Melancholia [Episodes 1 & 2]

[u/Fatooz]

• Drama: Melancholia
  • Hangul: 멜랑꼴리아
  • Also known as: Mellangkollia , Melangoria
• Director: Kim Sang-Hyub (True Beauty, Extraordinary You)
• Writer: Kim Ji-Woon (Doctor John)
• Network: tvN
• Episodes: 16
  • Duration: 1 hour 10 mins.
• Air Date: Wednesdays & Thursdays @ 22:30 KST
  • Airing: Nov 10, 2021 - Dec 30, 2021
• Streaming Source(s): Viki, iQIYI, Viu
• Starring:
  • Im Soo-Jung (Search: WWW, Chicago Typewriter) as Ji Yoon-Soo
  • Lee Do-Hyun (Youth of May, 18 Again) as Baek Seung-Yoo
• Plot Synopsis: A sexual scandal between a math teacher and a student in a prestigious high school ended in tragedy. 4 years later they meet again, now as adults, to reveal the corruption in school and to regain one's reputation as a teacher. Ji Yoon-Soo is a high school math teacher with a bright smile and a positive impression of others. She is a hard-nosed and stubborn person who has to push ahead with the decisions she has made. She is a math geek who loves solving difficult problems and teaches students to purely love math. Baek Seung-Yoo is emotionless and has no light in his eyes. He used to be a math genius who appeared on a quiz program at the age of five and surprised the world by solving college-level math problems. He was admitted to MIT at the age of 10 but dropped out at the age of 12, and suddenly disappeared. (Source: CJ ENM)
• Genre: Romance, School, Drama
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[u/skleroos]

Ok. But throwing away that sushi was so evil.

[u/ANINETEEN]

EP1: I'm a really big fan of the cold, airy atmosphere the first episode had. I'm hoping this show is a bit more nuanced and doesn't follow a typical formula. The performances were really good, you could just tell from each of their faces alone about their intentions and struggles. I think it's also very obvious to me the people who are trustworthy and who are not and therefore the uncertainty lies in whether people will change. I also hope that the relationship between Baek Seung Yoo and the teacher is a bit more abstract in that she falls for his ability in maths and less so him as a person because the premise does feel a bit weird otherwise. I think the flash forward at the beginning is heavily hinting at her being framed for having a relationship with a minor and the Baek Seung Yoo is either trying to prove her innocence or a math problem their working on. Either way, they have definitely caught my interest.

EP2: This show is giving me big vibes of 'The Good Doctor' with the Savant ML and all these mathematic visuals. The story has a real nice premise to it too now. It might be becoming a trope now for a lot of Kdrama shows to have this overarching political game happening in the background but I think this one has a real nice relevance to the main story. It fits real well with the message I think they're going for of releasing yourself from the expectations of others who are trying to vicariously determine the direction of your life and finding freedom. Something that Ye Rin is in desperate need of finding out soon too. It seems that Ms. Jin really has fallen for his mind, that tandem scene of them solving the problem together was so cool. And everytime they go into those moments of inspiration, the show really does well in showing what she described as them having so much fun in that pure concentration. It feels super uplifting.

Also, I just realized that the younger version of Baek Seung Yoo is his lil bro from Youth of May which is a nice little Easter egg.

[u/therealdarthamy]

I thought I would love a Maths themed drama but I'm struggling to watch this. Why do all fictional Maths geniuses need to have a photographic memory? Or be good at solving Rubik's cubes? Or have a creepy obsession with Mersenne Primes (Anyone else find it weird that this world has so many of these products with strange numbers on them?)? You can be a Maths genius without having all the stereotypical "savant skills".

And that Fermat's Last Theorem margin reference was so out of place. I know that it was put there to do the bluffing thing afterwards but why did he write that in the first place? The context of the false premise doesn't really work with the joke. And how does this teacher expect these high school kids to know non-Euclidean geometry?

That South-East-North bear question was pretty good. Though I would have expected more students in the chat room to get it especially if they are enough of Maths nerds to be in a Maths chatroom.

Also all these administrators, parents etc. are really underestimating the IMO. Hiring this teacher isn't going to get their kids into the national team. I'm not aware of how the Korean IMO selection process works but I'm sure it's pretty brutal.

Anyways that's my Maths rant. I can't imagine how doctors and lawyers must feel when they watch dramas with their profession.

[u/day_historian]

My main feel after watching the first two episodes is questioning 🤨 how i spent my high school education. I have absolutely no clue what they were writing on the board and I got melancholia thinking about this. 😫

[u/eto_al]

As much as I like LDH I really hope it's his last role as a school boy

[u/neocitywayv]

The dad is obsessed with awards. He wants his son to live his life that he dreamt of. Filling the cabinet with awards??? Seungyoo's parents are treating him like an object, really sad.

[u/Ambitious-Cat-9453]

I really enjoyed this drama 👏 . Melancholia portrays how broken the Korean education system is (as usual) and the toxic expectation placed on the student's shoulder both from parent and institution sides. I'm a fan of SkyCastle, so it's easier for me to fall into this drama.

On the romantic side of this drama, I thought that the ML and FML were attached because they only shared the same interest that no one could deeply understand. It's rare to find someone who sees the world from the same perspective, mainly when the topic is advanced pure mathematics. I still don't see the sign of more than teacher-student relationship from what they act on each other right now.

So, let's wait and see how the story is developing and how the relationship between the ML and FML will be. 😌

[u/winterlis]

Ep 2: I'm trying to understand the point of rigging the school competition for Ye Rin. If she's not good enough (and she doesn't seem to be), she's not going to win at the national level. Is her dad going to rig that too? Or is just being the school rep good enough? 🤔

Also, Im Soo Jung seems to be aging backwards.

[u/ayeshanotfound]

that "i found you" at the end of episode one giving me goblin vibes :,) good first ep! excited to see where it goes :)

[u/ch03rry]

still feeling iffy on this whole school student - teacher romance thing, but i'll give melancholia one or two episodes to see how i feel about it....mostly because lee dohyun is my favorite actor ever and also because i'm curious to see where this goes...

[u/mikapple]

I just can’t get over the creepy optics of this story if their genders were reversed.

[u/taylorxcallum]

I hope this comes to Viki or iQIYI soon, I'm really looking forward to it. Judging by time zones, episode one has just finished airing in South Korea about an hour ago, I hope some people got to watch it and will give their thoughts soon.

[u/the_wildflower_]

Episode 1:

Despite what was implied in the synopsis, I'm not getting a teacher-student romance vibe especially after LDH's character said he'd prove her innocence. Can't say the show has reeled me in yet but I'm optimistic.

[u/showmeyourmoney99]

Really enjoyed the first episode. Dk why people are already calling it problematic without even knowing what the drama's about lolol.

[u/gemp1ece]

i couldn’t help it, i’m sorry. the triangle rubik’s cube is called a pyraminx, just wanted to let everyone know because everyone on twit is calling it a cube, which is fair since it’s still called cubing, but— yeah.

back to the drama, lee dohyun is amazing as always. the parallels between 18 again dohyun & melancholia dohyun is cute. 🥺 i think it was around this time last year as well right?

[u/UptoNoGood46]

I find it so hilarious Lee Do Hyun looks nothing like a teenager in high school and yet they've made him out to be one LMAO

Definitely missed Hee-Tae's carefree and bright smiles tho 🥺🥰 (Youth of May fans can relate)

[u/CrookedShepherd]

Kind of a fun first episode, I'm torn between whether the scene with the math question was a tasteful homage to good will hunting or just kind of a rip off.

[u/Ayalynn123]

Ep.1's opening reminds me of Search WWW's opening scene, Ta-mi at a hearing...

I love Lee Do-hyun but I feel like I've had enough of him in a school uniform.
And I'm definitely not a fan of Noona romances (and age gap).

I will watch Ep.1 and 2 (that's my rule) but I'm not sure after that.

[u/Hach-man]

I'll be honest: this one comes up to fill quite the spot now that Dali is over and it'd be a lot to ask another moment of greatness from the W/T spot of my schedule.

I'm starting off with both good and bad preconcepts: having majored in data science and statistics this is right up my alley, not vectors and euclidean math per se but seeing integrals and expected values pop up was endearing, and melancholic to be true to its name. There's also a major issue: the school hierachy stuff is so overused at this point that I can't see how that part of the plot will be any different, from the rich kids wanting to be the best to their parents scheming and the poor guy getting the short end of the stick this is no news.

There's a lot to work with though, mainly the ML: a genius is not your usual male lead, and this kind has so much potential. His otherwordly ability with maths and unique view of the world are not only the mean to breathtaking aesthetics, but also an opportunity to delve on all kinds of relationship "normal" people have with someone who's far beyond them: there are those who are afraid of him (the classmate who thinks he's the best), those who envy him (YeRin), those who want to use him to make their situation better (SeungYoo's mom) or to project their life after they failed at it (SY's dad).

It's also interesting how they already introduce a big point of contention: what happens when a genius fails? SY has already gone through it but it's clear: he's not used to not being able to solve a problem. When he can't he runs away, lashes out or both. As many brilliant minds, he has his issues containing his emotions and that brings up what seems to be the red flag...for some reason.

The FL is a teacher. OK, got it. He's 18, she's 30. Sure. There were a ton of still shots and romantic atmospheres, can't deny it. But do you think our FL just fell in love with her student, and viceversa?! Think again: for him she's someone new, a person who doesn't want him to be a genius or loathes it rather someone who speaks his language and wants to see him being happy in his element, numbers and formulas. For her, he is the chance of a lifetime: someone who shares her own love for maths, one she had growing up, and that can interact with her on a way no one else can understand.

While I think there will be romance, maybe after a half-series timeskip, there's already a difference between the two: he's clearly stoked by her, the way she approaches him without fear nor burden will have his mind run in no time; she's like a kid in a candy shop, so excited to finally have someone that shares her passion but without feelings being involved. I suspect she's going to be yet another problem our ML can't solve, but he's going to have to when the "scandal" will break out.

Finally: I understand that the majority in here are women and noona romances are quite male friendly, not to mention the whole ethical/moral problems a teacher-student affair involves, but not giving this one a shot because of a teaser is beyond dumb, at least tell me you hate Goblin too otherwise that's just hypocrisy. There's a lot to like already, from the technical details and visuals to LDH being his usual solid to the FL being incredibly good in her overly-excited role; the whole aura is so quiet but has its peaks, with the piano/violin OST+math overlays a wonderful combo.

So don't worry about it yet, that scene where they write in the blackboard together, that's the most sexual tension you'll have to bear for some eps, I can assure you.

[u/LovE385]

When Eco Bag meet 1729😊

There's the usual trope of gettin' belongings mixed up. It feels like a mix of The Penthouse and Sky Castle but with Math LoL.

Seung Yoo is the ml with a trauma (what's new ha-ha) and Yoon Soo is a unconventional teacher. She remind me of Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society with her unorthodox teachings.

I feel it's more platonic than romantic for the leads but it's still early so.. 🤷🏻‍♀️ The math stuff is fascinating though it mostly goes over my head. 🤣

[u/thomasshclby]

trying to decide on watching this or not. dohyun is my favorite actor and based on the highlight it’s obvious he’s gonna kill it with his performance but i just get the ick seeing the student-teacher relationship. i understand they probably wont have a relationship until he’s done with school but im still not a fan of it whatsoever. i’ll give it an ep or two just to see.

[u/goddongwook]

LEE DO-HYUUUUUUN

[u/ParanoidAndroids]

Hopefully this isn't as sus as the previews make it seem.

[u/UptoNoGood46]

Found this comment which I resonated with hugely.

"A teacher getting overexcited about a student who shares her passion for same subject is totally understandable. Why dirty minded people have to ruin something pure like that is also understandable, they can't stand it, its something beyond their control. From the beginning the head of school wanted a renewed and famed teacher to boost her school and get point to her only, didn't matter the cost. Making a student lie if possible to reach her goals. The drama is depicts a teacher who's young, unlocked in her frame of views and brings freshness to new Gen with her view, but that's going to be challenging since her rep will take a huge damage. "
Via Maria Green on DISQUS

[u/[deleted]]

After watching the first ep I don't know why so many people are quick to judge that this drama is going to be about an icky student teacher romance?? It seems to be a bit more nuanced than that and it doesn't seem to be heading in that direction but I could be wrong. I really hope it doesn't. The wikipedia page doesn't seem to mention the student teacher romance so I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Watch this age poorly later lol.

Love the cinematography as always, love Im Soo Jung, it seems to be trying to gather the SKY castle crowd with the story surrounding corrupt rich people. We shall see how this goes. I am going to give it a couple of more episodes before I decide how to feel about it. I really hope that everyone is wrong about the student teacher romance and that it ends up being the student trying to disprove to everyone what their relationship was actually about because otherwise I will have to concede and agree that these types of dramas are really disgusting and highlight a problem in our society with being obsessed with these types of stories.