I think this kdrama it's both a necessary story that everyone should watch and also one we have to watch with a grain of salt. Even though the first episodes are what you would call a more "realistic" representation of the korean education system, the further you go into it, the more it's about a sudden "murder investigation" and less about things that i was looking forward to watch.

I would say, if well written, instead of a murder investigation, the more realistic scenario would be mind manipulation made into suicide... cause that's what happens when kids are pushed to be the absolute best in a broken environment. There's many cases of suicide within students, and if something extreme needed to be showed in this particular kdrama, then it would be that... no one wants to see it, but it needs to be talked about more often.

We start this kdrama hating absolutely every character, and that's just right for the type of story it is. The murder investigation was what made possible for us to see how far some of these parents are willing to go to see their kids at the top, but somehow i wished this was showed without the kdrama-murder plot. Because i feel like in real life, parents do a lot to see their kids at the top and play dirty too, without being involved in murder cases.

The last episode... it's a joke. From beginning to end. Had to drop a star and a half just for that. Some people will live in a broken household all their lives, will hate their family all their lives, will run away from home for good... the sudden happy endings for every household is a total break of character for almost everyone. In reality that wouldn't happen. Even the "good" parents would still make you finish at least highschool, and the not so good parents would not suddendly become good just like that, not even when threatened.

For this kdrama to be as perfect as the high ratings indicate, they would have to show at least 1 ending in which some of these family's would be broken or unfased for life, because that's how it actually goes.