"Moorim School" Episode 14 recap

I'm still trying to sort through what just happened in "Moorim School"'s episode 14. The plot was relatively straightforward, but I have no idea what the show is trying to tell me about the characters.

I thought a while of how to analyze this and this is what I've come up with: Chi-ang is supposed to be divided by his loyalty as a son to his morally-impaired father and by his love for his friends who have seen him (according to exposition) through thick and thin. We're shown a montage of him with Si-woo compiled mostly of their first days together. (Why didn't the show give us a better grip on their friendship than that?) Then we're shown numerous scenes with vague dialogue about their deep friendship that is fraught with daddy issues. We know that Chi-ang struggles against becoming the cruel man his father is, but the staring and brooding make it very hard to really see into him as a character; or to feel the connection between him and Si-woo. I do appreciate that he understands there is a choice to make as to what sort of person he will be, but there is so much back and forth that the gravity of such a decision is lost.

Then there is Si-woo himself. He has turned into Mr. Miagi - giving sage advice and guiding the foursome. At the same time, he's a struggling youth, but the dichotomy isn't shown well. He starts crying and I'm confused by the onslaught of tears - they weren't properly set up. Also, what happened to his concern over fame? His career? His fans? Fans in K-pop would not stay quiet so long about a missing idol. It's a bit bizarre to see nothing develop on that front.

Seon-ah's struggles are the clearest and easiest to understand while at the same time being well-developed. She is lost now that her identity has been redefined. She struggles, and her friends struggle to help her. Chi-ang does finally come to offer her support, but the scene was fleeting and they separated quickly. For being friends, these kids spend a lot of time alone and brooding.

Soon-deok's situation is easy to gloss over. The best thing about her is that Seo Ye-ji is the strongest in the bunch. She packs a mountain of emotion into a few brief seconds of screentime. Her father's situation would be more interesting if it wasn't so disconnected. That is a major issue of the show: ideas and concepts just aren't connected. There's no real flow to the plot or the characters. The teachers come and then disappear, especially Sam Okyere's character. (Travesty: he's fantastic!)

Onto the new regime at school. The new dean, as I said last review, is a mockery of a villain. His evil plans are just laughable. The search for the key to the Chintamani is getting old. Let's get the thing found already and cause problems that way. "Moorim School" likes to talk about how people change over time and difficulties - let's add the immense hurdle of unsurpassed power and see how the characters react.


Written by: Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"Moorim School" is directed by Lee So-yeon-I, written by Yang Jin-ah, and features Hong Bin, Lee Hyun-woo, Shin Hyeon-joon, Seo Ye-ji, and Eugene Jung.

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