Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (2025)

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Study Group

A low-ranking student in a school full of problem students has one goal: persuade people to join his study group to improve their grades. However, while he might be bad at studying, he's great at fighting — and he'll need to use those skills to keep his study group safe from bullying.

Genre: action, comedy, youth

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Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by solstices

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (1)

Fun and surprisingly full of heart, Study Group dives right into its underdog tale with a zippy pace and energetic zeal. It’s not a story we haven’t seen before, but it executes it with an entertaining enthusiasm that’s chock-full of comic book fight choreography and hilarious comedic timing.

Editor’s note: Weekly drama coverage will continue.

EPISODE 1
Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (2)

The hero of our tale is YOON GA-MIN (Hwang Min-hyun), a bespectacled boy who genuinely wants to study hard and ace his exams. He’s also the only one awake in his entire high school class as the teacher drones on, too used to this sight to bother waking anyone up.

All of Ga-min’s diligent note-taking has him constantly coming in second and third place… from the bottom. Determined to pull up his grades, Ga-min resolves to form a study group — but unfortunately for him, his classmates are way more interested in throwing punches at one another and snoring their way through lessons.

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (3) Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (4)

In comes the new homeroom teacher LEE HAN-KYUNG (Han Ji-eun), whom Ga-min instantly recognizes as his kind and supportive private tutor from years ago. Han-kyung apologizes for quitting abruptly back then, citing personal reasons which she doesn’t elaborate upon, and Ga-min extends sympathetic concern for her since the previous homeroom teacher quit after barely a month.

We soon see why — not only are the students rowdy and rude, but the principal also turns a blind eye to the rampant smoking. One troublemaker LEE HYUN-WOO (Park Yoon-ho) is particularly nasty, throwing an iced coffee at the blackboard and slapping the living daylights out of a classmate for annoying him. A fight almost breaks out between Hyun-woo and Coffee Guy, with all the unruly students ignoring Han-kyung’s request to return to their seats — but surprisingly, Hyun-woo listens, and the rest of the class follows suit. Huh.

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (5)

Zeroing on one particularly studious kid (the only other one, really), Ga-min follows the reticent KIM SE-HYUN (Lee Jong-hyun) around like a lost puppy until Se-hyun finally agrees to help him with his math problems. As it turns out, Ga-min has a clever mind, he just applies it to all the wrong places. Se-hyun: “If you put a cake sliced into three parts back together, it becomes whole again, which is why 0.33 x 3 = 0.99 can be rounded up to 1.” Ga-min: “What about the cake bits stuck to the knife?” *cue confused noises*

Noticing how Se-hyun genuinely puts in effort into studying, from his hunched neck to the calluses on his finger, Ga-min proposes they form a study group and go to university together. However, Se-hyun rejects him harshly for two reasons. The first, which he shares with Ga-min, is the gangster’s son PI HAN-WOOL (Cha Woo-min), who created an app to rank the student body according to their fighting ability. As for the second reason, it’s a heart-wrenching secret that Se-hyun hides — he lives in a semi-basement with his alcoholic father who pressures him into learning practical skills, even going as far as to throw away Se-hyun’s study notes.

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (6)

The turning point comes when Hyun-woo extorts money out of Se-hyun, ruthlessly beating him to a pulp. Entering the fray with a fire extinguisher that incapacitates the bullies within its fog, Ga-min slings Se-hyun over his shoulder and carries him out to safety. Instead of expressing gratitude, though, Se-hyun argues that Ga-min made things worse because escaping will just drag out his torment. He doesn’t have the luxury of studying, when he’s struggling to survive in this horrid school.

Still, Se-hyun’s a good kid at heart. Even when Hyun-woo threatens him with a baseball bat, he doesn’t give up Ga-min’s name, and Hyun-woo prepares to strike — only for a kick to splinter his bat. As it turns out, Ga-min has been regularly keeping to a grueling exercise regimen, believing that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. That puts Ga-min in tip-top shape to knock Hyun-woo out with a single punch. Oops.

But even then, Se-hyun rejects the study group idea yet again, pointing out that Ga-min isn’t sure about himself either. “Isn’t that why you wore a mask?” says Se-hyun. “Since you’re afraid of being singled out and picked on.”

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (7)

The next day, Ga-min enters class to find Se-hyun’s math notes under his desk, aww. But he’s rudely interrupted by Hyun-woo hurling a chair at his head and ordering everyone else out of class. Setting Se-hyun’s notebook aflame, Hyun-woo attacks Ga-min with a wrench, having realized he was behind the fire extinguisher incident. To everyone’s shock, Ga-min easily tosses Hyun-woo aside — but he’s too late to save Se-hyun’s notebook, even as he desperately puts out the flames with his bare hands. Glaring with a cold fury in his eyes, Ga-min demands that Hyun-woo apologize to “Se-hyun-ie,” awww.

Furious, Hyun-woo hurls his burning backpack at Ga-min, only for Ga-min to leap into the air and spin-kick it back towards him. The impact knocks Hyun-woo out, and Ga-min rushes over to shake him awake. “Apologize to Se-hyun before you pass out,” demands Ga-min. Deeply moved, Se-hyun walks back into class, and the sight of Ga-min’s blistered hands sets Se-hyun off in guilt and gratitude. “Why would you go so far for something like this?!” yells Se-hyun, hurling his burnt notes into the trash. “I’ll do it,” Se-hyun declares, eyes brimming with emotion. “Your study group.”

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (8) Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (9)

Waaaaaah. The boys’ budding friendship is tugging at my heartstrings already, and I love the little flashbacks that show just how sincere Ga-min is towards Se-hyun, like how he quickly shushed the security guard so Se-hyun wouldn’t be woken up from his nap. At its core, Study Group is a simple story, but it commits to its narrative and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. That frees up room for it to play around with its execution — the show is snappy and doesn’t take itself too seriously, with quick cuts and dynamic music cues that give it a fun comic book vibe. It feels almost reminiscent of Boyhood, just with a little less slapstick absurdity and a little more subtle melancholy in the boys’ backstories.

Ga-min is so earnest and endearing that I find myself naturally rooting for him, while Se-hyun is teeming with so much sympathetic pathos and repressed emotion. He has such a good heart under all the defenses he’s stacked up high out of necessity, and I want him to find a confidant in Ga-min. The study group is shaping up to be a safe space for them both — a place where Se-hyun can finally pursue his own dreams, and where Ga-min can prove his naysayers wrong. Also, Hyun-woo’s totally going to get a redemption arc, right? Right?

Study Group: Episode 1 (First Impressions) (10)


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Tags: First Impressions, Han Ji-eun, Minhyun, Study Group

11

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1 Britney

January 25, 2025 at 3:39 PM

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I'm pleased to see that this will be recapped. Thank you @solstices and dramabeans crew for choosing to cover it.

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2 too_much_tv

January 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM

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Oh, thank you so much for recapping! I enjoyed this first episode so much. Hwang Min-hyun seems perfect for a role where he has to be spacey but also swashbuckling.

My favorite part was Se-hyun discovering that the reason Ga-min is bad at studying is that he's kind of...stupid.

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Dylan [Answering that Ringing Phone 24/7]!]

January 25, 2025 at 6:25 PM

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The thing about Se-hyun saying Ga-min is stupid... Ga-min immediately does a Sherlock Scan and intuits that Se-hyun does in fact to study, so he's no dummy. Maybe there's another reason he's bad at tests?

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too_much_tv

January 25, 2025 at 7:32 PM

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Maybe he's good at observing his environment and lacks book smarts?

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3 Dylan [Answering that Ringing Phone 24/7]!]

January 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM

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I had oddly high expectations and... this met all of them? I thought it would just be a silly comedy but I loved everything about these two episodes! The humour, the bromance, the action sequences, the surprising depth, the relatively quick runtime, the acting and fire hiphop music... All 10/10.

Look forward to seeing this Study Group expanding and some female characters joining the cast!

BTW, will you be recapping two episodes per week, or just one?

~~All the blushing and smiling between Ga-min and Se-hyun gave me such BL vibes~~

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4 panshel

January 25, 2025 at 8:48 PM

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Se-hyun is my favorite. He has main character energy -- a genius hero with a tragic backstory. I just want him to stop getting bullied, escape from his abusive father, and transfer schools. Se-hyun is ranked second after Han-wool, but was Han-wool's ranking fixed?

Ga-min is so earnest, but he needs to accept that he will never be good at studying. I felt Se-hyun's frustration while explaining the cake example to him. Ga-min takes notes word-for-word even in math. Why do his test papers have so much written on them?

I love Ga-min's mom when she consoled a crying teen Ga-min that it's okay if he's bad at studying. But why didn't they research Yusung Technical High School before sending Ga-min there? I can't believe that he's still second to last place when those other kids probably sleep through the test.

This show's OSTs slap. All high school fighting webtoon-turned-dramas need rap OSTs à la Weak Hero Class 1. Hyun-woo needs his ass kicked -- not a redemption arc.

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Isa is always time travelling

January 26, 2025 at 12:17 AM

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"All high school fighting webtoon-turned-dramas need rap OSTs à la Weak Hero Class 1".

I don't like rap, but you are right.
However, there was another song in the first episode, in the scene where Se Hyun is sitting on the street. That wasn't a rap but I guess it's from the OST too.

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5 Soyesterday

January 25, 2025 at 9:59 PM

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I did not expect to enjoy this as much as i did.

Ga-min being a kind but stubborn, oblivious and adorably violent nerd with bad grades, is such a unique setup.

The humour was well done too, the classmates exaggerating what happened was hilarious, and the accusations that he ate a devil fruit made howl (one piece manga readers stand up lol)

The supporting cast is great as is the soundtrack, im staying with this till the end

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6 Isa is always time travelling

January 26, 2025 at 12:26 AM

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This drama has been the most pleasant surprise in a long time.
After watching the first two episodes with a smile on my face I already wanted to rewatch them (I didn't) and that's something almost never happens to me.

I started the drama with curiosity (because of the PD) but zero expectations, however from the first sequence I thought: "this is very cool and promising!".

After that great first episode I was afraid the second one was a let down but it wasn't!

I'm already sad this is only ten episodes 🥲

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7 Dorotka

January 26, 2025 at 12:43 AM

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Fighting high schoolers is not usually my cup of drama.... but this one I drank with a big pleasure. This is also so far Hwang Minhyun's best role, he is totally adorable as the earnest student and protective friend. I'm looking forward to the next episodes and I'm happy Dramabeans decided to recap it, thank you!

(Fair warning: although the fights have a manga flavour and there is a lot of injected humour around, there is still a lot of real violence.)

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8 Kobsessed

January 26, 2025 at 12:53 AM

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This was so fun!!! Hwang Min Hyun was a great choice for portraying a cute, clueless and kind-hearted student who only wants to be good in his studies when he clearly can't. He can always choose a martial arts career though. Se Hyeon is equally adorable and I am already enjoying their camaraderie. The fight scenes are well done and the way the music is used is chef kiss.
I am worried for the new homeroom teacher's safety -this is a bloody violent school environment. Will she survive?
My only complain is the short duration of the episodes, 40 min is not enough.

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