Hierarchy - Season 2
Hierarchy a series with great potential was left with bad reviews , due to scriptwriters getting lost in their own minutia … poor character buildup, a revenge scenario that didn't live up to the hype …a love triangle not developed and social justice placed under the rug where change becomes business as usual.
Season 1 recap
BY KAYTI BURTJUNE 7, 2024 6:55 PM EDT
Synopsis and plot summary
Jooshin Academy is a private school in Korea, a former "it" couple of high teen society climb into separate sports cars and take off around a track. This is what breaking up looks like for teens in the world of Hierarchy; one does not simply send a text, they challenge their childhood sweetheart to a high-stakes game of speeding vehicles.
Well, in theory the stakes are high. In the three-and-a-half minute racing scene, it never once feels like Jung Jae-i and Kim Ri-an are in any real danger, despite the fact that, outside of this scene, we only ever see them being ferried around in private cars by faceless chauffeurs. On the racetrack and elsewhere, the uber-privileged characters are untouchable.
Jae-i and Ri-an are the two wealthiest students at Jooshin Academy, a fictional high school that educates Korea's 1%—and some scholarship kids. "Inspired" by the institution's Latin motto, noblesse oblige, the school's leadership admits a handful of promising poor kid students every year. Kang Han is one such kid. When we meet him in the first episode, Kang Ha is new to the school and seemingly oblivious to the institution's not-so-subtle hierarchy, even when other students try to inform him, with their words or fists. But, as we get to know him, it quickly becomes clear that Kang Ha is not as naive as he appears.
In fact, Kang Ha is at Jooshin Academy seeking revenge and justice for his fraternal twin brother, In-han. Months prior, In-han was also a scholarship student at the school. He was killed in a hit-and-run accident after a period of brutal bullying. As Kang Ha eventually admits to Jae-i, he came to Jooshin to find out what happened the night of In-han's death, and to hold anyone complicit accountable.
In-han's suspicious death is not the only thing shrouded in secrecy at Jooshin. Over seven episodes, Kang Ha uncovers a web of surveillance, blackmail, and institutional corruption that started long before his brother arrived at the academy.
Hierarchy brings viewers into a world where teenage relationships are treated as extensions of parents' business dealings, and a high school scandal can upend not just a school, but an entire company.
While we know from the first moments of Hierarchy that In-han was killed after being struck by a car in a dark Seoul alley, it's not until the season finale that we find out who was behind the wheel:
Ji-soo one of the teachers at Jooshin Academy, who is sleeping with one of her teenage students, Woo-jin When a bruised In-han stumbles upon the two making out in a hallway while trying to escape his bullies, Ji-soo chases after him—first on foot, and then in Woo-jin's family car.
Ji-soo is desperate to talk to In-han, but In-han just wants to get away. Since he started at Jooshin Academy, he has been physically beaten by other students, targeted for daring to be friends with Jae-i when he is "just" a scholarship student.
Now, a teacher whose duty it is to protect him, is chasing him down. Distraught, he calls his brother. Just as the phone connects, In-han stumbles out in front of Ji-soo's speeding car and she hits him. Rather than call an ambulance, Ji-soo grabs In-han's phone and a camera pen that has recorded the entire night, including evidence of Ji-soo's affair and the car accident. She leaves her student to die.
Later, the camera pen and phone end up with Woo-jin, who found them in his car. Inspired by Jae-i's efforts to take accountability for the system that led to In-han's death, Woo-jin turns In-ha's pen and phone over to Jae-i, who gives them to Kang Ha, who gives them to the police.
How does Hierarchy end?
Does Kang Ha get his revenge? This is a complicated question. After Kang Ha turns over the incriminating video evidence to the police, Ji-soo and the students who beat up In-han the night of his death are arrested. However, the series' central theme of vengeance is undercut by its treatment of Jae-i and its depiction of systemic privilege. While Kang Ha understandably holds Ri-an to a high level of accountability in In-han's death for being a part of the violent system that led to his death (and even gets an apology out of him), he does not do the same for Jae-i; instead, he falls in love with her.
In general, the show treats Jae-i mostly as a victim of this world, rather than an active and powerful participant in it. Hierarchy wants us to believe that Jae-i and Ri-an learn how to accept accountability because of Kang Ha's arrival at the school. But if the death of a fellow student did not shake their world views, then it seems unlikely that Kang Ha's presence would. Hierarchy ends on the message systemic inequality is fine, as long as those in power don't get away with overt bullying or murder.
What happens to Kang Ha?
Hierarchy doesn't spend a lot of time telling us who Kang Ha truly is, and what his brother meant to him. We're told that he loved In-han, but we only get the occasional snippet of them together in flashback. Emotionally, we don't get to understand what Kang Ha lost when he lost his brother.
Instead, many of the best character moments in Hierarchy focus on the core four rich kids—Ri-an, Jae-i, He-ra, and Woo-jin. This prioritizes the world of the wealthy over the world of the scholarship kids. Because we get so little of the world Kang Ha, In-han, and these other scholarship kids come from, In-han's death feels further devalued. It becomes a morality lesson for these wealthy teens, rather than a tragedy that actually resulted in a human's death. And, ultimately, it is a tragedy that was carried out by someone outside of the rich kids' social circle—a teacher who can only afford luxury handbags when the student she is having an affair with decides to gift her one.
In the end, Jooshin Academy is still thriving, albeit with a new principal in its head office. Presumably, the new principal is in the pocket of Ri-an's mother too, which lends a kind of futility to much of what happened in Season 1. This futility is not treated as disturbing or uneasy, but rather full of possibility. The show ends with He-ra and Kang Ha sharing Korean street toast, implying that these two worlds—the world of the wealthy and the world of everyone else—have been reconciled. But they have not been, not in any real way.
Who is recording Jooshin Academy's students?
It may seem convenient that Ji-soo's crimes are so neatly recorded, but most of what goes on around the students of Jooshin Academy is. Because Ri-an's chaebol mother funds the school, Jooshin's Principal Park uses the students' own phones to keep an eye on everything that happens there, and sends relevant information about Ri-an back to this mother.
It is implied that literally anything any student records on their personal device and then uploads to "the cloud" is accessible to Principal Park. It's also accessible to Principal Park's teenage son, Ju-won, who regularly sneaks into her office to steal the digital files. A scholarship student himself, Ju-won prides himself on being invisible, watching other students from the shadows.
In the first episode, Jae-i returns to Jooshin Academy after a mysterious, three-month trip to the U.S. She immediately breaks up with her long-term boyfriend Ri-an (via the physics-defying car race), and begins hanging out with Kang Ha, seemingly wanting to use her power to keep him safe from bullying.
While all signs point to her being directly involved in In-han's death, this is not the case. They were friends, and she does feel responsible for not doing more to keep him safe, but she did not kill him.
It's later revealed that Jae-i is being blackmailed. Her terrible younger brother had recorded a video of her and Ri-an having sex at their family's beachside villa, and Ju-won has gotten a hold of it from his mother's surveillance archives. Ju-won, who hates what Jooshin Academy has turned his mother into, uses it to make Jae-i squirm. It doesn't even seem like he wants her to do anything; he just wants to make her suffer before he eventually blows up her life.
Later, we learn that Jae-i was pregnant with Ri-an's child before going to the U.S. to have an abortion. She didn't go through with it, but later had a miscarriage. She broke up with Ri-an in part because she didn't want him to be sad, too. He eventually finds out, however.
When Ri-an learns about the video, he puts his people on it, trying to ensure that it doesn't come out. Kang Ha, who develops feelings for Jae-i, also keeps Ju-won from sharing it.
Eventually, Jae-i learns to live with the grief of her miscarriage and her role as a bystander to In-han's bullying. This way, she gains the courage to escape her abusive father's clutches. While she's an extremely passive character for much of Hierarchy, the series leaves Jae-i on a higher note. She breaks up with Ri-an, but not before telling him the truth: More than anything, she wants to see him happy, work on their codependency, and that they are young, and there is a good chance they will find their way back to one another once again.
She also admits to Kang Ha that she has feelings for him. Before Jae-i leaves town, Kang Ha races across the city to see her one last time. He embraces her, and tells her that, though he came to Jooshin to get justice for his brother, he fell for her along the way. "I just wanted to be with you," Kang Ha says, but laments that he could not be with her while still accomplishing his goal.
Though their relationship never felt particularly earned, it is a moving moment, made even more so when Jae-i says, cooly, before getting into her car: "That day. Do you remember the last question you asked? [If I ever had feelings for you.] You were right about it. I was lying to you."
Ultimately, however, Jae-i's happy ending is wrapped up in her choosing herself. She finds her birth mother, who was sent away by her father years ago. From the time she was small, she has been afraid of being "disappeared" like her mother, but she has finally realized the promise of love and safety in it, so different from the fear and shame wielded by her father in the name of family. "Mother," she says with a smile in the show's closing moments.
Will there be a Hierarchy season 2?
While there has been no official announcement, Hierarchy seems particularly well poised for a second season. There's a new principal at Jooshin, which Ri-an, He-ra, Woo-jin, Kang Ha, and many other familiar faces still attend. And, in a post-credits scene, there is an apparent murder afoot. A student is found dead and bleeding on a classroom floor, in the middle of the school day. As the shocked and horrified students rush into the classroom, Ri-an receives an anonymous message: "You look shaken up, Kim Ri-an."
Here we go again…
Season 2 - Episode 8
Jung Jae I finds her mother living in Muuido outside of Incheon
Jung Jae I : Mom
Kim Ji Na turns and is surprised to see her daughter whom she has only seen pictures of growing up : Jae I …. Why are you here ?…won't your father be mad in you seeing me.
Jung Jae I with tears in her eyes gives her mother a hug: I finally found the courage to stand up to him ….. Mom…. I'm sorry for not coming sooner…. I've been so afraid.
Kim Ji Na: It's alright… you're here now …that's all that matters…. Is this your fathers doing in keeping you so thin…. Are you hungry…. I'll cook for you..
Jung Jae I : I'd like that .
As Kim Ji Na cooks Jung Jae I looks around the little micro island that is her mothers home…. As they eat Kim Ji Na can't stop staring at how beautiful her daughter looks even though she is rather thin.
Kim Ji Na: Tell me how did you manage to break away from your fathers grip?
Jung Jae I : I disappointed him … I was no longer useful to him for his business schemes...by not wanting to marry the son of one of his business mergers….. then when he found out I was pregnant by Kim Ri an…. He abandoned me saying I was just like you and he had no use for me.
Kim Ji Na: What happened to the baby?… Did he force you to have an abortion since he hates An Hye Won so much.
Jung Jae I : I went to New York for that purpose but I just couldn't do it… but the baby must 've known that …. So it aborted itself…. I had a miscarriage… I was so miserable because of that….. Mom I feel so lost… I hate myself….I hate my life…. Being dad's daughter has been a living hell.
Kim Ji Na gives Jae I a hug and kisses her repeatedly: Everything will be alright…. I'm so sorry that I left you with that psycho….. but back then I was willing to do anything to get away from him…. Can you forgive me?
Jung Jae I : Mom are you happy?…. You're living here …. Don't you miss all the finer things?
Kim Ji Na: It isn't like I can't have all those things … it's that I've chosen not to…. That's a state of mind that took me a while to understand….. Your father kept me trapped using those material things…. I was a commodity to him that could be discarded depending on the mood that he was in. So to answer your question…. I'm very happy …. I'm my own person that I can do whatever I choose to do and not have someone tell me what I have to do.
Jung Jae I: Mom how did we end up like this?
Kim Ji Na: It's time you understand everything …. It's a shame that that the children have to pay the price for the sins of the parents. Let me begin from the beginning… Jung Ki Young and An Hye Won were high school lovers just like you and Kim Ri An…. They were inseparable the king and queen of the school…. What they said and did everyone one else had to listen and adhere to…. One problem… Hye Won's dad didn't think Ki Young was good enough for his daughter… he felt that he was beneath them in all ways.
This ignited a rage indoor father especially after Hye Won was forced to marry Kim Hyuk Jong whose pedigree far exceeded your father's.
Jung Jae I: How did you enter the picture?
Kim Ji Na: I was blinded by status and everything that came with it … However, The fairytale ended three years after you were born….. especially after An Hye Won had given birth to Kim Ri An and became chairwoman of Jooshin Group….. She never loved Kim Hyuk Jong and accused him of being unfaithful to her by having an affair with me…. Which was never the case… we were just friends discussing how our lives had changed by marrying into these competing families…. Your father who doesn't listen to anything but the delusions that enter his twisted mind….. Divorced me without listening to a word I said. Both of them had their heirs so neither of them needed spouses that they didn't love nor want.
Jung Jae I: Why didn't they resume their love instead of hating each other… Ri An and I would've never gotten to where we got to if we were step siblings.
Kim Ji Na: There is a thin line between love and hate….. because Jaeyool Group and Jooshin Group were competing companies the competition between them was so great that hating each other was the only inevitable outcome for their mindset.
Jung Jae I: Dad married Song In Kyung and had Jung Jae Hyeok and they do whatever he says… there is no love between any of us. …. What about you did you ever find real love?
Kim Ji Na: Kim Hyuk Jong came around for awhile he even asked me if I wanted to be with him…. I declined….. If I was to be with someone I needed to love him completely … I decided I would never make the same mistake again .
Jung Jae I: So you lived your life without love?
Kim Ji Na: I didn't say that…. I have a man that I love very much and he loves me… it's just that we never got around to marriage.
Jung Jae I: So I'm interfering in your happy life… I'll find somewhere else to go.
Kim Ji Na: Stop being silly…. You can stay with me as long as you like… what about school … I've been told you're a top student.
Jung Jae I: I don't know if I could ever go back….. Jooshin Academy's Hierarchy only caters to the elites and tries to crush those beneath them….. Mom I turned a blind I to that and because of me a very nice boy got killed just because he became friends with me. To make matters worse I kind of fell in love with his fraternal twin brother who came to the school seeking revenge for his brothers death.
Kim Ji Na: Did he love you or did he just use you?
Jung Jae I : A little of both … he tried to protect me as much as he could ….. but the shame and guilt I felt…. I tried pushing him away… I keep thinking if we had met under different circumstances we could've of been very happy…. He got me to appreciate the simple things that I never noticed or simply took for granted.
Kim Ji Na: He sounds like a he's a very good boy…. Did he get his revenge?
Jung Jae I: Yes in away…. As it happened one of our teachers who was sleeping with one of my friends was involved in the hit and run accident that killed Kang In Ha's….. Kang Ha was able to find videos of all the other wrong doings in the school with the bullying of the scholarship students along with the drug pushers were arrested for selling and distribution of drugs throughout the school. The police came and interrogated every one including me …. Principle Park Hui Seon was fired since Ri An was made to look bad. His mother won't let anyone tarnish her son's reputation.
Kim Ji Na: What do you want to do from here on out… the choices will be yours not your fathers nor mine…. If you want to simply clear your mind of everything this is the perfect place.
Jung Jae I: I would love that.
Back in Seoul
Park Tae Ho relates some news that Kang Ha has been looking for ever since Jung Jae I left.
Park Tae Ho: Have you been in touch with Jae I since she left school?
Kang Ha: No …. She told me not to worry about her… but how can I not…. especially after she told me her feelings for me were real.
Park Tae Ho: How were you able to get such a girl to like you….. especially when she belonged to Kim Ri An
Kang Ha: People aren't property of others even though this school makes it seem so….. I let her just see me ….. but I'll probably never see her again … this place holds to many bad memories for her….. it's a shame we could've been good together….. I really like her.
Park Tae Ho: Do you want to see her again?
Kang Ha: Of course I do…..Do you know where she is….. tell me.
Park Tae Ho: My father was on a trip in Muuido and he saw her and he thinks her mother together shopping at the local market.
Kang Ha: He is sure that it was her?
Park Tae Ho: He was pretty sure….. he seen her enough times at school.
The following weekend Kang Ha finds himself on the walkway to the little micro island that has become home to Jung Jae I. From the gate he could see she is helping her mother with the daily chores.
Kang Ha calls out: Jae I … is that you ?
Startled and somewhat surprised Jung Jae I looks and sees the very big smile on Kang Ha's face….. she walks to the gate with her eyes glued to his: What are you doing here…how did you find me?
Kim Ji Na also turns and sees the handsome young man that has come to see her daughter….. She tells her daughter: Jae I….. don't keep him waiting there invite him in .
Jung Jae I: Answer me … How did you find me?…. I didn't tell anyone where I was at?…. Why are you here?
Kim Ji Na: Is she always like this towards you?
Kang Ha: I was worried about you….. I had to make sure you were alright.
Jung Jae I: I told you not to be worried about me… but you don't listen to anyone do you?
Kim Ji Na: I'm Jae I's mother … who are you?… Jae I get the boy something to drink… he's come along way to see you.
Kang Ha: I'm sorry…. My name is Kang Ha Jae I and go to the same school.
Kim Ji Na: Which wealthy family do you belong to…. Are you part of the Kang Oh Group?
Kang Ha: Im a scholarship transfer….. though my brother and I were adopted by the Kang Family which owns the Kang Oh Group ….. My brother and I wanted to succeed on our own merits…. Now that's what I wish for since my brother passed away.
Hearing Kang Ha's words Jung Jae I is shocked: Why did you and Kang In Ha tolerate all that abuse if you were part of such a wealthy family….. In Ha even died because of it… I can't believe this … did you both have a death wish?
Kim Ji Na: Your out look on life is commendable… standing on your own two feet…. You're exactly what my daughter needs in her life.
Jung Jae I: Mother don't give him any ideas….. especially about me .
Kang Ha :I didn't come to sway you one way or another… you know how I feel about you ….. and I think I know how you feel about me….. but right now we're both to young to think of future plans… I still want to graduate at the top of the class so I can get a scholarship to a Top College. Once I achieved those … I will court you properly.
Kim Ji Na thinks to herself : I'm starting to like this boy even more….. Stay for dinner ….. then you and Jae I can have a talk by yourselves… It sounds like you both need to.
After dinner Kim Ji Na instructs them to go have there talk with a warning message: Don't be so cold to him?
They take a walk along the pier that leads away from her mothers little house.
Jung Jae I: Did you imagine that you found me living in a place like this?
Kang Ha: It sure beats an orphanage.
Jung Jae I: Tell me how you became who you became after being abandoned and living in an orphanage….. how did you end up there?
Kang Ha: I wish I knew… Fate wasn't very kind to us in the beginning...we were left at a homeless shelter after In Ha and I were born….. We got placed in an orphanage and that's where we grew up…. In Ha and I learned to take care of ourselves ….. we both made up our minds that we would make something of ourselves since no one wanted us…. We worked , played and studied hard…. Then one day the brother and sister of our supposedly father found out about who we were after he was killed…. They found out that one of his mistresses had given birth to us and abandoned us immediately… she later died of drug overdose. In Ha and I realized we already had two strikes against us with the parents that made us…. That's why we could only depend on ourselves. The Kang Family has accepted us but once In Ha was killed they allowed me to get justice for him. I used what In Ha did to get the scholar and my family pulled the necessary strings to get me accepted.
Jung Jae I: The Kang Ho group is a very powerful family… even my father fears them….. they could have easily found out about who killed In Ha…. Why did you have the need to do so yourself?
Kang Ha: He was my twin….. the closest person in my life….. he would've done the same if it was me that was killed. I needed to be the one to do this.
Jung Jae I: How can you look at me and not see me just as guilty as everyone else at Jooshin…. I feel so ashamed that I was such a coward… I still have nightmares every time I saw In Ha being bullied and beaten and I did nothing and even in the end I wanted to keep Ri An safe…. How could you possibly love someone like me?
As they continue to walk Kang Ha notices the store that sells Ice Cream… he buys two and gives one to Jae I…. She smiles and takes a lick.
Kang Ha: From that moment I kissed you and you kissed me back I knew that you were meant for me.
Jung Jae I: But you did that as a dare… I was your means to prove to everyone that you were one that couldn't be taken likely. So you used me… how could you say you love me?
Kang Ha : And you didn't use me because of that same kiss?
Jung Jae I: I just didn't want anyone else to be hurt because of me. That kiss opened my heart like no one has before….. I couldn't let them hurt you.
Kang Ha: Is that why you choose to run away?
Jung Jae I: I didn't have a choice my father disowned me … I'm no longer any use for him….. Not only did I sleep with the son of the one he hates ….. I embarrassed him even more by letting He Ra say that you were my boyfriend in front of the elites….. having everyone believe that I got shipped to New York was the easiest way of getting away from everyone and letting myself find myself.
Kang Ha: What are you planning on doing from here on out?…. Are you going to finish school ?
Jung Jae I: This time I'm spending with my mother … I'm finally feel relaxed… I have no pressure on me.
Kang Ha: What about me?
Jung Jae I: What do you mean what about you?….. I can't be the reason for you not achieving what you want…. The same thing I told Ri An… our whole relationship was based on surviving …. We both depended on each other to survive in the world our parents were preparing for us…. Neither of us were happy…. We both need to be happy with ourselves before we can be happy with someone else or each other. What's sad is my heart tells me I could be really happy with you ….. just with the simple things… this ice cream makes me smile because you gave it to me….. but the wound I caused you to bare is to much for me to forget… please don't make me hurt you again because I do love you.
Kang Ha: Now that you've admitted it….. I won't put any pressure on you… but whenever you feel that you need me don't overthink it… I'll come to you.
Jung Jae I: You're impossible
Kang Ha pulls her to him and gives her a very passionate kiss just like the first time….. she lifted up her arms held his neck and kissed him back… both of them could've easily made love.
Jung Jae I while catching her breath: You need to leave before I loose all my control.
Kang Ha: Tell your mom thank you for dinner… I will bring presents the next time I come….. I love you.
Jang Jae I: Just go ….. While in her thoughts she says: I love you too.
Jooshin Academy School Assembly
Oh Na Ra the new principle hired by An Hye Won to make sure that Kim Ri An has no more stigmas attached to him.
Principle Oh Na Ra: As your new principle I'm unveiling new guidelines that will be implemented immediately… the chaos and the bullying will no longer be tolerated….. the social structure will be adhered to , however, respect and discipline must be maintained…. If you violate the rules and guidelines that will be posted … you may be expelled after the third violation. If you fall below the required academic standards set to keep our GDP ratings you will be expelled…. This Academy will only produce the finest and brightest students that are exceptional prepared for college…. On that note let me introduce our newest Scholarship Transfer Student….. Jung Jae I…. Please give her a warm welcome.
While Kang Ha smiles … the shock and dismay on the faces of Kim Ri An, Yoon He Ra, Lee Woo ,Jin Gil Je Ji and Rye Ba Da while the existing teachers gasp that this new principle doesn't know who Jung Jae I is.