Itaewon Class

 

Itaewon Class is a 2020 South Korean television series starring Park Seo-joon, Kim Da-mi, Yoo Jae-myung and Kwon Nara. Based on the webtoon of the same name, it is the first series to be produced by the film distribution company Showbox. It aired on JTBC in Korea from January 31 to March 21, 2020, and is streaming worldwide on Netflix. The series won Best Drama Series at the 25th Asian Television Awards.

In the case of webtoon, when Kakao Page and Daum webtoon were added together, the cumulative number of readers was 10 million, the cumulative number of views was 300 million, and the rating was 9.9 points.

 

Plot

In 2006, high schooler Park Sae-Ro-Yi (Park Seo-Joon) had the dream of becoming a policeman but his life would dramatically change when he transferred to Gwangjin Highschool. It was there that he met Oh Soo-A (Kwon Na-Ra), his classmate and first love. Unfortunately, he also met Jang Geun-Won (Ahn Bo-Hyun), son of Jang Dae-Hee (Yoo Jae-Myung), CEO of the Jang Ga Group. Geun-Won was bullying a classmate when Sae-Ro-Yi intervened and punched him. To complicate matters, Sae-Ro-Yi's father, Park Sung-Yeol (Son Hyun-Joo) is an employee to Dae-Hee and has been sponsoring Soo-A for her education. In a parent-teacher meeting, Dae-Hee was willing to let everything go so long as Sae-Ro-Yi kneeled and admit wrongdoing. However, Sae-Ro-Yi couldn't do it as he felt he didn't do anything wrong; it caused him to be expelled from school and Sung-Yeol resigned from Jang Ga. Both father and son would restart their lives by starting a new bar restaurant, but it tragically ended when Geun-Won crashed and killed Sae-Ro-Yi's dad with his car. When Sae-Ro-Yi learned that Geun-Won owned the car and the crime was covered up, he went to the hospital with intent on killing Geun-Won. In front of police, Sae-Ro-Yi tried to beat Geun-Won to death, but Soo-A convinced him to stop and was arrested. Sae-Ro-Yi was sentenced for 2 years for assault and attempted murder charges, this would begin Sae-Ro-Yi's vow of vengeance against Dae-Hee.

By 2009, Sae-Ro-Yi was released from jail. He used that time by studying Dae-Hee’s autobiography to understand his success and make plans for his future. During Halloween, Sae-Ro-Yi came to Itaewon and had a fun night hanging with Soo-A. As they talked about the future, Sae-Ro-Yi said he likes Itaewon and wants to open his own restaurant here. To her shock, Sae-Ro-Yi intends to carry out this plan 7 years into the future while heading to work for a fishing vessel in the meantime. Soo-A is being supported by Dae-Hee in her education; she carries a sense of guilt for her career path to Jang Ga. However, Sae-Ro-Yi never blamed her and wished for her success. Afterwards, they bid each other farewell.

Seven years later (2016), Sae-Ro-Yi managed to open his restaurant-bar DanBam (pun on Sweet Night or Sweet Chestnut). Supporting and working under Sae-Ro-Yi is Choi Seung-Kwon (Ryoo Kyung-Soo), Ma Hyun-Yi (Lee Joo-Young), Jo Yi-Seo (Kim Da-Mi), Jang Geun-Soo (Kim Dong-Hee), and Tony Kim (Chris Lyon). With Yi-Seo as the manager, she used her social media influence and management skills to help DanBam become a successful business. When it was revealed that Sae-Ro-Yi secretly owns a large amount of Jang Ga’s stocks, Dae-Hee forced Sae-Ro-Yi to sell all of it. Dae-Hee bought the building of Danbam and would’ve bought every future lease to hinder him; Sae-Ro-Yi liquified his stocks to buy his own building to avoid the problem. Geun-Soo is the 2nd heir to Jang Ga and romantically interested in Yi-Seo. However, Yi-Seo only loved Sae-Ro-Yi and that angered Geun-Soo to quit DanBam and join Jang Ga to ruin Sae-Ro-Yi.

After gaining public notoriety from Hyun-Yi becoming the first transgendered female chef champion in the Best Pub TV show, they got the attention of a major investor to franchise their business. Becoming incorporated, they named their corp as Itaewon Class (IC) Co. Their corp nearly fell apart before it started when it was discovered the major investor was an agent for Dae-Hee and pulled their investment out, causing other investors to have severe doubts about IC and threatened to pull out. To salvage the situation, Tony’s grandmother used her fortune to support them and they became a successful global franchise. In between events, Yi-Seo helped expose Geun-Won's crime of killing Sae-Ro-Yi's dad and got him jailed for it. Dae-Hee publicly denounced Geun-Won to save his chairmanship and groomed Geun-Soo to replace his failed heir to Jang Ga.

By 2020, the IC Company is now the 2nd largest competitor to Jang Ga. Geun-Soo has risen to director of Jang Ga and proven a better heir than Geun-Won. Things would change with the return of Geun-Won. Released early from jail, Geun-Won wants payback against Sae-Ro-Yi. Dae-Hee has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and has only 6 months to live. While many saw this as karmic punishment, Sae-Ro-Yi called Dae-Hee to tell him he can’t die before he gets his vengeance. Amused that the only person that wants him to live is his enemy, Dae-hee enjoys this final conflict with Sae-Ro-Yi.

At IC, Sae-Ro-Yi is starting to have feelings for Yi-Seo. Because of the awkward position between Soo-A and Sae-Ro-Yi (Jang Ga Vs IC Corp), the two only had an emotional relationship; it's apparent to Soo-A that his feelings are changing. After Yi-Seo collapses from over-working for Sae-Ro-Yi’s sake, he realizes he’s in love with Yi-Seo. Before he could confess his love for Yi-Seo, she got kidnapped by Geun-Won and his henchmen. Sae-Ro-Yi tried to rescue Yi-Seo but was critically injured when one of the henchmen ran Sae-Ro-Yi over. Yi-Seo eventually escaped capture with Geun-Soo.

After recovering from his near-death experience, Sae-Ro-Yi goes to see Dae-Hee for help. He knows Dae-hee is aware of Geun-Won’s whereabouts. Dae-hee wouldn’t talk unless Sae-Ro-Yi kneels and after resisting him for almost 15 years, he submitted to kneeling to save Yi-Seo. Sae-Ro-Yi made it to find Yi-Seo running away from Geun-Won. Sae-Ro-Yi confesses his feelings for Yi-Seo and the two embrace each other. Geun-Won appeared for a final fight with Sae-Ro-Yi and lost, the cops made it and arrested Geun-Won.

In the aftermath, Jang Ga was ruined because Soo-A whistle blew 10 years worth of illegal activities, forcing the company to close. Dae-Hee tried to use all his influence to save his company but everyone severed ties. As a last ditch effort, he went to see Sae-Ro-Yi and kneeled before him, pleading with him in tears to save his company. However, Sae-Ro-Yi intends a corporate takeover by absorbing Jang Ga into IC. Geun-Soo made peace with the DanBam crew to also start fresh. Soo-A ruined her own career to repay her debt to Saeroyi's dad with money and destroying Jang Ga; she would restart fresh by opening her own restaurant and finding love with the new chef. With his revenge completed and dating Yi-Seo, Sae-Ro-Yi found peace and happiness.

 

Cast

·         Park Seo-joon as Park Sae-Ro-Yi

Proprietor of DanBam, a bar-restaurant in Itaewon. In his youth, Sae-ro-yi gets expelled from high school for punching CEO Jang's son Geun-won, who was bullying a classmate, and becomes bereaved when his father is killed by Geun-won's reckless driving. Angered by the loss, he attacks Geun-won, leading to his three-year imprisonment. Following his father's steps, Sae-ro-yi opens his bar-restaurant DanBam in Itaewon seven years after he is released from jail, with the aim of expanding it into a franchise and defeating CEO Jang's food company Jangga Group. In 2020, he becomes the CEO of his company IC Group.

·        Kim Da-mi as Jo Yi-Seo

Manager of Sae-Ro-Yi's bar-restaurant DanBam. Yi-seo is a multi-talented and intelligent girl with an IQ of 162. She moved from New York to continue her studies in South Korea. She is also famous on social media as a power blogger and social media internet celebrity. Having a crush on Sae-Ro-yi, she offers to become the manager of DanBam. Her lack of empathy and callous behavior has many people believe she is a sociopath, but she does end up caring for her DanBam coworkers. Despite being declined by Sae-ro-yi, Yi-seo remains by his side as his manager and work partner while still maintaining feelings for him. In 2020, Yi-seo becomes the CFO of Sae-ro-yi's company IC Group. Eventually, Saeroyi realizes his feelings for Yi-Seo and he confesses his love for her.

·         Yoo Jae-myung as Jang Dae-Hee

CEO of food company Jangga Group. CEO Jang is a self-made man who, despite the odds, succeeds in turning his once small bar into a large franchise company. In his years of experience leading Jangga, he develops a strong belief in power and authority as a means to achieve his goals. He meets Sae-ro-yi when the latter has a fight with his son Geun-won in high school and expects him to kneel as a submission of his power. However, Saeroryi always resisted kneeling and made his life harder for it. In 2020, he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and doesn't have much long to live. Unfortunately, his illegal activities under Jangga was exposed and ruined his company. Despite kneeling before Sae-Ro-Yi for help, Sae-Ro-Yi absorbed Jangga into his company, leaving Dae-Hee with nothing.

·         Kwon Nara as Oh Soo-A

Head of the strategic planning team in Jangga Group; Sae-ro-yi's former classmate and first love. Abandoned by her mother, Soo-ah grew up in an orphanage and became close with Sae-ro-yi's father Sung-yeol. She becomes acquainted with Sae-ro-yi, who has a crush on her. After Sung-yeol's death, she receives a scholarship offer from Jangga Group and soon becomes an employee in the company. Though passionate about her work, she is torn between her allegiance to Jangga and her love for Sae-ro-yi. Due to their conflicts of interests, the two would hold a long term emotional relationship, but never a true romantic one. Eventually, Soo-ah realizes Saeroyi's feelings has changed and the two remain as friends. She later became a whistle blower to the authorities on the crimes that Jangga have committed in the past during her time in the company and later starts her own restaurant.