasn't TW so cute again when TW asked DH why is he sooo worried about Eunho's health.

TaeWoon's episode indeed, when Sarang's mom appears with the garbage as proof to Yang...it did feel like a parody of Heechan intimidating Ra Eunho. Before TW, future director of Geumdo, and director Hyun show up to stop Yang at possibly further harassing Sarang's mom.

I really cried at the way both Sarang and her mother were treated this episode. So I am glad TaeWoon filled her mom in with the video footage of the expired-foodstuffs of the school-kitchen, so she could send it to Yang.

I think we knew this cliffhanger was coming...as TaeWoon's dad had threatened before: 'get into any trouble you want, but I will only bail you out.' That foreshadowing seems to easily predictable that Ra Eunho gets expelled for her part.

Is Shim gonna step up and say that it was him, and surveillance footage shows that he it quite a good match up. After everyone learns Eunho is X's main accomplice, will Shim try to save two, Eunho and SuJi, at once, by getting Han SuJi to come back and catch Shim-himself in the act of being X?

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Another unpopular opinion frm me is - cab we really call Tae-Dad a bad guy here? I mean looking at it from his point of view - he's busy with work and stuff and his only kid who has always had a troublesome streak gets into yet more trouble.

While i do think he needs to pay more attention to his son and get to know him more since they really only hv each other as family rn. He really isnt looking like a villain per say rn - thats if we look at it from his point of view.

But that won't be easy would it? Because hes not a very layered character.

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Except for the fact that he knowingly allowed all of the students to eat rotten food. And collided with the principal re: the other rankings/corruptions.

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I think Taewon's dad really is a good guy. Hard working career man that don't know how to deal his seem rebellious son. His only way of taking care of Taewon's to cover up his mishaps.
And about that food thing, I think the viewers misunderstood Taewon's dad. I don't think his aware about the expired food, why else would they had him witnessed the principal's doing if he's already aware.
He brush off Taewon's advance because to his view, Taewon's a kid should only focus on study and not mingle with adult stuff.
If he only realized that Taewon's no longer a kid and start listening to what he says.

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I think Taewoon's dad is a bad parent.

Because what will TW do now?

If he loses to his dad here, meaning he loses Eunho, that would mean later on in life TW would become a mean-person just like his dad.

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why I love this drama because it reminding me of my teenage days and my first love and how I wish I can repair the past, oh how I wish I can go back to those days, unfortunately, that's never going to happen.

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I'll miss this drama once it ends we only have 2 episodes left. I hope everything will be wrapped up nicely and please i want Tae Woon and Dad's issue to get solved quickly so i can enjoy the fluff..

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FUN FACT: The flower Taewoon gave to Eunho (her fave flower btw) symbolizes 'Girl's Dream' smooth and sweeet! ?

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As said by Sarang, Eun ho really avoided her after her relation with Tae won. She should be considerate in this episode. Sarang is really left out from the group. Everyone can see that.

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