A scene from Netflix’s ‘Hierarchy’
The first thing that strikes you about Netflix’s new K-drama is, hierarchy, It’s true that you can often predict what the next scene is going to be like. Set in the fictional Joshin High, hierarchy This drama recreates a typical drama that takes place within the walls of a posh high school. Unfortunately, while it meets all the parameters of the genre, it fails to make any splash beyond that. Add to this the quite unimaginative characterization, and you get a very predictable show.
Like all other fictional schools frequented by rich people with skeletons in the closet, the classmates at Joshin High are tied to each other in a scandal they are trying to hide. Spanning seven episodes, the show begins with the murder of a scholarship student. A few months later, he is replaced by another low-income student, Kang Ha (Lee Chae-min), who is promptly warned about the consequences of messing with his elite classmates.
A scene from Netflix’s ‘Hierarchy’
We get a picture of the social hierarchy through Kang Ha’s eyes. There’s Jung Jae-i (Roh Jeong-eui), the daughter of the owner of one of the biggest conglomerates, and recently returned from a mysterious stint in the United States. She was dating Kim Ri-an (Kim Jae-won), the son of the owner of the industrial conglomerate that owns Jushin High. They are surrounded by their less wealthy peers, who form an impenetrable social fortress that keeps out scholarship kids.
As Kang Ha spends more time at the school, it becomes clear that he is not afraid to change the hierarchy, and in the process he grows closer to Jae-yi, while annoying Ryan.
Hierarchy (Korean)
Director: Bae Hyeon-jin
Mould: Roh Jeong-eui, Lee Chae-min, Kim Jae-won, Ji Hye-won, Lee Won-jung, and others
Episodes: 7
Order: 55 minutes to 1 hour
StoryAt an elite Korean high school, a disturbing secret threatens to overturn the social order after the arrival of a new student
Whereas hierarchy It doesn’t offer much in the way of an innovative plot, it also loses the opportunity to make the story fresh through its characters. What you see of the characters in the first 15 minutes of the pilot episode remains largely the same throughout the series. The writing seems so preoccupied with the idea of ​​portraying them as extremely rich individuals who can do anything, that it overlooks other nuances.
A scene from Netflix’s ‘Hierarchy’
After showing these high school kids dealing with a death and some mediocre parents, the show later attempts to evoke sympathy for these characters. It’s a shift in the story that makes you want to see them not just as criminals, but as victims of the circumstances they were born into. Except, it doesn’t prove as effective when we’ve only seen them as one-dimensional.
Sequence follows in the footsteps of a long-standing television tradition of showing the extremely absurd lives of rich high school students. However, their luxurious lifestyle soon becomes boring, and viewers want to see the (messy) humans in a more honest way. Sadly, this K-drama lacks the thrill of that observation.
The Hierarchy is currently streaming on Netflix
