Dramas to Watch

70. My Strange Hero (2018)

My Strange Hero

Country: South Korea

Genres: Friendship, Mystery, Comedy, Romance, School, Drama

Episodes: 32

Aired: Dec 10, 2018 - Feb 4. 2019

Network: SBS

Duration: 35 mins.

Plot:

          When Kang Bok Soo (Yoo Seung Ho) was a high school student, he was falsely accused of committing acts of violence and ended up expelled from school. Those who brought the accusations against him were his first love, Son Soo Jung (Jo Bo Ah), and a fellow student Oh Se Ho (Kwak Dong Yeon).
          Kang Bok Soo has now become an adult, but in his life, nothing seems to go right for him. To get revenge on Son Soo Jung and Oh Se Ho, he decides to return to the same high school. There Kang Bok Soo gets involved in a series of unexpected cases. 

Cast:

Yoo Seung Ho

Kang Bok Soo

Jo Bo Ah

Son Soo Jung

Kwak Dong Yeon

Oh Se Ho

Review:

by manicmuse of mydramalist

""My Strange Hero" is a drama with a great cast but the drama itself doesn't get stellar grades from me. It starts out as a really interesting love triangle set years after a tragic event changes the lives of three students who are now reunited as adults at the same school. What it then turns into is a drama about school corruption, which wasn't bad, but was much less interesting. The characters are still strong, so that's what kept me watching even when the episodes started to drag. My main reason for continuing to watch was Yoo Seung Ho anyway, and he does not disappoint.

Yoo Seung Ho is so charming that the role of Kang Bok Soo is perfect for him. He plays a warmhearted jock who has more common sense than book smarts. Throughout the show, he becomes the unexpected "Hero" in various situations, and he returns to HS as an adult to finally graduate and get "revenge" on those who ruined his life as a student. He is matched romantically with Jo Bo Ah as Son Soo Jung who's character annoyed me at first, but they had extremely cute chemistry and I grew to like their romantic storyline a lot, even during it's corniest moments. Who interested me even more than the female lead is Kwak Dong Yeon as Oh Se Ho. He was such an interesting rival for Kang Bok Soo, and so sympathetic, that I almost couldn't dislike him, even when he was at his creepiest. These three characters are what got me hooked on the show initially. I found their backstory interesting, and their reuniting intriguing. It's when the story focused less on their dynamic and more on the school that I lost some interest.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the student characters too, and even liked the sometimes heavyhanded lessons and themes in some of the school storylines (suicide & performance pressure specifically). The underdog students in the Wildflower class were cute, and I liked rooting for them, but the whole save our corrupted school storyline was just too corny for me. I also liked Chun Ho Jin as teacher Park Dong Jun and was very entertained by Kim Yeo Jin as Im Se Kyung (one of the worst Kdrama mom's ever), but their roles started to feel redundant after a while, which made the short episodes feel much longer than they were. I actually have no complaints about any of the supporting cast and liked them all. Most of the characters are written to be pretty one-note, and the actors managed to still make them feel real.

Would I watch this again? No. As cute as it was at moments, I could not see myself watching the whole story again now that I know how things end. However, I did love the ending, even if it was pretty predictable. 

Overall, this is a cute feel-good drama, that's never too serious, despite a few serious subjects, with an inspiring message about not letting labels or the past define your future. Maybe a bigger fan of school themed dramas would like this more than I did. Romance may not always be the main focus, but it drives the story enough to appeal to romance fans, and the two leads really deliver on the romantic feels. Yoo Seung Ho fans shouldn't miss this one for sure (definitely include me as a member of his fan club, especially after "I am not a robot"). It also certainly has moments that are full of awkwardly cheesy smiles, corny jokes, and predictable clichés, but somehow still had enough charm to keep me from dropping it. So I would definitely give this drama a passing grade, and recommend it, though I wouldn't add it to the honor roll. One thing the drama teaches is that having the best grades isn't everything, and having a lower grade doesn't mean you lack worth, and this drama is a great example of that!"

Reviewer's Rating: 7.5

My Rating: 8.5

Mydramalist Rating: 8.2

Asianwiki Rating: 8.7

You can comment your own rating and justify why you gave that rating if you want :)

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