Girls High School Mystery Class season 3

The second season has started airing on December 31st and will have 8 episodes. The episodes are about 65-70 minutes long and Beachu Squad are subbing them. They have received copyright notices so they are only providing subtitle files through their website now and have removed the earlier episodes they provided. Fortunately, the episodes can be found through kshow123 or kisstvshow. The commentary episode is around 45 minutes and can be found here.

The show's PD Jung Jong Yeon also held an interview with StarNews which was translated by em_cavey - thank you so much for sharing💖

GHSMC S2 ended well with some great fan response. What reactions did you see that were especially memorable?

I was watching the live chat during the last episode and when the lights and fireworks went off, the chatroom went crazy. It felt like fireworks going off inside the screen or like a big round of applause. The chatroom was covered in ‘3333’ (meaning season 3) and it felt cathartic. We streamed the episodes live at my insistence. I think a lot of our fans like watching and enjoying the show together. We were only planning to stream the first episode but the response was so good we decided to do all the episodes. The chatting moved so fast it streamed down like rain, it was really moving.

How would you compare GHSMC S1 and S2?

We definitely focused more on the story this time. I think we achieved what we were trying to do. I think slightly more people found S2 more enjoyable. Of course, some people preferred S1 but we don’t really have many role models for a show like ours, I pretty much rely on my experiences on my previous shows and The Great Escape. So I know things won’t always go the way our audience wants or expects. I consider it part of the process of creating a better show.

S1 was 16 episodes but S2 was shortened to 8. Maybe that's why the NPCs seemed to provide a lot of clues to the cast members.

We had no choice but to cut down on some inefficiencies. The more variables there are with the NPCs, the more astronomically expensive our production costs become. We really had to consider how to use our production budget to be optimally efficient. I know that there are certain elements that the viewers found disappointing. I have a lot to think about with regards to the underlying framework of GHSMC and TGE.

We saw the bts that revealed the greenhouse was full of the black antler mushrooms. Wasn’t it disappointing that the cast never found them?

It was very disappointing. Of course we want everything to show up according to our best laid plans but since the cast has free will that doesn’t always happen. It’s disappointing but it can’t be helped. The format of the show means that the autonomy of the cast will inevitably be a bit of a dilemma. But we can’t tell the cast what to do in those situations.

Bibi’s predictions always seem to come true. She mentioned wanting to go to boarding school next season, will that come true as well?

That’s because Bibi has an eye for producing. We hadn’t thought of a boarding school exactly but we considered having the cast live together while we filmed the episodes back-to-back. But the scheduling didn’t work out. Maybe we’ll consider it again for season 3.

S2 started around the same time Yena’s album was released and both used a similar smiley face symbol. Viewers had a lot of theories about that.

It was a total coincidence. It was really fun. I think stuff like this is part of the fun of watching GHSMC and I’m glad we have this playground.

The NPCs are one of the highlights of the show. Any fun backstage stories?

We filmed in the Kyungbuk region, and we started rehearsals as soon as the sun was up so everyone needed to arrive on set during the dark hours of early morning. It was tough but everyone worked incredibly hard. The actor who played the vice principal had a lot of lines but she was a lot of fun and ad-libbed a lot. Like she ad-libbed asking the girls if they’d taken the elevator.

Both seasons of the show were filmed in winter, so a lot of fans are wondering if you’ll do next season in the summer as a summer horror special.

We haven’t decided anything about S3 yet. I’d like to do a season in the summer but I know it’d be very challenging. The cast will probably suffer a lot from the heat. Our cast wears a lot of makeup and it might melt off. Still, I like the idea of a summer season.

What do you think is the biggest appeal of GHSMC?

The authenticity of the cast’s reactions. I think the greatest strength of the show is how it absorbs the viewers into the feelings of the cast. And the cast does a great job at bringing that aspect to life. There’s a difference between watching a scary movie and empathizing with a scary situation. There’s something almost 4D about our show, it’s more like an experience.

TGE cast member Yoo Byungjae appearing as Mr. Oh Daeyang was a fun surprise.

We also thought it’d be a nice Easter egg and we wanted someone 100% trustworthy to appear so we could reduce the time it took the cast to trust and get used to him. On our show, after the mystery itself is solved, we want the cast to take on a final boss of sorts. And since we are a variety show after all, it wouldn’t be very entertaining for the season to end with simply finding the right answers. We want to wrap things up in a more dynamic ending.

TVING (the show’s original OTT platform) has created a lot of spinoffs for popular shows, such as Amazing Saturday’s spinoff “Idol Dictation Contest” and NJTTW’s spinoff “Spring Camp.” Have you put any thought into maybe doing “Boys High School Mystery Club?”

I have not put any thought into doing “Boys High School Mystery Club” (laughs).

The cast seemed like they were more emotionally immersed in S2, showing a lot of genuine emotion like Jaejae and Bibi’s anger and swearing, and Jang Doyeon’s tears.

I think the crew has earned their trust and the cast feels like they can immerse themselves more completely in the situations. I communicate with the cast a lot as well. S1 was a preview of what they could do. The swearing, the emotion, that’s part of what makes this a variety show. It’s more than just a mystery story, it’s fun to watch because the cast plays the roles of audience surrogates. Of course the cast is one of the most entertaining aspects of the show and I’m very proud of them for it.

All the members are of different ages and backgrounds. What do you think of their chemistry?

Again, it’s very important to the variety aspect of the show. If you just look at the story of GHSMC, it’s very dark and scary and unrealistic. But it’s built on a foundation of comedy and that makes the story digestible for audiences. We’re not only concerned with emotion, we care a lot about humor as well. That’s what brings the different age groups together, the comedy that Park Jiyoon and Jang Doyeon provide. They bring a lot to the dynamic of the show. I don’t have any complaints. I don’t want anything more from the cast, just keep doing what they’re doing (laughs).

In turning a shuttered school building into ‘Taepyung Girls High School,’ what parts of the set demanded the most work?

We had a lot of ideas about how the set would work but many of those ended up being scrapped as we finalized the script. We had a whole science room set planned but we never ended up using that. The space in front of the snack bar ended up being a key location. The founder’s stoneended up costing us millions of won to make and deliver. My favorite set was the shipping containers. Transforming the building took an enormous amount of money but the containers involved a lot of design.

How many people worked on GHSMC and how long did it all take?

About 100 extras and about as many staff as well. The production process is shorter than you might think, less than half a year in total.

Are there any other genres you’d like to try in the future?

I have a ton of ideas for other genres. But people don’t seem to like them very much (laughs). I spent two years on the latest seasons of TGE and GHSMC and I’m burned out. We were airing for 20 straight weeks. Even one season of The Genius was exhausting so to be honest, I’m spent right now. I’d like to take a break to recharge and develop some new ideas but this year is going to be a pivotal one for our industry. I’m going to have to think about and do a lot of things. I want to keep doing TGE and GHSMC and part of me also wants to strike while the iron’s hot and help establish a more global audience for K-variety shows. 2022 is going to be a year of a lot of debate and opportunity.

Source: Drama information & Image via My Dramalist, Baechu Squad, kshow123, kisstvshow | Interview via StarNews translated by em_cavey

The commentary episode has aired a while ago in Korea but was subbed only recently - it was a nice throwback to the show, offers some behind the scene stories and made me realize i miss it! But fortunately, season 3 is coming!!

[Spoiler (click to open)]

i can't believe the production staff painted those black antler mushrooms by hand for the club to find at the greenhouses but they never did lmao

Will there be a season 3 of Girls High School Mystery class?

Will there be a season 2 of high school mystery club?

Where can I watch high school mystery club Season 2?

Where can I watch high school mystery club?