Friendly Rivalry

A challenging but rewarding love story

It seems like a lot of viewers go into Friendly Rivalry expecting GL, and end up feeling betrayed or baited. I had the opposite experience. I didn’t have high hopes for the GL aspect going in, and I ended up blindsided by an intense, emotional, and very queer love story. This is now probably my favorite GL series.

If you’re expecting a traditional romance, where the characters confess and start dating, I can understand why you would be frustrated—Friendly Rivalry isn’t one of those. It also isn’t *just* a love story, so if you’re looking for romance and nothing else, you might be disappointed. I won’t lie, I had my own queerbaiting concerns in the second half, when there’s less focus on Jae-yi and Seul-gi’s relationship, and I wasn’t sure where the story was going.

But I have no idea how someone could watch this series all the way to the end and come away thinking it’s *not* a love story. Like…how? If Friendly Rivalry revolved around a het pairing there would be absolutely no question if the characters were in love or not. Why are we holding queer stories to a stricter standard? Why do we need them to be *more* conventional to be “real”? Straight love stories don’t all have to be romcoms, do they?

Okay end rant. Friendly Rivalry is one of the most impactful stories I’ve experienced in a long time. The characters completely capivated me. All the actors are perfect in their roles, but Lee Hye-ri and Chung Su-bin as the leads are phenomenal. Jae-yi and Seul-gi are my Roman Empire. Their chemistry is off the charts, and their relationship is so complex—there’s jealousy and resentment, heartbreak and betrayal, but at the bottom is pure love. (And yes it is clear that they are attracted to each other. Folks let’s be media literate please.)

Honestly the GL elements are about as straightforward as Friendly Rivalry gets. Because while it’s addictive and easy to binge, it’s also demanding. I don’t want to sound like that Rick & Morty reddit post (“To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ…”) but I think FR goes over a lot of viewers’ heads—my own included. I’ve seen it all the way through twice, and I’m starting it a third time, and I’m still noticing details in almost every episode that I either completely missed or didn’t understand. The writing is *dense* and there’s almost no handholding. Just following the plot takes effort, and almost every scene contains symbolism or some hidden clue.

I don’t actually recommend binging the series because there is just so much to absorb. It’s better to take some time to process each episode, especially in the second half when you’re expected to fill in a lot of the gaps and connect the dots yourself. It can get exhausting tbh, and the plot towards the end is probably more convoluted than it needs to be. That and the focus drifting a little too far away from Jae-yi and Seul-gi for while (mostly in eps 10-13) are the main flaws.

If you can meet it halfway, though, Friendly Rivalry is richly rewarding. I’m in awe of how much thought and care was put into every frame. The director spent about three years working on the script, and you can tell—most things that seem unbelievable at first have a logical explanation, and the characters are multilayered but consistent. The symbolism adds further layers of depth. And on top of that the show is just beautiful. I would never have guessed that this is a low-budget production because everything from sets to costumes to cinematography looks amazing, especially the underwater scenes.

Friendly Rivalry might not be for everyone, but it was definitely for me. This is exactly the kind of love story about messed-up girls saving each other from their trauma that I needed.

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Franchement je ne sais pas

La mise en scène du scénario est malheureusement très mid, elle aurait pu être BEAUCOUP mieux développé selon moi. Ce qui est triste étant donné que l’intrigue en elle meme n’est pas nul (elle est pas incroyable pour autant mais CAVA)

Le personnage de Seul-Gi n’est malheureusement pas on-point, car je trouve qu’elle veut plus “détruire” la personne qui a tué son père que le venger. Selon moi, je pense que ses sentiments ne sont pas assez bien retranscrits. (pas la faute de l’actrice mais plus de la prod, tout ca…)

La fin m’a tellement laissé perplexe, je n’ai malheureusement quasiment rien comprit, j’ai le sentiment d’etre insatisfait, elle m’a vraiment laissé sur ma faim.

Dans l’ensemble je pense que la série a été bâclée, ca se voit sur la durée des épisodes qui selon moi, est très surprenant. Des épisodes de 25min je trouve ca assez court pour un scénario qui aurait pu être riche, assez déçu malheureusement.

Pourquoi ma note me direz-vous? Malgré que la série n’est vraiment pas EXTRAORDINAIRE, j’ai passé un “bon” moment devant la série, car comme j’ai pu le dire, l’histoire n’est vraiment pas nul donc ca m’a intrigué tout le long. Malheureusement tout ce qui suit est très mid. Les personnages ne sont pas si attachants, les musiques ne sont pas marquantes dutout j’en ai meme pas le souvenir d’en avoir entendu une seule.
Donc une série qui peut être cool si on a rien à regarder, c’est pas NUL mais c’est pas de la folie non plus. Ne vous attendez pas a voir la série de l’année.

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The story is a bit disappointing..

I got to know this drama due to the viral of clip on my TikTok, so when everyone said that it's an LGBTQ+ drama, I thought that this might be a good starter for GL korean series, follow along like Semantic Error so ngl, I had a high hope over this one, but girl.. The drama only labelled as GL due to a kiss scene of less than 5 min clip in ep 4? And on top of that, it's only a dream??

But other than that, I feel like the drama could be much better. The plot itself were pretty good, but the scene were kinda mixed up here and there, as I was a big fan of scifi myself, couldn't also solve this part lol. The ending is not a big cliffhanger like the one I used to watch, but it still did peak some of the viewer's curiosity (including me), like..
1. Does Jein truly die in the end? Or she managed to survive?
2. What happened to Jena in the end, did she really lost her memories?
3. How about their dad, Taejoon, did he really the one at fault for killing Seulgi's dad? Or is it Jena?

There's a lot of question that we can't stop but wondering, but at least the ending gave a good closure. For the positive side, I couldn't stop praising their acting skill, and the plot itself that really makes me indulge deep in it, until I bingewatching them for 4 days only 😂 If you ask me if it's worth it? Yes, if you're into complex mystery, bully high school drama but if you're into action romantic or far else, then skip.

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Definitely Worth Watching

One of the my favorite aspects of this series was the acting. The chemistry between Jeyi and Seulgi was portrayed so well by the actors and I felt like I could really feel the essence of their relationship and personalities in the show. The other supporting actors also did really well and made the show very immersive. Although there were a few awkward moments here and there it was overall really convincing. The story was probably my least favorite part, but I don’t think it was bad at all. I feel like the beginning few episodes as well as the last few episodes were really well put together for the most part and I went through a ton of emotions while watching them. I think three or four of the later middle episodes became a little convoluted in terms of plot and the pacing was a bit off, but I really think the show got back on track towards the end so it’s worth pushing through. I will definitely be rewatching this, especially because of how much the ending stuck with me. Obviously it wasn’t perfect but it was a great introduction to GL and K-dramas in general for me so I loved it!

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One of the most confusing series I’ve watched

I won’t get much in the story but this whole series made me crazy. I was hoping for something good and actually this was more than what I expected. It had the plot twist, making the viewers nervous and yarn for more. The open ending leaves the potential of getting another season and get to know more about the characters’ future. Even if we don’t get one, we can still imagine every character being happy and moving on with their live the way they would want to. I should thank everyone that worked for this masterpiece and made this series for us. I’m looking forward to seeing them all in their new projects anytime soon! 💙

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This film takes us on a long, winding journey—through dark corners, exposing, criticizing, and satirizing the harsh realities of life. Yet, in the end, everything ties back to the voices of those forgotten and lost in the vast sea of people.

The presence of S and J in each other’s lives becomes an opportunity for them to reflect on themselves—to recognize their wounds and heal together. S now has someone to hold her hand, making the journey no longer lonely. J has someone waiting in her heart, a place to return to no matter how far she drifts.

Oh, and I absolutely love how the film uses *water* as a metaphor—calm on the surface yet carrying immense pressure beneath.

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Very addictive

Although there's some plot-holes, i really enjoyed watching the whole series. No wonder K-dramas have been on the TOP when it comes to plots and acting. Hoping this open doors for more projects/opportunities to these wonderful actresses. The only thing i hate is that, why is it only 30mins long? They could've put it in the typical kdrama length so that they can address all those loop holes. Also they could've use the ost in good use rather than being on the ending credits only. But overall this really exceeded my expectation in the gl department. The tension and buildup was soo great and their chemistry was on top!

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