Law School

Starring: Kim Bum, Ryu Hye Young, Kim Myung Min
Year Released: 2021
Number of Episodes: 16
Genre: Contemporary, Crime, Drama
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Recommended By: Ryu Hye Young, Kim Bum
Who I Watched It For: Ryu Hye Young, Kim Bum

When a grim incident occurs at their prestigious school, justice through law is put to the test by a tough law professor and his ambitious students.

Yang Jong Hoon is a criminal law professor and a former elite prosecutor, whose harsh words make him the professor to steer clear of. At the same time, there’s something compelling about his strict teaching methods and his refusal to accept less than the best from his future juniors in the legal profession.

Han Joon Hwi, a first-year law student, is at the top of his class. He’s a natural leader whose good looks and easy charm make him the perfect man – on paper. However, there’s an unexpected side to him that remains well-hidden.

Kang Sol (A) is another first-year law student who overcame childhood poverty and hardships by gaining special admission to the school. She walks a path of thorns due to her constant sense of deprivation and shame amidst the wealth and talent that surrounds her. Eventually, her passion will enlighten her on what it truly takes to be a good lawyer.

Kim Eun Sook is a civil law professor who was once the head of the law school’s free legal clinic. Her natural air of authority and freewheeling personality earned her the reputation for being a master in court. Known for being a highly relatable professor, she is the sole colleague Yang Jong Hoon dares to confide in.

After watching and loving, Reply 1988, I knew that I was going to keep up with everything that the cast members are in. I haven’t gotten around to watching any of their older stuff but the first show that I watched afterward is Ryu Hye Young’s Law School. It’s funny how she plays similar characters in both Reply 1988 and Law School, but she carries both of these characters very differently. In Reply 1988, she was mean. She was smart and she was strong but she was mean to those around her and it annoyed me until she won me over with how loyal and fiercely protective she was of her loved ones. In Law School, she’s smart and she’s driven but she takes care of her friends and she cares about them all. She’s the kind of friend you want in your corner.

I’m so glad that I watched this show all the way through because the beginning took some getting used to but I kept watching because I enjoyed the overall story being told and I needed to know who the hell killed the professor.

Main Male Lead: Han Joon Hwi

Kim Bum
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Han Joon Hwi was a great character. He’s a smarty pants, know-it-all, who doesn’t live his life for others. He does what he wants, when he wants, and makes no apologies for his choices. He is driven with a snarky personality that will make you question if he’s capable of doing everything that he’s accused of. He’s certainly got the brains to pull it off, but does he really lack the morals of going through with the crimes?

I was Team Joon Hwi from the jump and I never once wanted to jump ship. I loved seeing him crush heavy on Kang Sol A, I loved seeing his friendship with her grow with every single episodes. I loved that he remembered exactly who she was and she didn’t. I loved that he tried to protect the girls in his friends group in a way that made them comfortable. He let the girls decide how to help themselves with his help. There was much to love about him and I really did.

I’ve seen Kim Bum in only a couple of shows and I think of all the shows that I’ve watched him in, his character in Law School is my favorite. I thought he brought Joon Hwi’s character to life beautifully. There were different sides to Joon Hwi and Kim Bum did a great job of showing us all of them. I’ve become a fan of his in this show and I plan on watching and supporting his career more in the future.

Main Female Lead: Kang Sol A

Ryu Hye Young
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Kang Sol A was my kind of character. She was fun, smart, spunky, and such a crackhead. She was so driven to succeed, that she went above and beyond to try to get good grades. She was busy with school but she made time for her family, and for her friends. She didn’t have the perfect life but she didn’t pretend that she was fine when she wasn’t and she didn’t pretend to be someone she wasn’t. She was who she was and you either liked her for that or you didn’t. She didn’t mess around with how other people thought of her. She did what she felt was right at all times and though she wasn’t perfect, she was still a good person who knew her worth.

I hella shipped Kang Sol A with Han Joon Hwi. I thought they were so cute together. Him crushing on her so obviously and her being annoyed that he was bothering her while she was trying to study. I thought they made such a cute couple and though the ending gave hints but no confirm details about their dating life, I’m going to believe that they’re together and living their happily ever after…together.

Ryu Hye Young did such a great job of bringing Kang Sol A to life. I liked her in this show a lot more than I did Reply 1988 but loved her acting in both.

Second Lead: Yang Jong Hoon

Kim Myung Min

I never thought Yang Jong Hoon was guilty of anything but being an extremely hard professor to please but even knowing that, I still liked him. He seemed to be a man of integrity and he was always there for his students when they needed him, even if he was grumpy while doing so. You could tell that he cared about each student and that he wanted them to be prepared for their future as lawyers. He also wanted to raise and turn his students into lawyers that always did what was best for their clients. He taught them to be lawyers who were on the up and up and I just really liked his characters. There were plenty of shady lawyers both on and off-campus but I never thought he was one of them.

I’ve never seen Kim Myung Min in anything so this was my first and I thought he was a great actor. He played this part exceptionally well and I’m glad to add him to the list of actors that I’d like to support and watch all of his shows/movies.

The Cast

There were some familiar faces in this show and I was glad to see them. I thought the cast of characters, all of the law students especially, were a fun bunch. They were all going through their individual struggles but seeing them study together, grow up together, and cheer each other on made me enjoy this show that much more. I loved that their relationships with each other felt real. There were some that were closer than others, some didn’t even like each other, but at the end of the day, they were a team and they came together to get shit done when it was needed. I loved the way that they all rallied behind Ye-Seul to help her out, even when she didn’t want it. I loved how Joon Hwi made sure that Ji Ho didn’t fight his battle against the prosecutor on his own. I loved getting to know each of them and they definitely made watching this show, week in and week out, an enjoyable experience for me.

The Story

So this show follows a bunch of ambitious law students and their professor, Yang Joon Hoon, who is on trial for the murder of another of their professors, Seo Byeong Ju. While Yang Joon hoon is on trial, loads of stuff pop off and the students band together to figure each case out. Each episode packed in some interesting cases and introduced compelling characters. I tuned in each week, excited to learn more.

The show deals with a lot of real life topics and each case brought a little something different to each character and to the show as a whole. I loved working through each case, developing my own thoughts on each case, on each character, and had a lot of fun getting to know everyone. From plagiarism to murder, to domestic abuse, there’s a lot to unpack but these characters did a great job of carrying each story from beginning to end. The ending left some to be desired but I did like that everyone grew up to be the kind of lawyers that I was proud of. I came to love each law student and professor and even the bad guys were great bad guys because I hated them with a passion.

Overall, this was a good way to spend a couple of hours every week catching up with my law school friends and I’m super happy that I watched it through. The beginning took some getting to used to and was a little slow but if you stick it out, I have no doubt that you’ll come to love everyone the same way that I did. I definitely recommend it.

Final Rating

4.25 out of 5