"Dream High 2" Falls Under Criticism?

Although “Dream High 2” had a great start and received positive feedbacks and excitements from the fans after its very first episode aired, such praises did not last so long. In the second episode, “Dream High 2” attempted to portray the struggles and conflicts between Kirin High School students and officials and under-aged singers of OZ Entertainment as they have to commingle at Kirin High School from now on. Although the majority Kirin High School students could experience the high-quality idol training under OZ Entertainment, teachers like Yang Jin Man (played by JYP) and Joo Jung Wan (played by Kwon Hae Hyo) and students like Shin Hae Sung (played by Kang So Ra), who failed to qualify for OZ Entertainment’s training system, have been ostracized.

The content of this episode was somewhat heavy and delicate, but it was not presented that way. Instead, the episode focused more on the attention-seeking “music drama” aspect of the show with scenes like Kahi and Kim Jung Tae‘s “Trouble Maker” and the unnecessarily long welcoming party scene with a series of singing and dancing. The disconnected and erratic comic singing and dancing scenes distracted viewers from understanding the main conflict of this episode.

On “Dream High 2” online forum, many viewers criticized the second episode in comparison with the first one. One viewer commented, “You did such a great job with the first episode and now what is this?” Another viewer said, “I have no idea what that episode was trying to show. Whenever I was trying to focus on the plot, scenes kept changing erratically. I think I watched them singing for more than 30 minutes. This is not even a musical drama, so I don’t get why they are doing this.” Some other viewers criticized “Dream High 2” as a “plot-less, pointless TV show,” that only serves to promote JYP’s trainees and some new actors. 

Such unhappy viewership showed in the ratings, too. “Dream High 2″s rating has gone down from 10.5% to 9.8% on Tuesday.

Here’s Kahi and Kim Jung Tae’s “Trouble Maker” from “Dream High 2.” What did you think of this episode?   

“Trouble Maker” by Kahi and Kim Jung Tae