The School Prank Part 1
Episode 4 of Extracurricular begins with Min-Hee visiting Mr Lee at his truck, just as Uncle rings and tells them they’re back in business. In school, Gyuri and Ji-Soo discuss their work. While he reserves judgment on her position in their co-partnership, she tells him about her role as the “It Insider”; the girl who knows all the secrets of her fellow classmates. While Ji-Soo struggles to deal with the bullies at school, outside Ji-Soo and Gyuri continue their operation, building up funds again. Mr Lee phones Uncle and tells him about Min-Hee and how she seems unstable. For now though, they keep the agreement as it was but it’s certainly something that may crop up in the future. Meanwhile, Gyuri tries to take their operation to the next level but Ji-Soo is not so sure it’ll work. Determined to prove herself useful, she heads back home and starts digitalizing their financial records. The next day Gyuri’s parents drag her along to a business meeting with Mr Choi. Dolled up with make-up and a pretty white dress, she meets with Ji-Soo not long after and they negotiate a fairer rate of 70-30 rather than the 50-50 given how much work Ji-Soo has put into this. When Gyuri mentions a safer place to stash his funds, Ji-Soo decides on his locker at school but unfortunately the bullies have got their first and covered it in ink. The detectives turn their attention on the school and Haegyong-Lee immediately sets her sights on Ki-Tae, seeing him smoking behind the bins. Min-Hee happens to be with them wearing the same familiar bag Detective Lee noticed from the CCTV footage and starts to build up a picture of what’s happening. Ki-Tae and the other bullies continue to torment Ji-Soo. They force a class inspection but unbeknownst to Ji-Soo, a bag holding a sex toy is stashed in his rucksack right next to his bag full of money. When the officers arrive and demand he open his bag, he stands up to them and tells the teachers he doesn’t consent to the search, leaving things wide open going forward. With a really good soundtrack throughout and some deeper characterisation, Extracurricular is certainly growing into its role now. As we reach the midway point, the extra layers of depth for the supporting characters like Mr Lee and Min-Hee is a really good inclusion and the delicate balance between humour and darker themes has been one of the highlights of this one. It’s certainly quite jarring to watch a Korean drama with so many taboo topics like sex, drugs and an abundance of swearing but it’s partly why the series stands out as much as it does. The ending to this episode will almost certainly keep you sticking around for the next one as things are left wide open going forward.
