Article contributed by Jasmina Demirovska
Extracurricular (인간수업) is a 2020 Netflix Original high school K-Drama, starring Kim Dong-hee, Park Ju-hyun and Jung Da-bin. Oh Ji-soo (Kim Dong-hee) is a top high school student. Having been abandoned by his parents, he is broke and needs to earn money, so he can pay his school fees. He found a way to provide a security service for prostitutes, while also staying anonymous, by using an extra, throwaway cell phone. In a series of events, he loses the phone and with it money, and thus begins the adventure unraveling itself during 10 episodes, getting darker and even more thrilling on the way.
Kim Dong-hee
Kim Dong-hee, who you might already know from Itaewon Class, A-Teen or SKY Castle, is playing his first leading role in Extracurricular. He still gives us the cute but shy high school boy vibes, but this time, his character Oh Ji-soo decides to earn money by committing a serious crime. Kim Dong-hee plays this role so well, with it being a rather challenging role of his according to an interview. He even states that “There were times when I surprised even myself”.
The Bad Girl Trope
What I really liked about this drama is Park Ju-hyun as Bae Gyu-ri. Bae Gyu-ri comes from rich and well-known parents, who want her to take over their business in the future. She is the seemingly perfect daughter and student, but inside, she loathes her life and starts to rebel when she meets Oh Ji-soo. Park Ju-hyun plays the perfect bad girl, who blackmails her fellow students with her intelligent tricks, trying to save enough money to follow her dreams, without her parents knowing her plans.
If you like the actress as much as I do, you can also find Park Ju-hyun in A Piece of Mind (반의 반), Zombie Detective (좀비탐정), or Mouse (낮과 마우스) which is scheduled to premiere on tvN on 24 February 2021.
Character Relations
The chemistry between the characters is superb. Of course the main characters Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri share a lot of chemistry but let’s talk about another odd pairing: Seo Min-hee and Mr. Lee, Ji-soo’s driver and security guard for the girls. After a while of taking care of the girls, Mr. Lee and Seo Min-hee get closer as he goes farther than he has to, in order to protect the girls from people who don’t pay them or try to assault them. But because of circumstances, Mr. Lee becomes a sort of father figure to Seo Min-hee.
Its Uniqueness
When I started watching Extracurricular, I quickly realised that I haven’t watched another Korean Drama like it. It is one of the first K-Drama’s to address the topic of prostitution, but not in a bad, judging way. We get to see the side of Seo Min-hee (Jung Da-bin), a sex worker and high school student, who uses Ji-soo’s security services more than once. When I recommended this drama to my Korean friends, they were surprised to see that a K-Drama with such topics would even be published. Korean dramas usually tend to avoid certain topics like sexuality, including prostitution, as it is not often talked about in their culture. Even the PDA (Public Display of Affection) is rather frowned upon in Korean society, thus this drama displays a rare topic for Korean productions. This might also be the reason, why this Drama can only be watched on Netflix, and was never aired on television.
Even though Extracurricular is labeled as a teen drama, it is way darker than what teen dramas usually portray.
