K-DRAMA REVIEW: “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon” Offers Down-To-Earth and Relatable Love Story

July 2, 2024
K-DRAMA RECAPS/K-DRAMA REVIEWS

Just like it kicked off, our tale of romance and education concludes its run with a slow-paced, realistic yet heartwarming finale.

Our leads get their deserved happily ever after and antagonists get for their actions payback. But the question is: Does our heroine want to keep sailing in the same direction or will she muster up the courage to try something different?

Bunny S watches The Midnight Romance in Hagwon on Viu

Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 & 14 |

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon Finale Week Recap

After a bit of back and forth, our leads sit down for an honest conversation. Being her usual self, Hye-jin wants to step up and take all the blame. But Joon-ho isn’t about to let Hye-jin do that to protect him. Even if it is just how Hye-jin is and not because of their history or age difference, Joon-ho is set on handling the situation and protecting Hye-jin this time.

But Joon-ho needn’t have racked his brain hard over how to save Hye-jin and the academy. The key to defeating Woo and Witch (courtesy of Sang-seob) is to split them up. Which proves much easier than one might think.

Witch has never trusted Woo and was just using her to get Hye-jin. Once outlived her usefulness, Witch planned to cut Woo off without batting an eye. Likewise, a brief visit from Hye-jin to Witch and a couple of unanswered calls were enough to get Woo provoked. In just a few minutes, we have the ex-allies grabbing each other’s hair and making a scene before the students and instructors.

With the ex-allies too busy preparing to sue each other to pull any more stunts, the only obstacle left is to secure enough funds to make up for the losses the academy incurred because of the refunds. Cue: Counselling Director Kim Hyo-im (Gil Hae-yeon) steps in and invests in return for Chung-mi becoming the new face of the academy and Hye-jin’s successor. Getting appointed as the new vice director position is icing on the cake.

If you are wondering about the reason Counselling Director Kim wants to support Chung-mi. It is mainly because of Chung-mi’s competence and a small part because her son (who happens to be Joon-ho’s best friend) is in love with Chung-mi and wants to marry her.

Things are back to normal, and Hye-jin gives it some thought as to what she wants to do in her life. All these years, Hye-jin has put off her studies and devoted herself to the students and the academy. But is this the kind of life she wanted for herself? After sleeping on it for a bit, Hye-jin decides it is time to call it quits and pass the baton to Chung-mi. Instead of staying on this battlefield, Hye-jin wants to get back to studying.

If Hye-jin goes back to school, she will be meeting a lot of guys there who might hit on her, right? Thus, a smitten Joon-ho wants everyone to know that this beautiful lady is already taken. The drama wraps up its last class with our leads putting on matching rings, a sign that Hye-jin might accept Joon-ho’s proposal to get married in the future.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon Series Quick Recap

A top star instructor reunites with her first student a decade later but as colleagues this time. Something that will surely turn her stagnant life upside down, seeing how her dear student seems to regard her as more than a teacher.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon Series Highlights and Musings

Since the beginning, the drama set out to convey its message at a slow pace without letting itself get distracted from its goal. It was billed as a romance story with an educational backdrop, but the show felt actually more like a social commentary on education with a romance story in the background to keep things interesting.

Instead of using the education theme to evoke tension, the drama just wanted to give us some insight into how academies work, problems students face while studying, and the never-ending battle between teachers and academy instructors. It didn’t take sides or offer solutions, but just realistically portrayed how things are.

The student/teacher backstory and the age gap had me worried about the drama turning too dark after people get wind of our leads’ relationship. (I guess Something in the Rain has given me a trauma.) But thankfully, that wasn’t the case here, or more precisely, that wasn’t the drama’s focus.

The scandal regarding our leads’ secret romance wasn’t to drift our leads apart but to show us how scary rumors are and how fickle-minded people are, calling Hye-jin names after lining up for her classes before. And I appreciate the drama for not dragging things out and ironing things out in a pretty much win-win situation for everyone.

Another thing I liked was how the drama took a realistic and humane approach in its characterization and action motives. It didn’t depict our leads as stereotypical righteous people getting chased after by evil people trying to get them down but as normal people with flaws.

Hye-jin wasn’t an archetypal heroine trying to do things right all the time, but someone working hard to protect what she achieved and add more to it while also caring about her students. Perhaps what happened with Sang-seob and Joon-ho’s new teaching style gave Hye-jin a wake-up call and got her to change her ways, but this only makes me respect Hye-jin more for admitting to it when wrong.

On the other hand, we have Joon-ho who wasn’t portrayed as a natural-born talent who got students lining up for him as soon as he switched jobs or a sweet partner who only exists to make his girlfriend happy but as someone who works hard to prove himself and might make mistakes and get frustrating at times.

That approach extended to the side characters as well. At first, I thought Chung-mi’s role would be limited to being Hye-jin’s rival. Yet, Chung-mi stood by Hye-jin till the end. Chung-mi indeed wanted to achieve more success and teach more students, but not at the expense of losing her self-esteem. Which made it really gratifying to watch Chung-min become successful through her hard work alone.

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But to those who love slow-paced and well-thought-out tales, the show might be an unforgettable experience.

It had a tight story, well-acted performances, and the significant touch of PD-nim Ahn Pan-seok who has the talent to make even the cutthroat world of academies feel heart-warming.

Photos and Videos: tvN Drama

 

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Bunny Sonaki

I am Bunny. Just like you, I am smitten with Kdramas and look forward to watching every Kdrama out there, but is that dream ever possible since they keep showering us with new dramas every day? For me, Kdramas are my comfort zone and a warm hug that makes it possible to face up to whatever life throws my way.

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