SO different from the description
This show being described as some high schoolers getting into illegal business does not describe what's actually going on here. It's not about some little petty crimes these high schoolers commit - in fact, I'd argue it's not about the crime at all. This show is about the downfall of Oh Jisoo, our main character.Oh Jisoo is a high school student that fully supports himself. He's got no family or friends to lean on, and no drive to seek help. He takes care of himself; however, he needs money to do that. Jisoo runs a protection service for sex workers, but remains anonymous to his clients. He sends in help when it's needed, takes a cut of the pay, and never has to meet his clients face to face. However, when Gyuri, a girl from school, starts learning of Jisoo's activities, she wants in. You watch Jisoo, who was doing just fine on his own, slowly crumble as everything he has built falls apart with no way for him to right his wrongs.
I was super excited about this show, especially because of the high ratings, but was fairly disappointed. The first 8 episodes felt like minor conflicts were being drawn out for no reason, and honestly I wasn't really rooting for a single character in this. However, I will say that the ending was perfect and the last episode kept me very entertained. For a shorter series, it was a fairly enjoyable watch, but I found myself not paying attention to large portions of it because it felt like a lot of conflicts didn't matter. I do think if you go into it knowing that the true story here is not about the sex work or the crimes, but about watching our main character fall apart over the course of the show, it would be a much more engaging watch. Every issue he faces builds on top of the last, and with no ability to resolve his problems, Oh Jisoo slowly loses his mind.
Was this review helpful to you?
Extracurricular’s characters are unapologetic, and not particularly likable. But thats what makes it so intriguing because nobody's in the right or wrong spectrum. The relationships between them grow more interesting and complex, which makes them worth investing in. Meanwhile, as Ji-soo’s criminal enterprise expands, the stakes get higher, and create lots of entertaining suspense. The result is a binge-worthy series that is as thrilling as it is disturbing for those old enough to handle it! Warning ... Its gets very bloody!!!
Was this review helpful to you?
Craving for Season 2~!
Made an account here just to make a review about Extracurricular. I usually read comments and reviews from dramalist before watching anything because reviewers here are so damn good in making me curious thus wanting me to watch the dramas being reviewed. This is my first time so bear with me. hehe!I binge watched this over the weekend. The story is so good, some people said the ending was not satisfying but I like that kind of endings. It makes me use my vast and wide imagination. I have been working in a korean environment for over 4 years now and yesterday I discussed this drama with my manager and asked if this kind of bullying is really happening in korea. He said yes, it was really serious for the past few years but getting better now. I think the show is very helpful for the community to be aware that even young kids have their own struggles and even made decisions just to get thru it. Whether that decision is good or bad.
I loved the drama very much. 10 episodes is enough but I do want for more. I wonder if they really went to Sydney and picked some fruits and vegies. Hahaha!
Highly recommended! A must watch! This has become one of my favorite K-drama.
This drama is absolutely 대박~!!!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Am I the only one on the verge of crying when Oji accept Gyuri's help? It is like he gave in to something bad. And well, the whole situation became bad.Honestly, this drama is really exciting and fun. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I marathoned this in 2 days. Lots of fun. But, around 75% of the time I felt annoyed.
Here, Netflix present a 10 hours long of violence, sex trafficking, and stress. Moral of the story is kids are kids, however clever they are. And adults, even though they tried the hardest, may not able to protect a child, at all. Also, always look at owns fault before blaming others.
First, all of the cast acted amazingly. Superb! As expected of Kim Dong Hee, I've been looking forward to his acting since Sky Castle and A-Teen. And the Female Lead who played Bae Gyuri is such an amazing actress. A new favorite.
The cinematography is good. There are some scenes that reminds me of a particular Japanese style technique, you'll know when you see it, the dream scenes. Some scenes reminded me of video game / vlog style. And some scenes really scream old-french-chill vibes. Overall, it was a delight watching this.
The music is okay. Befitting.
Story wise, the concept is fresh in drama format, but more common in K-movies as they tend to be darker. Also, beware of open ending. I personally like open ending better than bad unrealistic ending, the viewers are allowed to insert their own version of the ending.
Why did I feel annoyed most of the time? It is because most of the characters here didn't see what role they had in causing the bad circumstances. They were just blaming others and thus, don't feel any remorse of what they did. Also, so many characters here just think of nothing and made such a bad decision. AND, they didn't know when to stop and say enough. I know it is silly to complain about this, if they did those they wouldn't be a criminal.
Also, the kids will be kids. Jisoo is NO GENIUS, mind you. He just have a crooked mind and he is just a kid who makes so much bad decision with no good adult who he can consult and who can support him. He became the ace of the school because he studied hard and got tutoring. Rather, Gyuri is the smarter, albeit more heartless.
Everyone here is at fault, tbh. Well, except the bystander which are the police and the teacher. Everyone here have responsibilities to take.
I wouldn't really rewatch this because I generally don't rewatch things unless the story resonates with me or there is something so special about it. So, you can ignore my rewatch ratings.
ALSO just a note for some character.
Gyuri was a really annoying character from the start. But read this a comment from @Barbara: "Everyone is constantly blaming her, including Ji Soo. Blaming/Demanding and so on.
Watch again and see how she hurts her skin near nails each time someone's blaming her and not seeing her effort...
Her mOtHeR talked about her suicide attempt as a youth rebellion!!!
Both of her parents see in her only an INVESTMENT for the future, which has to be flawless.
No one hears her silent scream like no one sees and cares about Ji Soo's situation.
Gyu Ri's help for Ji Soo was rejected multiple times because she has a perfect home, has two shitty parents, and is rich. Yeah, Ji Soo was blind too, in the beginning, but he's smarter than some of the viewers and saw that's she is hurting and she sees no reasons to live for. She treats it all like a game, yes. It's a mechanism to deal with emotions that are eating her from the inside and survive to the time when she can leave that hell home. That's probably why she needed that money for.
In my opinion, in the ending, she didn't leave Ji Soo. She has nowhere else to go. If you watch carefully you will notice how much she wanted to run away with him to Australia when she asked him... If Ji Soo didn't survive this, she could even kill herself."
Kwak Gi Tae was a jerk from start to finish. There was a point where GiTae's character became concerned with MinHee. Here's a comment that may explain his behavior from @Halsyeon: "he’s a bit possessive so if we look at it like Minhee was his thing (which he certainly used her) then I can see him acting like he did."
P.S. Sorry for grammatical errors.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Extra-boring-ular
Story: Sex trafficking without sex and trafficking. That's the premise downfall right there.Acting: Everyone was so unlikable I was rooting for all of them to die. I guess that means good performances cause their characters weren't supposed to be likeable. Yet I have hard time praising anyone cause no one was engaging. You can be a bad guy or a girl and be engaging, these actors and characters were just blandly dull.
Music: honestly can't remember.
Rewatch value: Zero. I awarded 1 star cause the system won't let you post a review without any star. I wouldn't recommend this even to insomniacs cause I honestly think that this drama is so dangerously boring it could put you in coma.
Overall: Talk about a massive bait and switch. What's advertised as an intriguing "highschooler runs a sex trafficking ring" is really, "highschooler spends 10 overlong episodes fretting whether he'll get caught, trying to get his phone back". You learn nothing about the world of sex trafficking and that's bad for a supposed cautionary tale that ends every episode with "call 911 if you've heard about this happening in your school". The real message of this drama is that losing your cell phone is the worst thing that can happen to you.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
First of all, thanks to netflix for bringing us such greeat dramas lately.I finished the whole series in 3 days (hello quarantine) and it was AMAZING. When I saw the trailer I knew I wanted to watched it because it looked very well done and the teaser is really appealing ! But those kind of thriller/psychological drama aren't really my thing so I though : yeah maybe one day. One night I decided to watch the first episode and here I am 3 days later wanting to watch it again.
First the main cast and characters: I only knew Kim Dong Hee from Iteawon Class. His role in this drama wasn't my favorite so I really didn't know what to expect : guys ! I really hope he is gonna have a long career cause I was amazed by his acting ! It's not easy to play ambiguous roles like that ! I could really feel how tortured the character was. The trailer is really misleading as you expect to see a "bad guy". Not gonna defend his business cause for me, he was a pimp, but you can understand his choice as the girls were totally ok with it. I just didn't like how he let so minhee like that in the last episode, I really hope they gonna explain that if we have a second season
The FL Park Joo Hyun was the perfect pair for him ! Like the teacher said : They are really similar even tho they have a complete different life. I know that she ruined the business but honestly it wasn't her intentions and once she is determined to help the hero, she goes all in. She made bad choices and was sometimes annoying when she wanted to solve everything alone, but she was smart and also trapped in her life. Jisoo was her escape and you can feel that when she comes spend so much time in his house, just to not stay with her family.
Their scenes in the last episode were incredible and showed how much they cared for each other, espacially her.
Loved their teacher !
The only character I didn't understand was so minhee. She was okay with everything and even begged to stay with them but still blamed FL and ML at the end.
The ost was so nice, not too present but perfect with the scenes and I never skipped the introduction
And this ending... just gonna say that they better give us a season 2 cause I really want to know what happened
Great drama and may watch it again if the season 2 is annonced soon !
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
This was terrible
I've seen ppl recommending this saying it was good so I decided to watch it was a waste of my time honestly it was not good I wouldn't recommend.First this was terrible everything went downhill from gyuri stole jisoo's phone ( for no reason) ever since she entered jisoo's life nothing went smoothly she's also so fucking selfish she basically ruined jisoo's Business that was going soo well.
The dad was a prick who basically flushed 60 million krw down the toilet that he stole from his son.
Jisoo is a coward who couldn't stand his ground against the bullying from Kitae and his minions and gyuri's controlling and selfish ways cuz he liked her. When minhee accidentally fell down the stairs all he had to do was call the ambulance cuz it was an accident it's not like it was purposely done but no he ran away which would've turned into murder (if she died). He was also stupid to take up the phone like if ur running away why take up a phone that was not urs and at the scene of the accident.
Minhee didn't have a right to blame jisoo when mr. lee died just because he told her not to say anything to the cops. She didn't have to obey him cuz she is free to say what she likes.
I didn't really like the cop idk y I didn't like her but I just don't.
All in all I'm blaming gyuri cuz if she didn't stole jisoo's phone none of this would've happened.
Was this review helpful to you?
Unique and Not the Typical Kind of K-Drama
Overall, I recommend to watch this drama if you want to watch something that is not a typical kind of k-drama that you've seen. It gives a fresh look and shows the limitless possibilities in a k-drama where you won't be able to predict what will happen in it.The casts were awesome, they depicted the emotions and characters very well. This drama describes the consequences when teenagers decided on something that is irreversible. You will see how the teenagers will react where they have a quite an unstable emotion which gives them an uniqueness for each of the casts. It can give you some insights about adolescent nowadays as well.
The plot has a great setup and developed very well through out the season but I felt that it can be further developed. There might be a season 2 to justify that. The cinematography of this drama is also amazing. The visualization of the story is spot on. Furthermore, the intro and the theme song really gives an earworm to its viewers.
Was this review helpful to you?
Excellent
Reason for watching:My friend convinced me to watch this with a brief description of the plot and I honestly couldn't have been more glad.
Reason for finishing:
If you like more gritty (and slightly unrealistic) stories about desperation, that also include an amazing cast, ost and BGM, then this is for you. It keeps you constantly thinking about it, and when you finish an episode you feel like you need to take a deep breath and think about everything that just happened.
Characters:
I can understand the general opinion that a lot of the characters in this show are not very likeable, and I would have to agree. However, despite this, they are still endearing to watch go through their struggles. As mostly morally grey characters, you're not sure if you want them to succeed or fail in their plans, which ultimately heightens up the tension.
Overall opinion:
This show is entertaining in every way you would want a gritty, dark, drama to be about and if you're into shows like that, then this is a short, aesthetically pleasing and all around amazing show for you.
Reason for rating:
The only reason this does not get a 9.5 or a 10 is because at parts, the show does feel either slightly repetitive or unnecessarily complex. That being said, it does not bring down the overall value that you can get out of this show.
Erin,
xx
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
TL;DR - Watch this show, its really goodI want to preface this review by saying that I don't write reviews very often
Extracurricular has everything I would like in Korean Dramas. It's a bit of a slow burn which I tend to love in movies and television. It's not a soap opera. It's themes are heavy hitting and its tonally consistent in my opinion. Its not a drama about perfect characters nor does it portray an ideal society. Its not a typical teen drama and its very grounded in its portrayal of school life and crime.
The main characters in this drama are morally grey, grounded, and very human. Sometimes their actions are well intentioned but have negative repercussions. Ji Soo is a coward that keeps his head down but can weasel his way out of situations when truly pushed into a corner. Gyu Ri seems like an aspiring woman but is really suffocated by her parents and turns to delinquency as a means of acting out. Min Hee is truly one of the most tragic characters in the show. She bullies others and sells herself as an escort but is lonely and longing for true companionship. In a sort of Leon the Professional/Taxi Driver way she befriends the man that acts as the muscle for her escort service
The ending is a real clincher and kept me thinking long after the show finished. It's open ended, but its important to remember is that its not about whether Ji Soo and Gyu Ri are caught by the police. What's important is that they began to love each other despite the hardships they faced. Despite the pressure of being caught, Gyu Ri stays with Ji Soo and is prepared to follow him no matter the circumstance.
Overall this show is just really well written with nuanced characters and a plot that is unconventional and keeps you interested.
Was this review helpful to you?
