It's hard to review a drama that I generally really like but cannot help get hung up on its numerous flaws. In order to explain this conundrum, I will go into HEAVY SPOILERS. Avert your eyes unless you watched all 12 episodes or, like myself, are spoiler junkies.

SPOILERS in T minus 5...4...3...2...1...LETS GO!

Half plot armor, half cop out...but worse than either

Like any genre, zombie genre has cliches and that's perfectly fine. They exist in storytelling to move the story forward cause stories aren't real life. So once in a while, a character will have to do something stupid to change the status quo. Also, all stories that put characters in peril will bestow plot armor on those whom the story needs to hang on a bit longer. These characters will survive the unsurviveable situations, while the ones without the plot armor won't, even though everyone should have been dead by that point. This is fine too unless it's used to an excess, which this drama does.

That leads me to the concept of "halfbie". This is a portmanteau for half zombie but it really means half plot armor half copout. It basically breaks the universe - a bitten character doesn't become a mindless zombie but keeps human appearance and intelligence, gets super powers (abnormal strength, enhanced hearing and smell, fast healing, basically hard to kill) and, if Mary Sue or Gary Stu, is able to reign in hunger for human flesh. You can see from the very description why this sucks and doesn't fit in the universe where there are living and the walking dead. It's a cliche created to spare writer's pet (in this case Nam Ra) and make existing villain more intimidating (in this case Gwi Nam). However, the effect is opposite. Gwi Nam, aka the Evil Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, became an unintentional comic relief. You could get really sloshed if played a drinking game every time he survived a fall from the rooftop, snapped his bones back and muttered "f***er". Nam ra, aka the good Plot Armorie/Cop Outie, mostly stood on the sidelines gazing into nothing unless her love interest was attacked by the Mullet'd Cockroach of a villain (since he kept coming back like a roach) and occasionally would hear zombie footsteps about 30 seconds before the herd swarmed the safe place. But in numerous instances when the gang hit the hard-to-break locked door (another drinking game that would get you hammered in no time!) , she would forget she was abnormally strong. And given that zombies cannot distinguish between themselves and halfbies, she could have safely run errands, which would have saved lives, but never did. Basically, the whole point of her "evolved" status was for romantic purposes. Her love interest defied his friends because he trusted she wouldn't harm anyone, while she repeatedly saved him from Mullet'd Cockroach. That's really all there is to this plot device. Romance enhancer. No real consequence for the plot. Just something for shippers to drool over. Ooooh, he tied them together with the red string of fate! Oooooh, she was about to bite him but he said "do it cause then I will be like you!" and she kissed him instead! SWOON! :insertvomitemoji:

Spread the butter so thin til there's no butter

Another problem with this drama is really a typical K drama problem - too much filler, too many sideplots and characters that don't add up to the whole. Two cops and the baby and a little girl added up to nothing. It was a bathroom break. Ditto Youtuber subplot. Ditto Assembly Member subplot. Even On Jo's father's quest to reach his daughter could have been scrapped. 12 episodes spread the story too thin. It worked when it was focused on the highschool survival. It came to a screeching halt when it was about outside world and characters. It could have made the point across in half the running time.

Bromance and womance >>>>>> romance

As is always the case in dramas, romance is the inferior relationship. This drama has a love quadrangle in its center that is just there but doesn't actually impact the plot. Cheong San is motivated to protect On Jo, who doesn't reciprocate his feelings, but he also protects all his friends so you could have the same story without unrequited love. In the end, he would have sacrificed himself for everyone because he's that kind of a character. Love interest or not.

On Jo is in love with Soo Hyuk (who is in love with Nam Ra and vice versa) and that's it. Again, it adds up to nothing. She is stoically tolerant of Soo Hyuk/Nam Ra romance right before her eyes, is supportive of both, so that she is in love with him is just a throwback reference. Kind of like, this character has no real personality we might as well give her an unrequited love to stand out.

Soo Hyuk and Nam Ra romance fares a little better cause they at least had the enemies to lovers thing going when she became a halfbie. But since they are side characters to leads Cheong San and On Jo, there was no real impact there. And, weirdly, the ending forgot about it, so when the gang reunited with Nam Ra, she and Soo Hyuk didn't have a moment together. Instead, she had a moment with On Jo. :facepalm:

But on the bright side, bromance (Woojin and his "brother in law", Cheong San and Soo Hyuk - get a room you two! , and any combo of boys) and womance (Mijin and Ha ri) were excellent. I also enjoyed Jae Ik and Seoul Student banter even though they were in a bathroom break filler.

A Star Is Born

Park Solomon aka Lomon aka Soo Hyuk lit up the screen every time he was in and it wasn't even close. He bursts with genuine charisma and charm on top of amazing visuals. And he has range. I found acting to be a mixed bag but he was consistently strong.

That Ep 3 twist - Aigoo!

Really have to commend the drama for how Geong Su got infected. My jaw dropped on the floor and I still didn't pick it up. Wow!

Some really well directed set pieces

The library fight and escape from zombies with falling book shelves was OTT but so memorable.

Hit me in the feels

Deaths packed the punch as did reunions between the living and the dead (Cheong San and his zombie mom, nuff said). As is always the case with survival dramas, the choice of who died is controversial. Did Woojin have to die? No. His death added nothing so he should have stayed alive. Did Cheong San have to die? If I had my way, I would give him the halfbie arc instead of Nam Ra. He was the lead and his unrequited love would count for something if On Jo realized she loved him but they couldn't be together because he was a halfbie. Oh well.

Namra Sue Spin-off or Will there be Season 2?

If you read I Am Legend and/or Girl With All the Gifts, than you know that halfbies (any human-zombie or human-vampire hybrid) cannot be trusted. In the end, they choose their kind over humans and go as far as to exterminate humans so that they wouldn't be hunted by them. Even if one of them likes a human or two. So whatever the gang saw when they look down to where Nam ra jumped, disturbed them. It cannot be good. Genre rules prevent coexistence.

That said, the ending felt too much like a set up for Namra Sue spin-off which I have no interest in. The appeal of the drama was in ordinary teens trying to survive extraordinary circumstances, not in zombie X Men fighting each other.

Overall

Plot armor cannot protect from simple pleasures of this drama. You'll be engaged, emotionally wrecked, you'll laugh and cry with characters and feel many deaths. Warts won't go away but they aren't all that is there.