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It’s divine intervention for Kim Deuk Pal, a 40-something dreaded gangster who ironically dies while trying to stop a boy from killing himself and wakes up in the body of the high-school student in Korean drama “High School Return of a Gangster”.
Directed by Lee Seong Taek, the eight-episode Korean show is based on the web novel “I, a Gangster, Became a High Schooler” (조폭인 내가 고등학생이 되었습니다) by Ho Rol. Lead actor Yoon Chan Young (“All of us are Dead”, “Hope of Dope”) is first introduced as the glum teenager Song Yi Heon, who hides half his face with his hair and attempts to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. However, instead of dying, it’s Kim Deuk Pal’s spirit that wakes up in Song Yi Heon’s body. The middle-aged gangster must now return to high school and live the teenager’s life.
Kim Deuk Pal soon learns that Song Yi Heon was being incessantly bullied by classmates and desperately wanted to be friends with class topper Choi Se Kyung (Bong Jae Hyun). “High School Return of a Gangster” is essentially an action-comedy that follows Kim Deuk Pal’s misadventures as he tries to pass off as a re-christened Song Yi Heon, a more confident, friendlier version who teaches his bullies a lesson. While most others at school find the change weird, only Choi Se Kyung strongly suspects Kim Deuk Pal to be an imposter. However, the two classmates become unlikely friends along the way.
Yoon Chan Young plays the protagonist with gusto and is almost unrecognizable as the two different versions of Song Yi Heon: the original introverted emo-looking teen who was being bullied and the new clean-cut, confident Yi Heon guided by Kim Deuk Pal’s spirit. Joo Yoon Chan plays Hong Jae Min, Yi Heon’s primary tormentor, who is in for a rude shock when Yi Heon fights back and scares the crap out of them. It’s definitely satisfying for viewers to watch the victim teach his bullies a lesson in their own language! And even though “High School Return of a Gangster ” attempts to tackle the issue of school bullying, it doesn’t come up with concrete solutions to the problem.
While Yoon Chan Young captures all the nuances of his character convincingly, Bong Jae Hyun struggles a bit in his more emotional scenes as Choi Se Kyung. Se Kyung’s character is a lot more complex—he has an impeccable academic record and is friendly, yet the first few episodes make him out to be a little shadier than he really is. His intentions are unclear. At the same time, it turns out that Se Kyung is a victim of severe mental abuse and sometimes even physical abuse at the hands of his domineering father Choi Mung Kyun (Seo Tae Hwa).
The first few episodes are entertaining, especially as the middle-aged man awkwardly struggles to get comfortable in his new teen body. However, the gags become boring by episodes 5-6. In the very first episode, Kim Deuk Pal is shown to be decisively dead, so a lot of potential twists in the plot are already eliminated—we know Kim cannot go back to his body. So if Yi Heon’s spirit finds its way back to its body, it’s game over for Kim Deuk Pal. There are only two ways the story can end: either Deuk Pal lives on in his new life, or Yi Heon comes back to enjoy the new freedoms afforded to him by the gangster’s overhaul of his school life. It’s a 50:50 scenario, and some viewers are definitely going to be disappointed if the ending doesn’t swing according to their expectations.
The writers underutilize the comic potential of the show by limiting Deuk Pal/Yi Heon’s interactions largely to Choi Se Kyung and a few other classmates. Also, for a gangster boss, Deuk Pal’s character makes so many silly faux pas moves that are just annoying and not funny. Except for the bit where he refers to his own classmates as “kids,” not many of his slip-of-the-tongues are comical. There’s a whole world of possibilities that “High School Return of a Gangster” misses to make its body-swapping theme more hilarious. For instance, the use of social media is weirdly limited—you’d think the show is set in the early 2000s, even though it’s not.
The title of the show—”High School Return of a Gangster”—sets up expectations for some killer fights, but the action sequences are surprisingly and disappointingly few. The end felt hurried and contrived but is in the spirit of “happy endings,” which might thrill some viewers and others not so much. Watch the show if you are in the mood for a non-romantic Korean drama about a gangster uncle becoming a young, handsome high-school Oppa.
Rating: 6 out of 10. You can stream it on Viu.
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