No. of episodes: 16
Genre: Rebellious, Business, Romance

Native title: 이태원 클라쓰
Original network: JTBC, Netflix

Remake from a popular webtoon. Itaewon Class is about the life of Park Saeroyi (Park Seo Joon) moving the harder path after he punched a bully, Jang Geun Won (Ahn Bo Hyun) on his first day of transferring to a new middle school. After he punched Geun Won, he was expelled from school and his father lost his job at Jangga. 

Learning the hard way

The unreasonable Jang Dae Hee (Yoo Jae Myung) used his power and threw Park Saeroyi behind bars for years.

Saeroyi’s life since 15 is difficult for him and he knows that his pride will not do any good after losing his father and being thrown behind the bar. He set his goals to open his own bar and beat Jangga Company, in particular Dae Hee, in the future. 

DISCLAIMER: For those who do not want to be ‘spoiled’ by the following content, do check out my first impression of Itaewon Class. 

Opening up Danbam

Finally realised his dream and open up a bar in Itaewon, however it is not performing and he did struggle to manage the expense. Yet, Saeroyi keep trying until he met Jo Yi Seo (Kim Da Mi).

Her addition to the bar as manager relived the business and it was operating way better than expected. Slowly they changed the interior and exterior, and also the food menu. Just when everything is moving on track, the landlord sold the building to Dae Hee and they have to close.

The fulcrum

Lee Ho Jin (Lee David) is the fulcrum to the nasty relationship between Park Saeroyi and Jang Geun Won. He was being bullied by Geun Won and the punch Saeroyi threw was to standup for him.

Ho Jin is Saeroyi’s secret weapon in life, how he found him and make friend with him since middle school. Ho Jin commit his life to help Saeroyi and became the finance person, his ally.

Itaewon Class

Itaewon Class in short, IC includes the founding members of Danbam. Saeroyi, Choi Seung Kwon (Ryu Kyung Soo), Ma Hyun Yi (Lee Joo Young), Jo Yi Seo, Jang Geun Soo (Kim Dong Hee) and Toni (Chris Lyon). However, Geun Soo dropped out and went back to Jangga to fight for love.

Revenged, checked

Yi Seo understand why Saeroyi hates Geun Won so much and finally its her chance to plot against him to get the evidence. Things blew up and to save Jangga, Dae Hee sacrifices his son.

Side note: Romance

Yi Seo clearly has feelings for Saeroyi and he still wants to stay with his first love, Soo Ah. Yi Seo kept breaking the opportunities they had. Even rejected, she still stay by his side and want the best for him.

Leading company, IC

From a small local bar to IC, they did face countless bumps and hiccups from investors and the public. In 2020, they are closer to the dream of defeating Jangga. This is also the year Geun Won is released from prison.

He kidnapped Yi Seo and Geun Soo to lure Saeroyi out and did what he did to his father. How this ends Jangga and what happened to Jangga in the end.

I do pity Geun Won and understand why he went extreme. The final 2 episodes of Itaewon Class is amazing and I really love it. How the producers wrote in a potential love line for Soo Ah who was the whistleblower and alone.