High School Mystery Club (2021)

Unexpectedly Wonderful

I didn't really think much while going into this show.I was mainly watching for the people who I already knew and liked before which included Do-yeon,BiBi,Ye-na,JaeJae.So basically everyone I knew before except Ji-yoon,so I was unsure how they would all fit together but it was unexpectedly wonderful seeing the cast play their charcters and their chemistry and banter slowly growing throughout the show.I've seen people talking about it being too slow but it truly is slow at the start to set up the world and once it picks up,it's like you're on a rollercoaster with the cast with all the discoveries and plottwists.This show hits the perfect balance in comedy and mystery and felt almost like watching a Scooby-doo series set in a school.Obviously the world in this show is way larger and its really interesting to see the plot untangle itself.Refering back to the Scooby-doo thing,I think Ji-yoon and Ye-na play your Shaggy and Scooby as the scaredy cats of the group and their reaction to everything are hilarious,BiBi plays Daphne as the girl crush who is basically ready to beat everyone up ,while JaeJae plays Velma with her deductions leading the group through difficult puzzles and shocks you with how smart she is and that leaves Do-yeon playing Fred,although she's not the leader,her role seems to do her main job of being hilarious and the comic relief but also bringing the group together but at the same I think Ji-yoon is more so fit for this one since she leads the club and commands them really well so you could switch Do-yeon and her but when they all come together,you truly feel like your watching these high school kids getting themselves into something bigger than they could've imagined.All this is a long winded way of saying please give it a chance as it will definetly brighten up your day and is very bingeable.

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My favourite out of all the investigative K-shows

I watched this show without really knowing anything about it because JaeJae and Yena guested on Amazing Saturday to promote this show. During that episode (which received the highest ratings Amazing Saturday have had to date) I thought these two women were a somewhat random but refreshing combination of personalities. Both were hilarious and hyper, and it also seemed like both seemed to bounce off each other's energy. So I checked out Girls' High School Mystery Class purely by their names and was pleasantly surprised to see that it seemed somewhat Busted-esque, a show I had finished watching the minute the final season was released. You can guess my surprise when I found that I much preferred this, a show I had happened on by chance, over Busted, a show with multiple big names.

This isn't to say that Busted is in any way bad, of course. I really enjoyed it. But if I had to compare the two (which would be a rather natural thing to do as they have a somewhat similar format), I would choose Girls' High School Mystery Club and Busted actually pales in comparison.

Firstly, I don't understand some of the criticisms that the plot was slow. I think this aspect of some reviews needs a little more explaining - is it because there are too many episodes? If this is the case, really, it should be seen as one full episode divided into 3 mini episodes. Personally, I much preferred the pacing of this show than Busted. Busted seemed rather dragged out due to many scenes that were rather meaningless. They had an overarching mystery, yes, but ultimately many of the random findings were just that... random. Only small features of each episode were relevant to the main story. In Girls' High School Mystery Club, every clue and hint leads to the final mystery. I guess this may be why some people criticise the pacing - because they're analysing each potential hint and loose end, something I think Busted attempted to do but ended up creating random filler quests and missions for comedic or even time-wasting purposes.

I'd like to give a whole lot of credit to the writers because the plot was gripping and each prop and side character was well-utilised, but I'd also like to give a shoutout to the cast.

Admittedly, at first this cast was awkward. But that was part of the charm. You didn't have a smooth-talking MC trying to oil the team together, or a scatter-brained personality that the whole cast laughed at. And I'm saying this as a massive Yoo fan. I think the credit should be given due to the fact that these five women were... people. It didn't seem like a performance but their dynamic was extremely entertaining to watch. Jiyoon, who had the biggest age gap, surprisingly got on well with everyone. She was somewhat of a mother to Yena (it was adorable to see Yena gripping her tightly when she was scared) and patting her head when she needed it. She worked really well with Doyeon, who was the closest in age to her as well as JaeJae and Bibi.

Someone was saying that they didn't like how Yena had no role and all she did was eat and look scared. I think that was precisely the role she was happy with and the one she was best at. She was the one to relieve the frequent tense situations, as well as provide some vital hints when no one else could (though every one of these 5 leads had their shining moment). I adored the scenes where she reaches automatically for Bibi (the sweetest pair - Bibi took over the intimidating character and Yena was the comic relief) but as they were closest in age to each other, Yena grips her arm almost as a reflex when something scary happens. The scenes where JaeJae teases her lightly as well as Doyeon's coddling of her was sweet as well.

Doyeon and JaeJae were phenomenal. Both of them knew the perfect balance between humour and seriousness. I liked how they took it seriously but also relieved the tension through their words.

I also preferred the editing style of this show. Busted had a sort of... childish editing style? With various repetitions of the same face splat (which was irrelevant to the plot) from about 50 different angles or the random "boing-oing-oing" sound effects.

The cast and crew made this show extremely entertaining and I'm delighted that there will be a Season 2. There was a great synergy and the cast bounced off each other, and it also seemed (from the short scenes where they're walking to the bus) that the staff adored working with them and bounced off their energy too. It was a small (?) production with few leads and few crew, but overall that made it their strength. Highly recommend.

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