I love KBS’ special dramas, every show they made as a special drama witch I’ve seen so far, had an artsy feel sprinkled with a good script and as a cheery they put great (young) actors.
Unfortunately, “Puberty Medley” has only 4 episodes, to be honest after seeing just the first episode, I would’ve wished if they did at least 8, mostly because it gives such a nostalgic feeling making it a pleasure to watch.
With good promotion this drama could’ve had the chance to stand against School 2013 – of course this is just my personal opinion
The drama starts with adult Choi Jung Woo who is a teacher, after being scolded by the director of the school he works at, later he receives a mail from an internet café (it’s like a forum) made by his colleagues from his high school days, announcing that the café will soon close but it will be kept online for a few more days for everyone who wants to save pictures and other memories. When he tries to log in the café, Jung Woo writes an incorrect password, and he is asked to answer the security question: “Name of my first love?”, he writes the password but it is shown as “Password: ******” after all it’s a password ….
Logged in the café, Jung Woo sees a picture of him who was sitting at a window and a girl who was sitting at the window next to his, when he enlarges the picture on the girl, Jung Woo remembers the past when he moved in a country town.
Because he moved often, Jung Woo decides to keep it low as much as possible without making friends since once he starts making friends, his father gets a transfer from work to move in another town. Although he is decided not to make new friends according to him, the classmates from Namil are either too hyper or unnecessary friendly, things that seem not on his liking. Even worst, the always bullied Im Duk Won acts way too friendly and is way too talkative towards him. When Duk Won was inviting Jung Woo to his house to hang out, the upper classmate, Shin Young Bok, who always bullied Duk Won appears and starts hitting Duk Won for being late with delivering his lunch.
While Duk Won was out to buy Young Bok’s lunch, the bully looks at Duk Won’s lunch box but doesn’t like anything and just throws to chopsticks. Seeing the upper classmate acting all violent and being noisy, Jung Woo glares at him. Only when Jung Woo starts glaring at him, Young Bok notices the new student. Young Bok asks him if he wants to be his new delivery boy, but since Jung Woo already decided to keep it low at the new school, he tries to ignore the bully. Successfully Young Bok gets easily bored of the new student and leaves the classroom.
Jung Woo (thinking to himself): Pretend not to see, hear or notice. Don’t make friends nor enemies. I learned after transferring seven times that it’s easier it I don’t get involved.
The homeroom teacher informs the students that National Singing Contest (a really really really old singing contest show) was coming to their town and every school will have to send a representative team and after a small contest between the teachers, because their homeroom teacher won (mostly lost since the students didn’t want to go) tells them that their class will have to send a team. The class president Yang Ah Young is in charge of putting together a team for the contest.
After class, Ah Young tells Jung Woo that it’s their class’ turn to wash the bed sheets from the nurses’ office and he has to wash them. In the school yard, Jung Woo witnesses Shin Young Bok and Lee WonIl bulling Duk Won and taking his money. But he tries to ignore everything and continue on his way. Jung Woo hears when the two bullies say to Duk Won that he is a loser since even the person (Jung Woo) who sits next to him in class gives him the cold shoulder but Jung Woo walks away without giving any help to Duk Won.
When Jung Woo arrives home, he sees his parents packing (again). The father tells him that they are moving again, this time they will move to Seoul. Hearing the sudden news, he goes to his room and starts packing. While packing, Jung Woo takes out all the uniforms from all the school he had to transfer at. Every time he moved it was like:
Teacher 1: He is your new classmate (after 2 seconds) Say goodbye to Jung Woo he is moving
Teacher 2: He is your new classmate (after 2 seconds) Say goodbye to Jung Woo he is moving
(….)
Teacher n: He is your new classmate (after 2 seconds) Say goodbye to Jung Woo he is moving
During break time, Duk Won shows to Jung Woo the girl he likes, Jang Hyun Jin, since a long time ago. Young Bok comes into the classroom and tells Duk Won to give to him, his cell phone. Duk Won wants to refuse because he was waiting for an important phone call from his mother, the bully doesn’t care and still takes the phone. When Young Bok asks Duk Won for his daily snack, Duk Won says he didn’t had time to buy it, but he has some rice cakes from his father’s death memorial. Young Bok throws the rice cakes on the ground and hits Duk Won while telling him to go buy the stacks he wants. This time, Jung Woo finally bursts with anger and takes the bag with the rice cakes and throws the bag at Young Bok, but he dodges it, and the bag hits Brown Bear (Lee Yuk Ho) who seems to be someone everyone in the school fears of. Yuk Ho turns around, although visible scared, Jung Woo tries to act brave and shouts at Young Bok and Yuk Ho to stop taking money from Duk Won and stop bulling him.
Yuk Ho: If you don’t want us to continue bothering your friend, want to fight me? If you win, your friend is free.
Since everyone was present there, Jung Woo has no other choice but to accept. Later he gets popular in the school for accepting to fight the Brown Bear. His classmates even want to share their porn movies with him. The classmates start telling him about Brown Bear who never loses a fight, and Jung Woo, who seems to have a rich imagination, he starts imagines Yuk Ho fighting a big gang while the OST from the drama Chuno plays. A few seconds later, Jung Woo finally remembers that at the end of the week, thanks to his father, he will move to another town and then he starts imagines a funny scene where Yuk Ho comes into the class room looking for Jung Woo to fight him but the bully doesn’t find him. After the image from his head, he finds it funny and starts laughing like a crazy person.
Ah Young asks Jung Woo about the bed sheets he was supposed to wash, he says he forgot them but by the end of the week the sheets will be returned to the nurse’s office. Ah Young advices Jung Woo to apologize to Yuk Ho and also tells him to bring some chalk from the teachers’ office. Returning from the teachers’ office, Jung Woo hears Ah Young and another class made talking about him, from their talk, he finds out that their class wasn’t supposed to wash the bed sheets this week. The other class mate asks Ah Young if she is making Jung Woo do all those errands because she is bulling him. Annoyed Jung Woo throws the chalk. After he left, Ah Young tells the other class mate that she wasn’t bulling Jung Woo but in fact she tries to make him do all those errands because maybe that way it will be easier for him to become friendly with the other classmates, and she also tried to make him do all that because that was the only way to start conversations with him since he is a transfer student and at the beginning no one talks with transfer students.
Back in the classroom, because he didn’t hear all the conversation between Ah Young and the other classmate, Jung Woo decides to ruin Ah Young’s school life. When she enters to class, he shouts her name and in front of all the classmates Jung Woo asks Ah Young if she wants to be his girlfriend. Ah Young gives a simple reply “Sure, Ok I will” and everyone in the class starts clapping.
When Ah Young was trying to find a team to go at the singing contest, everyone in the class tells Jung Woo to go with Ah Young at the contest. Thinking that it will be funny when Ah Young will find herself alone at the contest because he will move to another town, he accepts to go with Ah Young at the contest. Now whenever Jung Woo (and Duk Won) appears the OST ‘Paradise’ from Boys over Flowers starts singing.
After class, Jung Woo arrives home where his parents drop the BOMB!!!! THEY WON’T MOVE BECAUSE THE FATHER DECLINED THE TRANSFER TO SEOUL!! Along with his father’s news, Jung Woo’s face also drops and imagines Young Bok, Yuk Ho and Ah Young beating the crap out of him. Next day, whenever someone was entering the classroom, Jung Woo gets scared thinking that it may be Yuk Ho searching for him.
During sports class, some girls where taking with Ah Young. Young Bok sees them and eavesdrop their conversations. The other girls ask Ah Young why she accepted so fast to go out with Jung Woo but when Young Bok asked her out she always refused, at that moment Yuk Ho also appears and Ah Young notices to 2 and the conversation ends. After Ah Young leaves, Yuk Ho asks Young Bok:
Yuk Ho: You still have something left to say to her?
Later, Shin Young Bok and Lee Won Il come to search for Jung Woo but luckily he runs away. When he finally was out of the school’s gate, Ah Young shouts his name and he turns around. Yuk Ho, who was also training in the school’s yard sees the two and goes towards them.
Four Seasons Dramas! 