[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Who Are You - School 2015" Episode 9

The tone this episode is a fairly somber one as Eun-bi and I-an come to grips with the fact that Eun-byeon is most likely dead. I write "most likely" because technically speaking we don't actually know that Eun-byeon's remains are the ones that were cremated. We don't even know how they were identified. This isn't a question that will finally be put to rest until we finally get a timeline explaining what exactly Eun-byeon was doing in between the bathroom incident, saving Eun-bi's life, and presumably going off to a completely different location since two identical girls discovered in the same body of water would almost certainly have aroused questions.

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But there's little in the way of actual progress toward resolving the mystery this episode. Some important facts are brought to general attention though. For example, one character that up until now has felt like superfluous comic relief actually has a somewhat sinister goal in mind. As to how any of this is supposed to relate to the mysterious goings on at the school, such as the messages that show up on the bulletin board...

Well, again, this is all just a really big question mark. This episode of "Who Are You - School 2015" is quite well-focused in regards to emotional catharsis, but there's time I can't help but feel annoyed at how we aren't getting any answers to as what's actually going on. Part of this is just because Eun-bi doesn't seem to be putting any effort into actually investigating the mystery. This is most likely because as far as she knows there's no mystery to really solve.

Even so the rest of the drama is just plain uncomfortable to watch. So-yeong is trying to move the plot forward herself, but is hamstrung by the unrealized weaknesses in her own storyline. A particular powerful punch pops up when, as expected, another character reacts less than happily to So-yeong's promises of future revelations even though So-yeong had convinced herself that of course this person was on her side. I especially liked the word choice.

All around the production remains solid. The who are you bumpers remain very effective. At this point the musical chord alone is enough to get me thinking about hey, who are these people really? And who do they want to be? The cliffhanger, too, deliberately manipulated as it is to happen at the most climactic point...it makes me want to hate "Who Are You - School 2015" and yet at the same time I can really only admire the drama's effective storytelling.

Review by William Schwartz

"Who Are You - School 2015" is directed by Baek Sang-hoon and Kim Seong-yoon, written by Kim Hyeon-jeong-II and Kim Min-jeong-II, and features Kim So-hyun, Nam Joo-hyuk, Yook Sung-jae, Lee Pil-mo, Lee David, Kim Hee-jung-I and more.

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