Kdrama 2023

Duty After School (Kdrama Review & Summary)

 

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• Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi, Youth, School
• Release Date: 31 March 2023
• Origin: South Korea
• Kdrama: 10 Episodes

 

Cast

• Shin Hyun Soo as Lee Chun Ho
• Im Se Mi as Park Eun Young
• Kim Ki Hae as Kim Chi Yeol
• Lee Soon Won as Kim Won Bin
• Choi Moon Hee as Lee Na Ra
• Kim Su Gyeom as Kwon Il Ha
• Lee Yeon as No Ae Seol
• Kwon Eun Bin as Yeon Bo Ra
• Moon Sang Min as Wang Tae Man
• Woo Min Gyu as Kim Deok Joong
• Kim Min Chul as Do Soo Cheol
• Kim So Hee as Lee Soon Yi
• Ahn Do Kyu as Gook Yeong Soo
• Shin Hye Ji as Choi Yeon Joo
• Noh Jong Hyun as Jang Yeong Hoon
• Shin Soo Hyun as Cha So Yeon
• Yeo Joo Ha as Kim Yoo Jeong
• Yoon Jong Bin as Jo Jang Soo
• Ahn Da Eun as Kim In Hye
• Hwang Se In as Yoo Ha Na
• Ji Min Hyuk as Jo Young Shin
• Hong Xa Bin as Woo Hui Rak
• Shin Myung Sung as Lim Woo Taek
• Oh Se Eun as Hong Jun Hee

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Quick Precis

As an extra-curricular pre-SAT activity, students are conscripted to shoot UFOs after class.

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Episode 1

Wow! This drama is a rather dramatic rite of passage for teenagers to the adult world.

It started rather slow with the students doing their own thing.  Some are serious about their studies, some are bullying, some are smoking, and some are just really annoying.

But then their young uncomplicated lives changed almost overnight when the Minister of Defense went live announcing that from middle school onwards, they would be having military training.  Those who excelled will be given extra credits to go towards their CSAT.

The reason they had to do military training as an extracurricular activity after school was that a year ago, hundreds of alien orbs appeared suspended in the sky around the world except in parts of Russia and Antarctica.

When the orbs first appeared people panicked thinking it was the end of the world but after a few weeks, everything settled into normality.  The orbs were not doing anything, it was just hanging visibly in the sky.  Some thought they were quite pretty.

But after a year, the orbs were beginning to fall one by one.  One orb fell near a military station.  The captain ordered to fire at it but it seemed the orb can protect itself.  Then it opened.  Now it is a different story.

At a high school, the military started training the kids.  Some students are half-hearted about it but Lee Chun Ho who was a handsome and charismatic military officer instilled fear into their minds.  He told them to treat their guns respectfully because they will be the ones that will save them.

Three students were out on the ground fighting one evening when an orb fell nearby.  Instead of running or even shouting for help, the three were too shocked to move.  The orb opened up and showed a creature with tentacles that captured one of the boys.  The tentacle wrapped itself around the boy It would have taken another one but Lee Chun Ho arrived just in time to grab the other boy to safety.

The two boys were advised by Miss Park, their homeroom teacher, not to tell the other students about what really happened to their classmate as it may cause panic.

Episode 2

The other students were curious but the two boys said that their classmate was injured and had to be sent home.

Lee Chun Ho took his trainees to a training ground where they could practice using live ammunition.  It was pretty intense.

On their way back, Lee Chun Ho stopped the group while he and the other military officers did a reconnaissance as the street was suspiciously devoid of any people.  Two boys left the group to go to a convenience store.  They found it abandoned; items were littering the floor.

Later on, Miss Park notice the absence of the two boys so she and another student went to look for the two boys but then they found more than what they were looking for.  They found body parts all over the street and then rafflesia-like creatures were moving very fast killing and miming anyone they came across.  Miss Park picked a gun and started shooting the flower creatures.  The shot was heard by Lee Chun Ho who returned but he was too late.  Miss Park was attacked and killed by the flower creatures while she was saving the children.

Wow, this drama is like All of Us Are Dead all over again.  Really exciting and might give one a nightmare.

Episode 3

The students made a democratic decision.  They elected to leave school en masse despite Lee Chun Ho telling them that it was safer for them to be in school and that even if they go home, their parents won’t be there as they have all been taken to evacuation centres.  But the students could not care less and decided to leave anyway trying to force their way out from the sentry of soldiers.

But then more orbs fell and within minutes, it became pandemonium.  Even the more bullish students became catatonic with fear.  Many of the soldiers and schoolmates became victims of the alien flower creatures.

They did manage to go to their dormitory and put on their helmets and load their guns with bullets ready to leave the alien-stricken school building.

Episode 4

They boarded two trucks which were rather perilous as they had to get away from the marauding alien flower creatures already scattered about.

Halfway to their travel, the first truck toppled over as the soldier who was driving and the one in the passenger seat were attacked by the alien flower creature killing them instantly.

The students managed to kill the creature but they were stuck in the middle of the road with one of them severely injured.

They managed to find shelter in a remote quarry/warehouse but there was an alien flower creature lurking.

They realised that the creature recognised their presence by the sound they made.

They knew that they could not stay at the warehouse for long because their classmate’s condition is deteriorating so they draw lots of who to stay and to keep the flower creature occupied while the rest get away using the delivery truck they found.

Meanwhile, Lee Chun Ho realised that the first truck caring some of his trainees was way too behind schedule so he decided to go look for them despite knowing that he would be likely executed for insubordination.

The other trainees got to hear of his mission and decided to stow away on his truck.  It was too late when Lee Chun Ho realised that he had a full cargo of students. Anyway, they did help him kill more flower creatures along the way.  They managed to save Jo Jang Soo and Woo Hui Rak at the warehouse who stayed so the others could leave.

Everyone reached the barracks all safe and sound.

Lee Chun Ho is a good telling but in the end, the Commander decided not to pursue court martial as he thinks Lee Chu Ho was twice better as others.

Episode 5

The students are now officially made into reservists complete with army uniforms.

It was observed that the concentration of the number of orbs tends to be where many humans are found like in the cities and towns.  The flower creatures feed on humans.

Most of the medium size orbs have fallen down which had now killed 50% of the regular soldiers.

The commander decided that there were too many real soldiers being killed so he used the reservists to be cannon fodders and sent them out to clear towns of the flower creatures under the command of Lee Chun Ho.

Lee Chun Ho knew that the order is mindless but he can’t really go against a military decision.

The students are more mature and ready to fight for their lives.  Na Ra is a revelation.  She is a sharpshooter and saved many of her friends from the onslaught of the alien flower creatures.

This really an exciting drama.

Episode 6

The team rescued students from another school.  A traumatised girl blamed the soldiers for her and her schoolmates’ current predicament.  Their leader/soldier told them to wait and they waited but he never came back.  She helplessly saw many of her friends killed by the flower creatures.  In her outrage, the girl shoots at Lee Chun Ho but Kim Won Bin took the bullet for him.  He later said to Lee Chun Ho that he would do anything for him because Lee Chun Ho was the all-around leader who could take the kids to safety,

Kim Won Bin was back to being hale and hearty within a few hours.

Anyway, Lee Chun Ho’s team was more cohesive and worked together to fathom what was going on.  They realised that the orb above serves as a mother to the flower creatures down below.  They can communicate.  They also learned that the aliens were on their way to an evacuation centre so the group decided to create as much noise as possible to invite the creatures to the building that they have already installed with incendiary bombs.

At the gate of the building, they put loudspeakers to create the maximum noise.  The creatures started moving in.  The students stealthily closed the doors from the outside trapping the creatures in.

Lee Chun Ho told his team to move to the opposite building while he does the last-minute installation of more bombs.

Unfortunately, there was no way that he could get out of the building so he ordered Won Bin to blow the building with him still inside it.

A horny Cha So-yeon threw a temper tantrum because she was so in love with Lee Chun Ho.  She told him that he promised to take them to safety.

I must say this part almost derailed the episode/the whole drama altogether.  We can’t have a stupid romance when everything is at stake about killing monstrous creatures to save humanity.  Romance is seriously unnecessary at this point.

I was like press/turn the switch on,  But they all crying, Won Bin was crying while Lee Chun Ho was becoming irritated and gave his last order to blow the building down.  Cha So Yeon continued to lament.  By this point, I was screaming for them to blow the building.

They finally did.  Surely Lee Chun Ho died from the ferocity of the bomb blast plus the fact that he was surrounded by the flower creatures who managed to get into the room with him.

Part Two of this drama is yet to be scheduled.

Stay tuned.

11 April 2023: Part Two will start airing on 21 April 2023.

21 April 2023:  It is back

Having binge-watched the last four episodes, I concluded that they should have ended this drama at episode 6.

This drama really is not for everyone.  It is for teens.🤣🤣🤣

Many scenes did not make sense at all.

This is a counter-reaction to studying and taking CSATs.

Episode 7

A month later…

Cha So Yeon was behaving like a widow, often tearful as she caresses Lee Chun Ho’s dog tags.  He is really dead.

A very strange thing happened to Kim Won Bin.  He just vanished from the rest of the episodes.  He was not seen nor ever heard from again!🤣🤣🤣

The students got used to their new life but at the same time were bothered that they are used to it. But life goes on.

Most of them tried to help as much as they can while some would try to do as little as they can get away with.

Kim Deok Joong became their official hairdresser and was rather good at it.  The girls asked him to cut their hair.  But when Lee Na Ra asked for her turn, the boys said no.  They said she was so pretty with her long hair.

Soo Chul confessed to Na Ra but she turned him down.

They did have discipline and abide by their made-up rules including food rationing.

The students are cut off from the rest of the world as they have lost even radio contact with authorities.

In search of radio parts to replace and fix their walkie-talkies and radio, the team ended up in prison where they found that prisoners were still incarcerated and asking for help.

Episode 8

The prisoner made the kids feel guilty for leaving them in prison.

No Ae Sol felt sorry for one of the prisoners and tried to convince the team to help the guy as he looked ill and missed his ailing mother.

They told her that they have red tags meaning they are dangerous prisoners but still No Ae Sol was unconvinced and looked rather shifty.

The students on duty to guard the base were too busy chatting so it was too late when they noticed that another team invaded their space and found their food supply.

The students were not feral.  They were a faction from a science high school who had decided to go to Seoul.  Being science students they have knowhows of how to fix a radio.

What Deok Joong, In Hye, and Ha Na found from the science student who looked at the radio was disconcerting.  The radio was purposely sabotaged.

Yes, stupid No Ae Sol went back and let the prisoner out who grabbed her immediately as he was really psycho.

Meanwhile, the team who were in around the hospital building witnessed a falling body, one of their own.

Episode 9

No Ae Sol almost paid a heavy price for letting the sexually starved prisoners out.  They were molesting her in front of her schoolmates who were helpless to help her at first but they surrendered their guns in exchange for No Ae Sol.

The prisoners laughed at them because they still kept No Ae Sol

But Cho Yong Shin signaled to No Ae Sol that the alien flower creatures are on their way.

The prisoners died one by one.  A lone prisoner survived who said that he now understood why the orbs appeared.  They have come to clean up because humans are trash.

Bora and Ae Sol finally made up.  Despite constantly bullying Ae Sol, she was determined to save Ae Sol even if she got hurt.

Soo Cheol seemingly committed suicide but they think he was murdered.

One of them is a killer?

From the pocket of Soo Cheol, they found a paper that was recognised by one of them as her voting entry.

It then came out the many secrets of their supposed leaders.  The vote was rigged so the students started wailing that they had been had.  There was never a democracy.  So the majority decided to leave and go to Seoul.

It also came out that CSAT had been canceled.

Episode 10

This episode is an hour and a half of total madness.  It was a massacre in so many levels.

They had been walking for two days when they came to a pier.  They found the dead bodies of the students from the science high school.

Fortunately, the alien flower creatures had gone.

The friends ended up in an amusement park.  They enjoyed themselves and were taking photos with the camcorder when Kimchi saw a video of Soo Cheol confessing that it was him who sabotaged the radio but then the video also showed Soo Cheol being attacked by the alien flower creatures.  He fought hard and ended up falling from the window.  So it was not a suicide or a murder.

The flower creature was not even the problem in the end as it happened.

Kook Young Soo, who was singleminded in taking and passing the CSAT descended into madness upon hearing that it was canceled.

He grew up poor with his parents finding it hard to make ends meet and so he was determined not to end up on the same path as them.  He wanted to go to college badly and later get himself a good job and then prosper.

Additionally to this, he has a crush on the self-appointed widow of Lee Chun Ho, Cha So Yeon who would not give the time of day.  They ended up having a tug of war where Cha So Yeon banged her head against a corner of a table.  She fainted on the ground.

Kook Young Soo was concerned at first and tried to revive her but then he saw how sweetly moist her lips were so he started kissing her while she was in a coma.

They were found by Kwon Il Ha who abhorred what Kook Young Soo was doing.  So they both picked their guns but Kook Young Soo was somehow faster and killed Kwon Il Ha.  Kook Young Soo dragged Kwon Il Ha’s body into the sea and weighted it so it does not float.

When the rest of the team arrived from enjoying a break in a nearby amusement park, Kook Young Soo reported that Kwon Il Ha was attacked by the flower creature.

Finally, Cha So Yeon awoke but she can’t remember clearly what happened.  Suddenly this feisty girl turned into someone stupid and cowardly.

The students though grieving for their missing friend started to move on and ended up in a school.

Kook Young Soo descended into total paranoia and thought that everyone was talking about him.  He thought that they were all looking down on him so he picked up his gun and started shooting his schoolmates one by one.

The gorgeous sharpshooter, Na Ra, completely missed him which was impossible because the distance was not far and he was facing the other way.  This is an unforgivable part of the drama.  My suspended disbelief cannot be contained at this point.

But he died though after Na Ae Sol, very upset from watching Bora die, picked a gun and shot Kook Young Soo dead.

In the end, only four students survived: Na Ae Sol, Kimchi, Na Ra, and Ha Na.

Two years later…

Kimchi was taking CSAT which was postponed for two years but at the last minute he walked out.  His voiceover said that a few weeks after the massacre of his friends, a solution was found to combat the orbs and the flower aliens.  So it is back to the old normal.  He thought that going to college was no longer an option.  He learned everything he needed to know from his time with his dead friends.  Loser😭😭😭

That is more or less the end. I think the producers knew that this ending was crap so they brought in the gorgeous Lee Chun Ho to do a bit of rap and dance.😭🤣😭🤣😭🤣😭😭. I supposed he did look gorgeous in uniform but he was dead!🤣🤣🤣

 

What kind of ending was that?

It is terrible.  Stupid!

 

 

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