Duty After School: Part 2 (2023)

Even as a Korean, the metaphors and underlying message is complete BS

Edit: wow apparently the WEBTOON is very different from the show. Damn you director. This is why you never trust these people to adapt an original work.



I went into part 1 with no expectations and was very pleasantly surprised with how good it was. I had high expectations for the second part but it was unfortunately complete and utter trash.

There is an underlying message the author tries to convey with the story. Not going into too much detail, the author tries to make the CSAT and the Korean education system a big focus, along with student mental health issues, but fails miserably. The author attempts to use the spheres and military as a metaphorical device to symbolize the messed up education system, with the students and even parents agreeing for them to become reserve forces just for extra points, and also with how students and kids are greatly influenced and indoctrinated by adults. I feel the show does a great job exploring the issues with how students and minors are basically powerless against adults and the government, and the use of the military was great in that respect. However, the theme about the education system was done very poorly.

The CSAT is a life-changing/career altering test that Koreans take extremely seriously, and it is not unrealistic that it takes a large part in the students' decision making. However, this plot point should've ended by the first few episodes, or it should have been handled in a more realistic way. Instead, in first part even I as a Korean, and many others seem to forget about the whole CSAT plot by the first few episodes. The author probably knew this and they try extremely hard to make the underlying themes more evident in the second part by taking away all of what made part one good.

First, no more spheres. They are basically not a threat and nearly completely irrelevant to the plot in part two. The tone shift amplifies this as the whole situation does not seem dire anymore. The tone shift just feels so off, and makes the second part seem like some teen drama. Also, the whole spheres having intelligence thing and them adapting to the cold feels like such wasted potential.

Second, the plot holes are horrendous. What happened to the second in command under Commander Lee? And the three students they saved? I doubt Won Bin would have just left the students to survive on their own. Also at the end when they defeat the spheres, I highly doubt the world, much less South Korea would have recovered that fast if at all. The sphere attack realistically would have been a catastrophic event for the world economy, and would have caused more than an economic collapse especially for South Korea. I mean, they lost more than half of the entire military, and who knows how much population was lost. Thinking logically, how could anyone expect to even be able to go to university or even find a job after? The entire world would fall into the greatest recession in history, people would be burning money for heat. Also, they don't even show us if Chiyeol and the others parents and family are alive. Or what happened to the four survivors, or even if Chiyeol and Nara got together, kept in touch, etc.

Third, the whole Yeongsoo plot. Even as a Korean who grew up in poverty and whose parents/grandparents lived in extreme poverty (much worse than whatever Yeongsoo was complaining about), I can not sympathize with this guy one bit. Sure, perhaps we are not supposed to sympathize with him. But obviously, he is used as a plot device to criticize the Korean education system, poverty, and mental health issues. Still, what they did with him just seems so forced and feels so off. Instead of his actions being even a tiny bit understandable, he just seems like a psychopath. In this case, using him fails to criticize the education system or the poverty in Korea, or even the mental health issues, since he just seems like he is the way he is due to his personality and mindset rather than a result of a cumulation of all these issues in Korea. Like damn, I know poverty is hard and I also suffered with extreme mental health, but not for one second would I even think of SAing someone else or have violent tendencies towards another. He honestly just seems weak to me, and that undermines the message of the story. His breakdown is not a message about student mental health, not when its done this poorly.

I get the author likely meant well with trying to convey these messages, and perhaps did not mean for the spheres to be the main focus for the story, but a poorly written story is a poorly written story. If you want to convey a message, or criticize/discuss societal issues, you at least have to have a decent story and plot to back it up. I am not sure if the webtoon is exactly the same as the show, but the second part is a such a waste of great potential from the build up of part one.

(sorry for the mess of a review, it is my first and likely last, i just wanted to vent about my disappointment and share some thoughts as a korean fluent in english who watched the show)

Leia Mais

Felt rushed

After binge watching part I of "Duty After School," I had been eagerly waiting for part II to come out. 22 days later, lo and behold, it did. I watched it and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

First of all, I expected the story to continue where part I had left off. That is not to say I hate time skips! That is only if they're done well. The end of Part I introduced surviving characters from another high school. Unfortunately, they fell victim to something more dangerous than the spheres: plot holes. Where the heck is Won Bin? Where are the students from the other high school? There's little to no mention of them in Part II. A lot seemed to have happened in the time skip, information that--had been simply left out--and that's not good. As a lover of thrillers, I hate being left in the dark. On another note, I did appreciate that the writers elaborated on Bo Ra and Ae Sol's relationship, and allowed the former to have great character development over three episodes.

To address the big elephant in the room: the ending. God. For those of you who have read the web toon like myself, many will agree with me when I say it felt rushed. Of course, it makes sense... I knew Young-Soo was going to go nuts sooner or later, but come on, why did it all happen so fast? For him, missing the CSAT was more than just missing mere test, but equivalent to missing his future; it was equivalent to poverty. Why was that a reason for him to do *THAT* at the end? His motivation seemed nonsensical. The webtoon version of his character portrays his fall into madness more clearly, over tens of chapters. Additionally, the ending leaves so many unanswered questions about our survivors. The writers introduce Kim Chi Yeol's perspective at the ending, probing the question "was this war worth fighting for?" However, what the hell happens to the other three?! Yes, I get it, you're trying to deliver a message to the watchers. The writers have to understand that--what made this series for a lot of people--were being invested in the characters. We want to know what happened to the others as well; why aren't they together with Chi Yeol? Lastly, this is a personal pet peeve because I'm in the military myself. Everyone just sat there for a good 10 seconds after Jang Soo gets shot before taking up arms--the writers seriously just nerfed the badass characters portrayed at the beginning. And where is Yeong-Soo's fireteam partner (battle-buddy)… it's common to work in pairs in the military, especially when you're armed. I like the idea of a non-stereotypical happy-go-lucky ending. However, the execution could have been much better.

Now, there are things that I would've personally loved to be addressed. Come on, man, why you gotta leave us in the dark in regards to Chi Yeol x Na Ra? They introduced this crush in the first season, but most of it is just monologue in Chi Yeol's head. I believe many of the watchers want to peer into Na Ra's mind. Also, Ae Sol's story is just way too sad. She finally becomes good friends with Bo Ra, only to see the latter get massacred by some delusional nerd who ends up dying. I'm sure many of you all share my frustrations here.

Not to say it's fully bad. This series has got bang on actors/actresses that paint a great image of teenage kids stuck in a long and arduous losing war. The only down side is that they weren't put to proper use (because of the story). Additionally, the music is good. I am personally a sucker for orchestral scores over the random rock and roll songs with lyrics. It really establishes the emotional environment for story-telling.

Overall, I would not even be mad if they remade this whole second season with much better pacing. Like please, fix it. Although in reality, it may have been because of budget cuts that caused them to rush this or a variety of other reasons. Anyways, if you do not want to be heart broken or disappointed... just stop at season 1, my friends. Or go read the web toon.

Leia Mais

It had potential in the first part :(

the second part has many plotholes (?)

Where is Kim Wonbin, he was not once mentionned ?

How did the prisonners survive a month wo food/water and they are still in very good conditions ?

From where did the aliens come from and what do they want and how did they become THAT dumb in the 2nd part ? (the amusement park noise was hella loud 🥴)

Why every character developpement went back to what they were before. They showed in the 2nd part that they were mature and more logical and suddenly eveyone goes back to 0.

WHY KILL EVERYONE I AM TRAUMATISED ?????

I was so sad that the last survivers and even the other mates didn't know the reason they were killed ☹ (except the victim that realised before getting shot) this is personal I hate that bitch of young soo or whatever his name is.

Leia Mais

A lot of nothing

If I watched Part 1 when it initially came out, waited for Part 2 and then watched Part 2 after it was released, I probably would've been more upset because Part 2 was a bit useless.

There was barely any character development. Upon watching episode 1, it felt so corny seeing all the students work together so cohesively and confidently while killing the spheres but it also gave me a sense of comfort cos it felt like they all grew closer and had come to a place where they all respect and understand eo well.

But nope. A few episodes later and you realise that nothing has changed.

It's just so frustratung because, at the very least, towards the ending of Part 2, we still shouldn't be having issues like distrust between the characters. If you want to add 'betrayal' to the plot, do it in Part 1 when everything was new or at the start of Part 2 and resolve it immediately after. After the high of episode 1, I just thought that we were at a stage where the students would be respecting each others' opinions, completing their responsibilities, not whining, not crying, making reasonable decisions and so on. But a lot of characters just remained the same from Part 1: we still had Il Ha being agressive and sometimes displaying bullyish attitudes towards the CSAT kid, CSAT kid still only just worrying about score points, we had the useless princess girl always whining for her mom, we had Hui Rak being the loudest complainer, we had Ha Na always faking sick to avoid going on missions, we had Ae-Sol all of a sudden being a sickass shooter but then making a stupid ass decision in episode 2/3 that made the remarks Bo Ra always said about her justifiable, and more that's not at the top of my head rn.

Part 2 just felt like a let down. There wasn't much more progression. The prison arc was so unecessary and felt like filler. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of Part 2 was. Especially after watching the last episode, the whole series just feels so pointless.

The only thing I enjoyed watching this drama was the small glimpses of camaraderie between the students and also their relationship with the Platoon Leader in Part 1. Unfortunately, the little bonding moments we got wasn't enough to save this clusterfuck of a show and it's mainly the fault of the writing.

Everyone did a great job on their roles, it just sucks they weren't given much of a plot to work with.

Leia Mais

Not that good, but definitely not that bad either

If you ask me, Duty After School Part 1 was mid to begin with. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as people were making it out to be. A lot of things didn't make sense and were poorly written/executed. So what about its second part? Well, it’s more or less the same thing.

The direction they took is not surprising at all. The show was never truly about aliens more than it was about the people at the core of conflicts, who are dragged into them and pointlessly sacrificed in the name of wars. Wars they are fighting because they are told to, because of a so-called “duty”: a word that minimizes the fact that you’re exploited by people far higher than you, who could never understand what you went through, and also frankly don’t care. Duty After School is about what damages war —in all its aspects— inflicts on individuals, and indeed, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about a kid going absolutely crazy after being deceived over and over, realizing his entire life is ruined.

Now, was that done well? Not really. One of the kids killing another/everyone was foreshadowed a lot— and honestly, I was expecting something like that since the first part already— but it still felt rushed. We could honestly have done without the sexual assault and incel bits too. It would have been so much more impactful if Yeong Soo wasn't an awful and insufferable bitch to begin with, but only a decent guy becoming completely broken because of the lies and deception of the adults. If he simply was a person who had lost his last hope, the only thing that tied him back to his life as a regular student, then it would've actually meant something. It made sense for him to be the one to do it, and if he wasn't a total creep forcing himself on an unconscious girl, his descent into madness would've been interesting to analyze. But I don't want to analyze the psyche of a sexual assaulter, thank you very much.
A long time ago, I remember reading someone’s comment about how SA was impossible to forgive/understand compared to murder, and it's something that has stuck with me ever since. I think many things can push you to take someone's life, more or less valid reasons, but I don't think anything can excuse being a sexual abuser. So with those weird incel moments Yeong Soo had, I just think it took a lot away from the message without actually bringing anything worthwhile in return. We already had the prisoners trying to assault Ae Sol, did we really need more? Why?

To comment on a criticism that I’ve seen a lot: personally I don't mind the fact that the characters died "for nothing". Sometimes life is that way, and I think TV shows shouldn’t shy away from that. It hurts even more when a character dies pointlessly, but it usually always carries a message or builds up to something more later in the story. They had been hinting at something like that for a while, and in a way... it's just realistic. And reality usually isn’t all that pleasant. In this case, it’s the entire point of the show. Those kids didn't need to be drafted to begin with. EVERYTHING was pointless right off the bat, and we knew. What are the consequences of dumb decisions taken by the government? Ruined lives. Pointless deaths. From the first episode, many horrible events could’ve been prevented, yet they weren’t. It’s only fitting it ends like that. Even those who survived will never get back to a normal life, and there will be more useless deaths in the future. Many will lose their lives to all the trauma they got from this war.
The show itself tells you it was all meaningless. Two months after everything happened, they were able to get rid of the spheres with new weapons. They could’ve very well quarantined everyone while they tried to find a way to get rid of the aliens, but decided against it. Why? Because to the government, to the military, people are not really people. They are cannon fodder. And not treating people like human beings gets you there. Dropping weapons on random untrained and traumatized kids’ hands gets you there. Giving weapons to teenagers is never a solution. That’s all there is to it.

The way I see it, the first part of the show was more about kids fighting weird aliens, while the second part was about how it affected them as human beings. In my opinion, it’s an improvement and made that season more interesting.

There are still many flaws, obviously:
-Some people can just shoot way too many bullets with one magazine (e.g. that creepy prisoner, Yeong Soo at the end), which was already a problem in Part 1;
-How was Yeong Soo able to drag Il Ha to the sea, how did he have the time to weigh down his body with rocks, without getting blood all over himself, when the rest of the group arrived so shortly after having heard the gunshots? Il Ha is about his height and weight, it wouldn’t be easy at all;
-Some deaths were frustrating because, come on… Il Ha turns his back to the guy who just threatened to shoot him?;
-Then Na Ra prefers trying to wake up Chi Yeol rather than trying to stop the guy who’s shooting her remaining friends… uh. Not sure I understand the reasoning, especially when that could very well get both of them shot. I get you certainly don’t act completely rationally in such situations, but I would’ve been more convinced if she had simply been frozen in fear;
-Apparently Kim Won Bin disappeared without it being explained, but I honestly don’t remember exactly how Part 1 ended so yeah, I’ll let you check for yourself;
-The fact that the show kept bringing up the university extra points was honestly so annoying. I know, that’s the thing students are holding onto, hoping to get back to a normal life, but also who fucking cares? I mean, for it to matter to a few characters like Yeong Soo, sure yeah. But the fact that they treated it like most still cared after so long, and considered that learning they might not get them would be a “tipping point” for a lot of students was so weird to me. The lie in itself is awful, yes, but also… are you really thinking of going back to school after that? I think most people would have a “idgaf, I just want to see my family and take a long break” mentality. The fact that we had to wait until the very end of the show for them to explicitly say it didn’t matter at all, when Chi Yeol left the exam room? That was pushing it. They did say that some weren’t fighting for the points anymore (around ep 8/9 maybe?), but I still think it was made too important throughout the whole series. Every time I heard about those fucking points, I wanted to slam my head on my desk;
-There’s another message in the show that kinda got lost on the way. So I believe there is some criticism made about the university system and elitism in South Korea but also… I’m not sure an alien invasion and war trauma are the best ways to denounce that? It also felt a bit cheesy, in a bad way. It makes sense for Chi Yeol to think the only things that mattered were his friendships, caring for and supporting each other. In his situation, it’s a logical conclusion. But what is the lesson that you are trying to teach your viewers there? That university isn’t all that important? That it doesn’t define your worth? That friends matter the most? Not to say I disagree with that, but it’s also not that easy in real life so it just falls flat. Plus, I just watched a kid decimate all his classmates, I’m not really in the right headspace to care about your criticism of university, how it pits students against one another etc. I don’t think the parallel they’re trying to draw works very well here.

Overall, Duty After School Part 2 wasn’t great, but it wasn’t worse than Part 1 (which I gave a 6/10). It's just different. I’d even argue it was a tad bit better. I know the ending won’t suit everyone’s tastes, and in fact most will dislike it, but I can’t say it’s an awful ending. It could’ve been improved by being less rushed, but it was fitting with the tone and the message of the show.

Leia Mais

This is my first time writing a review if anyone of you think it's inappropriate just comment anything I will remove it right away...
This is just my opinion but please watch Part 1.. It's really good but then this part 2 it's ok for me also...
I know some of you excited for the second part like most people!.
Some of them disappointed of the ending, I see so many people angry with the ending and I get it is not the cup of tea for everybody, but to be honest Well at least they FOLLOWED the WEBTOON..
if you are a WEBTOON fanatic you will also understand the ending..
So sit back relax and just enjoy the show. :)

Leia Mais

a WTF drama!

Part 1 was ok good. Also made me cry expecially when sgt.Lee decided to sacrificed himself and those kids cried a lot. I was looking forward to part 2 hoping that maybe sgt.Lee wasn’t dead at all. But part 2 was so disappointing! I’ve been looking for the other military man (sgt.Lee's subordinate). And to think that this is about spheres killing humans, part 2 is 100% different. Only the beginning and prison part were spheres attacked. The rest is all about their trust issues, stubbornness, and psychological problem. They could have just stick to the original theme and had the possibility to turn it into series just like The Walking Dead. but to dismay, the writers killed almost all of the outstanding characters. Even the ending is so !@##. Only showed kimchi. Where's the other survivors?!They weren't given a justice to their characters. The writers just killed them that fucking way for that fucking reason.

Leia Mais

Please read the original webtoon

i don’t know if anyone will ever read this, but i just wanna say, please read the original webtoon.

i’m a big fan of Ha Il Kwon, all of his webtoons have a special place in my heart, especially annarasumanara and duty after school. Seriously, duty after school is one of his later works and it was one of his best. Although I might not able to say objectively that it’s the best webtoon(or story) i’ve ever read, it’s definitely gave a deep impression to me which I can still remember to this day, even after so many years have past. While other stories might be forgotten after several years, I can still remember and regard this story as one of the best i’ve ever read. It was this type of webtoon for me. and the drama RUINED IT.

The 1st part still followed the main idea of the original webtoon and (although it’s not the best adaptation) it’s still fun to watch. For the 2nd part, they made a different storyline (which doesn’t really make sense), added unnecessary plot, and created a whole different vibe. Also, the development of relationship between bora and aesol in the webtoon is more natural and better in general imo.

For those of you who are dissapointed because it doesn’t give you the horror of a war with the purple things that you expected, the webtoon gives you just THAT for almost the entire webtoon. For you who feels it’s ridiculous that they just magically wipe out the purple things in the end, the webtoon DID NOT do that. For you who are enraged by the endings for the character, the webtoon have better endings for them. Though I must say, the concept of the ending is still the same, but it was executed WAAAAYYYY better. In the drama, it felt so rush and like the author just suddenly went crazy and unncessarily shift the tone. While in the webtoon, the built up was really great and makes sense, and not everyone die in the end. The conclusion that wraps up the whole thing was so much better too. While the drama feels like it uses the CSAT plot way too much to the point that it becomes ridiculous (which i kinda get the purpose but i feels it was done so poorly), from what i remember it wasn’t the case for the webtoon (although it still a main element of the story). It wrapped up in a sense that reminds us that war is horrifying and it will changes you forever eventhough you survived it (at least for me, webtoon reader please feel free to give different opinion about this cause I read this a long time ago, so might not be accurate too).

Overall, i just believe that the webtoon was brilliantly done, and you should read it even if you normally doesn’t read webtoon. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I originally write this to just recommend the webtoon and give a small rant about how i’m dissapointed that they ruined the drama (they also ruined annarasumanara in the drama imo), but turns out it got longer than what I planned. Anyways, please read the webtoon.

Leia Mais

Unfortunately this one misfired

I really was excited to watch this part because the first part was so good. Then watching this I came to realize why I liked the first part better, and what exactly this one lacks that makes it hard to watch.

I haven’t read the source material so this is just a review of the drama that I’ve seen.

With the absence of Lee Chun Ho it’s a HUGE misfortune to this drama. He balanced out all the chaos and irresponsible things the kids did. Honestly he was the reason I stayed for the first part. The kids in the drama are really dumb, and I know they are high school kids- but life and death scenarios I can’t help myself but get annoyed at times. I don’t hate all the students, I have a few favorites.

I was hoping the bully Kwon Il Ha would get a redemption. The first part onto this it was like they forgot how traumatized the guy is watching a classmate die infront of him. And that goes for most of the students, they see the carnage but just have it all together?

The living together, fighting together.. it’s uninteresting because to me it’s so much of a stretch for some of these kids to not be dead yet. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have dead teenagers- but I can’t help but thinking of other kids.. how come there class they all get some sort of guardian angel that saves them .. that is what it feels like to me in all honesty.

The character development with the students I wasn’t enjoying. There are a few that get development, but for the most part the gags and the annoying ones send me so high up the wall. They are too much and it’s beyond me how they are still annoying even with all this death and fighting.. most of the girls are horrible- except Ana Ra, the President, and some of their friends. Pigtails is horrible, glasses is horrible, the boys are better but still.. I have to skip dumb scenes because it isn’t adding to the overall story really. It makes me feel like it’s dragging and I don’t want that. I want to like this drama.

Now why don’t I like it?

Because Chun Ho is dead. The one redemption for this show was him. He could tell the kids to shut up and they would, he was a figure they respected. Without him I honestly think realistically most of them would be dead with all the dumb thoughts and things they do. The whole idea of them staying together.. I don’t get it? If I were then I’d leave my dumb classmates. Chun Ho should not have died, he was the redeemer for me. What else is worse is that Kim Won Bin the other leader they had is just not there? Last time I remembered he didn’t die?

When kids do start dying it’s right before they are about to make progress with what development they are exploring. That is so so wrong to me- why start something without finishing it? For shock factor ?

The whole prison plot thing I skipped. I don’t know these men in there and I don’t care.. there is only four episodes so why are they adding in more people? It’s just for fluff

It’s really a waste of time and so much so that it’s insulting. Anything from part one, anything I liked isn’t touched upon or brought up. The scene from episode 7 with them killing the spheres was the peak for this season. It’s a shame because I knew it couldn’t be any good with Chun Ho being dead. I knew there was nothing they could do and they didn’t prove me wrong either. The ending is so god awful and so dumb that it doesn’t even hurt me. It’s just what it is I guess. What does hurt is remembering the first part was so good, I wish that Chun Ho didn’t die and they sort of liberate other towns and find their families- but instead they did the worst thing they could’ve possibly do. And that is to not advance the story, even with what they could.

The demise of these teenagers is so bad. I skimmed through and had to ask myself is this the same show. The shooting that the college crazy character does is so distasteful. It’s horrible and sickening.. and this topic in a drama like this- there should have been a trigger warning. It wasn’t fun anymore. That whole scene as a climax for this drama was insulting. Because right after that there was a time jump.. so what purpose did it serve other than a getaway to skip time and forget all these kids you spent your time with for the drama.

So the kids have no direction. Have no leader. And so many things are unexplained. Time skips are so bad if they are like this. This jump to this part just is off- how did they find this abandoned place. How could they barely take on one sphere in the last season but now are aces? Where are they getting ammunition? It’s little things like this that bother me and slowly add up to truly irritate me.

So.. my thoughts. Not good. Nothing happens this part. I don’t know how- nothing happens.

Leia Mais

Duty after school 2

The ending was so depressing. I really can't just accept it or don't want to accept it. How can it end like it 😭 I wanted to see them all together after the war and how can someone be so selfish and care so much about themselves only? I'm feeling dead after watching the last episode and didn't expect an ending like this though it makes the drama more thrilling and interesting. The moment the csat psycho started killing everyone water dropped from my eyes but still, there was hope that everyone may stand back and fight back. The hope of seeing them together doing everything they wanted to do after escaping from that he'll only remain a dream 😭

Leia Mais

What happened?

Part 1 had its problems and was not bad as it had a real gripping ending, but part 2… what were the writers thinking?

I don't know how important CSAT exams are, but this exam is one of the driving plot points of part 2. What makes no sense is that humanity faces extinction and yet all these kid could think about was getting into college. I am sure there are more important things to worry about than college entry at a time like that. This becomes such a central plot point that one of the characters literally goes insane after finding out the 2023 CSAT exams were cancelled and were to be held in 2024. This leads to the drama ending not to a final showdown against the alien threat, but the final boss being this kid who has gone insane and had somehow activated god-mode in his final rampage.

The ending was anti-climatic and skips ahead to 2024 where humanity has wiped out 99% of the menace so had the threat under control. Okay... so we are supposed to imagine the final desperate struggle and not be shown it? Instead we were given teenaged angst drama with automatic rifles? Sure.

Leia Mais