The only valid explanation I see for Ex-Girlfriend Club's low ratings is that it doesn't have any "epic love" nor any "bad-to-the-bone villain". It is simply a heartfelt story with a generous sprinkle of fluff and hilarity, as its OST can corroborate. Although the story is unpretentious, the characters are all layered. Flawed yet lovable, the characters are more than just love interests and whatnot; each of them is his/her own person. The genuineness the characters give off is enhanced by the great acting. The cast did a flawless job, Bun Yo Han was especially shining in this drama. The ones behind the cast wouldn't have been able to find a more perfect fit for Myung Soo, even if they had tried. Not to mention how believable Song Ji Hyo and him were at acting as a couple, they were simply the cutest.
This drama, free of the usual draggy angst, can be watched over and over without losing much of its charm. To put it in a nutshell, Ex-Girlfriend Club is the perfect drama to watch if you want to uplift your current mood.
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Of course the main attraction of this drama were the characters. For me it was more how they were easy to relate to more than anything.
-Soo Jin is a hardworking girl who wants to produce meaningful movies. To do that she has to accept working on movies she's less enthusiastic about.
-Myung Soo is a webtoon artist who's getting by (though I don't know how he would afford a Burberry blancket :P). He's a positive person, chill and fun to be around.
-Hwa Yeong is a career woman with a crazy side to her that needs to be kept in check.
-Ji Ah is a woman stuck in the image of a classy madame, but yearns for freedom from it.
-Rara gives off the impression of a loose girl who'd anything to reach her dream when in reality she's a sweet person who needed someone to remind her of her value.
-Jo Geon is an artist at heart, with all the negative and positive that comes with it. He's moody, he's unpredictable, he's got a temper, but he's warm, doesn't judge others and reflective.
-Finally, though we didn't see much of Yeong Jae, I found him much more refreshing now that he got rid of that perfectness when it comes to relationships.
I find those are all traits we can relate to, to some degree and I really enjoyed the focus on it. Any fight, breakup or argument came from within, and not from any flimsy external factor, or stupid misunderstanding. The development in the relationships felt natural, and the characters had chemistry. The friendship between the ladies was a delight it reminded me of one of my favourite high school romcom movies "John Tucker Must Die".
I'm not sure if the episode cut was a positive or a negative occurrence. On one hand there was no time to waste on any extra angst, so even annoying characters had to wrap up their act fast, actually making them more likeable. On the other hand, there were some events that felt got wrapped conveniently fast an could benefit some a deeper exploration.
Overall light watch with relatable characters and unique comedic moment,
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Byun Yo Han as Bang Myeong Soo and Song Ji Hyo as Kim Soo Jin have great chemistry and are good together. I enjoyed all of the characters very much.
The music is good.
I probably won't rewatch this, but it is rewatchable.
I recommend this drama to romcom lovers especially.
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After a lengthy break I'm back to writing a review and I'd like to start this one by stating my final verdict which is that yes, this is a drama worth watching. I'm writing this review literally a minute after I finished the drama and the feeling that I was left with was very satisfactory. The story was nice and compact, there wasn't a lot of dragging and character development throughout all twelve episodes was smooth.
I noticed in a lot of comments and some reviews, too, that people were saying they wished the drama had been longer but on the contrary, I must say I'm glad it wasn't. This drama held its stable stance precisely because it was on the shorter side. Had they extended it up to sixteen episodes, I'm pretty sure we would have experienced the same tragedy that happened with Song Ji Hyo's previous small screen success, Emergency Couple. The plot would have dragged out and in the end, we would have been left with filler scenes and pointless subplots being stretched to ridiculous lengths. This drama kept it short, tight and simple making it a lovely, eventful package.
To give you the plot in a nutshell: A man named Bang Myung Soo (Byun Yo Han) writes a webtoon about his three ex-girlfriends. This webtoon becomes so popular that soon the production of a movie adaptation is put into action and the producer turns out to be Myung Soo's old friend Kim Soo Jin (Song Ji Hyo), with whom he had a some-relationship in the past. When the three ex-girlfriends find out about details of their personal life possibly being exposed through this movie, they confront Myung Soo about it and drama ensues.
To me this plot seemed very original and interesting from the first time I heard it and in the end I wasn't disappointed. The idea of three ex-girlfriends of the same man in one room is already chaotic enough but add onto that the fact that all three of them are quite the ladies. They each have their own, strong personality, which is described in the webtoon with animals: a cat, a lion and a fox. And boy do these women know how to make a situation messy. I found myself face-palming at their antics in every episode and I must say it was one of the best aspects of the drama. The two main characters Myung Soo and Soo Jin are also lovable and make you 'aww' quite a few times with the deepness of their relationship.
Myung Soo is a real sweetheart. He is caring and kind but also very simple, a little clumsy and awkward in social situations. His relationship with Soo Jin really shows his sincerity but unfortunately, there wasn't as much character development as I was hoping there would be. Soo Jin's character was pretty static as well although it was clear that she became somewhat braver and more understanding while battling with her own feelings towards Myung Soo. While in the beginning episodes of the drama, I found the development between these two to be the exciting part, towards the end I noticed that it lost its spark, even got a little boring at times. It might be because the two started out as friends, but their relationship, cute as it may be, didn't make my heart pound in the way that I was hoping it would.
However, what really kept the drama going for me, was the three ex's. They are, hands down, the craziest bunch of women you'll ever find. Each of them is a unique individual but their personalities are all somewhat similar in the sense that they are definitely what you would call strong females.
The cat is Na Ji Ah (Jang Ji Eun), a classy older woman, who left Myung Soo to get married despite still having feelings for him and returns after getting divorced. She is in my opinion the most fickle of all the characters. Her opinions and thoughts are all over the place and change every other minute and she is quite manipulative.
The lion is a successful company worker Jang Hwa Yeong (Lee Yoon Ji) who is about to get married to the man of her dreams. She is fierce and quite obsessive and appears to be even a little crazy at times. She was my favorite character in the drama, cute and upbeat while also being capable of destruction if the situation so deems. Lee Yoon Ji was also the perfect choice for this role, with her quirky expressions and bright smile.
The last ex-girlfriend, the fox, is Ra Ra (Ryu Hwa Young), a not-so-successful actress who is used to taking advantage of her gorgeous looks to get what she wants. I was so glad to get to see Hwa Young acting that I'm sure I would have been satisfied with anything, but Ra Ra was a very well developed character. She is the one in whom you can clearly see a change. She goes from being arrogant and spoiled to humble and more hardworking. She also develops a... I'm not quite sure how to put it but let's say 'an ambiguous relationship' with a movie director Jo Geon (Do Sang Woo), who is gorgeous, too, if I may add...
All in all the characters in this drama were great. They interacted well together and really showed a wide scale of emotions that one would usually experience while dealing with such sensitive topics as love and breakup. Acting was also top-class, I have nothing to complain. There isn't much to say about the music either. Some of the OSTs were absolutely beautiful but not so memorable that I would have bothered to search them up. The best part of the drama, for me personally, was the ex-girlfriends and how their reciprocal relationship turned from hatred and contempt to something entirely else.
There were ups and downs in this drama but overall I found it enjoyable. I do recommend watching this, especially so if you are a fan of any of the actors because as mentioned before, their performance was outright great. A fun plot, interesting characters and a lot of alcohol would probably sum up this drama pretty good. And that's a killer combination right there ;) A solid 8 it is!
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Story:
The Plot sounds very interesting. A man who meets his Ex-Girlfriends again, when a company watns to make a movie. The Plot seems to be funny and I was happy whenever the subs came out. Writer Bang mets four different women again and the the twist begin. At first I didn't understand why he make his Ex-Girlfriends in animals, but after a few episodes I realized, why he did it. After tvN announced the cutting I was shocked and asked myself how they would end it.
Acting/Cast:
As I said before I am a huge fan of Song Jihyo since I saw her in Goong aka Princess Hours. In my opinion she played the role of Soojin, a woman who fights for her dreams, very well. The other Actors I didn't know well before I watched them in this Drama. But all of them act very well and did a good job. Byun Yohan played Bang Myungsoo (the webtoon Writer) who was in the middle of his Ex-Girfriends and in the middle of a chaos. The 3 Ex-Grifriends did a good job, too. Especially I liked Ryu Hwayoung who played the Maknae. I didn't know that she could act very well. Do Sangwoo (who played the Director) played a very different role from his previous Role in The Legendary Witches. But I rhink he also did a good Job.
Music:
I like the Music very much. The Music in the beginning of every episode shows the funny plot. So I think it suits the Drama very well.
This Drama is one of these I would watch more than one times. One negative pisont I have to say is the cutting from 16 to 12 Episodes. I think the mistake is that the Drama was cut short because of the viewer ratings v.v. But at the end they ended it to fast v.v. So it was a bit confusing. I am sad, that the Drama has ended because I liked all of it.
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I'll never forget The cat, fox and Lioness, them together gave us a lot of fun.
Kim soo Jin was a cute character, I just love how simple and warm she was. And of course I can't forget to talk about Directo Jo, He just appear and became my fav character in this drama, I love how smart and honest he was.
It was a shame they cut some episodes the story can be much better, but I still liked it.
This was simple, catchy and funny. I really enjoyed it.
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Story: Ex Girlfriend Club had a pretty unique story. It may seem typical but the way it played out was very different. It involved real-life problems but in an exaggerated way so it wasn't exactly a slice of life but the exaggeration made it interesting instead of unbelievable. I loved the conflicts and how our main characters overcame them. There was never a dull moment and the story was pretty interesting.
Actors/Characters: I loved all the different characters we got to see in this drama. Each girl had her own unique personality and quirks and the best part was that all of them were flawed, real characters. They had some good traits and some bad which made them real people and hence easy to sympathize with.
Romance: This was my favorite part of the drama. It was just so sweet and comfortable and real. It's the kind of relationship I dream of having. Myung Soo and Soo Jin were such good friends and so comfortable with each other. They loved each other in more than just a romantic way. They're definitely one of my all-time favorite drama couples!
Overall: I loved this drama and it really sucks not many people know about it. Highly recommended if you're in the mood of a light rom-com with good solid characters, a real romance and a interesting story.
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The story line was I think the thing that let it down the most. Outside of the relationship story line, there wasn't a strong enough story line to keep the drama moving, with climaxes and such. I wish they focused on the movie making more, as at times there were episodes with little to nothing about the movie.
However the relationship between Soo Jin and Myeong Soo was a very sweet one. I loved how natural they made it feel. Some dramas can make relationships seem too perfect and easy going. This drama took advantages of relationship struggles and journeys and it really worked in their favor. For their relationship alone I recommend this drama.
Also The 3 ex-girlfriends was such an interesting plot. I really liked the variety of personalities. I think they got actresses that fit the characters of a fox, lion and cat very well. I especially enjoyed Ra Ra. I think she played the role perfectly and I enjoyed how they made her role feel deeper with the love story and the struggles of trying to make it as an actress.
There were a couple of plot holes, such as we never found out about the story of the bear that he was working on and that we never find out about the movies outcome. Both of these could have been bought into the story line with just a little bit less focus on the relationships and more focus on the story, like I said earlier.
I think 12 Episodes was a good length for this drama. I don't think it would have worked out with 16 episodes, even if there was more story.
Watch this drama if you want to laugh, see a genuine relationship and feel happy after every episode :)
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The story and characters were just great! The story is a simple love story and even whilst dealing with many hardships it never becomes heavy, because of the many jokes, catchy songs and most of all the fun characters. It's amazing how well the characters are written. Each of them have a distinct personality and are portrayed perfectly by the actors. It seriously never happened to me before that I fell in love with all of the characters in a drama.
So why the mediocre rating? The last couple of episodes disappointed me a bit, mainly the male lead. His acting was still good, but to me the writers changed his personality too much. it's hard to say exactly how, but he became less loveable to me. The thing that bugged me the most was how he became overly jealous, which is something especially he cannot afford.
Since the drama is only 12 episodes (cut short, unfortunately), I'd still recommend this to anyone. You can watch it in between home work, after a heavy tear jerker, or whenever you want really! It'll definately bring an instant smile to your face.
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Song Jihyo and Byun Yohan both are great actors. But, their act don't match well in this drama. Yohan seems has many adlibs while Jihyo was kinda strict to the script. Actually I think their personality look match. In the other hands, the other roles made a great impact to this drama. The character were strong and the cast acted well.
The ost. are strong enough to support the story and execute well. It take a big role in this drama.
Unfortunately it has cut down to only 12 episodes. Overall it's entertaining and worth to watch and re-watch.
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The story at first seemed rather cheesy and dull, however the chemistry between the actors makes up for any issues with the plot, which is actually hilarious and enjoyable. If you're debating whether or not to watch it, definitely give it a chance, because it will be worth your time.
The screen writer flawlessly puts all the actors into one jumbled heap of a mess, which is exactly where all the humor comes from. There is never a dull moment, and the plot has several twists and turns!
The music slowly grows on you, and by the end I enjoyed several of the songs, especially the non lyric music in the background.
I would definitely rematch this drama, the humor is light and fluffy, and sometimes you just need a good drama to pick up your mood, for me this one is ideal.
All in all, I looked forward to this drama every week and I couldn’t wait to see more, it's well paced, hilarious, and has a good warm feeling to it. If you're thinking of watching it, do so! I promise you won't be disappointed.
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