😭 Some stories capture attention from the very first announcement, and Teach You a Lesson has been doing exactly that ever since it was revealed ❤️🎬✨. Now, after months of anticipation and excitement, fans finally have the news they’ve been waiting for—the official premiere date has been confirmed 🌸🥹
Credits: Netflix
The premise of Korea’s latest action drama has me rather concerned about the kind of stuff we’re willing to promote in 2026. When I first started the show, like many others, I found a sense of joy in watching evil teenagers get properly punished for their actions. But a few episodes in, I certainly found myself stressed out about what we’re trying to say about education and going back to corporal punishment. I get the point the show is trying to make. Juvenile delinquents need proper punishment so they don’t turn into adult law-breakers, but is promoting physical violence as said punishment the way to go? This is something I find myself questioning at the end of the 10 episodes. At the end of the day, Netflix’s Teach You A Lesson should be taken with a grain of salt, considering the world we live in today and the fact that it’s based on a Webtoon that’s been called out publicly as problematic. So much so that the show doesn’t even seem to refer to the Webtoon at all, and I only found out about it after looking it up later. Anyway, Teach You A Lesson follows the people of the Education Protection Rights Bureau and their fight to bring law-breakers in the education system to justice, no matter their age, gender or position. With that said, let’s find out if they’re successful or not.
Spoiler Alert
Is Gyu-Cheol Brought To Justice?
The ending of episode 9 shows that Gyu-Cheol’s supposed redemption arc, whereby he stood up for a bullied kid called Seong-Gu, was all a ploy. He was playing both sides all along, both reporting the bully, Chi-Ho, to the EPRB, and then giving Chi-Ho advice on how to handle the situation, including putting him in touch with a specialist lawyer who handles student board hearings. After the EPRB pulls a fast one on Chi-Ho and frames him for beating up investigator Han-Rim (who was dressed as a schoolgirl at the time, don’t ask), before finally exposing his bullying of Seong-Gu, he confronts Gyu-Cheol. After recording Chi-Ho’s rant about how the EPRB have ruined his life, Gyu-Cheol quickly pushes the kid off the rooftop they were meeting on, bringing his kill count to 2. Immediately, the media’s enraged about this apparent suicide, and after Gyu-Cheol gives Congressman Gi-Tae the recording of Chi-Ho’s last words, the public approval rating for the EPRB dips below 50%. This, in combination with Hwa-Jin going overboard and punching Gyu-Cheol the next day, forces the minister to suspend all active EPRB investigators. But while the EPRB investigators are suspended, the drug business booms, giving Gyu-Cheol the ability to sell across schools, even reaching Seon-Yeong’s school (Soyeon Girl’s High School). She’s quick to find the drugs which are being sold as vitamins and goes straight to the EPRB. At the same time, the minister lifts the ban and urges teachers to come to them if they’re facing the same problem of drugs being trafficked in their schools. The teachers show up in hordes, and the EPRB is brought back to life. There’s no other way of stopping this great evil.
In Teach You A Lesson’s ending, it is revealed that Gyu-Cheol blames Ga-Yun for this whole drug business, because had she not forced him back to school, he’d have never realized the market potential of selling to students. Despite having gone to prison, Gyu-Cheol hasn’t changed at all. In fact, he’s been scheming about how to switch up the narrative, making him the golden boy while authorities like the EPRB are wiped away for good. In truth, it’s no secret that the Korean justice system is always under heavy public scrutiny. I can understand why a boy like Gyu-Cheol would come out unscathed, but here it definitely feels like it’s simply a tool to nudge the story forward and make sure the EPRB look like the ultimate instrument of justice. It is certainly a personal vendetta at this point, but I guess that’s something we’re meant to overlook as an undercooked plotline. While the evil in this show is wholly evil, there’s no gray about it, I don’t think I can say the same about the good. For instance, Han-Rim is a volatile person and technically shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near children, never mind those whom she thinks are evil at heart. She’s meant to be someone who prevents bad things from happening, but all she does is show people how inconsistent her mental stability is. It’s certainly a jarring thing to see for a show that’s trying to say corporal punishment in the hands of the morally upright is universally good, before then putting that power in the hands of a genuine psychopath. Also, it doesn’t paint a good picture of the Korean military that she was a bloodthirsty spec ops operative. Ultimately, the whole thing feels fishy, and though they succeed at destroying Gyu-Cheol’s business, it’s not enough to get the whole country squirming to set things straight.
I was stuck wondering why the show feels like a supernatural one, even questioning if Hwa-Jin and later Han-Rim were mutants of some kind, because in this universe, apparently jumping off of buildings doesn’t even phase you if you’ve got justice on your mind. In the end, Gyu-Cheol and Hwa-Jin are meant to have a showdown, but Gyu-Cheol strikes again, this time with a screwdriver straight into Hwa-Jin’s stomach. Unfortunately for Gyu-Cheol, Hwa-Jin isn’t the kind-hearted Ga-Yun who died from such a blow. He’s strong and unafraid to hit a minor. Yes, I get it, an eye for an eye, but because he’s the good person here, Hwa-Jin does not make the killing blow, sparing Gyu-Cheol and giving him another start, though it’s not something the boy wants. A second chance is something you need to earn, and Gyu-Cheol hasn’t. In my opinion, people like Gyu-Cheol do not change. They need to be dealt with differently, and that doesn’t just mean leaving them alive when they want to be dead. The real test is the kind of rehabilitation these kinds of kids get, and that’s something this story does not get into. So ultimately, I don’t see it as a win at all.
Does Hwa-Jin Survive?
At the end of the fight, Hwa-Jin crumples to the floor, clutching his side and bleeding liberally. He sees a vision of Ga-Yun, his dead fiancee, bending down to talk to him, but we don’t hear what she says. It really does seem for a moment like he’s going to die, but maybe this was just him feeling close to the love of his life for a little while after he’s finally brought her killer to justice. Ultimately, Han-Rim comes around to pick him back up onto his feet (after presumably pummelling Gyu–Cheol’s minions to a pulp), and we see Hwa-Jin doing just fine. If anything, when Minister Gang-Seol sees him bleeding, he has an overreaction and threatens Gu-Chyeol for stabbing his son-in-law. This is only proof that the bond between the two is permanent, even though Ga-Yun and Hwa-Jin never got to marry.
The last we see of the minister, the entire EPRB team is at Ga-Yun’s hilltop gravesite, paying their respects. Hwa-Jin bonds with them all by telling the story of how the minister cried when he adopted a foster cat, and it embarrasses the poor guy to the point he threatens to beat Hwa-Jin up. He loves the guy, but there’s limits to his vulnerability, apparently. We also get a little clarity on where things stand between Han-Rim and Geun-Dae. She’s been calling him cute throughout the show, especially after that one time he got kidnapped by a gambling-focused gang. And apparently, Geun-Dae has a thing for mean women who bully him. When she was high after being hit with the booby trap, Geun-Dae rescued her from a beating but had no way to calm her down, and that’s when he kissed her (unfortunate it had to be in her moment of vulnerability). Seemingly, it did the trick, but now when he tries to hold her hand so she doesn’t trip on a rock, she gets all embarrassed, remembering the kiss. These two are definitely getting together, and Hwa-Jin’s going to have a lot of fun watching the drama unfold in his team.
Why is Gi-Tae Arrested?
When Gi-Tae had accepted the recording from Gyu-Cheol, he did so despite knowing that the young man had murdered Chi-Ho. Turns out, everything Gi-Tae did had been part of Gyu-Cheol’s plan all along, he was just manipulating the congressman into getting him out of prison on parole by making it seem like he was a misguided boy he could use as a political pawn. Instead of revealing this to the public, Gi-Tae had played along and released the recording, all because he wanted to see Minister Gang-Seok crash and burn and no longer be a competitor to him. Now, after Gyu-Cheol goes down and everything is exposed, Gi-Tae is finally arrested as an accessory to the murder of Chi-Ho, and on his way out, the minister not only trips the guy up, but then he takes a big old swing at his nose. Why? I couldn’t tell you, it certainly doesn’t seem like professional behaviour, and Gi-Tae is about to be punished anyway, so why do something that would evoke sympathy for him? Maybe the media was right about Gang-Seok’s political career being motivated by revenge all along.
Will There Be A Season 2?
At the end of season 1, the EPRB is thriving and now face-to-face with a star basketball athlete. Someone the country should be proud of, but what’s he doing? Meting out corporal punishment on fellow athletes, hazing them. The end of the show reminds us that these kinds of delinquents continue to mess up our society, and need the same kind of treatment that they dish out as punishment. While the ending of the show alludes to the fact that there’s always going to be more people for the EPRB to bust, I would hope there isn’t a second season, or if there is, it shows us what happens in the aftermath of being busted. My critical analysis of the show isn’t meant to be a complete dismissal of what it’s trying to do, but I want to start a conversation regarding bullies and what can be done to punish them. I think the show effectively makes us question the same things, and that’s why it’s worth discussing.
