Ayiden
항상 머릿속에 있어
At first I wasn't sure whether I should watch Extracurricular because of the trailer that didn't really speak to me. (Specifically the girl shooting her parents by whistling and the gory genre is not up my alley) But nonetheless clicked on it and didn't stop bingewatching until I finished its short but sweet 10 eps.
Yes. its that good.
-Main Characters
I loved the male lead's unique personality (awkward potato at first, but very chaotic neutral near the end) But as the story went on the awkward potato became less awkward and more things started happening not according to what i thought he was like in the beginning. So it fell a bit into the abyss of -every male leads personality ever- . Luckily because of the story and the choices he got to make in that story made that abyss a lot more -background. Near the end his personality became a bit more stable, and some traits came back more frequently (but darker hehehe).
I was amazed at the female lead's personality, which sadly seems to be an unpopular opinion. Personally I wouldn't like FLs who are the forever damsels in distress and cant seem to live their lives without the male lead saving them. But as a matter of fact, Gyu Ri was more badass than Ji Soo throughout the whole drama. What people found annoying (From what I've read) is that she is born in a rich family and shouldn't mind others' businesses. But what no one seems to get is the way she is feeling and her goals/ intentions, and just describe her as annoying because she doesn't do exactly what the male lead wants her to do. That exact point makes her a more believable and realistic female character.
Story
The initial setup was amazing, you immediately notice this is not your usual Korean drama. The amount of swearing, violence, the prostitution plot and mentioning of things that are usually not mentioned in kdrama ever (homosexuality for example) are already a few of the ways why this show is unique. They even had a few non-korean pop culture references (Ji Soo underlined the sentence 'Life is strange before the storm hits' for example)
The story itself is almost completely unpredictable. its a rollercoaster ride in the dark and you missed all the safety exits, whereas now it is impossible to get off. The premise started out fairly simple (except the ml being a pimp basically) with not much going on, tho the further you get the darker the issues become. Until you reach the point they cant get out, nor do you know where you would have gotten out if you were one of the lead characters. Near the end the choices they made became somewhat illogical, but not unbelievable (still could figure out the why) and the angst was very well portrayed in those situations. I cant tell much else without spoiling so I hope I at least convinced one person to go and watch this very good and addictive show.
(I gave the music an 8 since it was good but not 'I need to shazam this' -good. Rewatch value became an 8 because i never rewatch anything, yet feel like it wouldnt be boring to rewatch it if I wanted to)
Ps: I loved kwak ki's dimples, and the old (not that old but ok) -man, also really hoping for a season 2!
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A fangirl review over why you should watch this even if its just for one character.
I literally started this drama because it was recommended to me on Netflix since I just watched Familiar Wife, a show that also had Jang Seung Jo as a cast member. I totally didn't notice him as special in there but OH LET ME TELL YOU.I never write reviews. I think i only wrote one before? I'm not that good at them, but since The Good Detective has become my comfort show I HAD to say something. Actually also a thing that I don't do is rewatch shows, heck i had no clue what a comfort show was or ~felt~ like.
This one tho, I couldn't NOT rewatch it and I'm pretty sure I can rewatch it over and over again and not get bored. I'm gonna tell you why exactly that is.
The story is good, not super special, but a good watch and not boring at all. The thing that makes this drama epic, and I'm gonna be a super basic ass fangirl here, is Jang Seung Jo. Or specifically Oh Ji Hyuk. If you like bad boys, this is your guy, if you like good guys, this is your guy, tsundere? this guy. broken boi? this guy. I tell you I watched this drama months ago for the first time and can still fangirl like day 1. His character is the perfect chaotic neutral tsundere with a ~past and ~issues. And if that didn't convince you yet, hes good looking aswell.
The funny thing is, Jang Seung Jo is an amazing actor. In his other dramas he is totally different (signs of a good actor ofcourse, i dont get why hes not more popular) You can really see he has different personalities in his other dramas which is great.
On the rest of the show:
The other characters are great and have depth, the women in this show are strong (personalities and physically ;') which makes this drama even better. The only criticism I have about the story of the show is that the end 'revelation' of what who when and where isn't as spectacular for the whole drama to revolve around. Its something you already predicted and figured out slowly. There are a lot of medium-important characters to be confused about. Doesn't make the drama worse though.
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