You and Everything Else

The Ambiguity of Affection

A beautiful drama that it’s impossible to remain indifferent to. It explores friendship from a fresh and original perspective. It doesn’t shy away from making the viewer uncomfortable, because that is precisely the intention of its narrative: to make the audience question and reconsider their own opinions about the characters’ actions. The ambiguity between affection and resentment expressed by both protagonists in every gesture is something that accompanies us throughout the entire series, just as our perception evolves with each new revelation about the reasons behind their behavior.

In my case, this series was the confirmation of Kim Go Eun’s enormous talent, and a very pleasant surprise in discovering such a great actress as Park Ji Hyun. I was also impressed by Kim Jae Won’s outstanding performance, since in the other dramas I’ve seen him in, he hadn’t stood out as much.

This series features a beautiful OST that will go straight into my playlists. In case you’re interested, the songs I’d most recommend are: Hope by Kwon Jin Ah, Blue Temperature and Note and Pencil by Seori.

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A Friendship that should never exist in real life

I just finished this drama, and while it truly was a beautiful story, I can’t help but see things differently from most people. Many are praising the friendship between Sang Yeon and Eun Jung, but to me… it felt toxic.

No matter how hard I try, I just can’t forgive Sang Yeon for everything Eun Jung had to go through because of her — from the breakup, to Sang Hak trying again, to even stealing her project. In this friendship, Eun Jung kept losing — whether it was people, work, or trust.

Meanwhile, Sang Yeon was always admired — in college, at work — everywhere. Yet, in the end, the only person truly looking down on her was herself.

And that’s where it hit me: yes, her illness made everything tragic and heartbreaking… but what if she hadn’t been ill? Would she still have looked for Eun Jung? Would she have ever asked for her forgiveness? Or would things have continued the same way?

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A Moving Tale of Envy and Pride Collapsing Love & Friendship (enough to cause motion sickness)

this one frustrated me to no end bc of how realistic and raw it is. i don't think it's a show for everyone, it's incredibly heavy and there's little to no payback. the screenwriting, acting, directing and music are all extremely impeccable. the intensity of Sang Yeon's envy parallelled by Eun Jung's good well is moving enough to cause motion sickness. my only issue with this one is that rewatchability, i think this is one of the masterpiece that my heart can only take one watch of it.

i'm at a point where little to nothing suprises me in kdramas but this one hit me like a tsunami at some points, regarding the "brother". despite having very visible signs of the events of episode three, i was very taken aback. the revelation also surprised as i thought the twist would regarding sexuality, not gender identity. I wished they had referred to her as Mooni or Unni, this would've been honoring to her memory.

this is a show where despite being frustrated, i was invested from start to finish.
ESPECIALLY THE LAST EPISODE.
the writing was on the wall and still somehow very refreshing, it has to be my favorite episode of the show and i rarely like finales in kdramas.

-The Ending-
SPOILER HERE!
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Eun Jung's last words to Sang Yeon being "you did well" made me bawl my soul out. It reminded me Kim Jonghyun and his lyrics in Breath. I often lullaby myself with these words when i'm having a hard time, so to hear EJ say those words to SY, felt like she truly saw her, or in Sang Yeon's words, "you accepted me at last, you."

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Extremely heartbreaking journey

Pretty engaging storyline, the tension buildup is brilliant and valid enough, the multilayered emotions worked out really well on screen as it spanned across four decades of timeline setting, though some of it was built directly upon coincidence linkage, the distinctive character design is still highly effective nonetheless, and the striking acting performances definitely gave this drama a huge boost. The mellow cinematography and sombre soundtrack also blended deeply into the meticulously written dialogues, the result is a melancholic artistic drama that is extremely heartbreaking as their journey of bittersweet life unfolds.

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The more you love someone, the more you may hate them.

You and Everything Else is the telling of the story about the relationship between two women who have known each other since adolescence. The show is told in eras from the perspective of Kim Goeun's character, Ryu Eunjung, from the time her and Park Jihyun's character, Cheon Sangyeon met in Elementary, to the time they reunite in the early 40s. This doesn't serve as a spoiler, but Cheon Sangyeon is terminally ill and requests Ryu Eunjung to accompany her on her final trip before his death.

What makes this drama a standout to me is fantastic cinematography and acting from the case ensemble. I felt that the set locations, perspective viewing, and backgrounds in every scene were purposeful, and lovely. There is a subtle blur effect for nostalgia throughout the past eras, and I feel this serves to highlight that the stories are a recollection of the two, and the color palette would change accordingly to highlight the intended mood of a scene very well. Kim Goeun and Park Jihyun are two of my favorite actresses in general, and I feel that their range of acting were really tested here, with the latter personally stealing a bit of the show for me. The raw emotion and full body acting the two were able to display was fantastic, and what I loved a lot was how many one-shots there would be, further magnifying their acting prowess and professionalism.

I loved that this drama was not afraid to tackle complex characters, and intertwine them in the story continuum, with Sangyeon being the personification of toxicity and self-loathing throughout, and Eunjung being grounded and true to her sense of self, with no room for ifs and buts, while also being very sensitive and honest at her most vulnerable. Sangyeon comes from an opulent background, with her family being the ideal Nuclear Family via the eye test, but they're very dysfunctional at heart. Eunjung for most of her adolescence grew up without her father, and her mother struggled to keep them afloat from a socioeconomic perspective. In this presentation of the two, the two girls from completely different backgrounds are able to find comfort and solace within each other, while the threads the jealousy and insecurity continued to grow ever so slightly until explored more in the later eras.

Kim Goeun once again brings about masterful acting in the heavy emotional scenes, really allowing viewers to experience what the characters are feeling. She made me cry during Goblin, and did so once again throughout this wonderful series. I have not been able to watch Park Jihyun in much other than Flex x Cop, and random cameos, but this drama cemented her in my mind as a force to be reckoned with. If the two were in a scene together with their characters being the highlight of the scene at hand, it was a guaranteed hit. Emotions are evoked, thoughts are provoked, and tissues are soaked is where I found myself a multitude of times watching this, and it is an experience I am glad to have been able to have.

The characterization of everyone, the intertwining fates and progression of the story at hand was done very well. While it can feel slow at times, and if you hate a love-triangle this may not be for you, it was a story I could not stop watching once the ball started rolling. Themes of friendship, pity, forgiveness, betrayal were all at play and I feel that everything was fleshed out very well. I laughed, cried, cheered, yelled, at the triumphs and shortcomings that were shown, for this story felt so palpable and real.

This will definitely go down as one of the top releases of 2025 for me, and I hope to revisit this at some time. I had already planned to, but will now most definitely prioritize the future works of the two for my 'to watch' list as able. If you are hesitating to watch this drama, do not, because you will not be disappointed by this wonderful story of life and friendship.

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Powerful and Captivating

The script flowed well. Excellent character development. Both female leads delivered great performances. At times the characters leap out of the screen and into my living room. The portrayal of the production company was very realistic.

I admire Park Ji Hyun for portraying such a damaged Cheon Sang Yeon so well. She deserves a best actress nomination. Kim Go Eun is a perfect complement to her. Kudos to the casting choices.

The script takes some of life's most stressful events in our lives . The cast delivered the depth of emotion to create an awesome journey towards healing ones soul.

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Best friends finding their way back to each other

I cried so many times during this show. They covered so many topics in here that its hard to pick one to resonate with and i think that’s what made it so special.

I love stories that depict two best friends who go through rough time then find their way back to each other, reminded me a lot of the Kmovie called ‘Soulmates’.

Girl friendships are so complex, and falling out with a best friend is more painful than a breakup.

This show was extremely well done. I genuinely have no complaints, the pacing, the plot, the development and the relationships among the characters was so good.
I can’t find anything to complain about. The things that annoyed me aren’t constructive criticism, it’s just small realistic things that happen in everyday life so i can’t even complain about that lol

everyone is so real in here, it felt like i was watching real people go through real things.

even the OST was beautiful. everytime i hear that one song i’m immediately brought to tears. wonderful show. amazing acting.

it got a bit boring somewhere in the middle but it picked its pace up pretty fast so finishing it wasn’t hard. really solid show besides that.

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A sweet and sour friendship journey.

The character that i see mostly getting gate is cheon sang hyeon but i feel like shes the most well sritten character. Imagine going through so much in life and still having the will to live, i dont think itseasy at all and not everyone can do that. Cheon sanghyeon never gave up on life. No matter how hard she had it she always kept going somehow even if its in a good-or bad way. I wouldn't say getting your way through fraud and stealing is good but can you really blame her. The only kind of people who gets successful are people who are selfish with no emotions whatsoever and the ones that take advantage of the situation and use it wisely. Personally no one could have lived cheon sanghyeon’s life except for herself. I loved her character the most in this series.overall its a very well made drama and a good one that makes you feel emotions. Give it a try!

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neither are right or wrong

Going into this, I knew what to expect- a childhood friendship that slowly grows into hatred. I do love the cinematography and omg the first two episodes where they depict their friendship as children, is beautiful, I also loved the role of the brother throughout. I love stories of complex friendships but I hate that one major fight they had was over a man, I despised that, when they were in college it was understandable, I honestly understood why both of them felt that way. And I personally will not take any Sang-Yeon slander. They both were terrible to each other, however Eunjung didn’t realise it that she was doing things that would make sangyeon feel inferior. I love Kim Goeun, but I feel eunjung lacked some depth, in the sense that the show wanted to put sangyeon at fault for everything, eunjung wasn’t a saint, and that is what is supposed to make the show, more meaningful, to show that both of them hurt each other in unexplainable ways. Either way Park Jihyun and Kim Go eun did a beautiful job and I couldn’t imagine anyone else, they both BECOME their characters and don’t just act. One major drawback of the show was that they brought the whole love triangle plot back when they were working and adults, I’m sorry I don’t think that was necessary? And I also believe sangyeon would’ve never gone back and confessed to him, idk. Anyway I cried so much, watching this, it reminded me of my own friendship (ofc we didn’t fight over a boy) , I think it was beautiful and deserves more appreciation though it does have it’s flaws.

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