This is a very interesting mystery drama; it took me just one night to finish watching it (it’s a very short drama with only five episodes).

Influence is about a Yuri, a mysterious woman who approaches a novelist to tell her the story of how (and why) she and her two best friends committed three murders. Yuri asks the novelist to write a story about them.

The premise is fairly simple, but each episode offers a series of intense twist and many heartbreaking moments that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The drama deals with some pretty heavy issues and isn’t easy to watch at times, especially in the first few episodes. Even so, I found the first half of the drama more gripping than the second, perhaps because the actions of the female leads made more sense because, after all, they were just teenagers. About the second half of the drama, I have mixed feelings; after some of the plot twists, I was expecting something more sinister to be at play, but that didn’t happen - this is not that kind of story. It’s simply the story of the deep bond that binds three women together and the twisted sense of friendship they share. It was fascinating to watch.

That said, it's not without its faults, for example the thing about the button was beyond stupid (there’s no way a single button could possibly open a whole ass case that was already closed) or the part where one of the female leads tries to play the “he had a rough childhood” card after her boyfriend viciously attacked one of their classmates. It made sense for her to think that way, but the thing that angered me the most is that no one called her out on her bullshit. I was fucking livid.

Nevertheless, the drama is definitely something different and I would recommend it if you can handle some darker themes.