Duty after School: Part 2 (2023)

A lot of nothing

If I watched Part 1 when it initially came out, waited for Part 2 and then watched Part 2 after it was released, I probably would've been more upset because Part 2 was a bit useless.

There was barely any character development. Upon watching episode 1, it felt so corny seeing all the students work together so cohesively and confidently while killing the spheres but it also gave me a sense of comfort cos it felt like they all grew closer and had come to a place where they all respect and understand eo well.

But nope. A few episodes later and you realise that nothing has changed.

It's just so frustratung because, at the very least, towards the ending of Part 2, we still shouldn't be having issues like distrust between the characters. If you want to add 'betrayal' to the plot, do it in Part 1 when everything was new or at the start of Part 2 and resolve it immediately after. After the high of episode 1, I just thought that we were at a stage where the students would be respecting each others' opinions, completing their responsibilities, not whining, not crying, making reasonable decisions and so on. But a lot of characters just remained the same from Part 1: we still had Il Ha being agressive and sometimes displaying bullyish attitudes towards the CSAT kid, CSAT kid still only just worrying about score points, we had the useless princess girl always whining for her mom, we had Hui Rak being the loudest complainer, we had Ha Na always faking sick to avoid going on missions, we had Ae-Sol all of a sudden being a sickass shooter but then making a stupid ass decision in episode 2/3 that made the remarks Bo Ra always said about her justifiable, and more that's not at the top of my head rn.

Part 2 just felt like a let down. There wasn't much more progression. The prison arc was so unecessary and felt like filler. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of Part 2 was. Especially after watching the last episode, the whole series just feels so pointless.

The only thing I enjoyed watching this drama was the small glimpses of camaraderie between the students and also their relationship with the Platoon Leader in Part 1. Unfortunately, the little bonding moments we got wasn't enough to save this clusterfuck of a show and it's mainly the fault of the writing.

Everyone did a great job on their roles, it just sucks they weren't given much of a plot to work with.

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Not that good, but definitely not that bad either

If you ask me, Duty After School Part 1 was mid to begin with. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as people were making it out to be. A lot of things didn't make sense and were poorly written/executed. So what about its second part? Well, it’s more or less the same thing.

The direction they took is not surprising at all. The show was never truly about aliens more than it was about the people at the core of conflicts, who are dragged into them and pointlessly sacrificed in the name of wars. Wars they are fighting because they are told to, because of a so-called “duty”: a word that minimizes the fact that you’re exploited by people far higher than you, who could never understand what you went through, and also frankly don’t care. Duty After School is about what damages war —in all its aspects— inflicts on individuals, and indeed, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about a kid going absolutely crazy after being deceived over and over, realizing his entire life is ruined.

Now, was that done well? Not really. One of the kids killing another/everyone was foreshadowed a lot— and honestly, I was expecting something like that since the first part already— but it still felt rushed. We could honestly have done without the sexual assault and incel bits too. It would have been so much more impactful if Yeong Soo wasn't an awful and insufferable bitch to begin with, but only a decent guy becoming completely broken because of the lies and deception of the adults. If he simply was a person who had lost his last hope, the only thing that tied him back to his life as a regular student, then it would've actually meant something. It made sense for him to be the one to do it, and if he wasn't a total creep forcing himself on an unconscious girl, his descent into madness would've been interesting to analyze. But I don't want to analyze the psyche of a sexual assaulter, thank you very much.
A long time ago, I remember reading someone’s comment about how SA was impossible to forgive/understand compared to murder, and it's something that has stuck with me ever since. I think many things can push you to take someone's life, more or less valid reasons, but I don't think anything can excuse being a sexual abuser. So with those weird incel moments Yeong Soo had, I just think it took a lot away from the message without actually bringing anything worthwhile in return. We already had the prisoners trying to assault Ae Sol, did we really need more? Why?

To comment on a criticism that I’ve seen a lot: personally I don't mind the fact that the characters died "for nothing". Sometimes life is that way, and I think TV shows shouldn’t shy away from that. It hurts even more when a character dies pointlessly, but it usually always carries a message or builds up to something more later in the story. They had been hinting at something like that for a while, and in a way... it's just realistic. And reality usually isn’t all that pleasant. In this case, it’s the entire point of the show. Those kids didn't need to be drafted to begin with. EVERYTHING was pointless right off the bat, and we knew. What are the consequences of dumb decisions taken by the government? Ruined lives. Pointless deaths. From the first episode, many horrible events could’ve been prevented, yet they weren’t. It’s only fitting it ends like that. Even those who survived will never get back to a normal life, and there will be more useless deaths in the future. Many will lose their lives to all the trauma they got from this war.
The show itself tells you it was all meaningless. Two months after everything happened, they were able to get rid of the spheres with new weapons. They could’ve very well quarantined everyone while they tried to find a way to get rid of the aliens, but decided against it. Why? Because to the government, to the military, people are not really people. They are cannon fodder. And not treating people like human beings gets you there. Dropping weapons on random untrained and traumatized kids’ hands gets you there. Giving weapons to teenagers is never a solution. That’s all there is to it.

The way I see it, the first part of the show was more about kids fighting weird aliens, while the second part was about how it affected them as human beings. In my opinion, it’s an improvement and made that season more interesting.

There are still many flaws, obviously:
-Some people can just shoot way too many bullets with one magazine (e.g. that creepy prisoner, Yeong Soo at the end), which was already a problem in Part 1;
-How was Yeong Soo able to drag Il Ha to the sea, how did he have the time to weigh down his body with rocks, without getting blood all over himself, when the rest of the group arrived so shortly after having heard the gunshots? Il Ha is about his height and weight, it wouldn’t be easy at all;
-Some deaths were frustrating because, come on… Il Ha turns his back to the guy who just threatened to shoot him?;
-Then Na Ra prefers trying to wake up Chi Yeol rather than trying to stop the guy who’s shooting her remaining friends… uh. Not sure I understand the reasoning, especially when that could very well get both of them shot. I get you certainly don’t act completely rationally in such situations, but I would’ve been more convinced if she had simply been frozen in fear;
-Apparently Kim Won Bin disappeared without it being explained, but I honestly don’t remember exactly how Part 1 ended so yeah, I’ll let you check for yourself;
-The fact that the show kept bringing up the university extra points was honestly so annoying. I know, that’s the thing students are holding onto, hoping to get back to a normal life, but also who fucking cares? I mean, for it to matter to a few characters like Yeong Soo, sure yeah. But the fact that they treated it like most still cared after so long, and considered that learning they might not get them would be a “tipping point” for a lot of students was so weird to me. The lie in itself is awful, yes, but also… are you really thinking of going back to school after that? I think most people would have a “idgaf, I just want to see my family and take a long break” mentality. The fact that we had to wait until the very end of the show for them to explicitly say it didn’t matter at all, when Chi Yeol left the exam room? That was pushing it. They did say that some weren’t fighting for the points anymore (around ep 8/9 maybe?), but I still think it was made too important throughout the whole series. Every time I heard about those fucking points, I wanted to slam my head on my desk;
-There’s another message in the show that kinda got lost on the way. So I believe there is some criticism made about the university system and elitism in South Korea but also… I’m not sure an alien invasion and war trauma are the best ways to denounce that? It also felt a bit cheesy, in a bad way. It makes sense for Chi Yeol to think the only things that mattered were his friendships, caring for and supporting each other. In his situation, it’s a logical conclusion. But what is the lesson that you are trying to teach your viewers there? That university isn’t all that important? That it doesn’t define your worth? That friends matter the most? Not to say I disagree with that, but it’s also not that easy in real life so it just falls flat. Plus, I just watched a kid decimate all his classmates, I’m not really in the right headspace to care about your criticism of university, how it pits students against one another etc. I don’t think the parallel they’re trying to draw works very well here.

Overall, Duty After School Part 2 wasn’t great, but it wasn’t worse than Part 1 (which I gave a 6/10). It's just different. I’d even argue it was a tad bit better. I know the ending won’t suit everyone’s tastes, and in fact most will dislike it, but I can’t say it’s an awful ending. It could’ve been improved by being less rushed, but it was fitting with the tone and the message of the show.

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This is my first time writing a review if anyone of you think it's inappropriate just comment anything I will remove it right away...
This is just my opinion but please watch Part 1.. It's really good but then this part 2 it's ok for me also...
I know some of you excited for the second part like most people!.
Some of them disappointed of the ending, I see so many people angry with the ending and I get it is not the cup of tea for everybody, but to be honest Well at least they FOLLOWED the WEBTOON..
if you are a WEBTOON fanatic you will also understand the ending..
So sit back relax and just enjoy the show. :)

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a WTF drama!

Part 1 was ok good. Also made me cry expecially when sgt.Lee decided to sacrificed himself and those kids cried a lot. I was looking forward to part 2 hoping that maybe sgt.Lee wasn’t dead at all. But part 2 was so disappointing! I’ve been looking for the other military man (sgt.Lee's subordinate). And to think that this is about spheres killing humans, part 2 is 100% different. Only the beginning and prison part were spheres attacked. The rest is all about their trust issues, stubbornness, and psychological problem. They could have just stick to the original theme and had the possibility to turn it into series just like The Walking Dead. but to dismay, the writers killed almost all of the outstanding characters. Even the ending is so !@##. Only showed kimchi. Where's the other survivors?!They weren't given a justice to their characters. The writers just killed them that fucking way for that fucking reason.

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Please read the original webtoon

i don’t know if anyone will ever read this, but i just wanna say, please read the original webtoon.

i’m a big fan of Ha Il Kwon, all of his webtoons have a special place in my heart, especially annarasumanara and duty after school. Seriously, duty after school is one of his later works and it was one of his best. Although I might not able to say objectively that it’s the best webtoon(or story) i’ve ever read, it’s definitely gave a deep impression to me which I can still remember to this day, even after so many years have past. While other stories might be forgotten after several years, I can still remember and regard this story as one of the best i’ve ever read. It was this type of webtoon for me. and the drama RUINED IT.

The 1st part still followed the main idea of the original webtoon and (although it’s not the best adaptation) it’s still fun to watch. For the 2nd part, they made a different storyline (which doesn’t really make sense), added unnecessary plot, and created a whole different vibe. Also, the development of relationship between bora and aesol in the webtoon is more natural and better in general imo.

For those of you who are dissapointed because it doesn’t give you the horror of a war with the purple things that you expected, the webtoon gives you just THAT for almost the entire webtoon. For you who feels it’s ridiculous that they just magically wipe out the purple things in the end, the webtoon DID NOT do that. For you who are enraged by the endings for the character, the webtoon have better endings for them. Though I must say, the concept of the ending is still the same, but it was executed WAAAAYYYY better. In the drama, it felt so rush and like the author just suddenly went crazy and unncessarily shift the tone. While in the webtoon, the built up was really great and makes sense, and not everyone die in the end. The conclusion that wraps up the whole thing was so much better too. While the drama feels like it uses the CSAT plot way too much to the point that it becomes ridiculous (which i kinda get the purpose but i feels it was done so poorly), from what i remember it wasn’t the case for the webtoon (although it still a main element of the story). It wrapped up in a sense that reminds us that war is horrifying and it will changes you forever eventhough you survived it (at least for me, webtoon reader please feel free to give different opinion about this cause I read this a long time ago, so might not be accurate too).

Overall, i just believe that the webtoon was brilliantly done, and you should read it even if you normally doesn’t read webtoon. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I originally write this to just recommend the webtoon and give a small rant about how i’m dissapointed that they ruined the drama (they also ruined annarasumanara in the drama imo), but turns out it got longer than what I planned. Anyways, please read the webtoon.

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Unfortunately this one misfired

I really was excited to watch this part because the first part was so good. Then watching this I came to realize why I liked the first part better, and what exactly this one lacks that makes it hard to watch.

I haven’t read the source material so this is just a review of the drama that I’ve seen.

With the absence of Lee Chun Ho it’s a HUGE misfortune to this drama. He balanced out all the chaos and irresponsible things the kids did. Honestly he was the reason I stayed for the first part. The kids in the drama are really dumb, and I know they are high school kids- but life and death scenarios I can’t help myself but get annoyed at times. I don’t hate all the students, I have a few favorites.

I was hoping the bully Kwon Il Ha would get a redemption. The first part onto this it was like they forgot how traumatized the guy is watching a classmate die infront of him. And that goes for most of the students, they see the carnage but just have it all together?

The living together, fighting together.. it’s uninteresting because to me it’s so much of a stretch for some of these kids to not be dead yet. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have dead teenagers- but I can’t help but thinking of other kids.. how come there class they all get some sort of guardian angel that saves them .. that is what it feels like to me in all honesty.

The character development with the students I wasn’t enjoying. There are a few that get development, but for the most part the gags and the annoying ones send me so high up the wall. They are too much and it’s beyond me how they are still annoying even with all this death and fighting.. most of the girls are horrible- except Ana Ra, the President, and some of their friends. Pigtails is horrible, glasses is horrible, the boys are better but still.. I have to skip dumb scenes because it isn’t adding to the overall story really. It makes me feel like it’s dragging and I don’t want that. I want to like this drama.

Now why don’t I like it?

Because Chun Ho is dead. The one redemption for this show was him. He could tell the kids to shut up and they would, he was a figure they respected. Without him I honestly think realistically most of them would be dead with all the dumb thoughts and things they do. The whole idea of them staying together.. I don’t get it? If I were then I’d leave my dumb classmates. Chun Ho should not have died, he was the redeemer for me. What else is worse is that Kim Won Bin the other leader they had is just not there? Last time I remembered he didn’t die?

When kids do start dying it’s right before they are about to make progress with what development they are exploring. That is so so wrong to me- why start something without finishing it? For shock factor ?

The whole prison plot thing I skipped. I don’t know these men in there and I don’t care.. there is only four episodes so why are they adding in more people? It’s just for fluff

It’s really a waste of time and so much so that it’s insulting. Anything from part one, anything I liked isn’t touched upon or brought up. The scene from episode 7 with them killing the spheres was the peak for this season. It’s a shame because I knew it couldn’t be any good with Chun Ho being dead. I knew there was nothing they could do and they didn’t prove me wrong either. The ending is so god awful and so dumb that it doesn’t even hurt me. It’s just what it is I guess. What does hurt is remembering the first part was so good, I wish that Chun Ho didn’t die and they sort of liberate other towns and find their families- but instead they did the worst thing they could’ve possibly do. And that is to not advance the story, even with what they could.

The demise of these teenagers is so bad. I skimmed through and had to ask myself is this the same show. The shooting that the college crazy character does is so distasteful. It’s horrible and sickening.. and this topic in a drama like this- there should have been a trigger warning. It wasn’t fun anymore. That whole scene as a climax for this drama was insulting. Because right after that there was a time jump.. so what purpose did it serve other than a getaway to skip time and forget all these kids you spent your time with for the drama.

So the kids have no direction. Have no leader. And so many things are unexplained. Time skips are so bad if they are like this. This jump to this part just is off- how did they find this abandoned place. How could they barely take on one sphere in the last season but now are aces? Where are they getting ammunition? It’s little things like this that bother me and slowly add up to truly irritate me.

So.. my thoughts. Not good. Nothing happens this part. I don’t know how- nothing happens.

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Duty after school 2

The ending was so depressing. I really can't just accept it or don't want to accept it. How can it end like it 😭 I wanted to see them all together after the war and how can someone be so selfish and care so much about themselves only? I'm feeling dead after watching the last episode and didn't expect an ending like this though it makes the drama more thrilling and interesting. The moment the csat psycho started killing everyone water dropped from my eyes but still, there was hope that everyone may stand back and fight back. The hope of seeing them together doing everything they wanted to do after escaping from that he'll only remain a dream 😭

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What happened?

Part 1 had its problems and was not bad as it had a real gripping ending, but part 2… what were the writers thinking?

I don't know how important CSAT exams are, but this exam is one of the driving plot points of part 2. What makes no sense is that humanity faces extinction and yet all these kid could think about was getting into college. I am sure there are more important things to worry about than college entry at a time like that. This becomes such a central plot point that one of the characters literally goes insane after finding out the 2023 CSAT exams were cancelled and were to be held in 2024. This leads to the drama ending not to a final showdown against the alien threat, but the final boss being this kid who has gone insane and had somehow activated god-mode in his final rampage.

The ending was anti-climatic and skips ahead to 2024 where humanity has wiped out 99% of the menace so had the threat under control. Okay... so we are supposed to imagine the final desperate struggle and not be shown it? Instead we were given teenaged angst drama with automatic rifles? Sure.

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honestly why that approach? the ending made me fell like I wasted my time.

It didn't make sense. Why did they have to go through all that shit? okay if we take a logical approach to some extent it's imaginable but so many plot holes with lazy and inattentive coverups. honestly, if they never gave a second season that pain might have been better than this.

Yes, it had an emotional impact but at what cost? I loved many scenes, I loved the acting, and I loved that staked were high but it was all ruined for me. This drama made other survival dramas shine.

spoiler:
starting off the season itself was weird. Where was Mr. Kim? If they were planning to remove a whole character at least give some explanation!! They constantly bought up Mr. Lee so what happened to the other dude?!
And okay other things were satisfying in the first eps. The kids were adjusting well and got used to the new reality.
class pres decision made so much sense but communication was the problem .
But Do soo chul's death made no sense!!! if there were spheres why didn't the detector go off? And since the spheres go hunt for humans they should have gone for the group downstairs rather than him alone since that was the whole point of Season 1.
Also, regarding the science school students who died, why weren't there any spheres around?
The amusement park scene where Kwon Il han dies and did gook really have enough time to drown him with stones? They hear a gunshot and others come so quickly, where did he get heavy stones in the middle of a beach? like a gunshot, drag the body, heavy rocks did kook really have that much time?
The second thing was now that they know what is happening isn't it common sense that CSAT was impossible? even if they were stupid enough gook yeoung soo's madness arc felt forced and dumb especially since he was supposed to be smart. I really hated this. it was foreshadowed in weird ways BUT was it really necessary?
And the 4 chars who survived Kook... how did they survive the approaching spheres? there were hundreds !!

I should have said this in the first season itself but the plot about sending students to war and putting adults in shelters made no freaking sense. And the shelters would have obviously been attacked since so many people gathered. No decision taken by the authorities made any sense.
I don't mean to hate on this but it is so frustrating when writers pull this mass destruction thing where all chars die at least why they died should have had some meaning! if they all died fighting spheres it would have made more sense but Kook? really?
He was disgusting and I hate him but what about the bond they all had suddenly ruined for the plot?

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The airs of grandeur that ruined story

This is the best example of how a pretentious writer can ruin his own story, by wanting to do a more 'intellectual' work.

I would summarize the problems of this second part in three causes: wanting to make the story darker, the claims to make it more philosophical and transcendent, and wanting to emphasize social criticism a lot.

Regarding the first, it is obvious that the writer wanted to make the story much darker than in the first part, and for this he wanted to resort to all means, even playing the sexual violence card, as occurred in the plot of the prison and in Young Soo's attempted sexual assault on his female comrade in arms. Making a dark story is something that I usually like, but it is necessary to do it with creativity, good taste, and a sense of timing, so that it does not undermine the fundamental purpose of the plot, and here those conditions were not met.

The second was made clear by emphasizing the message that human beings are worse than any alien monster, that there is no worse predator for human beings than human beings themselves. An otherwise irrelevant message, because all adult and moderately intelligent human beings know that sad reality, and if not, there are all the series and movies about zombies to remember it.

And the third is obvious when highlighting the criticism against the South Korean education system and the excessive social pressure on adolescents to succeed in such a demanding and relentless system, and also the criticism against social inequality that multiplies the pressure on someone who comes from a poor family and seeks an escape from poverty in the educational system.

The problem is that by wanting to make those three objectives the main motivation of the second part, the writer forgot that this was basically a fun and exciting science fiction story about an alien invasion and a group of high school teenagers turned, despite themselves, warriors. Everything exciting and interesting from the first part went to waste in the last two episodes, especially the last one, and we were left with a story with airs of greatness that we didn't ask for and that we didn't like.

It's a pity because I liked the first part a lot, and I would give it (in general) a rating of 8 out of 10. Even to the first episode of the second part I would give a rating of 7, and until the penultimate episode I wanted to be lenient, and even the prison plot didn't seem bad at all, although I didn't like the ending very much.

But the last episode ruined everything, I found it to be the worst final episode out of all the hundreds of Korean dramas I've watched. After most of our teenagers managed to survive hard, seeing almost every character we empathize with getting killed by a fellow idiot who suddenly went berserk is so disappointing. Obviously, I would have preferred most of them to have survived the war, but if they had to die, I would have preferred to see them die in battle against the alien monsters, and not killed by surprise by a deranged comrade, something that was done just to send a pretentious message and supposedly transcendent.

I don't want to value the scene of the massacre too much (because it still annoys me) but just to say that after so many battles as veteran soldiers I am surprised that there were not several of them who had the reflexes to quickly repel the attack with their weapons, it seems hardly credible.

After that disastrous ending, having a pre-graduation scene (flashback or alternate fantasy?) thrown in the last few minutes and then a disconcerting post-credits music scene, makes the final episode even worse.

In conclusion, the final episode has been a fiasco, which only deserves a rating of 1 (and that's because the amusement park scenes gave us a little joy). I agree with all the critics, this second part is an annoying waste that ruined a pretty good story in the first part.

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