The High School for Villains.
This is a 10 episode ride of total insanity, where I witnessed some of the most innocent and meanest students choose the worst decisions in the world in an attempt to overturn their immediate future.What I liked about this? The characters. I admit, I hated almost every single one during the first three episodes, but slowly began to get accustomed to their ways. Every single one of the students at the school are abhorrent in their own unique manner and I would love to meet their parents.
Oh Ji Soo aka Oji, a paradigm outstanding student has a secret: he is abandoned by both his parents. And to make ends meet, he designs a service... which provides "compensated dating" with a catch -- the clients receive exclusive security if things take a dark turn. However, his secret is discovered by his classmate, Baek Gyuri, destroying his careful routine.
Now, let me start off by telling that I had absolutely no idea what was happening in the first two episodes. I just knew that some really shady business had to be going on based on the users' comments that I had read a long time ago.
But, this might be where the drama's strength lies: it's ambiguity.
Ji Soo might either be the worst or the best character based on how you view him. How is he good?
** He accepts clients who sign up and give them protection along with a blacklist of people who are potentially dangerous. He never forces anything upon them if they are hesitant.
How is he bad?
** He is a pimp. Plain and simple. But, he was also, one of the most careless characters I have seen to date. Dude, if you are doing underworld activities, at least be good at it!
I understood his desperation and urgency. Viewing the world through his eyes, he is doing what he could to survive. Except that resorting to crime is not exactly what I would call the best avenue.
Kim Ji Hoon delivered an absolutely strong performance. I couldn't help feeling bad for him at times.
Baek Gyuri... the infamous female lead as someone mentioned in the comments. She has to be one of the most entitled "brats" I have seen onscreen. Why do I say so? Because purposefully messing up with someone's personal life is heinous. I hear the word being "human" and "real" being mentioned. I accept that statement to an extent, but there is a stark difference between being plain bad and committing something bad in a spur of the moment.
She is one of the well written characters. Out of every single one of them, it was she who was the most calculative and manipulative. But, the little cracks that we see through her brave girl façade couldn't convince me 'why' she had to seek out to be a part of this dangerous job. In the end, I felt that she was deceiving herself to maintain her sanity. The manner in which she handled issues was almost flawless and I liked the strange relationship between her and Oji.
The supporting characters, including Minhee and Kitae, were plain horrible. I grew to like Minhee by the end, once she had actually stopped snapping all the time. I adored her friendship with Mr. Lee Wang Chul (He was my favorite character.) It was one of those moments in this series where I felt that genuine care and affection existed. All the remaining relationships portrayed where plain unhealthy or ambiguous.
I couldn't find a single student in the school who was likeable. At least, whoever had screentime anyway. Is it possible that the whole school was full of bullies and gossip mongers? Why were there no genuine friendships? In the end, it was the home-room teacher, the police woman and the dean who has to deal with all this mess.
The soundtrack was awesome. I loved the main theme "Speak for Yourself".
I do not know how much of the events depicted in this is possible in real life. But, an elder sister I knew did tell me about a thing like this in college where students solicited for money-- often leading to awkward and unpleasant encounters when they encounter their own kind.
I would suggest this to anyone looking for some thrill -- it was slightly dragging and slow upto episode 5, then managed to hold my interest during the last few episodes. Unfortunately, I had high hopes for this one, but I found it a tad bit predictable, considering that the characters kept digging holes the size of Mariana Trench every other episode. The ending was quite fitting, personally. A second season might ruin the effect of the first, which I felt, wrapped up quite nicely.
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Never finished a K-Drama faster.
I came upon this drama because it was lost somewhere in my Netflix recommendations so I added it to my list, and it kinda rusted there for a few months until I stumbled upon it again.The first half of the first episode was kinda confusing and I couldn't really wrap around my head what the story was exactly, but the story still drew me in immediately. The story kept getting better and better as episodes went by and I honestly wanted more to watch.
The cast was perfect, the characters were perfect, I loved them all equally. The actors nailed the acting and the characters. The characters all had their own backstory and own place in the drama even if they didn't have as much screentime as the other. They brought out the most of every character.
I'm not a person to rewatch series, but for this one I just might someday.
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My dreams are expensive - Oh Ji Soo
This was an amazing drama, I binged it over 2 nights and at only 10 episodes which are not even 1 hour long it was easy to do. I recommend it if you like crime shows & Stranger Things (not that I've seen it). This is also by Netflix and like most Netflix crime shows it's not for kids despite being set in a high school. So it's great but it's not for the fainthearted. The first 2 episodes were (in my opinion) the most suspenseful because I was not expecting that but there were a few later scenes that were definitely not for kids either. As a benchmark for age limits I would compare it to the movie Parasite.I started watching this because although the trailer looked interesting (I love school dramas) it also looked too dark and like it would have 0 romance. But someone online called it underrated and I saw a picture with the female other main character (ie. maybe not 0% romance) so I thought I'd give it a chance. I'm glad I did, I'm tossing up whether to put this at the top of my favourite crime dramas or not. The best parts were the characters and there was no wasted time. It was neither as intense and suspenseful as Memorist nor did it drag on a bit like Signal. It was a great crime drama with a lot of commentary. Crime kdramas always have their commentary but this one has that added spin because the main characters are just kids and how much can you punish a kid? How much does a kid deserve punishment compared to the definite punishment an adult should have? Are the crimes kids commit a factor of circumstance or are they bad kids?
This was a hard watch because I loved Oh Ji Soo and it's impossible not to sympathise with him and root for him but at the same time I'm not someone who can root for anyone who commits crimes, even petty theft. I sympathise too much with the victim. This was not a drama about something as small as petty theft.
I also really loved Bae Gyu ri and her entire set up and characterisation. In saying that I'm sure us as the audience aren't meant to be rooting for her completely, she has her flaws as well as her redeemable qualities. Which has it's own pros and cons. She's a realistically imperfect character. But regardless I love this transition into strong female leads the Kdrama world is having.
Kwak Ki Tae was a surprise, he's another character I usually wouldn't be into but I liked him more and more as the episodes went by. Nam Yoon Soo's dimples and cheeky grin were a big factor I'm sure. Surprisingly I also really liked the teacher character. He could've played a bigger role.
All the actors were on point. I'm surprised at how new and young they are. They are amazing. I didn't watch much of Itaewon Class so I don't remember Kim Dong Hee but I just finished A Piece of Your Mind and Park Joo Hyun is not like your typical Korean actress, her voice is so distinctive, I recognised her by her voice straight away. I'm looking forward to all their future works.
I'm contemplating if I would want a season 2 or not. I want more but I also think it was a good ending. The best combination between the commentary & wanting to root for the characters.
Quote:
You two only know how to hold it all in and bear it alone. - Jo Jin Woo
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A nice school thriller drama
I think the first two episodes were boring. The story failed to impress me. The most successful thing in the story was the finale. I usually get bored watching this drama. The character of the Guri was successful. but it was a little bit annoying.The male character doesn't really look like a criminal.It should not look like a criminal.but still couldn't believe me.I think it could be a 5-part series or a movie. It was a boring drama, except for some climax. If you liked the dark side of this series, try watching Tinker Ticker movie!Was this review helpful to you?
Extracurricular is based on the life of a student Oh Jisoo and his drive to live a normal life with less privilege than others without parents or a family he results to provide security to young women involved in sex trafficking. One thing I applaud the screenwriter for is character insight as I watched their stories it made me wonder what I would do in their situations and I think that is the essence of good work. When your audience is being translated into the storyline as if it was theirs and completely immersed by everything taking place almost making it three dimensional.
The storyline is very comprehensive and it deals with the real issues of sex workers in South Korea deviating a lot from traditional dramas. There is a lot of dark humor in this and it translates to how the characters are feeling at any given time of the story. I believe the main characters where the thought of very precisely and the actors and actresses knew how to use such a good story and make it better. I couldn't find any moment that was lacking in this series and what shocked me the most wasn't the epic plot twists but the reactions they would approach a problem, it was like I knew their characters but I really didn't know a thing. I would love to get into it but that would be spoiling the whole thing.
The cinematography was on point, they really hit the mark on what angles to shot certain scenes at, and the music, as well as the scores, were dramatic to the places they needed to be, wrapping the whole thing nicely in a big red bow. Can't wait for season 2. If you like good content, sorry, great content then definitely WATCH THIS, like WATCH IT NOW!
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good drama but many episodes were bland
this drama is really good, the synopsis is incredible and it could have been a better drama in my opinion. the first episodes were electrifying and made me want to continue, but in the middle of the drama I started to get tired because the story was not holding me as much as at the beginning. In the final episodes, there was a lot of information and painful events, I sympathized with the secondary characters, but their end was not what I expected. I hated the protagonist, he had an explosive and cold personality and was quite selfish as a gyuri. I hope that in the second season he will pay for the damage he caused physically and psychologically to some characters, I liked the drama, but the "ending" did not please me.Was this review helpful to you?
Power, Ethic and Dream Struggle of an 'Ordinary' Student
Truth to be told, I don't have a glimpse of any ideas about this drama at first. So watching the first episode brings the premise very well to me. The story sets simple, somehow it brings me no idea where it could go wrong.Turns out, everything goes very wrong.
First of all, though, I want to address the violence in this drama is quite massive. I will list trigger warnings as followed: blood, suicide attempt, mental illness, rape, panic attack, and what triggered me the most is bullying.
Second, let's talk at how the production team executes this drama exquisitely. The characters successfully bring their emotional pain enough for me to sympathize and sit in frustration watching their actions. I would love to address my salute to the main character Oh Jisoo. His double personality comes from such an innocent face is hmm...just unpredictable. I like a lot of characters here. Main or secondary, they bring such an interesting component to spice up the scene.
Third, this drama may sound like a tragedy at first but after pondering about it, their message is quite critical. The struggle of living and being expected as a student is huge. Both of the main characters are living differently but they share the same pain and vagueness about their future. I think, as a student, this story hits differently for them who are living in the culture. The pressure of doing well economically and academically is just insane. This drama also tells about teenagers problem mentally, like friends, and romance struggle.
I don't have a say about prostitution as the main theme since I don't know enough to comment about it. I think it stays put in the grey area. This drama can be a lesson for the officials to be aware of how their society become. The world becomes fair only to the one who has the money is a cruel reality we should try to help and be aware of.
P.S. I love that they put the message on ask for help in the credit scene.
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This review may contain spoilers
Extracurricular
This drama was on my watchlist for too long, and when I finally decided to watch it i didn't expect it to be that good. The story was interesting and refreshing. This is unlike any high-school dramas I've seen. Extracurricular also gave me the vibes of "how to buy a friend" and "parasite".Unlike most dramas, extracurricular had a very dark plot. Its well written, there were no plot holes in this drama. The acting was amazing, Kim dong hee as oh ji soo, the quiet and invisible kid at school but also the villain in his story. Park joo Hyun did a great job as well, her being bae gyu ri, another lunatic. Both of them had similar problems, 2 teenagers surrounded by no one but still wanting to lead a decent life. Once you start this drama, you wouldn't be able to stop.
I have no regrets or complaints about this drama, even though the ending left us with a cliffhanger but I still enjoyed it. I would be even more excited if there was a second season coming.
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loved it
I must admit that at first, I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the drama, while I did know what it was about I could never predict how the season was going to end. How one small detail could change everything although everything seemed to be perfectly under control. I thought I could predict what was going to happen next, but I couldn't. I found the ending very hard to predict, although it perfectly made sense. Very well thought.One thing I also liked was what the characters were like. None of them were the good guys. Ji Soo was a kid who chose to follow a dark, immoral and illegal path in order to deal with his financial problems, and Gyu Ri was selfish and manipulative, while in most dramas the main characters are the good guys who have to defeat the bad guys, this isn't the case here and it was something I really enjoyed to watch.
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Waste potential
It has a nice idea for a start, but the execution is lacking. Zero character development. The male lead is just pathetic person who somehow became the main focus. They pictured him as intelegent yet somehow his action tends to be stupid. None of the main is likeable, all of them just a selfish prick. If you like a story about a loser who remains loser till the end yet somehow became succesful with no logical reason then watch this drama. A pity since since the cast was quite interesting yet the story is mehWas this review helpful to you?
I have to say, though, I'd have liked it better if the OST were more varied. I didn't really pay that much attention to it since the storyline really had me inmersed and hooked, though, so I'd say this isn't that big of a deal.
Overall the acting was amazing, the facial expressions were on point and the way it was filmed gave it a really different vibe from what we're used to, driving way more attention to body language and letting us discover ourselves what the character is feeling and/or thinking.
For me it has always been difficult to finish a lot of dramas after episode 8 more or less, I start to get easily bored and I just don't feel like watching anymore. I don't know if it's because this one is only 10 episodes, but it was so easy to watch... I was always wanting more at the end of the episodes and even now that I've finished the drama I'm still wanting more, so I really hope there will be a second season.
Last, but not least, this is a dark drama. I don't usually watch this genre but I did and I ABSOLUTELY loved it. I don't regret anything. 'Extracurricular' is not the typical crime drama we're used to. Netflix is a whole different story, they just care about getting the audience hooked and interested and I can assure you they do! The fact that our lead is directly involved with the crimes makes it a whole different experience, at least for me. I do have to say there's a lot of bloody scenes, so keep that in mind.
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