(New users only) It's tax relief season! Get up to RM300 when you save with Versa! Plus, enjoy an additional FREE RM10 when you sign up using code VERSAMM10 with a min. cash-in of RM100 today. T&Cs apply. JUNE 16 — I confess I don’t watch that many Korean TV series. But about two weeks ago someone recommended this one, Teach You A Lesson (directed by Hong Jong-chan), to me on account of my role as a teacher. The person even asked me if I recognise some of the problems highlighted in the show and whether they apply to Malaysia?I wasn’t interested at first. But then I noticed that Teach You A Lesson was trending as the #1 non-English show from early June onwards (and I think it was also #2 across all shows) so I thought what the heck, let’s give it a shot.After the first two episodes, I was all in. Adapted from the Naver webtoon Get Schooled, Teach You A Lesson is about a special department of the Korean Ministry of Education being tasked to solve deep systemic problems within the nation’s schools. These range from bullying to suicide to gambling addiction and so on.Initially I was attracted by the sheer action. You have one guy taking on multiple gangsters and making it look easier than Jet Li swatting aside karate novices.Kim Mu-Yeol is second to none in absolute macho coolness as the chief inspector heading into schools to resolve whatever problem is occuring; his aura farming never lets up and will be a hard act to beat. I last saw him trading punches with Don Lee (Round-Up: Punishment) and even then he was easily the best villain in that cop series. A scene from ‘Teach You a Lesson’ featuring Kim Mu-yeol as the fierce Na Hwa-jin. — Picture from Facebook/Netflix K-Drama News He’s now buzzing so much that John Cena recently posted a photo of him on Instagram. And yes, they both look alike.Jin Ki-Joo is perfect as the OTT female inspector who can trash a dozen guys trying to beat her up. P.O. (a rapper apparently) shines as the tech-guy and Lee Sung-Min is perfect as the wise old man overseeing the bureau in charge of fixing things in school.The good casting and cool action aside, after a few more episodes, it struck me that the initial punches and kicks were just the hook. The real message was something more important. Indeed, the series comes across as more of a social commentary or a national awareness-type campaign regarding issues in Korean education.National education arguably stands at the centre of a society’s past, present and future. If the system is abused by its key players and innocent stakeholders suffer, that speaks a LOT about the country as a whole. The series covers student-on-student bullying, parent-on-student, teacher-on-student, student-on-teacher, parent-on-teacher, etc. In light of the best in film-making, the series hits hard on viscerality, drama and realism. The bullying scenes, especially, are very in-your-face. You can practically feel the slaps and the cruelty being meted out. No student who has ever been bullied will be unable to identify with the heartache, pain and shame of being relentlessly tormented. Likewise, everyone who desires even a modicum of justice will absolutely cheer when the bullies get their own medicine deliciously handed to them.The fact that a macho dude like Kim Mu-Yeol is doing the ass-whooping makes the series even more satisfying. So satisfying in fact that a few days after the series aired, a group of Korean teachers even protested that the series should be banned as it promoted corporal punishment.I’m willing to bet nobody gave a damn. Even if many viewers disagreed with hitting students, 99 per cent of them would have no problem enjoying a show where some very vicious assholes got their butts handed to them on a platter.Almost every episode in the series follows a similar formula which, no matter how often you see it, remains undeniably entertaining: The bad guys get to experience the exact torture and pain and hardship they’ve been passing out to their victims.This show is proof that watching bullies get paid back via tasting their own medicine never gets old.It also has an important message for many parents who obsess over their children’s education to the point of, well, oppressing their kids.In one episode, you see Korean parents maniacally seeking to ensure their children get into med school. Since birth (!), the kids have been force-fed tutors, consultants, round-the-clock studying and even ADHD-ish pills to keep them more focused — it would be hilarious if it wasn’t tragic given how close it mirrors what’s happening in many Asian communities.One parent screams that she’s sacrificing herself for her son. The protagonist tells her in her face that the truth is the opposite: She’s sacrificed her son for her own wishes.If you’re an educator or a parent or, of course, a student I reckon this series is a must-watch. Even more so when Kim Mu-Yeol, just last week, shared that a teacher from Malaysia sent him a note thanking him for the series and noting that the struggles of teachers as portrayed in the show resonated with him.Indeed, as it would.* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.