Title: Ex-Girlfriend Club
Native Title:구여친클럽
Country of Origin: South Korea
Airing Date: 8 May 2015 – 27 June 2015
Episodes: 16

Main Cast:
Byun Yo Han as Bang Myeong Soo
Song Ji Hyo as Kim Soo Jin
Jang Ji Eun as Na Ji Ah (Cat)
Lee Yoon Ji as Jang Hwa Yeong (Lion)
Ryu Hwa Yeong as La La (Fox)

Haven’t heard of this drama prior to today and didn’t plan to watch it until I read a recap on one of the drama blogs, Ninja Reflection, I frequent. The recap was written really well and it caught my attention enough to make me want to watch it immediately. The characters seemed to be lively and quirky, the storyline funny despite slightly over the top and most importantly, it was said to be an easy watch. With that, I plunged into it without thinking too much.

This drama airs every Friday and Saturday on tvN network. I am currently on episode 3. (Episode 4 is not out as of the time of writing) Each episode is about 60 minutes, of which about 10 minutes are preview and ending song. Firstly, I would just like to address that I don’t watch a lot of kdramas. It takes me a lot to even start watching because the thought of subtitles just tires me out. There are a lot of potential k-dramas that are high up on my plan-to-watch list but I just couldn’t bring myself to invest such a large amount of energy and time to watch. Indeed, a random spur to watch something is sometime crucial in the world of drama watching. Enough about that, let’s move on to the drama itself!

The only familiar face I recognize is Song Ji Hyo. I’ll admit, part of the impulse to just watch this drama was because.. from the screencaps I saw, Byun Yo Han bore a resemblance to Lee Min Ho. And I thought, “well, at the very least, I have some eye candy”. I mean, look at the photo above, I doubted and had to check again to make sure the photo on the right wasn’t Song Ji Hyo and Lee Min Ho! I was quite disappointed to see that they didn’t look very alike in the drama. In fact, during the start, I even doubted that Byun Yo Han was handsome. Thankfully, he grew to be better-looking over the episodes and didn’t bother me as much.

The first 3 episodes were indeed an easy watch. I flew past them. Leads are pretty likeable and the story was narrated well. I like the chemistry and interaction between characters and the way the story was told. It doesn’t drag unnecessary or go at a snail pace. The distinct personalities getting together was fun to watch, even though chaotic. Make sure the volume isn’t turned on too high or risk a headache. One thing though, is it me or do the ‘ahjumma’ (i.e. Ji Ah) not look old at all? While it’s obvious that Ji Ah is older than La La, I would have never thought that Ji Ah is old. Let me side track, Anna Laker from Smile, Donghae looked really young to me too. I spent the whole show wondering how could Anna be Donghae‘s mother. She was more like his sister.

Back to the drama. The side characters are pretty entertaining and interesting. Other than Joo Hee, Soo Jin’s rival that I don’t really care about, I enjoy the other side characters, namely Soo Jin’s brother-in-law and Jin Bae, Myeong Soo’s housemate, a lot. Soo Jin’s brother-in-law is a fabulous side character, providing great insights even though you wouldn’t expect him to. His backstory of having to seduce Soo Jin’s sister without Soo Jin noticing and the fact that he is such a henpecked husband, having to do things like smoking and eating on the balcony behind Soo Jin’s sister back, is comical. The other side character, Jin Bae, Myeong Soo’s housemate, is also a interesting and funny one I enjoy watching.

I have no complaints about this drama, it’s fabulous and entertaining, other than the fact that I don’t have any intense desire to continue chasing this drama. Marathoning this drama would be fine, I am invested enough for me to click ‘watch next episode’ to find out more about character development but I doubt I would have the perseverance to watch 2 episodes every week for the next month or so. I just feel that this storyline would be more suitable for a film instead. I’m not sure how would the plot be long enough for 16 whole episodes. Maybe it will be more addictive when we finally get into the ‘filming of movie’ part of the drama. I’m not too optimistic about that but I’m sure this drama will still be an easy watch regardless.

Whether it’s good or not, it’s up to you to decide. You can watch it with english subs on Dramayou if Viki doesn’t work in your region. Tell me what you feel after watching this. Otherwise, you can also head over to Ninja Reflection for recaps.

Cheers.