You and Everything Else Review: A Raw and Emotional Kdrama That Explores the Complexities of Friendship

The Netflix Kdrama You and Everything Else stars Kim Go-Eun, who I’m pretty familiar with. She always chooses such great roles. Every show or movie I’ve ever watched with her, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. And Park Ji-Hyun; Whom I vaguely remember from the film “The Divine Fury.” What starts off as a coming-of-age meets slice-of-life slowly turns into a full blown melodrama that had me deep in my feelings, reminding me so much of an old friendship I had… except mine wasn’t as chaotic (it was still MESSY tho). Or at least it didn’t get there, probably because I ended it before it could.

CAUTION: This review contains minor spoilers. I won’t dive deep into every character and their storyline to avoid giving too much away. Instead, I’ll focus on the main characters while trying to keep the spoilers light.

This drama centers around two childhood friends, Ryu Eun-Jung (played by Kim Go-Eun) and Cheon Sang Yeon (played by Park Ji-Hyun), and their complex friendship. Eun Jung is a hardworking kid.. pretty sure she gets that trait from her mother, who’s had to work twice as hard as the other moms at her school because her husband died. Even though Eun Jung and her mother experienced the trauma of losing her dad, they seem to have overcome it and share a strong, healthy bond.

Sang Yeon is just as smart, but she doesn’t have to put in as much effort, her smarts is just a natural trait passed down from her con artist of a dad. Her family, on the other hand, is a wealthy mess. Her relationship with her mom is estranged, her dad is barely home, and her and her brother are also distant. I feel like Sang Yeon’s relationship with her mom is the catalyst for the drama and trauma that eventually manifests badly into her life… and eventually Eun Jung’s life.

I saw myself in both characters, I guess because my background is kind of a mix of each character. I had a single mother like Eun Jung, but, like Sang Yeon, my relationship with my mom was estranged for some years before it eventually got better. Now we have a bond like Eun Jung and her mother. The relationship I had with my mom when I was younger, in some ways, reflected or bled into the relationships I had with others. So seeing how Sang Yeon’s relationship with her mom affected other parts of her life made me tear up. Like the good ol’ saying goes: hurt people, hurt people. Still, not an excuse for what Sang Yeon did… but I understand it.

Although Sang Yeon did the most harm, I found myself more upset with Eun Jung. Like when they reunited in college again. Why on earth did Eun Jung offer to move in together? Y’all just got back into each other’s life after so much has happened. Not only that, y’all didn’t really leave off on the best foot. There was so much that should of been talked about before moving in. Instead, they just went of as if nothing happened. Eun Jung often denied her intuition and put her feelings/boundaries to the side for sang yeon. There were so many times she had a weird feeling or felt like something was off but talked herself out of it. Until it crossed the line. Through out the whole friendship Sang Yeon showed Eun Jung who she was but she refused to accept it.

Rating: 7/10

You and Everything Else is a drama that’ll take you on a roller coaster of emotions. One moment you’ll be like awwe how sweetest :). The next, you’ll have to take a little break for how angry a scene made you, then you’re back to crying again. It’s a drama for all types of drama lovers. The slice of life lovers will love this just as much as someone like me who loves indie melodramatic korean films, just as much as the girl who’s use to American coming of age films/shows.

Overall I’d give this drama a 7/10. The main characters and the way they developed felt very real making the scenes feels heavy and emotional. Besides the annoying throw back blurry scenes. The cinematography was great. I reflected a lot while watching this drama and I think you will too.