Extracurricular (2020)

Kim Dong Hee's performance = greatness. The rest of the cast as well as Choi Min Soo, Jung Da Bin, Nam Yoon Soo, and Park Joo Hyun gave outstanding performances in the drama series. I can't wait to see what else they have in store this year!

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!

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

I'm going to be really honest with this review: I gave this show a 9,5 because there are some things I'd have liked to get an explanation to. Nevertheless, it really overcame my expectations. I had high ones because people were talking really good about this drama and I can tell you already that it's one of the best of the year, people are not lying.

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.

Leia Mais

I never once thought 'They could have done that better.'

Wow. Whatever you'd expect from a TV series about teens committing crimes, you can scrap it. This was intense and stressful and filled with drama and danger but also not far fetched or cliche in some eye-rolling way. There are no masters of their trades here, just regular people who are doing regular crimes and trying to keep their heads above water. Except for Mr. Lee, he's a BAMF, no contest. From start to finish it's a fantastic show, from feelings of wanting to strangle Gyuri and Oji's dad, to wanting to strangle Kwakkie, Minhee and that cop lady, and to wanting to strangle and comfort Oji in equal turns. Then wanting them all to just calm TF down and have a snickers bar. But also not, because stuff gets crazy and when it all sets off, it's awesome. It was entertaining all the way!

And the acting was so fantastic! Great casting all around. The show also had some nicely executed humor, which is always good, every show, no matter how dark, needs some humor.

Over all, I wouldn't change a thing, I never once thought 'Eh, they could have done that better', because everything was written, directed, acted and produced so well. If there is no second season, I won't even be mad, it has a solidly satisfying ending as far as I'm concerned.

Great show!

Leia Mais

Story- This is a purely western type of plot so to see the more conservative East Asian (S.K.) market diving into this subject matter surprised me and also pleased me (not everything needs to be a ridiculous rom/com or a frustrating cop procedural). Having characters all with questionable morals so you can't root really for anyone, I like that because that's how real life is. No one is perfect and these characters portrayed that. I can't stress this enough when I say that the tags will tell you if you can handle this kind of story. So watching strictly for your oppa/ noona... I honestly don't recommend that.

Acting/ Cast- Speaking of portrayals O_O OMG EVERYONE did an amazing job: Donghee and Joohyun SLAYED their roles- SLAYED!! They are the main characters but they sure made it hard to like them at times. The casting director did an outstanding job choosing these young stars and I can't wait to see more of them.

Music- It did what it was suppose to and set the mood. With certain scenes I would become more anxious and I realized it was because of the music showcasing that particular scene. The opening/ closing credits were the same song and it fit well.

Would I rewatch this? Not to say this is a bad drama, because it isn't, but I tend to not watch dramas again esp one that had me on the edge of my seat- the original thrill is gone.

Leia Mais