[Drama Review] "Who Are You - School 2015" Episode 16 (Final)

On the final episode of KBS 2TV's Monday & Tuesday drama, 'Who Are You - School 2015', Lee Eun-bi (Kim So-hyeon-I) chose Han I-an (Nam Joo-hyeok) over Gong Tae-kwang (Yook Seong-jae).

Lee Eun-bi told Gong Tae-kwang, "I cannot like you the way you like me". When Gong Tae-kwang heard this, he tried to clear up his emotion towards her. However, he finally told her, "I tried hard to think of a way to not like you. But there's no way to stop liking you. So I'll remain this way. You don't need to feel sorry or do anything. I just want you to know my heart towards you".

Go Eun-byeol later told Lee Eun-bi, "You like Han I-an? Don't be surprised. I'm just a good friend with him".

Lee Eun-bi was encouraged by Go Eun-byeol's clarification and told Han I-an, "I like you. But I first need to find out who I really am. I think I can accept someone's love as it is only when I'm assured that the person likes me as who I am.

Han I-an gave his gold medal to Lee Eun-bi and told her. "As soon as you find your real name and you become sure about my heart towards you, then give it back to me. You must be able to give it back to me, because it's like my treasure".

Six months later, Go Eun-byeol went abroad to study and Lee Eun-bi returned to school with her new name, Go Eun-bi. Go Eun-bi and Gong Tae-kwang became friends again and she returned the medal to Han I-an.

Now that the story is complete I have little choice but to address the plot problems in "Who Are You - School 2015". To the credit of the production team, the contrived nature of the twin plot and all the other points related to that have never been that big a deal. This is mainly because the narrative itself has never been in focus. "Who Are You - School 2015" is a story about growing up. Although even there weaknesses are definitely present.

I've been somewhat disappointed in the lack of character development on Eun-byeol's part. While it's certainly rewarding to watch her stick it to So-yeong, Eun-byeol's really kind of a jerk to her friends, and "Who Are You - School 2015" has never really addressed that. Aside from a few one-off comments there's no sense that Eun-byeol has really appreciated that what she did wasn't cool. One line of dialogue here even acknowledges that some other person died and was misidentified as Eun-bi. That could not have possibly been pleasant for that person's family.

Eun-bi's treatment is somewhat better in this regard- she is the one, after all, who decided to come clean to her classmates. Although her role as of late has been passive to the point of being rather annoying. "Who Are You - School 2015" doesn't make her too much of a damsel, though, as the ending doesn't really convincingly resolve the love triangle. This isn't as big a deal as it may seem- these characters are just high school students after all. They can just have friends without making everything super dramatic.

A lack of drama doesn't really make for that satisfying a conclusion though. I did like the final portion with I-an. If we've seen his character as being extremely goal-driven, to the point of serious self injury, then the swim meet establishes how I-an is now willing to just take things easy. Life is a compromise between dreams and reality. If there's any lesson a high school student should take away, that would be it.

Even so I'm not going to pretend like "Who Are You - School 2015" perfectly hit all of its expectations. In all fairness the early episodes set the standards a little high in that regard. But I've seen enough dramas and films tackle the topic of bullying with clumsiness that I don't fault the production team for backing down and playing it safe with the serious social commentary. The main draw has always been the sincerity of the performances. Kudos in particular to Kim So-hyeon-I. She's the most talented of a strong lot, yet is one of the few actual teenagers on the payroll.

Review by William Schwartz