Letter #153: Friendly Rivalry

Good morning, Erin. And welcome to Phase V!

What’s that? A whole phase solely dedicated to #bestboy from BTS???

Sadly, no. We’ve just come far enough, you and I, that we’ve entered the fifth arbitrary wave of these letters. Which may or may not also be sad, depending on what you think of my continued letter-writing campaign, but which I choose to see as an opportunity to make things slightly less arbitrary for the first time in a long time. 

For Phase V…we’re batching shows by theme.

What themes? How many in a batch? Are you just going to claim “girls I think are hot” is a theme, Daryl, I know you, is this what you mean?

No no no, dear seonbae, I promise you I am not trying to pass off my lonely heart fawning as some greater literary context. I actually have a plan, this time—and I’m going to stick to it!

…for at least the first three or four letters!

Which brings us to the start of that promise—and the promise from the end of my Vincenzo re-watch letter that the next show we discussed would be a banger. Because we are about to talk about (the quietly- released-to-Netflix series) Friendly Rivalry. 

With full spoilers. Because you should have watched this series. And, if you haven’t, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. 

Because it’s good? Because it’s bad? Who can say. 

(Me. I can say. And I say it’s really, really good.)

1. Seriously—as early as it still is, this is my show to beat for 2025. Wow, did I have a good time! I sure as hell spent the first 10 or so episodes not having any idea what was going on, but…it was great!

1A. I’m not exaggerating, either: while I could tell you what was seeing happen and the connective tissue running between all the things I could see happening, I spent at least 10 of the 16 episodes totally in the dark about what the plot of the show was supposed to be. Now, it absolutely gets clearer as it goes, but a lot of what’s going on seems rooted in a string of unlikely coincidences rather than a clear narrative arc. Which, from what I can tell, is the general consensus about the show, so…yeah, being (in some fashion) lost for a chunk of the show seems to be…well, if not intentional, then par for the course.

1B. Which sounds like a negative, but it’s actually something I found strangely compelling about the series. The show’s absolute lack of concern about giving us an obvious plot to follow when the story starts and the weird scenario our protagonist finds herself in sort of combine (whether intentionally or through sheer luck) to invoke this desire to find out just what the heck is going on—because something has to be going on, right?

1C. And, yes, there is, in fact, something going on. Though, again, a lot of it really is (or appears to be) based on happenstance. For example, Seul-gi (our protagonist) doesn’t enter the story with any particular goal or mission that is meant to drive the story—but she isn’t exactly sitting around letting the story guide her around, either. Her character “wants” initially only exist relative to the situation she finds herself in: she wants to fit in, she wants to befriend Je-i, she wants to be left alone—none of which drives plot, but also none of which is exactly passive. It’s so…weird, in a wonderful way. And I could not stop watching. Like I could sense there was something I couldn’t see, so I had to hang in there to prove I was right. (Unlike Lost, which gave you nothing to work with beyond self-generated hope.)

1D. …which is not to say that this is the only reason to keep watching, even as why anything’s happening remains a mystery. You want interesting characters? Solid performances? Great pacing? Drama? Friendly Rivalry has it in spades. Even the plot not being a plot for most of the show is somehow a good plot. It’s just…really good. I don’t know how else to say it. I was rapt the whole way through, and I was literally up until 4AM on a weeknight talking to Grok (the X/Twitter AI) about the series as soon as I finished the final episode. I don’t think I stopped thinking about the show for another couple of days.

1E. So…yeah. Big recommend. Easy fave of 2025. Which, yes, is easy because every other brand new show I’ve started bored me into shoving them aside, but…still. Real good, this one. 

1F. …okay, the last couple of episodes are a little messy, but I’d still say it’s pretty darn good. 

1G. And I’m not just saying that because of my incremental crush on Lee Hye-ri. She’s got nothing to do with how I feel about the show. In fact, my wanting to watch the show had nothing to do with her being in it! I wanted to watch it because the poster for the show had Pyramid Game vibes, and I loved Pyramid Game. So, yeah. Totally objective assessment. I don’t know why you would insinuate otherwise. 

1H. I mean, yes, I literally started watching it because I was watching Min-seol (from Single’s Inferno 4) interviews on YouTube and clicked on a video not realizing it was a Lee Hye-ri video and not a Min-seol video (because they look A LOT alike. (Did…oh my goodness, I forgot to mention that in my SI4 letter! Past-Daryl, how could you?!)), which made me go, “Oh, that’s right! Friendly Rivalry is on Netflix now!” So, like, she is technically what prompted me to physically watch the show, but she’s not why I wanted to watch in the first place. So…again, totally objective assessment. 

1I. “Daryl, I’ve watched the show. I know about the bathtub scene.”

1J. …I don’t know what you mean.

2. I immediately loved Seul-gi—and I mean even before she was on screen. Like, before the teen version of her was on screen. The narration and the little girl playing her in the flashback both had me on board right from the jump. And then we met current-Seul-gi, and I continued to love her. Not just because I thought the actress was super-pretty. (Though…obviously, that was nice.) I just really liked her character, how worn down and cynical—yet still somewhat hopeful—she was. Found her very likeable, surly though she was. 

3. I compared the poster’s vibe to that of Pyramid Game, but this show didn’t lean too heavily into the make-the-newcomer-suffer cliche that so frequently marks the start of these kinds of shows. Sure, Seul-gi’s classmates mock her for buying a used school uniform, but that stops as soon as Je-i makes her interest in Seul-gi clear. And even Je-i’s early interest in Seul-gi doesn’t play into the cliche because she’s not, like, pretending to be nice just to laugh at her for not seeing that it’s all pretend. Which was cool. And yet another thing that made me feel pleasantly off-kilter. (Though, for the record, I would have been totally on board with either cliche. But the Je-i subversion felt particularly good.)

3A. And, yes, I needed the show to explain that her classmates were mocking her because the assumption was that the uniform had been used as a costume for some manner of prostitution. That was absolutely not where I thought they would go, so innocent am I, apparently.

4. Speaking of, though: love those school uniforms. Green would not have been my first pick, but with a straight tie and those almost-bar-wench vests, I’d have been happy with anything. 

5. Okay, before we go any further, lemme just mention the couple of folks I recognized:

• Lee Hye-ri (Gumiho Girl from My Roommate is a Gumiho) as Je-i

• the evil not-brother from My Demon as Je-i’s father

• little-girl Jung So-min from Love Next Door (etc) as little-girl Je-i

6. I kind of love that Lee Hye-ri is 30 and playing a 17-year-old. I know none of the girls looks 17, and I don’t think I would have looked at her and thought she was noticeably older than the other actresses (and good for her!). I just happen to know she’s 30, which made it amusing to see her as a high schooler. 

7. There’s a really neat detail when Seul-gi goes to take a seat in her classroom for the first time: the one  girl who is sitting by herself at a two-desk pair in the back row moves her backpack out of the empty seat next to her so Seul-gi can sit down…only for Seul-gi to take a seat at a totally empty two-desk pair. It’s really quick and, obviously, tells us a lot about Seul-gi, but I was most impressed with what it did for Backpack Girl: it brought her to my attention and immediately made her seem like an outcast—but it was done so quickly that it could just as easily have been an extra making a very good acting choice. I caught it, of course, being the world’s greatest detective, and made a note to see which way it would go. And, in the end, she is an active part of the story. So…good job, everyone.

8. In Episode 3, Je-i and Seul-gi hide in a closet in the fancy study room that’s built inside her father’s hospital, and…it’s a really nice scene. Very, very sweet (and very much leaning into the show’s yuri bait habit)—but, given I had no idea what the show was trying to accomplish with Je-i’s interest in Seul-gi…or, like, accomplish with anything…I was still tensing up and waiting for the “ha-ha, I’ve secretly been a bully this whole time!” shoe to drop. So, in many ways, I wasn’t able to appreciate it fully. Unless the show wanted me to be suspicious. In which case I was able to appreciate it fully. Either way, I now know not to be particularly suspicious of Je-i (in that moment), so my eventual re-watch of this show should have a different tenor. Well, for that scene, at least. 

9. Ha! I just noticed how far into my notes I still have “what the f*** is going on?!” written. For different reasons than I did earlier on in the season, but…still. That’s kinda funny. This show was very keen to leave me wondering what I was watching. Though, again, I was fond of it, early on, but it started to drift pretty safely into “shh, don’t think about it” as we got closer to the end of the show. Which…was less good. But not a dealbreaker. 

9A. Y’know, as I write that, I realize that I really, really liked this show. Like, this may make its way onto my “favorites, but not best-and-favorites” list. Hmm. Maybe take my “not a dealbreaker” with a grain of salt, then. It didn’t make me think less of the show as someone who kind of loved it from the start.

10. That said…Seul-gi is sometimes way more naive than I think she should be. Not to an unjustifiable degree, but I felt there were a couple of instances of her not using her typical cynicism and self-preservation instincts that felt much more plot-necessary than character-appropriate. Which, as a Seul-gi stan, made me frown a little.

11. Speaking of loving Seul-gi: top marks to the show for not making her jump immediately to becoming arrogant about the “power” her position as Je-i’s new chosen friend affords her. 

12. Also speaking of loving Seul-gi: ready-for-clubbing Seul-gi is best Seul-gi. 

13. Perhaps relatedly: I was able to figure out that Seul-gi was the one who “stole” her top-marks essay and gave it to everyone so they’d know her unflattering background—because I recognized her hands. And I’m not sure if that’s weird or not. 

13A. Now, in my defense, I could tell it wasn’t Je-i because I knew she was wearing knee-highs, and I knew Ye-ri was far too skinny (and short-skirted) to be the girl we saw take the essay. Logically, at that point, of the girls who actually had roles to play in the story, Gyung should have been the top suspect. But the show didn’t think I would notice my girl’s hands. 

13B. Though, another great move by the writers, having Seul-gi neutralize the one piece of leverage she knows Je-i has over her. And setting up Je-i to seem like she screwed Seul-gi over. We like when our characters are clever. And we especially love when our characters are clever and Seul-gi.

13C. That said…when was she able to break away from Je-i long enough during lunch that she was able to pull off this stunt?

14. …admittedly, it is quite strange that I so quickly fell for this series when the very first thing it does is make Seul-gi a lost child in the most inexplicable way possible. Like, sure, I get that she got left behind, but…how was she never reunited with her parents? The father knew where to look for her. And surely the police would have been the ones to bring her to the orphanage, right? So, wouldn’t it be relatively easy to find her? I know Je-i’s evil dad is able to do it with ease, though with the implication that he’s able to do so because he has the resources to find her. But…I dunno. I had a lot of questions. 

15. Speaking of “I dunno”: Gyung might be the most underserved of the protagonists, boasting some fascinating character stuff that ultimately doesn’t seem to go anywhere. (Much of the up-’til-4AM chat I had with Grok was about her role in the story and how it was translated from the original webcomic.) I was shocked to see that she is the spitting image of her mother, for example, given how much she seemed not to want to be a lawyer (like her mother), and then there’s the whole psychosexual…deal…she has with Je-i and her inability to best her. All of it was so weirdly specific, but there was never much of a payoff. Sure, it’s clearly all about her stress and how she decides to deal with it, but her entwined academic pressures, growing arousal, and jealous hatred of Je-i are such a weirdly specific (and, as such, compelling) bit of character element that it seems a shame that more isn’t made of it. Because, as it stands, much of this is just contrived to place Gyung very coincidentally at the school at the exact same time that Je-na (Je-i’s sister) fugue states her way into trying to steal exam questions and, eventually, f***ing Seul-gi’s father. Which is convenient (and kind of funny), but it’s not terribly satisfying. 

15A. I mean, the culmination of her character arc is that she buys a vibrator. That’s her moment of glory: she makes a purchase at an adult book store. And I have no idea why.

15B. I can contrive a reason why, of course. But I shouldn't have to. (I mean, her first interaction with online pornography has her fantasizing about watching Je-i have sex, and then she breaks into the school the whack off in Je-i’s seat. I have expectations, show, and a dramatically lit Hitachi isn’t going to cut it.)

15C. I mean, maybe I missed some of the subtext to her expository “y’know, girls masturbate, too!” introduction to one of the early episodes, but….still. It certainly feels like its purpose is supposed to be more than what we end up seeing in the show. (I’ve been assured by the internet that it’s more central to her arc in the webcomic.)

16. Speaking of potential lesbian attraction: there’s something to Ye-ri’s treatment of Gyung beyond simple camaraderie. I don’t mean to say the only solution is that she’s in love with Gyung (though that should absolutely have been on the table), but both her affection and concern for Gyung imply a stronger factor than just being good friends. Does she admire Gyung? Appreciate how Gyung treats her? Have they just been together so long (in school or similar social circles) that she considers Gyung her rock or true north or homebase? Given her constantly shifting allegiances, that Ye-ri never acted against Gyung (and, in fact, went against herself to help Gyung), I’d have liked to explore that part of things a little bit more. (Like, before the last 35 minutes of the series, I mean.)

17. Okay, but really speaking of potential lesbian attraction: how ‘bout Seul-gi and Je-i, hm?

17A. [Je-i disrobes and gets into the bath with Seul-gi]

DARYL: “Heh, and now they make out, right?”

[Seul-gi and Je-i make out]

DARYL: “...this is the best K-drama ever.”

17B. …followed quickly by me starting the next episode, seeing the scene once again, and then FREAKING THE F*** OUT when it turns out the whole thing was just a dream.

17C. Or…was it? 

17D. I’m pretty sure the show wants to be a little coy with the whole thing (potentially for show-related and/or culture-related reasons), but I have to assume it was actually a dream and not a real thing that happened. Because they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with this makeout session in the narrative after that point. Sure, there’s a whooooooole bunch of sexual tension between the two of them, but at no point do either of them even hint at A) having made out with each other, or B) trying to make out with each other again—and they had plenty of moments where a a kiss (or the start of one) would have been not only possible but appropriate (because, once you get physical, it’s hard not to continue to express your feelings physically). They come close in the ball pit, but that’s it; and that moment is far too playful and teasing (in a “could we…or maybe I’m joking, I dunno” kind of way) to suggest anything overtly sexual happened between them earlier in the story. So, for me, I wish it had been slightly more explicit that it was a dream, rather than a case of Schrodinger’s Tongue Kiss. 

17E. Still awesome, though. Obviously. 

18. Ultimately, Backpack Girl was my favorite character, and I’m glad she didn’t die. I fully expected her to. And, in another series, she absolutely would have. 

19. I love that, even with a cast of all girls, we still get all the dramatic wrist grabs. 

20. I’ve hinted (very subtly, I think) that the actress playing Seul-gi is attractive, but, lest you think I’ve lost my crush on Lee Hye-ri, I want to note how huffy I got when Je-i was fooling around with a boy (in a flashback at the start of Episode 3) and he grabbed her bosom. 

20A. And then how relieved I was that she was wearing a protective chestplate, so he didn’t actually feel anything. 

20B. And then how huffy I got when, during Gyung’s psychosexual projection that she was watching Je-i in her porno, the male star of the scene (albeit briefly) 100% groped her bosom. 

21. I was far less huffy about Je-i speaking English for, like, 10 minutes in the first episode. Now, her enunciation is pretty good (though her intonation needed work—but that’s okay), so it’s not as bad that Netflix once again decided we didn’t need English dialogue subtitled. But it is a little bit confusing why they decided we did need subtitles once we cut away from her and could only hear her speaking in English. It wasn’t any harder to understand. I guess their translation team thinks seeing someone’s mouth makes it significantly easier to understand him when he speaks—which is generally true, of course, but…come on. This isn’t “generally,” Netflix. And you know it. 

22. In Episode 5, we see that Je-i secretly doesn’t take any of the pills her father offers her to help with…whatever it is he wants her to have help with. And I’m pretty sure this never goes anywhere. Or maybe it’s not meant to. Maybe this—along with many other details that made me scratch my head—is  only meant as…I dunno, flavor rather than an integral part of the plot or theming. But it’s a heck of a thing to introduce just as flavor, no? 

23. Actually, while we’re on the subject of things that may or may not mean things, there’s a lot of repeated…stuff…in this series: water, religious iconography, and—boy howdy—fertility (sex, periods, pregnancy, birth control, siblings, parents, orphans); and all three are frequently found…if not together then near each other, at least in pairs. Again, I have no idea what (if anything) we’re supposed to get from this stuff. But I sure as heck noticed it. Which I assume I was supposed to.

23A. I mean, look, during the school fair or whatever, when Seul-gi and Je-i are going around having a great time, there’s a shot of three people in costumes: a princess, a dog, and a rabbit. So, what…that’s Je-i (the princess), Seul-gi (the “pet”), and…how they might want to bang? Girls, obedience, and social expectations (to have babies)? Just three outfits the costume department had on hand? You tell me, Erin, because NONE OF THESE THINGS play much role in the story. 

23B. Like, Je-i’s whole expository introduction to Episode 3 shows her being conceived while her father was staring directly at the crucifix above his bed. And she has this whole thing about actively trying to sin so that she can get the appropriate feeling from asking for forgiveness at church…and I don’t know why that matters when it would be so much more obvious of a narrative choice to have her act out because of her domineering father. Is it meant to emphasize how she’s been bred to be perfect? That she was born “without sin,” or at least perceives herself to be? And, if so, how…how does that fit into the story? Is it just because she “dies for the sins of others” at the end? It’s kind of laborious, if she’s a twist on Christian motifs, right? Or is it meant to be set up in opposition to the outwardly ceremonial (but internal disinterest in) devotion to religion of her father? I dunno. I just…I can see it, show, but why is it there?!

23C. And I can’t even begin to understand why Gyung’s journey into obsessive masturbation starts with a statue of Buddha sitting next to her. Is it about her losing her sense of “Zen”? Is it connected to Buddhist precepts or the role of Buddhist teachings in Korean society? Is this part of her whole “sick of conforming” character arc that’s in the book but not a focus in the show? Why is it there?!

23D. And what about the water? Is it just supposed to be about danger, first in the false comfort the illicitly-gained medication gives and then in the way that Je-i’s “death” comes via water? Or is there some kind of tieback to, like, the amniotic sac, since there’s all the fertility whatnot throughout the series? And, I mean, Seul-gi is turned into an orphan when she’s left behind at the beach—is…is that connected to any of this? 

23E. Anw what about when Seul-gi gets beat up at her old school and one of the girls says she’s missing the insoles in her sneakers because she must be using it as a sanitary napkin (because she’s too poor to buy any)? Is that…is that anything? Is it just a coincidence? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!

23F. I just…my English major brain is doing the Charlie Day meme, Erin, and I can’t make it stop.

24. Regardless, the sex stuff in this show is quite jarring, when it comes up.

25. Backpack Girl threatening people with a knife at the school fair is one of the most laughable things I’ve seen. It’s a knife, people. Just move out of the way! She has to get really, really close to you to do any damage. Why are you standing there like she’s got you backed against a wall? Come on.

26. That said, I absolutely love the series of scenes that result from this, where the cop’s interviewing the students at the school about the attack, and the principal’s sitting next to him having a slow-motion meltdown as she watches girl after girl answer his questions in the least PR-spin way possible. Hilarious. 

27. Seul-gi, Je-i, Ye-ri, Gyung, and the Seul-gi’s drug dealer ex-boss working together to take down Je-i’s dad was the weirdest f***ing Avengers moment ever.

28. Every scene in the first five minutes of Episode 14 is just Seul-gi and Je-i exchanging a glance and nodding to each other. It’s very silly.

29. Je-i uses her influence to make Seul-gi the class rep pretty early on in the series. The payoff for this is that we get to see Seul-gi pass out applications for the CSAT to the class in Episode 15.

30. Fear not, seonbae: there are plenty of Hyundais.

31. While almost everything in the show is connected in some way, virtually none of it happens deliberately. That is, most of the show unfolds by happenstance. Like, Seul-gi isn’t at the school to get revenge for her father, but she’s only at the school because of what happened with her father. And Je-i doesn’t befriend her to expose her father’s nefarious dealings, but she definitely goes out of her way to befriend Seul-gi because she knows it’ll irk her father (for some reason). And that’s…a very interesting choice. Which I can’t tell if I like or not. But it’s certainly interesting. 

And that is all I have to say about Friendly Rivalry, I think. A wild, wild ride that I absolutely loved. And, while there’s no reason for there to be more to the story, I would absolutely love another season of it. Even more ludicrous than the first. And maybe even more yuri bait. 

Sigh. A boy can dream.

Anyway. I’ve got to eat dinner. And maybe even start on my next letter. Or fall asleep because I’m too stuffed with tacos. Either or. So, I’ll sign off here. 

Hope you’re doing well.

And, as ever: watch out for piranhas. (There’s always piranhas.)

More soon.

—Daryl