3.5

Summary

Weak Hero Class 2 expands its villain contingent in Episode 3, introducing some compelling and dangerous figures to oppose our growing gang of heroes.

Weak Hero isn’t short of villains in Class 2. Initially, it seemed like Hyo-man was going to be more of a threat than he ended up being, even if the premiere hinted that there was someone above him in the form of Seong-je. But Episode 3 reveals that Seong-je is just one piece of a larger problem. That problem is called the Union, a collective of high-school gangs headed by Baek-jin. And while Hyo-man was a bit of a cartoonishly stupid archetypal bully, Baek-jin seems like no joke.

This third episode is very much about the villains, who take centre stage just as we’re starting to develop what is quite clearly a little gang of good guys. Thanks to the fight in the previous episode, Si-eun, Jun-tae, Hyun-tak, and Baku are all forced to do volunteer work together, which gives them an opportunity to bond. At one point, you even see something resembling a smile creep onto Si-eun’s face, even if he still mostly finds his companions intolerable. But it’s clear that Eunjang will need a united front to fight back against the Union, since the Union has a clear bee in its bonnet over Eunjang.

This stems from Baku. While Weak Hero Class 2, Episode 3 is very much about introducing and making us appropriately worried about Seong-je and Baek-jin, it’s also quite strongly about Baku. The initial characterization of him as Eunjang’s protector is mostly accurate, but with the additional context about the Union that Jun-tae provides to Si-eun, his importance grows. Eunjang is the only school that isn’t part of the Union, and that’s because Baku has consistently fought them off. In his absence, Hyo-man was trying to gain membership with the phone scam, but his failure there leaves him at the mercy of Baek-jin and paints a target on Baku’s back.

Baku is an interesting figure. He’s clearly a capable fighter and even the members of the Union seem reluctant to take him on directly, but he’s also explicitly a comic relief character who is widely understood to be a moron and lives up to that accusation at every opportunity. But he’s so aggressively fun and charismatic that he makes a great foil for the ever-serious Si-eun, who is still stinging about the stuff Hyun-tak said to him about Su-ho, even though he apologized. Baku adds a lot of energy to Weak Hero, and the core dynamic between the central foursome is good fun.

Yu Su-bin as Choi Hyoman in Weak Hero Class 2

But there’s nothing fun about Seong-je and Baek-jin, the latter especially. We’ve already met Seong-je and gotten a taste of his bad temper in the premiere, but we see a bit more of him here. On Baek-jin’s instruction, he has a brief tussle with Si-eun and then openly threatens Baku, but those conflicts are clearly teases for later. He has a dangerous edge to him, but he’s clearly an acolyte.

Baek-jin, on the other hand, is different. He cuts a totally unflappable figure, and when Hyo-man, who has been kicked out of the Union for his failure, tries to jump him, Baek-jin slaps him and his cronies all over the place, barely breaking a sweat. Since Hyo-man’s gang was able to overpower Si-eun and Hyun-tak together, this is a great introduction for Baek-jin. I also liked the fight choreography in this sequence.

Weak Hero Class 2, Episode 3 ends with Seong-je following Si-eun to the hospital where Su-ho is and telling Si-eun to follow him, though the specifics of the Union’s plan remain elusive for now. If I were a betting man, I would imagine they plan to use threats to Su-ho to force Si-eun to turn on his new friends and get Eunjang into the Union. But we’ll have to wait and see.

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