I promised a long meaty review so here it is. I am feeling kind of uninspired today so this may turn out less in-depth than I want but here we go anyway. For those who want just a quick and dirty summary of all this, you are welcomed to skip to my [in a nutshell] section below.
This drama raised a lot of eyebrows when it first came out, including mines. What do you mean five rookie idol-actors with no or very little acting experience will star in a High School drama?Honestly, I was expecting a hot mess of a drama but I was pleasantly surprised. Dream High may not be THE BEST DRAMA EVERRR but it is solidly good and it sure did surpass my expectations.
Episodes: 16
Stars: Suzy, Kim Soo Hyun, Taecyon, Ham Eun Jung, Woohyung, IU
For fans of: Fame (the movie), High School Musical (don’t worry it’s better than HMS), Musicals in general
The Story/Plot
If you are expecting a romantic comedy (like I was :/), this drama is not IT. The story gives off a Fame-ish feel with the story focusing on six ambitious teens attending an Arts High School with big dreams of becoming superstars.
Jason (Woohyung) is the golden boy of Kirin High with the charm, looks, and talent of a star that has already debuted and is well established. His problem, however, is his cockiness. Throughout the drama, we see him grow and learn how to be member of a team.
Baek Hee (Ham Eun Jung) is the kind of girl who has been an underdog all her life. She was always overshadowed by Hye Mi, her best friend, and even underestimated by her parents. When she gets admitted to Kirin and Hye Mi does not she finally starts to find strength in herself. However, she is still overwhelmed by her insecurities and starts on a path of lies and shortcuts in order to get to the top. Then, there is the four ‘rejects’ who got admitted to Kirin on special admission and for this reason are considered the ‘bottom bunch’.
Pil Sook (IU) is a sweet girl with a sweet voice but her main obstacle is her obesity. She is Jason’s counterpart and together they provide the drama with comedic and romantic relief.
Song Samdong(Kim Soo Hyun) is the country boy with a musical talent and ambition that surpasses the small town he used to live in. He falls head-over heels for Hye Mi.
His rival is Jin guk (Taecyon), the tough guy with golden morals who has a father who is ashamed of him. Jin guk starts on his path to become a star as a way of rebellion but it soon grows into a dream.
Finally, there is Hye Mi(Suzy). She used to live a rich priviledged lifestyle until her father’s debt took over her life. So, she is forced to give up her dreams of becoming a classical singer in order to enter Kirin, debut, and pay off the debts by becoming an idol. She is somewhat of an anit-heroine however because she has a tendency to look down on others and basically be a b*tch. The story is about how they grow together to become better persons and pursue their dreams. Throw in a few awesome songs and a few cuh-razy dance numbers and tada! you have Dream High.
The Acting
Poor. The acting was pretty poor, sadly. Taecyon was okay but I liked him way better in Cinderella Sister. Maybe it was because his character was too one-dimmensional? I dunno but something was missing there. Ham Eun Jung was actually pretty good. You could really feel how desperately her character wanted to be loved and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her yet still hate her at the same time. Suzy did solidly for a rookie but it was still not good enough to be a lead. I guess the reasoning behind casting her was that since her character was cold and mostly unemotional it was okay. But they were wrong. Unemotional characters require more acting skills in order to earn more sympathy from the audience… and not bore them. Kim Soo Hyun was the real star in this drama. I was very moved by his performance and you could basically see his character growing and developing in front of your eyes.
Visual/Music
Well it would be pretty sad if a musical drama didn’t have a killer soundtrack, so of course Dream High has that. It also remakes popular kpop hits such as SNSD’s “Genie”, BigBang’s “Sunset Glow”, and 2AM’s “Can’t let you go even if I die”. The drama itself was very appealing visually because of the palette used and of course the gorgeous face of idols don’t hurt the eyes either.
Additional Commentary
I think what the drama did best was character development. Almost all the characters grew immensely from the first episode to the last. This is not even just restricted to the students. The teachers and the other adult characters grew as well. The plot itself was good albeit repetitive. It seemed there was always something that MUST BE WON or else. But that’s okay because it built up tension and was realistic in the sense that the main characters didn’t win anything they didn’t deserve to win. The end was loose. It was the kind of end that while it wrapped up the main things nicely, a few strings were left hanging here and there. I guess the purpose of this was to open up a possibility for season 2 (which is happening!) yet still provide enough fan service so as to not outrage the viewers if a season 2 hadn’t been made possible.
[in a nutshell]
Things I like
Kim Soo Hyun
the soundtrack
JYP
character development
good life lessons in the story
plot is not too slow but not too fast
plot is original in terms of kdramas
tales of friendship
random references to popular kpop culture
Things I dislike
poor acting
loose ending
love story is on/off
Overall Rating
how much I like it: 7/10
how good it was: 7.5/10
Do I recommend it?
yes
Wow what a jam-packed first episode, right?
loveaholicinanutshell 