Three Netflix K-dramas to stream if you loved ‘Teach You a Lesson’
Netflix has another Korean hit on its hands with Teach You a Lesson. The action-packed school drama has been trending everywhere, especially among K-drama fans, since its release earlier this month.
Based on the hugely popular Naver webtoon Get Schooled (also known as True Education), the series arrived on Netflix on June 5th and became one of the most talked-about new releases of the summer, thanks to its mix of school violence and social commentary.
Set in a version of South Korea where bullying and classroom violence have gone out of control, the story follows Na Hwa-jin, a government-backed investigator who works for a special educational task force tasked with restoring order in troubled schools. Rather than relying on traditional disciplinary measures, Hwa-jin and his colleagues use aggressive and highly unconventional methods to confront violent students. They also expose corrupt administrators and protect victims who have been failed by the system, creating a drama that often feels as much like an action thriller as it does a school series.
Part of the fascination surrounding Teach You a Lesson stems from the fact that the original webtoon was already one of the most controversial titles in Korea before Netflix ever announced an adaptation. Loads of people in Korea argued over it because of the way it deals with punishment and discipline. Some reckoned it was asking questions nobody else wanted to ask, while others thought it’d gone way too far. Then Netflix announced the adaptation, and the whole thing kicked off again.
Whether people agree with it or not, it’s definitely got people watching. In fact, all the controversy’s probably helped. People hear everyone arguing over a show, and then they want to see what all the fuss is about for themselves. So if you have already rattled through the series in a couple of nights and you are after something similar, Netflix has got a few other K-dramas that hit the same sort of notes.
Three Netflix K-dramas to stream if you loved Teach You a Lesson
Juvenile Justice (2022)
Before we get into the story, it’s worth mentioning that Juvenile Justice was released on Netflix at a time when youth crime and accountability were being talked about all over South Korea. Instead of focusing on schools, the series takes things into the courtroom and looks at what happens once young offenders end up facing the justice system. Despite that, she is assigned to a juvenile court, where she is faced with a series of difficult cases involving teenage criminals and families dealing with the fallout of it all. Alongside fellow judges Cha Tae-joo and Kang Won-jung, she takes on cases that rarely come with straightforward answers. This forces both the characters and the audience to think about where the responsibility really lies.
That’s exactly what makes it such a good follow-up to Teach You a Lesson. Both shows are asking the same question: what happens when the systems that are meant to protect young people stop working? The difference is that while Na Hwa-jin deals with it head-on, Eun-seok’s trying to tackle it through the law.
The Glory (2022–2023)
If the revenge angle was what kept you glued to Teach You a Lesson, then The Glory should be your next stop. While the former tackles bullying through a government task force all in for bending the rules, The Glory explores what happens when a victim decides to take justice into her own hands after years of waiting for the perfect opportunity. The story is of Moon Dong-eun, a woman whose teenage years were destroyed by a group of wealthy and influential classmates. After enduring horrific abuse and finding little support from the adults around her, Dong-eun spends nearly two decades carefully planning her revenge. When she eventually re-enters the lives of her former tormentors, she does so with a strategy that is far more chilling than any physical confrontation.
One of the reasons the drama became such a global phenomenon is its creator, Kim Eun-sook, who was previously known for writing romantic hits such as Goblin and Descendants of the Sun. The Glory marked a dramatic change in tone, delivering a much darker story that worked well with audiences worldwide and sparked conversations about school bullying across South Korea. Like Teach You a Lesson, the series constantly asks whether conventional systems are capable of delivering justice. The difference is that Na Hwa-jin tackles the problem directly, whereas Dong-eun patiently waits for years before making her move.
Weak Hero Class 1 (2022)
School violence isn’t exactly a new thing in Korean dramas, but Weak Hero Class 1 was something different when it came out. The story centres on Yeon Si-eun, a silent boy who is absolutely flying in school but doesn’t look like he’d fancy his chances against the bullies running riot around the place. The thing is, he is sharp. Instead of trying to outfight people, he uses his head, his surroundings and whatever he has got to hand whenever he ends up in bother. Along the way, he becomes close friends with Ahn Su-ho and Oh Beom-seok, but as things start getting worse, those friendships end up under serious pressure.
One of the big differences between this and Teach You a Lesson is that there is no cavalry riding in to sort everything out. When the school is letting people down, the kids are pretty much left to get on with it themselves. That’s what gives the show a lot of its weight, because every good result and every bad one comes down to the students. It first came out on a Korean streaming service before it absolutely took off overseas and found an even bigger audience on Netflix. If the whole idea of standing up for victims is what drew you into Teach You a Lesson, then Weak Hero Class 1 shows you what life looks like for those victims before anyone steps in to help.