Extracurricular

TL;DR - Watch this show, its really good

I 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.

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I’ll say it from the very start: Extracurricular is a gem.

Suffering and thriving seem to be the opposite sides of the same coin; you may think that all is well. However, behind the scenes, something frightful is always in action. Extracurricular is a show that depicts the nature of survival within the younger -generation and it does a brilliant job to relay the message and the reminder that the world can be a harsh place and that every single being around us is capable of having a seriously complex psyche.

This is the first drama in which I couldn’t afford to fast forward any scenes because each second of it kept me on edge. At a glance, the story doesn’t feel like anything you’d think hard to come up with; you could call it simple and describe it as students doing fishy business since they’re unsatisfied by the way their lives are. And yes, the story line is indeed simple, yet it isn’t that simple at all. As you proceed with the episodes, you are faced with unexpectedness and there’s times when you have to pause and process everything that is revolving around the main plot line. There’s numerous details and metaphoric symbolism that when it merges in with the story, you end up with the most delicious meal you’ve ever had. And thus, you keep yearning to get a taste of it once again.

What spices up the whole meal is the phenomenal acting. It seems natural and does justice to the personalities and way of thinking of the characters. Similarly, the music too manages to outdo itself. It doesn’t feel awkward and the opening theme (which also often plays at the ending credits) strangely tends to hype you up.

It’s a frightening yet, beautiful way of executing a series, in my opinion.

All in all, big chef’s kiss.

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unexpectedly great!

I started this thinking this would be a typical high school story, nerdy kid getting bullied, getting involved with the girlfriend of the kid that was doing the bullying ...
It was a mouth dropping moment when you realize the actually story you're watching. Nothing like you expected to happen. This drama is so fantastic, because as you try to guess the direction everything is heading, you guessed wrong, right to the very last episode ... actually, to the very last couple of minutes in the series.
Dong Hee does a great job at making his character mysterious in many way. Ji Soo , although not to likable for many reasons early on, you can understand his family history as to what made him the way he is. You do feel for him and really root for him as the series continues on.
Ju Hyun also gives a great performance playing another unlikable character, I mean, truly unlikable after the first two episodes, but that changes as you get deeper into the drama. She goes from villain to hero in a short period of time.
There's also several antagonists throughout the story ... but the one that tops the list for me would be Ki Tae, portrayed by Yoon Su. Since I have seen him play good guys in other roles, he really gave us a great "bad guy" performance. Definitely someone to hate in this drama.
As everything begins to come to an explosive conclusion in the final episode, we're still lead in different directions then what's actually going to happen. It's written beautifully, so you really are caught by surprise with the last few minutes.
I think the only thing that I found annoying was the ending. There were several pieces of the story left up to us to decide the final conclusion. I think I would have preferred a more solid ending, letting us see what actually happened to our protagonists. However, overall a fantastic series ... one that you can watch in a binge without hesitation!

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It was Ok but nothing memorable

i expected to like it a lot more.
My ratings are usually above the general overall my drama list rating.

It was Good.
Something didn’t really connect.
the characters were a little unpleasant.
The male lead was okay. it was the female lead that bothered me the most. I didn’t necessarily dislike her, but there were so many times where I wish she’d just disappear. She was nosy and acted like it was her birth right to meddle in people’s lives, especially Jisoo. It was like he was weaker than her so screwing with him was funny at first until they actually became friends. There weren’t really any emotions that tied you to the drama besides the occasionally feeling bad for jisoo.
Overall I don’t think I’ll really remember much from this drama it didn’t really leave any impact for me.
My rating would’ve been lower if it weren’t for the ending which was pretty crazy.

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Don't sleep on this show, a must-watch!

First off, the rating I gave for rewatching value is low because the storyline is so intense that once you know what happens next then it's not something you want to see again. The appeal is gone? If you know what I mean. Also, I don't notice much about the OST.

Overall, the plot and acting makes up for everything.

Each episode got me so anxious and like everyone else here I binge watched this in one day. Seriously, could not stop.

Definitely the characters and his or her motives will have you debating on how far is too far between morality and societal expectations.

Give this a go, you won't regret it!

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It was only 10 episodes

WOW. I watched it because it has 10 episodes but i wasn't expecting this story.
•It's one of my most favorite dramas.
•I didn't have any expectations for this drama but then 🤯 i was like 'OMG WHAT I AM WATCHING'
•When i finish it , i realized how special and addicted it was.
•Personally it was so good the acting.
•Especially one character of the main protagonist i wanted to punch their faces every time when i saw them:)
•I loved ost.
•Its not a typical action plot.
•The production was very good.
But :
•I don't know if i liked/or not the character who play the girl protagonist. I was confused by her action .

Anyway,
Well done 👏

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REVIEW

For me one of the best dramas i have watched. A well-crafted scénario. The topics are very interesting. I think it kinda shows many bad and immoral sides of humans. because the purpose behind the show and the characters as well is definitely not to paint virtuous people that we will appreciate. I really liked how the series was constructed and the direction that the story has taken bc for me the ending was unexcpected and i really wanted to see how this whole thing will end. Im glad that they didn’t make a simple and boring end. (but i still need a season two !) The acting was also perfect and the characters were well developed. And i think every scenes were important, i would definitely be able to rewatch it a second time.

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stroryline

Don't get me wrong, this show was mediocre. The storyline was great but what I disliked the most was how dumb they made the male lead be. Oji made me so so mad, with the way he followed Minhee around and the way he sometimes had to make a dumb decision only for Gyuri to save him.
I get that he was going through things and all but his mindset made me so angry, they made him seem like a push over and he was just so submissive sometimes which also annoyed me.

I loved how the drama was not too centered on high school romance but the ways and means people strive for survival.
From Gyuri's pov, it was made clear that no matter how much money you have, there's always a need to have that inner joy hence the consequences of her actions. I really liked Gyuri's character throughout the drama, she was stubborn, yes but she was headstrong and smart and could think on her own compared to Oji.

Minhee Seo really did well portraying her character but I'm sorry her character was also dumb. She always did the opposite of what she was told so I wasn't really angry as to what happened to her in the end. If she had really listened to Mr. Lee, I guess she would have been okay to the very end.

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