So...since Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha isn't fully released, I knew I needed another show to watch alongside it. Apparently continuing on with my theme of picking a show with an actor I just watched, I thought I'd try The School Nurse Files. It's got Nam Joo-Hyuk, who I just saw in Start Up, as well as Jung Yu-Mi (the aforementioned nurse).
So. Story. Ms. Nurse has been able to see "jellies" since she was a kid--monster-y creatures that either are or are fed by human desires. Think Odd Thomas-like abilities. She can combat these jellies that no one else can see with a plastic light up sword and a bb gun. Yep. You read that right. Teacher Hong (Nam) is a Chinese language teacher and the grandson of the guy who opened the school. He's got some special aura/energy bubble around him that Ms. Nurse can use to help her fight the jellies.
The first episode was a WILD ride. Just going to summarise it as I feel it wouldn't make much sense if I went about it as it was shown. Basically, the school was built on a location where there used to be a lake that jilted lovers threw themselves into and drowned. And monstrous things fed upon those poor unfortunate souls and it got to be such a problem that officials (?) filled the lake in. There's a stone that marks a spot in the basement of the school and Teacher Hong had been left instructions that the basement has to be "fumigated" every 6 months by a particular company...but it hasn't been done in a year (they've gone out of business? out of contact? who knows.). Which is presumably why the jellies are taking over and things are gettin' weird, yo.
Literally kids are about to fling themselves off the school roof and into a crazy sinkhole at the end of the cliffhanger episode 1. I was, like, where the heck do they go from here if this is episode 1!?
So, obviously, the plot is going to be about Ms. Nurse and Teacher Hong teaming up to save students and combat the jellies and presumably figure out what's up with the school. I don't think there's going to be a ton of romance in this one. Maybe a hint. And I only say that because Nam Joo-Hyuk is in it.
The acting is fiercely bizarre by everyone. Not in a bad way -- it's purposeful. Things are WEIRD, man. I don't actually even want to try and really describe what's going on because I feel like it would cheapen it somehow. It's inexplicable. I also would say that it doesn't make total sense -- like, why does Teacher Hong immediately go from "this woman is mad as a bag of frogs" to "ok, let me fight with you against these things that only you can see"? It feels like there are story beats missing. Maybe they're in the source novel? I dunno. Maybe they just want to keep you off balance? Because certainly this show is decidedly off-kilter.
At any rate, I'd say I'm enjoying the spectacle of it. I've just watched two episodes so far. Will update later, though I'll definitely not be doing any kind of recap on this one. It just wouldn't do it justice. It's like Stranger Things meets Odd Thomas meets The Dead Zone...but with all the colour of Moulin Rouge.
Edit: Re-watched the first two episodes with little dude. He liked it, though his immediate reaction was basically What did I just watch? which, you know, fair. So I'm going to save this to watch with him.
Edit: Okay, literally months and months later (May 2022) and I finally finished this one. My general thoughts are that I liked it but I didn't love it, though I suspect it is one of those shows where, if you haven't read the manga/manhwa (I'm assuming there is one), that you're bound to be confused. Some of it seemed rushed. Some of it was a bit muddled. Some of it was a bit underdeveloped.
Oh, just looked. Apparently it was based on a novel. I imagine some of the things I was all "what...?" about are expanded on in the novel. The romance wasn't really a romance either -- more a strange tension between the two leads. Did they like each other? Love each other? Feel drawn to each other? It's hard to say. Both of them played it very subdued, but that's also partly due to the story. I mean, it's a strange story. And I'm a person that writes strange stories. Literally, that's my career. So, yeah, this is a really weird one. Of course, that's the part that I really liked. It literally oozes weird.
So, am I glad I watched it? Sure. Would I watch it again? Probably not, unless I go search for the novel and then want to re-watch to have a more fully rounded appreciation of it.
It's definitely not a show that I would recommend for newcomers to Korean drama as it is unlike just about anything I can think of. Maybe a little bit of the Uncanny Counter? Nah. That one was a lot more straightforward.
My fav thing, actually, was the main theme song. I really wish I could find it somewhere other than YouTube. It was just as weird as the show and sticks in your head.
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