ghostxaya

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Na Baekjin. Are you all right?

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what the fuck do you want?

Park Jihoon as Yeon Sieun

Weak Hero Class 1 (2022) ep. 8

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Interviewer: When I watched Yeon Sieun in Weak Hero Class 2, I felt like Suho was still stuck in his heart and Beomseok was stuck in his head. But I wonder if it feels a bit nostalgic to see these familiar faces again in the drama or outside of it?

PARK JIHOON and CHOI HYUNWOOK at Netflix's Homecoming GV

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WHC 1 / WHC 2

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/ awake / awakening from a dream I never thought would end /

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when the expression says it all

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Weak Hero Class 2 (2025)

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PARK JIHOON as YEON SIEUN

Weak Hero Class 2: Episode 7

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sieun + 🥺

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is it your enemy, or is it you? so you keep me close

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An incomplete List of Parallels during the First Season of Weak Hero

The second season is almost here and I'm very excited so here’s a (very incomplete) list of parallels during the first season (in no particular order) because I love how much thought went into every little detail in this show:

Si-eun following his morning routine in episode 1, ignoring Su-ho who's trying to sleep → Si-eun later integrating Su-ho into his morning routine by letting him sleep

Su-ho throwing a shoe at Si-eun’s bullies after Yeong-bin threw a shoe at Si-eun in episode 1

Si-eun attacking Yeong-bin over one wrong answer in his test in episode 1 → Si-eun being concerned about Su-ho in episode 8 and not paying attention to the mistakes he made during the test

Si-eun stopping to fight Su-ho as soon as a teacher enters the room in episode 1 → Si-eun not caring about a teacher being present when he tries to get revenge for Su-ho in episode 8 (having no regard for social rules anymore because the revenge matters more to him)

Si-eun being surrounded by students asking him about his confrontation with the bullies in the bathroom and Si-eun brushing them off in episode 2 → Beom-soek being asked by students about the fight with Gil-su and Beom-seok then bragging about it in episode 5

Si-eun inviting Su-ho to eat together → then later Su-ho inviting Si-eun to eat, both in episode 2 and in both cases they lie to the other to get to spend time together: Si-eun promises to pay for the meal but it turns out to be a school meal and Su-ho hides that Si-eun and Beom-seok are supposed to help out in the restaurant

Su-ho’s grandmother asking “You’re Su-ho’s friends?” in episode 2 and Si-eun not answering → Su-ho’s grandmother asking the same thing in episode 8 and Si-eun saying yes

Yeong-bin asking Si-eun for proof about the fentanyl in episode 2 and Si-eun providing evidence → Su-ho asking Gil-su for evidence when Gil-su says that they are responsible for Seok-dae’s injuries, but evidence turning out to be irrelevant to Gil-su in episode 3 (because he doesn’t “play by the rules”)

Si-eun shattering the glassdoor of Gil-su’s house with a dumbbell in episode 3 → Si-eun shattering the foot of Woo-young with another dumbbell in episode 8

Si-eun apologizing to Beom-seok in the police station in episode 4 because he let Su-ho go alone and Beom-seok saying sorry back → Si-eun imagining saying sorry to Su-ho and Su-ho saying sorry back in episode 8

Beom-seok always offering to pay for things, then Su-ho chiming in with “No, you always pay. I’ll pay this time” in episode 5 → the bullies accepting Beom-seok’s money and simply saying “Well if he wants to pay he can pay” in a later episode

Si-eun telling Beom-seok that it’s not his fault when Beom-seok opens up about having been bullied in episode 5 → Si-eun’s father telling Si-eun that he did the best he could in episode 8 (both getting to hear what they really needed to hear)

Si-eun trying to hold Su-ho back after he shoved Beom-seok to the ground during the fight in the cafeteria in episode 6 and Su-ho brushing Si-eun off → Si-eun shoving Beom-seok to the ground in episode 8, then leaving the classroom and being approached by someone who tries to reach for his shoulder to calm him down and Si-eun brushing that off before breaking the window (the person who should have been in this parallel scene to calm him down is Su-ho, but he wasn’t there which is why that gesture of trying to reach out to Si-eun sets him off)

Yeong-I picking up Beom-seok’s phone and that ultimately leading to Beom-seok betraying Si-eun and Su-ho in episode 4 → Si-eun picking up Su-ho’s phone in episode 6 in order to keep him save which ultimately leads to him getting hurt, Su-ho trying to confront Beom-seok and ending up in a coma 

Si-eun trying to save Su-ho when he goes to Gil-su’s place by calling the police but being unable to make them help him at first in episode 4 → Si-eun refusing to talk to the police in order to protect his friends in episode 7

Su-ho going to the confrontation with Gil-su on his own in episode 3, but being rescued in episode 4 → Su-ho going to the confrontation with Beom-seok on his own in episode 7, but being unable to be saved in episode 8

Su-ho thinking he is to blame for Yeong-I and especially Si-eun getting hurt and apologizing to Yeong-I in episode 7 vs. Yeong-I thinking she is to blame for Su-ho getting hurt (after Beom-seok tells her so) in episode 8

Si-eun ending up hurt because he wanted to protect Su-ho in episode 6 → Su-ho ending up hurt because he wanted to protect Si-eun in episode 7

Beom-seok’s father offering to pay Su-ho’s hospital bill in episode 4 and Su-ho declining → Beom-seok’s father paying for Su-ho’s hospital bill to cover his tracks in episode 8

Si-eun smiling for Su-ho in the hospital in episode 4 → Si-eun crying over Su-ho in the hospital in episode 8

the same song (“Again”) playing over Beom-seok realizing what he did to Su-ho in episode 7 and Si-eun letting go of Beom-seok instead of hurting him in episode 8 (this song playing both times when Si-eun irrevocably loses a friend)

the same effect of having a blurry vision and being disoriented being used when Si-eun gets drugged by Beom-seok in episode 1 and when Si-eun goes to Su-ho in the hospital after confronting Beom-seok in episode 8

Also as an addition: How Beom-seok was slowly framed as becoming a bully himself through parallels to other bullies

Yeong-bin saying “I don’t want to” to Si-eun in episode 1 → Beom-soek saying “I don’t want to” to Su-ho when Su-ho asks him to get back in line in episode 6

Beom-seok getting three soda cans before reluctantly getting a forth one, then dropping the forth one when he gets startled by his bullies in episode 5 → can be foreshadowing for one of the four people in the friend-group getting hurt because of Beom-seok (and from this context you’d think it'll be Yeong-I, but it’s actually Su-ho)

Beom-seok asking his former bullies to apologize to him in episode 5 → Su-ho asking Beom-seok to apologize to Si-eun and Yeong-I in episode 7

Beom-seok picking up the “I only need to apologize when I do something wrong” in episode 7 from when his former bully said the same thing in episode 5

Beom-seok asking to hit his bully to get even in episode 5 → after him not wanting to hit Gil-su as a form of revenge in episode 4

Gil-su planting the seed in Beom-seok’s mind of being a lackey to his friends in episode 4 → Beom-seok asking Su-ho “Am I your lackey?” in episode 5

Su-ho holding Beom-seok back and not wanting him to cross the line while Jeong-chang and the others encourage Beom-seok to cross the line with his bullies in episode 5

bullies being shown to call their victims repeatedly throughout the show → Beom-seok trying to call Su-ho to lure him to the fight in episode 6 (especially remarkable because his bullies tried to do the same thing to Beom-seok in episode 5)

Beom-seok losing his glasses in the conflict with his bullies at the karaoke as a sign of him literally losing sight of what’s right and wrong → Jeong-chang even commenting on it with “Without glasses today” in episode 5 (Beom-seok doesn’t wear his glasses for the rest of the show, so the moment of him losing his glasses marks the moment he becomes a bully)

Si-eun saying that there is nothing to talk about when Yeong-bin wants to talk to him in episode 3 → Beom-seok saying that he has nothing to say to Su-ho when Si-eun asks him to talk to Su-ho in episode 6

Yeong-bin making plans on how to mess with Si-eun while in the club in episode 1 → Beom-seok and Yeong-bin making plans on how to hurt Su-ho together in episode 6

Su-ho commenting on how the bullies reek of smoke in episode 5 → Beom-seok smoking in the bathroom in episode 6

Beom-seok offering to pay Su-ho for helping Si-eun in episode 2 → Beom-seok offering money to someone for hurting Su-ho in episode 6

Beom-seok pushing Yeong-bin in episode 2 to help Si-eun → Beom-seok trying to stop Yeong-bin from hurting Si-eun in episode 6 but ultimately letting it happen

Si-eun asking Beom-seok to stop in episode 7 just like he asked Yeong-bin to stop at the very start

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"Close-Watching" of Episode 1

In preparation for the second season I decided to do a “close-watching” of the first season and noticed a few things in the first episode that I thought might be interesting (and that somehow ended up being mainly about how they use camera angles to convey the power struggles, hierarchy and dynamics between the characters idk).

First things first I need to talk about the intro (with the absolutely amazing title song “Hero” by Meego). The last sequence of the intro consists of three parts: First we get a shot from a medium distance of each Si-eun, Su-ho and Beom-seok standing in front of the blackboard, all of them alone. Then we get a shot from further away of Si-eun, Su-ho and Beom-seok together in the classroom during something of a “we put up a camera to capture a photo of us”-scenario. Finally it fades back to a shot of Si-eun standing in front of the blackboard alone. I absolutely love this because it just … foreshadows the whole show? Like yeah, at first the three are alone, doing their own thing, trying to get by on their own. Then they befriend each other, get together, fight together, are there for each other. And in the end? Si-eun is all alone again. And the intro tells us that. From the very beginning it tells us how all of this will end. Then there’s also the whole thing of them having this set-up that implies they're taking a video or more likely a photo. Maybe this means to hint at how this friend-group will only exist in photos and therefore in memory? That through the medium of photography they tried to consolidate or hold onto their connection? But, of course, a photograph is a photograph, and can only show what has already passed.

Then, right after the intro, we start with a shot, again, of Si-eun alone as he’s at school much earlier than everyone else. This is a great way of showing how disconnected he is from the other students and also highlights his dedication to school. His isolation is then further stressed by the other scenes of him walking alone, sitting alone at a table or by the audience hearing the scribbling of a pen and the facts he memorized. It’s as if we’re watching from Si-eun’s perspective and are just as immersed into learning as he is so that everything around him just fades into the background. I also love the time lapse that shows him being almost perfectly still in the classroom while other people move around and interact with each other. It’s the perfect character introduction and makes his priorities and the “limits” of his current world or reality quite clear.

I also find the following scene very telling in which Si-eun and Yeong-bin get awards in the math competition. Si-eun gets the gold prize, but barely reacts to it just like the other students in the class. With Yeong-bin however who “merely” gets the bronze prize, everyone turns to him, applauds him, smiles at him and celebrates his success. Not only does this show that Si-eun is disconnected from the rest of the class, his lack of reaction in contrast to Yeong-bin’s happiness also shows that despite this being everything to Si-eun, succeeding doesn’t seem to be something that he celebrates, it’s just something that’s … to be expected? That’s the norm for him? Success is not connected to joy for him here at all. And that in itself is so sad: his whole life revolves around being good at school even though it doesn’t even make him happy.

What's really interesting to me in the next scene, when Si-eun and Yeong-bin go head to head for the first time, is how Yeong-bin throws a shoe at Si-eun. Just before that another student got bullied the same way, by having a shoe thrown at him. This shows how Yeong-bin views Si-eun the same way as the other person who got bullied and how he expected a similar outcome. Then, during the conversation between Si-eun and Yeong-bin, the camera changes from Si-eun who is sitting to Yeong-bin who is standing - but! While we would expect to get a high-angle view of Si-eun and a low-angle one of Yeong-bin, the camera just stays even on both of them. This foreshadows that, despite Yeong-bin’s assumption, Si-eun is not willing to place himself “below” Yeong-bin in the social hierarchy of the class and "look up" to him. Si-eun instead at least views himself at the same “level” or refuses to partake in the whole hierarchy-thing. Yeong-bin then sits down when he realizes that Si-eun is not just taking Yeong-bin’s attempt at bullying. He sits down and therefore recognizes that the demonstration of his position won’t be this easy with Si-eun. He now quite literally tries to talk to Si-eun at eye level. It’s so good, because right away we can see that Yeong-bin is forced to change to a position that kinda respects Si-eun.

Then we get that little interaction between Si-eun and Su-ho of “Hey, my pencil case“ and here we get some more camera angles: Si-eun is sitting, so we look down on him as if looking from Su-ho’s perspective and Su-ho is standing, so we look up to him. We also, unsurprisingly, get Si-eun being very annoyed and cold with Su-ho here and all combined, I’d say that this implies that, while Si-eun doesn’t really respect Yeong-bin as shown through the clues above, he does actually respect Su-ho in a sense as he literally “looks up” to him here, kinda recognizing him as someone powerful or respectable. And then, Su-ho picks up Si-eun’s pencil-case and apologizes while leaning down to get on his eye level. But for Si-eun, the camera keeps us at a perspective of looking up to Su-ho. So while Su-ho tries to get friendly with Si-eun by “lowering his position”, Si-eun just seems to see a threat in Su-ho here. It might as well foreshadow Si-eun looking up to Su-ho in a figurative sense? In any case Su-ho is framed as different from Yeong-bin through the camera angles.

Then, in the locker-scene, when Si-eun asks Yeong-bin to stop bothering him, the camera stays even on them even though Yeong-bin is sitting and Si-eun is standing now. It’s like a representation of their power struggle. Even when Si-eun is pushed against the wall, the camera is barely tilted upwards to the bullies from Si-eun’s perspective, probably because they obviously have the upper hand at that moment but that doesn’t change the fact that Si-eun won’t budge from his overall “position” in the hierarchy.

Later, in the scene of Su-ho coming by Si-eun’s apartment for the first time, we get Su-ho sitting on the ground and the camera seems to look up to Si-eun from Su-ho’s perspective which mirrors how their roles were reversed during their first encounter. During the rest of their conversation at the door and in the doorway, the camera stays on eye level. I’d interpret this as Si-eun beginning to understand that Su-ho is not a threat to him, but an equal. 

Now when we look at Beom-seok’s introduction, there’s also some interesting camera angles: When he gets approached by Yeong-bin and the other bullies, the camera is clearly looking up to Yeong-bin from Beom-seok’s perspective and looking down at Beom-seok from Yeong-bin’s perspective - but only once Yeong-bin mentions Beom-seok’s bullies from the other school and Beom-seok tries to act as if he doesn’t know them. It’s like Beom-seok hoping for things to be different at the new school and then being thrown right back to the power dynamics. Also later, when Yeong-bin asks Beom-seok to sit next to him when he confronts him about being friends with Beom-seok’s bullies, I feel like this is to give Beom-seok a feeling of control or safety. Yeong-bin is acting as if they’re on the same “level” by having them both sit down while actually planning on using Beom-seok for his plan against Si-eun.

One quick thing that isn’t me being obsessed with camera angles: I love the detail of Si-eun’s anger over the test being caused by the first answer he got wrong. I mean he got drugged and was still able to complete the test somehow, then sits down to listen to the correct answers. He circles all the ones he got right until he pauses and quite reluctantly marks the number 15 as false. And I just love that it’s not something like him going through all of the answers, then realizing how many mistakes he made due to Beom-seok interfering and then becoming angry because it was a bad score or one that wasn’t good enough or not acceptable for him. He got angry because this score wasn’t perfect and that was enough. The literal second he realizes that he had made a single mistake, paying attention and following the answers being read aloud becomes meaningless to him. It very nicely characterizes him because we see his utter or even obsessive devotion and perfectionism when it comes to being exceptional at school. A single mistake due to others and that's too much of an attack for him to accept.

My last ramble on camera angles: Right before Si-eun “crosses the line” with Yeong-bin by attempting to go for his head even though Yeong-bin is already down, we get to look up at Si-eun, maybe from Yeong-bin’s perspective. This is after the camera stayed at eye level with both of them. It’s as if this crossing of the line would have cemented Si-eun’s position above Yeong-bin had Su-ho not interfered. And then we get eye level camera angles on Si-eun and Su-ho when they stand in front of each other. I feel like while the camera shows us that they’re equals, Si-eun is still in his mind about having to make sure that he’s in a position above others, in this case above Su-ho, which is why he feels the need to attack him.

[ghostxaya]

Su-ho and Colours

So during my recent rewatch of Weak Hero Class 1 I noticed something about Su-ho: what is up with him and colours? Throughout the series Su-ho’s outfits are quite colourful in contrast to the ones of the other students who mostly wear the black and white (or sometimes gray) school uniform. For example Su-ho sometimes wears a blue shirt or he sleeps on his pink pillow. In the first fight we even see him fight with a very green book. In general he very much stands out with being connected to colours in this way. At first I thought this was simply a way of emphasizing his character. Showing that he is quite a colourful, outgoing and literally “outstanding” person. 

But then I noticed something else. Su-ho is often connected to colours, but he is particularly connected to the colour red. Red Shirt, red jacket, red helmet, red watch and so on. So could it actually be that this contrast in colour not only emphasizes his colourful personality, but also very much foreshadows the ending? While Si-eun and Beom-seok wear their uniform or other clothes in black and white, Su-ho’s red shirt really does stand out, for example in the intro. So you could say that from the very beginning, the red colour that he is associated with marks him as the one getting hurt the worse. With red as the colour that can of course be linked to anger, violence and blood. So maybe that can be interpreted as a little nod in that direction: Su-ho’s fate had been set from the very beginning. The colour clung to him from the start.

Also as an additional side note on that: in the last episode Si-eun takes a bright red fire extinguisher to attack the two (or three if you count Beom-seok) people who are responsible for Su-ho ending up in a coma. So you could actually say that him using the colour that is heavily associated with Su-ho is a way of emphasizing that Si-eun not only wants to get revenge himself but means to help Su-ho get revenge as well.

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How's this story for you? Once upon a time, a bunch of teenage girls got stranded in the Wilderness, and they went completely fucking nuts. They worshipped evil spirits, and they hunted their friends, and they feasted on their flesh, and they fucking liked it. So they told themselves stupid fairy tales and pretended they were brave and strong. Because the reality was that even if rescue came, they could never go home again. Because of what they'd done. Because of what they'd become. That's the truth.

YELLOWJACKETS — Season 3 (2025)

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I know I’m late to the party, but I literally cannot stop thinking about Weak Hero Class 1. I watched it for the first time a few days ago and then rewatched it right away and I’ll watch it a third time as soon as possible.

I don’t want to say too much or go into any big spoilers, because I really loved going into it blind, but: If you like a character standing up to their bullies by being very smart (and also not holding back at all), amazing, creative and fun fighting sequences, incredible acting, deep and complex friendships and also a whole lot of emotional damage, you gotta watch it.

This show just has it all: an intriguing storyline, a protagonist you can really get behind, cheer for and care about (and are also very scared of), other characters that have interesting dynamics with the protagonist, actors giving it their all, emotional moments, fun action, a great soundtrack, great camera work and cinematography and a second season in sight! 

(Just one warning: it can be quite violent with the fighting and a bit dark in its themes, so be aware of that)

And I know it has been said many times, but it needs to be said again: the actor of Si-eun is unbelievably good in this role. Sometimes I kept missing subtitles because he’s just that good with his expressions and you can truly see all of the emotions of Si-eun in his eyes. (There is this thing that comes up again and again about how Si-eun has a certain way of looking at people and how that provokes them and … yeah, absolutely. The actor is doing an amazing job. He has also mastered the facial expression of being absolutely done with everything and everyone around him. And his acting during the last episode is truly impressive.) But he’s not the only one being amazing in their role. Everyone is actually really great, especially the actors of Su-ho and Beom-soek and then the three together of course.

Oh yeah, also, as is often the case with my favourite media: I will never be okay again after this ending. And despite that I really just want to dive into the next rewatch. Like this show actually gave me a huge boost of motivation when it comes to learning korean, because all I want is to be able to catch every single tiny detail.

And one last, but important sidenote: The chemistry between Si-eun and Su-ho is off the charts. They’re in love, your honor. 

11/10. Might actually be my new favourite K-Drama. Go check it out!

[ghostxaya]

I see one solution. It's - it should be - easy.

Let me go. And I'll let you.

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, This Is How You Lose The Time War.