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Friends

How to Buy a Friend korean drama review
Completed
How to Buy a Friend
1 people found this review helpful
by Sosousouhei
Apr 15, 2020
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

A perfectly-paced story about flawed 19-year olds finding out what it means to have people around

I didn't really know this drama would be so short, The pace keeps up during the third episode (ep. 5-6) and after that it resolves the conflict rather quickly. For a drama with this length, it's impressive how they fit their focus and tried to explore various factors of friendship, solidly shown in the second half of episode 4 (ep. 8). It also gave me Park Chan Hong and Oh Donhyuk, two seemingly different individuals who grows together in an unlikely but rather fateful relationship. What makes this drama wonderful is how openly flawed its characters are, considering they are all 19-year old that, despite no one completely being a loner, doesn't seem to perfectly define what friendship truly is. Throughout the story, Park Chan-hong, who gets inconveniently involved in the events following the suicide of a girl, learns to find people (who, unlike him, shares a connection to the dead student) swallowed by guilt. He becomes an impromptu ally and partakes in uncovering the mysteries surrounding the girl's death. Throughout the story, he finds growth and talent in himself, using these discoveries to propel the story forward and ultimately become the key factor in solving their problems.

The drama doesn't excuse bad behaviour but at the same time it shows that one can break free from it as long as they know the importance of a sincere apology and personally develop the will to change for the better. Moreover, it tries to explore ways by which isolation and jealousy can negatively impact self-esteem and cause harm not only to oneself, but also to others. Overall, it teaches its viewers to be more sensitive to the people around them. It's not the best drama out there, but considering its length, it clearly and effectively painted a clear picture of not exactly what friendship is, but how loosely-defined friendships can be when we only think of ourselves. If you want fresh takes on friendship stories (and a teensy-bit romance) without focusing on just the "sunshines and rainbows" part, watch this.

PS:Park Chan Hong is now definitely added to my list of all-time favorite characters.
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